Montana · Nonprofit
MONTANA TROUT UNLIMITED
MONTANA TROUT UNLIMITED (Montana) receives grants from 40 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,138,976 to it, the largest being DONOR ADVISED CHARITABLE GIVING INC ($517,250). 23 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $1.8M
- Funders on record
- 40
- Grants received
- $2.1M
- Net assets
- $2.2M
What Montana Trout Unlimited does
Mission
To conserve, protect and restore montana's coldwater fisheries and watersheds.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Program
Montana Trout Unlimiteds exempt purpose achievements continue to include protecting and restoring trout habitat, advocating for clean water and wild fish management and educating the public on Montanas fishery issues.Examples of Montana TUs FYE 2025 accomplishments to protect water quality and quantity to benefit coldwater fisheries include:Reviewed and provided input on public land management activities and management plans as they relate to protecting water resources.We continue to monitor the mining plans and activities within the Smith River watershed. Engaged in the development of a watershed restoration plan and supported on-the-ground projects to improve water quality and quantity in the Smith. MTU continues to work with partners to monitor water quality conditions and press for mitigation of damages from selenium pollution in the Kootenai River and Lake Koocanusa.MTU continues to monitor a possible rare earth elements (REEs - neodymium and praseodymium) mine in the Sheep Creek tributary of the West Fork Bitterroot River.Participate in the Frenchtown Working Group to focus on and communicate about research and cleanup of the Smurfit-Stone site on the Clark Fork River below…
$1,281,625 spent$109,943 earned by the program100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $1,281,625.
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 $1.3M to $1.8M (+33%).
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: 2021 21% · 2022 20%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
47% of MONTANA TROUT UNLIMITED’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (13% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 1 of the last 8 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.
Board chair
Lyle Courtnage
Chairman
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 5 funders to 17 funders, grant income rose $21k → $304k.
6 of 40 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 35% 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 TROUT UNLIMITED’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 40 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 TROUT UNLIMITED has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 24% of grant income, and it takes 5 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 5 funders to its left
63% 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 TROUT UNLIMITED.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 49% · 2018 45% · 2019 23% · 2020 34% · 2021 25% · 2022 46% · 2023 34% — 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
45% of MONTANA TROUT UNLIMITED's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 57% 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 TROUT UNLIMITED draws 82% of its grant income from funders outside Montana, across 17 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $746k 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 TROUT UNLIMITED runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 1,623 recreation & sports nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 1,623 recreation & sports nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Government funding MONTANA TROUT UNLIMITED receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $3.6M on record.
- Department of Agriculture$3.4M
- Environmental Protection Agency$221k
Federal grants vs contracts are distinguished; state line items keep their reported category. Matched by name + geography (the BMF), so coverage is partial and precision-first.
Organizations like MONTANA TROUT UNLIMITED
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
86% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
39%
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 TROUT UNLIMITED: 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 TROUT UNLIMITED?
- MONTANA TROUT UNLIMITED (Montana) receives grants from 40 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,138,976 to it, the largest being DONOR ADVISED CHARITABLE GIVING INC ($517,250). 23 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does MONTANA TROUT UNLIMITED have?
- IRS filings report 40 organizations giving $2,138,976 in grants to MONTANA TROUT UNLIMITED, 23 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of MONTANA TROUT UNLIMITED?
- DONOR ADVISED CHARITABLE GIVING INC is the largest funder on record, with $517,250 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like MONTANA TROUT UNLIMITED 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 Trout Unlimited →
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 40 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