Montana · Nonprofit
THE VITAL GROUND FOUNDATION INC
THE VITAL GROUND FOUNDATION INC (Montana) receives grants from 88 organizations whose IRS filings report $10,739,688 to it, the largest being The Humane Society Wildlife Land Trust ($2,593,000). 59 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $5.1M
- Funders on record
- 88
- Grants received
- $11M
- Net assets
- $24M
What The Vital Ground Foundation Inc does
Mission
Vital ground works to ensure the recovery and long-term survival of grizzly bears and the many native species that share their range through the protection and restoration of wildlife habitat and landscape linkages, and by supporting community-based programs that prevent conflicts between people and wildlife.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
Land conservation: vital ground identifies crucial grizzly bear habitat on privately owned land and works with willing landowners to protect the land's conservation values. This is accomplished by acquiring conservation easements through donation or bargain purchase, or by purchasing land in fee title then managing it to benefit wildlife and the public. Vital ground has a perpetual responsibility to monitor the lands on which it holds conservation easements to ensure compliance with the terms of the conservation easements. Vital ground also manages and works to restore the land it owns to provide quality habitat for the benefit of grizzly bears and other wildlife. In addition to developing and managing its own projects, vital ground strategically provides grants to agencies, governmental entities and other nonprofit conservation organizations to assist their efforts to conserve and restore important wildlife habitat and prevent conflicts between bears and people.2025 accomplishments include:conservation easements - acquired four conservation easements in montana totaling 5,220 acres to protect highly threatened grizzly bear habitat within and between the northern continental…
$5,535,054 spent86% of program spendingConservation education: vital ground provides information about grizzly bear and associated wildlife habitat conservation through its print and digital publications, special mailings, website, email communications, social media, in-person and online events, videos and other media opportunities. The organization also participates in collaborative educational programs to promote the conservation of grizzly bears and their habitat, prevent conflicts between bears and humans and enhance the survival of grizzly bears. 2025 accomplishments include:- produced roughly 12,000 copies of vital news, the organization's biannual 16-page print newsletter that reports on grizzly bear and wildlife habitat conservation issues as well as project opportunities and accomplishments.- produced 12 monthly email newsletters ("vital enews") plus 1-2 other email campaigns per month, each distributed to approximately 11,000 unique recipients (430,239 total communications). These electronic communications reported on grizzly bear and wildlife habitat conservation issues, emerging project opportunities, conservation accomplishments, conservation and business partners, funding needs and other opportunities to…
$799,400 spentof which $4,699 as grants12% of program spendingOther: in addition to its habitat conservation and conservation education programs, the vital ground foundation also partners with federal, state, and tribal agencies, other nonprofit organizations and local community groups to support programs preventing conflicts between bears and people. Through its 2025 conservation partners program, vital ground awarded $75,000 in small grants to 17 communities, organizations and agencies working to prevent conflicts between bears and people in 16 high priority landscapes. These investments helped:- install 25 electric fences around a track field, fruit orchards, calving pastures, goat pasture, and chicken coops.- protect 28,000 acres by retiring a federal grazing allotment- reach 86,000 people at education and outreach events- monitor 7,000 acres through range riding activities across the state- secure wildlife attractants in five public campgrounds - glean 225 pounds of fruit that could otherwise attract bears into proximity of humans- deploy 33 bear resistant trash cans - remove 500 domestic livestock carcasses from high conflict areas- purchase two drones for state agency use in managing bears - refurbish two grizzly bear tracking…
$75,000 spentof which $75,000 as grants1% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $6,409,454.
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 2022 to 2023, from $17M to $22M (+27%).
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 2% · 2018 3% · 2019 12% · 2020 26% · 2021 3% · 2022 1% · 2023 2% · 2024 12%. 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 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
Ryan Lutey
Executive director
Board chair
Ken Hick
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 14 funders to 40 funders, grant income rose $170k → $1.6M.
19 of 88 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 24% 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 THE VITAL GROUND FOUNDATION INC’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 88 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
THE VITAL GROUND FOUNDATION INC has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 24% of grant income, and it takes 4 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 4 funders to its left
54% 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 THE VITAL GROUND FOUNDATION INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 25% · 2018 20% · 2019 12% · 2020 60% · 2021 32% · 2022 56% · 2023 44% — 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
47% of THE VITAL GROUND FOUNDATION INC'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
THE VITAL GROUND FOUNDATION INC draws 89% of its grant income from funders outside Montana, across 25 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $2.6M arriving through sponsors registered in 16 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.
Government funding THE VITAL GROUND FOUNDATION INC receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $20k on record.
- Department of Agriculture$20k
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 THE VITAL GROUND FOUNDATION 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
77% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
88%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 29 states
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for THE VITAL GROUND FOUNDATION 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 THE VITAL GROUND FOUNDATION INC?
- THE VITAL GROUND FOUNDATION INC (Montana) receives grants from 88 organizations whose IRS filings report $10,739,688 to it, the largest being The Humane Society Wildlife Land Trust ($2,593,000). 59 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does THE VITAL GROUND FOUNDATION INC have?
- IRS filings report 88 organizations giving $10,739,688 in grants to THE VITAL GROUND FOUNDATION INC, 59 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of THE VITAL GROUND FOUNDATION INC?
- The Humane Society Wildlife Land Trust is the largest funder on record, with $2,593,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like THE VITAL GROUND FOUNDATION 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.
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 88 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 22, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing