Montana · Nonprofit
NORTHWEST MONTANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY INC
NORTHWEST MONTANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY INC (Montana) receives grants from 12 organizations whose IRS filings report $878,465 to it, the largest being WHITEFISH COMMUNITY FOUNDATION INC ($670,359). 5 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 78% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $438k
- Funders on record
- 12
- Grants received
- $878k
- Net assets
- $1.0M
What Northwest Montana Historical Society Inc does
Mission
The northwest montana historical society is dedicated to the cultural and educational enrichment of the community through acquisition, preservation, and display of material related to local history, and to the involvement of the public of museum programs through research, community events, and volunteer opportunities.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Exhibitions and displays improved and expanded: kalispell: montana's eden; on a passing frontier; flathead valley history; the land of many stories; greetings from demersville; lumberjacks, tie hacks, and river pigs; and the history of central school. See website for more detailed information.
$10,910 spent$39,499 earned by the program49% of program spendingCombined museum use as community gathering place with over 150 events attended by in excess of 20,000 vistors and tour-goers. Additionally, more than 2,000 local students benefitted from free school tours of the museum.
On-going and new museum programs included the annual northwest montana book festival, annual john white speaker series, history book club, downtown kalispell walking tour, mcclaren 1895 classroom experience for third graders, movie night at the museum, and a walking tour of historic kalispell (june-sept). See website for more detailed information.
$703 spent3% of program spendingExhibitions and displays improved and expanded: flathead history exhibition improved. Other exhibits modified to include new items obtained over past year.
$10,708 spent48% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $22,321.
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.
Balance sheet
Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2024 to 2025, from $758k to $1.0M (+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: 2025 13%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 0 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.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 2 funders to 3 funders, grant income fell $138k → $70k.
3 of 12 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 78% 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 NORTHWEST MONTANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY INC’s funders (the co-funder graph). 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
NORTHWEST MONTANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY INC leans on a few funders — its largest provides 76% of grant income and the top three 90%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
80% 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 NORTHWEST MONTANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 96% · 2018 87% · 2019 69% · 2020 78% · 2021 22% · 2022 67% · 2023 71% — 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
38% of NORTHWEST MONTANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 42% 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
78% of NORTHWEST MONTANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY INC's grant income arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors, whose addresses record where the money is held rather than where the donor is. Of the $190k that is directly attributable, 70% of it comes from Montana funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $689k arriving through sponsors registered in 3 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.
Organizations like NORTHWEST MONTANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY INC
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
12% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
79%
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 NORTHWEST MONTANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY INC: 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 NORTHWEST MONTANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY INC?
- NORTHWEST MONTANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY INC (Montana) receives grants from 12 organizations whose IRS filings report $878,465 to it, the largest being WHITEFISH COMMUNITY FOUNDATION INC ($670,359). 5 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 78% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does NORTHWEST MONTANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY INC have?
- IRS filings report 12 organizations giving $878,465 in grants to NORTHWEST MONTANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY INC, 5 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of NORTHWEST MONTANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY INC?
- WHITEFISH COMMUNITY FOUNDATION INC is the largest funder on record, with $670,359 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like NORTHWEST MONTANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY INC 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 Northwest Montana Historical Society →
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 12 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