Montana · Nonprofit
TRIGG - C M RUSSELL FOUNDATION INC
TRIGG - C M RUSSELL FOUNDATION INC (Montana) receives grants from 47 organizations whose IRS filings report $7,618,208 to it, the largest being VANGUARD CHARITABLE ENDOWMENT PROGRAM ($3,103,000). 25 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
- $6.9M
- Funders on record
- 47
- Grants received
- $7.6M
- Net assets
- $31M
What Trigg - C M Russell Foundation Inc does
Mission
The mission of the trigg-c.m. Russell foundation, inc. (d.b.a. The c.m. Russell museum) is to collect, preserve, research, interpret and educate on the art and life of charles m. Russell; the art and life of his contemporaries; and the art of preceding and ensuing generations that depicts and focuses on the culture, life and country of russell's west.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Collections and exhibitions:in 2025, the c.m. Russell museum welcomed 30,584 visitors in person and virtually. The museum continued to display the works of charles m. Russell thematically, supported by permanent galleries such as a collector's vision: c.m. Russell work from collector tom petrie, tales from the saddle: come ride along, selections from the collection, and inventing the west & manufacturing the world.the museum presented twelve major rotating exhibitions, including discovering russell: the mckay collection; modest yet masterful: small scale masterworks by charles m. Russell; capturing the west: joseph henry sharp & edward s. Curtis; expedition west: a journey on the upper missouri, 18321834; is it a real russell?; before the cowboy artist: the early works of charles m. Russell; inner light: the art of tom gilleon; corwin "corky" clairmont: a retrospective of activism and art; the photographs of robert osborn; greetings from charlie; speechless: the art of blackfeet artist john louis clarke; and the russell exhibition and sale.the museum hosted free evening exhibit openings for members and, to ensure affordable access for the community, offered one free saturday…
$513,805 spent$2,107,395 earned by the program59% of program spendingMuseum services:the trigg-russell foundation, inc. Operates and maintains the c.m. Russell museum in alignment with its mission. Operations staff ensured safety and security for visitors, staff, volunteers, and collections during all open hours. Maintenance staff supported the facility and grounds, while guest relations welcomed and served museum visitors.museum services included event coordination, membership, volunteer management, and the museum store, which promotes the museum's image through merchandise connected to charles m. Russell and western art. The museum also offered free community programs such as lectures, saddles & spurs, and the annual symposium, helping sustain visitation, membership, and volunteer participation while reinforcing the museum's role as a cultural and educational resource.
$262,764 spent$112,294 earned by the program30% of program spendingEducation/public programs:to support its mission, the museum offered free admission during western art week, which served 715 community members. The museum also hosted a public symposium featuring scholars in western art and history. During 2025, 820 fourth- and fifth-grade students toured the museum as preparation for the 55th annual fifth-grade essay contest, in which students wrote on the theme "why charlie russell is important." winning essays were recognized at a public proclamation ceremony.other education programs reached broad audiences: 966 attendees participated in saddles & spurs, a family-oriented arts-and-crafts event; 90 community members attended sunday sampler, a collaborative effort with the great falls museums consortium; and 294 attendees joined lectures and educational programs, many offered virtually to extend access beyond great falls. Education staff continued to adapt offerings to ensure safe in-person opportunities while broadening virtual reach.
$87,237 spent$3,660 earned by the program10% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $863,806.
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 2024 to 2025, from $28M to $31M (+13%).
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 4% · 2018 1% · 2019 1% · 2020 4% · 2021 11% · 2022 0% · 2023 0% · 2024 6% · 2025 5%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
43% of TRIGG - C M RUSSELL FOUNDATION INC’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (63% 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.
Board chair
Anne Martinez
Chair/director
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 10 funders to 18 funders, grant income rose $151k → $633k.
9 of 47 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 TRIGG - C M RUSSELL FOUNDATION INC’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 47 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
TRIGG - C M RUSSELL FOUNDATION INC leans on a few funders — its largest provides 41% of grant income and the top three 68%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
57% 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 TRIGG - C M RUSSELL FOUNDATION INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 35% · 2018 40% · 2019 46% · 2020 46% · 2021 30% · 2022 83% · 2023 53% — 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
52% of TRIGG - C M RUSSELL FOUNDATION INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 53% 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 TRIGG - C M RUSSELL FOUNDATION 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 $3.4M that is directly attributable, 80% of it comes from funders outside Montana, across 17 states.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $4.2M arriving through sponsors registered in 7 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
TRIGG - C M RUSSELL FOUNDATION INC runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 3,230 arts & culture nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 3,230 arts & culture nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Government funding TRIGG - C M RUSSELL FOUNDATION INC receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $136k on record.
- National Endowment for the Humanities$133k
- Department of State$3k
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 TRIGG - C M RUSSELL 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
23% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
67%
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 TRIGG - C M RUSSELL 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 TRIGG - C M RUSSELL FOUNDATION INC?
- TRIGG - C M RUSSELL FOUNDATION INC (Montana) receives grants from 47 organizations whose IRS filings report $7,618,208 to it, the largest being VANGUARD CHARITABLE ENDOWMENT PROGRAM ($3,103,000). 25 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 TRIGG - C M RUSSELL FOUNDATION INC have?
- IRS filings report 47 organizations giving $7,618,208 in grants to TRIGG - C M RUSSELL FOUNDATION INC, 25 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of TRIGG - C M RUSSELL FOUNDATION INC?
- VANGUARD CHARITABLE ENDOWMENT PROGRAM is the largest funder on record, with $3,103,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like TRIGG - C M RUSSELL 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.
Play a game about who funds Trigg - C M Russell →
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 47 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