Montana · Nonprofit
SWAN VALLEY CONNECTIONS
SWAN VALLEY CONNECTIONS (Montana) receives grants from 24 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,877,295 to it, the largest being DONOR ADVISED CHARITABLE GIVING INC ($733,075). 15 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 55% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $1.6M
- Funders on record
- 24
- Grants received
- $1.9M
- Net assets
- $1.7M
What Swan Valley Connections does
Mission
Maintain the swan valley's unique natural resources and ensure that a vibrant human community can sustain itself through stewardship, education, economic viability, and conservation on public and private lands.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Stewardship and restoration:Swan Valley Connections (svc), working with the montana department of natural resources and conservation, provides forest health and stewardship assessments to private landowners in the swan valley. Private landowners also receive technical assistance to reduce wildfire risk through forest fuels thinning, manage tree beetle infestations, and monitor tree disease outbreaks. With funding from several government agencies, forest stewardship cost share grants were awarded to 21 landowners and treated 135 acres in 2025. Since beginning the program in 2004, 343 landowner grants have been awarded, facilitating the treatment of 3,588 acres of forest land at risk from wildfire, tree and forest health decline, or tree insect and disease outbreaks. In 2025, 12,130 beetle pheromone packets were distributed to 192 landowners in the swan valley, protecting valued trees and providing a buffer zone to reduce the spread of a beetle infestation to hundreds of additional acres. Mitigating the encroachment of noxious and non-native plant species remains an important part of maintaining ecosystem integrity for the swan valley. Svc offered numerous landowners with advice on…
$266,752 spentof which $143,228 as grants$57,162 earned by the program31% of program spendingEducation:Swan Valley Connections' (svc) education programs aim to strengthen the relationship between people and landscapes through placed-based experiences. Svc teaches ecological literacy to people of all ages and backgrounds, cultivating compassion and enthusiasm for the natural world in children, challenging young adults to understand the complexities of land and resource management, and providing residents with opportunities to engage with the place where they live, work, and play.during 2025, svc continued to support the mission mountain youth crew (mmyc), which is a conservation youth corps of high school students from the confederated salish and kootenai tribal reservation. The mmyc assisted in a variety of stewardship projects, including invasive weed control, hazardous fence removal, and trail and cultural site maintenance.our experiential college field programs hosted over 45 students in 2025. Svc promotes a place-based, case-study approach to conservation and studies process and collaboration to make these lessons applicable in other geographic locations. Students in our programs study wildlife tracking, ecology, natural resource management, and community-based…
$185,706 spent$134,663 earned by the program22% of program spendingPublic information/visitor center:Swan Valley Connections (svc) provides year-round visitor and community services monday friday between 9am 4:30pm. Svc staffs a visitor center located at 6787 hwy 83 in condon that is the primary point of contact for visitors to the swan valley. We provided information and education to 763 visitors who came to the visitor center to get information regarding trails/hiking, camping, fishing, recreation, lodging and wildlife in the valley. We recorded 1,765 minutes of information given to 61 visitors specifically regarding recreation in bear country. Besides being the main source of natural resource-based information for the public, svc has created wildlife and habitat exhibits, developed a resource library focused on local natural resources, wildlife and history, and a small retail shop selling bear spray, maps, firewood permits, and books related to enjoying and understanding the natural beauty of the swan valley. Visitors can also enjoy the view of a bald eagle nest on the property and often the birds themselves.svc's visitor center is an informational hub for visitors and residents alike and a critical resource for professionals working in the…
$119,025 spent$9,266 earned by the program14% of program spendingWildlife & aquatics:located in the heart of one of the last remaining wild and intact landscapes in north america hosting its full complement of native fish and wildlife species, svc's vision is that through exemplary stewardship, the swan watershed and adjacent landscapes will remain wild, resilient places where all people are connected to the natural world. Swan valley bear resources:svc is a collaborative partner in swan valley bear resources (svbr), whose mission is to offer community resources to promote coexistence between people and bears. Svc partners with the u.s. Forest service (usfs), montana fish wildlife & parks (fwp), u.s. Fish & wildlife service (usfws), montana department of natural resources and conservation (dnrc), volunteers, and community members in pursuit of its mission. Svc staff help reduce bear conflicts by offering private property consultations, advice for landowners to minimize bear attractants, a bear-resistant container loaner program, assistance with temporary and permanent electric fencing projects to contain bear attractants, educational events, and outreach. Since its inception, svbr has distributed 530 bear resistant trash containers and built 67…
$189,694 spent$19,409 earned by the program22% of program spendingRecreational trails:from may through november, Swan Valley Connections (svc), in partnership with the u.s. Forest service (usfs), hires a contractor to provide extensive trail and campsite maintenance and restoration, recreation user monitoring, wilderness character monitoring, and visitor education on approximately 95 miles of trail in the mission mountains wilderness and swan front of northwest montana. The trails stewards clean up garbage and maintain over 300 campsites as well as 10 restoration campsites. Each spring trails are opened and then maintained throughout the visitor season in partnership with the u.s. Forest service. In 2025, trail stewards supervised six volunteers, providing 334 hours of service.
