Montana · Nonprofit
MONTANA STATE PARKS FOUNDATION
MONTANA STATE PARKS FOUNDATION (Montana) receives grants from 24 organizations whose IRS filings report $868,965 to it, the largest being THE LEONA M AND HARRY B HELMSLEY CHARITABLE TRUST ($507,500). 8 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $210k
- Funders on record
- 24
- Grants received
- $869k
- Net assets
- $456k
What Montana State Parks Foundation does
Mission
The Montana State Parks Foundation raises private support to enhance the visitors experience and build advocates for montanas state parks and recreation heritage.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Program
The Montana State Parks Foundation is the official nonprofit fundraising partner of montana state parks. Montana's unique outdoor recreation culture and spectacular natural assets deserve a park system that is world-class. Yet for years, government funding has fallen far short of delivering the high-caliber system of parks and front country recreation amenities that montanans deserve. The Montana State Parks Foundation helps bridge that gap. We are a 501(c)(3) dedicated to helping montana's state park system become one of the best in the nation through private fundraising and capacity building in areas where government funding is simply not enough.
$391,542 spent100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2022 Form 990. Program spending in total: $391,542.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2017, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2017, 50 means half. The number beside each label in the key is where it ended. The shaded band is where the middle 50% of its peers' revenue would sit, given their growth.
Balance sheet
Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2020 to 2021, from $201k to $786k (+291%).
How it's funded, over time
Each bar is one year's revenue split into where it came from, and every bar is the same height — these are shares, not amounts, so a year that raised twice as much looks the same size. Hover a bar for the split.
Government-grant reliance: 2020 38% · 2021 18% · 2022 8% · 2023 4%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
88% of MONTANA STATE PARKS FOUNDATION’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (18% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 1 of the last 9 reported years ran a deficit.
reserve
Leadership and staff
The officers, directors, trustees and key employees listed on each return. Joined and no longer listed compare each filing with the year before, matching people by surname and first initial; a year after a gap, or a roster under three people, has no comparison.
The chief executive listed changed between the FY2023 and FY2024 filings.
Who funds it, year by year
2018 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 5 funders, grant income fell $25k → $21k.
6 of 24 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 13% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.
From the IRS filings of MONTANA STATE PARKS FOUNDATION’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 23 of 24 funders by total. Association, not causation. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
How concentrated its funding is
MONTANA STATE PARKS FOUNDATION leans on a few funders — its largest provides 58% of grant income and the top three 69%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
25% of the income these shares are computed over arrives through pass-through sponsors or from payers whose filings do not say what kind of payment it is. Concentration is still measured over all of it, because the money is real; what it does not support is a claim about how many institutions have chosen to fund MONTANA STATE PARKS FOUNDATION.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2018 100% · 2019 21% · 2020 41% · 2021 87% · 2022 31% · 2023 44% — diversifying over time.
“Effective funders” = inverse Herfindahl index (1 / Σ shareᵢ²) — the number of equal-sized funders that would give the same concentration. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
How long its funders stay
42% of MONTANA STATE PARKS FOUNDATION's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 33% give in more than one year at all.
Share of funders still giving k years after their first recorded grant, pooled across every acquisition cohort. A funder counts as retained in a year only if it made a grant that year. Measured to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving — a funder cannot be counted as lapsed in a year most filers have not reached.
Where its funders are
MONTANA STATE PARKS FOUNDATION draws 86% of its grant income from funders outside Montana, across 7 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $113k arriving through sponsors registered in 5 states is excluded from the map and the split above: a sponsor holds money on a donor’s behalf, so its registered address would place those dollars somewhere no donor need ever have been. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
Against its field
MONTANA STATE PARKS FOUNDATION holds deeper cash reserves than three-quarters of the 10,453 recreation & sports nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 10,453 recreation & sports nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2025
Organizations like MONTANA STATE PARKS FOUNDATION
Organizations whose mission and program text most resemble this one, by semantic similarity over every organization in the US filings — the closest peers, and often the clearest route to shared or prospective funders.
In Montana
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
88% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
99%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for MONTANA STATE PARKS FOUNDATION: IRS status (Business Master File, Publication 78, auto-revocation), the OFAC sanctions lists, the Internal Revenue Bulletin, and California registration, with the Rev. Proc. 2018-32 §8.01 reliance elements stated element by element. Generated from the current files at the moment you download it.
Screens are triage, not determinations; a source that cannot be read reports not screened, never clear. Screen this nonprofit · How the screen works · on the API as GET /api/screening/{ein}?format=pdf
Questions and answers
- Who funds MONTANA STATE PARKS FOUNDATION?
- MONTANA STATE PARKS FOUNDATION (Montana) receives grants from 24 organizations whose IRS filings report $868,965 to it, the largest being THE LEONA M AND HARRY B HELMSLEY CHARITABLE TRUST ($507,500). 8 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does MONTANA STATE PARKS FOUNDATION have?
- IRS filings report 24 organizations giving $868,965 in grants to MONTANA STATE PARKS FOUNDATION, 8 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of MONTANA STATE PARKS FOUNDATION?
- THE LEONA M AND HARRY B HELMSLEY CHARITABLE TRUST is the largest funder on record, with $507,500 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like MONTANA STATE PARKS FOUNDATION find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Montana. The funding by cause and by state pages list the largest funders for a given area and how to approach them.
Play a game about who funds Montana State Parks →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2017–2025), and the filings of 24 funders that report grants to it. “On record” means captured in the filings we have parsed — a funder that does not e-file, or whose grant detail is not itemized, will not appear. Filings run roughly 12–24 months behind. Trends on this page end at FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving; later years are shown and marked, and move no figure. Data on this page was exported October 14, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing