Montana · Nonprofit
Public Land Water Access Association
Public Land Water Access Association (Montana) receives grants from 15 organizations whose IRS filings report $166,421 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($61,275). 10 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 70% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2024
- $194k
- Funders on record
- 15
- Grants received
- $166k
- Net assets
- $290k
What Public Land Water Access Association does
Mission
The organization's mission is to maintain, restore, and perpetuate public access to the boundaries of all Montana's public lands and waters.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990-EZ.
Programs
Access Investigations: PLWA conducts legal and technical research into access issues raised by the recreating public in Montana. Staff gather and analyze evidence to determine whether disputed public roads and other access points are, in fact, public. This often includes reviewing legal records, historic maps, and other documents found in county courthouses. In more complex cases, PLWA may engage legal counsel to assist with the investigation.
$89,936 spent74% of program spendingEducation and Outreach: PLWA works to inform the public about their access rights, as well as the laws, regulations, and rules governing access to Montanas public lands and waters. Efforts include quarterly newsletters, publishing access-related information on PLWAs website, and ongoing social media outreach. Staff and board members also host in-person events with partner organizations across Montana, with access education as a central focus.
$23,144 spent19% of program spendingPolicy and Advocacy: PLWA advocates for statewide policies and laws that protect and expand public access to Montanas lands, waters, and public trust resources. This work includes writing letters of support and public comments, leading or participating in advocacy campaigns, and tracking legislation during the legislative session. PLWA also monitors and analyzes land exchanges and acquisitions that could affect access to Montanas public lands and waters.
$9,112 spent7% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $122,192.
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 2017 to 2018, from $359k to $278k (−22%).
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.
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 4 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.
Chief executive
Alex Leone
Executive Director
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990-EZ.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 2 funders to 6 funders, grant income rose $4k → $13k.
5 of 15 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 70% 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 Public Land Water Access Association’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
Public Land Water Access Association leans on a few funders — its largest provides 37% of grant income and the top three 64%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
73% 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 Public Land Water Access Association.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 86% · 2018 95% · 2019 92% · 2020 88% · 2021 92% · 2022 41% · 2023 76% — 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
40% of Public Land Water Access Association's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 67% 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
70% of Public Land Water Access Association'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 $49k that is directly attributable, 78% of it comes from funders outside Montana, across 8 states.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $117k 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.
Organizations like Public Land Water Access Association
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.
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 Public Land Water Access Association: 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 Public Land Water Access Association?
- Public Land Water Access Association (Montana) receives grants from 15 organizations whose IRS filings report $166,421 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($61,275). 10 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 70% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does Public Land Water Access Association have?
- IRS filings report 15 organizations giving $166,421 in grants to Public Land Water Access Association, 10 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of Public Land Water Access Association?
- FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND is the largest funder on record, with $61,275 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like Public Land Water Access Association 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 Public Land Water Access Association →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2024 (financials across 2017–2024), and the filings of 15 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