Montana · Nonprofit
NORTHERN PLAINS RESOURCE COUNCIL
NORTHERN PLAINS RESOURCE COUNCIL (Montana) receives grants from 66 organizations whose IRS filings report $3,844,415 to it, the largest being The Kendeda Fund ($520,000). 40 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $2.7M
- Funders on record
- 66
- Grants received
- $3.8M
- Net assets
- $7.4M
What Northern Plains Resource Council does
Mission
Northern Plains believes people working together can make a difference. Our mission is to organize Montanans to protect our water, land, air, and working landscapes; support a healthy, localized, and sustainable economy in farm and ranch country and in our towns; and build strong grassroots leaders, always considering the next generation.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Clean Energy: We worked to expand access to clean energy and protect Montanans from rising utility costs. We moved Community Solar legislation through the legislature with bipartisan support. We hosted an online training for rural electric co-op members to help them advocate for transparency and renewable energy options within their local co-ops. We intervened in NorthWestern Energy's rate case to prevent the corporation from overcharging ratepayers. We began organizing Montanans who would be impacted by proposed data centers on the impact those developments can have on local resources and infrastructure.
$372,971 spent20% of program spendingCoal: We worked to protect agricultural livelihoods and water resources in Montana's coal country by ensuring state and federal agencies uphold rigorous environmental standards. In response to federal approval of expanded mining modifications in the Bull Mountains that side-stepped public input, we partnered with local ranchers to implement real-time groundwater monitoring in residential areas. We challenged the MT Dept of Environmental Quality's practice of approving over 300 mining permit modifications without providing for public input.
$266,904 spent15% of program spendingOil & Gas: We worked to protect rangelands in eastern Montana by working with residents in Carter County to successfully push the Federal Bureau of Land Management to pause a large-scale carbon sequestration project and ensure that thorough environmental reviews are performed to protect vital groundwater and prairie ecosystems. We continued to hold energy facilities accountable to established air quality standards and zoning regulations. We also advocated for the reclamation of orphaned oil wells to restore land and air impacted by abandoned oil and gas development.
$247,265 spent14% of program spendingAgriculture: We fought for fair market practices and transparent labeling to support Montana's independent ranching families. We successfully supported state legislation for local food procurement and collected over 1,000 signatures to advance livestock market protections and mandatory Country-of-Origin-Labeling (COOL). Healthy Soils: We grew our statewide network of land stewards through the second annual Montana Soil Health Week events and a hands-on Soil Crawl near Lavina. These events brought producers together with experts to find practical ways to improve soil health and land productivity. Good Neighbor Agreement: We maintained a legally binding oversight agreement with the Sibanye-Stillwater Mining Company to safeguard water quality. We celebrated the 25th anniversary of the agreement with the release of a book documenting the history of collaboration. We secured a commitment from the Sibanye-Stillwater Mining Company to increase financial bonding to ensure water quality standards are met throughout mining operations and long-term reclamation. Community cohesion and cultural learning: We focused on building social cohesion by supporting our partners at Western Native Voice…
$944,050 spent52% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $1,831,190.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2019, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2019, 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 2022 to 2023, from $4.6M to $6.1M (+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.
85% of NORTHERN PLAINS RESOURCE COUNCIL’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (61% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 1 of the last 7 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.
Chief executive
Margaret Gordon
Executive Director
Board chair
Norane Freistadt
Chair of the Board
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 11 funders to 26 funders, grant income rose $77k → $626k.
19 of 66 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 39% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.
Left out of every figure on this page: $2.8M from one payer (the payer shares this organization's board, largest Western Organization of Resource Councils Education Project). These are real filings, and they are not money NORTHERN PLAINS RESOURCE COUNCIL raised.
From the IRS filings of NORTHERN PLAINS RESOURCE COUNCIL’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 66 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
NORTHERN PLAINS RESOURCE COUNCIL has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 14% of grant income, and it takes 6 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 6 funders to its left
44% 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 NORTHERN PLAINS RESOURCE COUNCIL.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 32% · 2018 33% · 2019 19% · 2020 24% · 2021 26% · 2022 19% · 2023 18% — 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 NORTHERN PLAINS RESOURCE COUNCIL's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 61% 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
NORTHERN PLAINS RESOURCE COUNCIL draws 83% of its grant income from funders outside Montana, across 19 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $1.5M arriving through sponsors registered in 11 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
NORTHERN PLAINS RESOURCE COUNCIL holds deeper cash reserves than three-quarters of the 2,127 community improvement nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 2,127 community improvement nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Organizations like NORTHERN PLAINS RESOURCE COUNCIL
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
83% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
95%
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 NORTHERN PLAINS RESOURCE COUNCIL: 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 NORTHERN PLAINS RESOURCE COUNCIL?
- NORTHERN PLAINS RESOURCE COUNCIL (Montana) receives grants from 66 organizations whose IRS filings report $3,844,415 to it, the largest being The Kendeda Fund ($520,000). 40 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does NORTHERN PLAINS RESOURCE COUNCIL have?
- IRS filings report 66 organizations giving $3,844,415 in grants to NORTHERN PLAINS RESOURCE COUNCIL, 40 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of NORTHERN PLAINS RESOURCE COUNCIL?
- The Kendeda Fund is the largest funder on record, with $520,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like NORTHERN PLAINS RESOURCE COUNCIL 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 Northern Plains Resource Council →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2019–2025), and the filings of 66 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