Montana · Nonprofit
UPPER SEVEN LAW
UPPER SEVEN LAW (Montana) receives grants from 22 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,584,489 to it, the largest being ROCKEFELLER PHILANTHROPY ADVISORS INC ($375,000). 8 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 52% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $1.3M
- Funders on record
- 22
- Grants received
- $1.6M
- Net assets
- $575k
What Upper Seven Law does
Mission
Upper Seven Law is dedicated to holding the powerful accountable and advocating for the constitutional rights of all montanans.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Upper Seven Law is a nonprofit, nonpartisian law firm dedicated to holding the powerful accountable. In 2025, Upper Seven Law maintained twelve active cases in state and federal court and two broad-ranging litigation projects. Among other examples, we challenged the governor's unconstitutional appointment of a sitting legislator as commerce department director, we defended montanans' voting rights, and through our national health service corps waiver project, we saved clients more than $565,000 in punitive fines. In decemeber, we were granted summary judgement in montana quality education coalition v. Gianforte, challenging education savings accounts that diverted public school funds to private individuals without sufficient state oversight.
$840,974 spent$592,020 earned by the program78% of program spendingIn 2025, the montana constitution roadshow completed 121 stops, traveled to 41 towns, spent 76 days on the road, and presented to 3,284 montanans. This program encourages montanans to better understand the history and context of the montana constitution, constitutions more generally, and to know more of the particular constitutional rights protected in the montana constitution. By hitting the road, we have engaged directly with the people we represent, made our work more accessible, and offered montanans an opportuinity to reengage with civic life and civic education.
$241,972 spent$60,500 earned by the program22% of program spending
The 2 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $1,082,946.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2021, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2021, 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 $415k to $610k (+47%).
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: 2021 0% · 2022 0% · 2023 11% · 2024 2% · 2025 7%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
99% of UPPER SEVEN LAW’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (97% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 0 of the last 5 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
Rylee Sommers-Flanagan
Executive director
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2021 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 11 funders, grant income rose $130k → $309k.
7 of 22 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 52% 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 UPPER SEVEN LAW’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
UPPER SEVEN LAW has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 24% of grant income, and it takes 3 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 3 funders to its left
82% 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 UPPER SEVEN LAW.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2021 100% · 2022 59% · 2023 35% — 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.
Where its funders are
52% of UPPER SEVEN LAW'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 $763k that is directly attributable, 72% 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. $821k 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.
Against its field
UPPER SEVEN LAW has grown faster than three-quarters of the 431 civil rights nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 431 civil rights nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Organizations like UPPER SEVEN LAW
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
81% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
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 UPPER SEVEN LAW: 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 UPPER SEVEN LAW?
- UPPER SEVEN LAW (Montana) receives grants from 22 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,584,489 to it, the largest being ROCKEFELLER PHILANTHROPY ADVISORS INC ($375,000). 8 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 52% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does UPPER SEVEN LAW have?
- IRS filings report 22 organizations giving $1,584,489 in grants to UPPER SEVEN LAW, 8 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of UPPER SEVEN LAW?
- ROCKEFELLER PHILANTHROPY ADVISORS INC is the largest funder on record, with $375,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like UPPER SEVEN LAW 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 Upper Seven Law →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2021–2025), and the filings of 22 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