$73,041 spent9% of program spendingConservation:Swan Valley Connections (svc) coordinates annual updates from the swan lands coordinating network (slcn) consisting of members from various stakeholders in the swan valley. The mission of the slcn is to coordinate stakeholder activity in the valley and leverage organizational resources to more productively accomplish common goals and objectives. Svc is a member of the southwestern crown collaborative (swcc), which brings together residents, interested citizens, business enterprises, and conservation organizations to consider creative solutions in the management of national forests in the blackfoot, clearwater, and swan river valleys. It is an open, independent, volunteer organization that encourages broad participation by all interested parties. The swcc promotes sustainable forest management, the restoration of watersheds, science-based evaluation of management activities, and opportunities for nearby rural communities to benefit from these lands and waters. Swcc's mission is to work towards a healthy and sustainable landscape in this region taking into account everything from local ecosystems to local economies.
$14,698 spent2% of program spendingElk creek conservation area:Swan Valley Connections (svc) and the confederated salish and kootenai tribes (cskt) each own half of the elk creek conservation area (ecca), a 640-acre parcel of critical bull trout spawning habitat along elk creek. Together, svc and cskt co-manage the conservation area and meet at least once annually to discuss stewardship priorities for the year. A management committee and management plan guide any stewardship actions on the property. The ecca is a demonstration area for best management practices, public tours, and educational opportunities for students, residents, and natural resource professionals.in addition, in 2025 svc worked with the mission mountain youth crew to pile brush along elk flats road to help reduce wildfire risk and hand-pull invasive weeds across the property. A shaded fuel break was completed in 2024 along svc's portion of the ecca, reducing wildfire risk on 18 acres along elk flats road while increasing firefighter effectiveness and safety. Burning of slash piles was completed in 2025swan legacy forest:svc also owns and manages the 160-acre swan legacy forest. A management committee comprised of svc staff, board members, and…
$9,066 spent1% of program spending
The 7 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $857,982.
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 2023 to 2024, from $1.2M to $1.6M (+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: 2017 41% · 2018 23% · 2019 26% · 2020 46% · 2021 51% · 2022 59% · 2023 39% · 2024 32% · 2025 25%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
83% of SWAN VALLEY CONNECTIONS’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (88% 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.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 6 funders to 8 funders, grant income rose $137k → $165k.
10 of 24 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 55% 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 SWAN VALLEY CONNECTIONS’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
SWAN VALLEY CONNECTIONS leans on a few funders — its largest provides 39% of grant income and the top three 70%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
74% 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 SWAN VALLEY CONNECTIONS.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 48% · 2018 50% · 2019 30% · 2020 34% · 2021 68% · 2022 40% · 2023 64% — growing more concentrated.
“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 SWAN VALLEY CONNECTIONS's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 63% 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
55% of SWAN VALLEY CONNECTIONS'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 $837k that is directly attributable, 82% of it comes from funders outside Montana, across 9 states.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $1.0M arriving through sponsors registered in 9 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
SWAN VALLEY CONNECTIONS runs a healthier operating margin than half of the 1,074 environment nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 1,074 environment nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Government funding SWAN VALLEY CONNECTIONS receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $1.6M on record.
- Department of the Interior$956k
- Department of Agriculture$659k
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 SWAN VALLEY CONNECTIONS
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
71% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
80%
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 SWAN VALLEY CONNECTIONS: 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 SWAN VALLEY CONNECTIONS?
- SWAN VALLEY CONNECTIONS (Montana) receives grants from 24 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,877,295 to it, the largest being DONOR ADVISED CHARITABLE GIVING INC ($733,075). 15 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 55% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does SWAN VALLEY CONNECTIONS have?
- IRS filings report 24 organizations giving $1,877,295 in grants to SWAN VALLEY CONNECTIONS, 15 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of SWAN VALLEY CONNECTIONS?
- DONOR ADVISED CHARITABLE GIVING INC is the largest funder on record, with $733,075 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like SWAN VALLEY CONNECTIONS 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.
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