Montana · Nonprofit
WHITEFISH LEGACY PARTNERS INC
WHITEFISH LEGACY PARTNERS INC (Montana) receives grants from 39 organizations whose IRS filings report $4,425,105 to it, the largest being WHITEFISH COMMUNITY FOUNDATION INC ($1,919,808). 23 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 FY2024
- $1.7M
- Funders on record
- 39
- Grants received
- $4.4M
- Net assets
- $4.4M
What Whitefish Legacy Partners Inc does
Mission
Whitefish legacy partners is a non-profit organization whose community-minded vision is to ensure conservation, recreation and education on the lands around whitefish for future generations.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
Recreation: the whitefish trail is our anchor recreation project offering a non-motorized, multi-use trail network and trailheads readily accessed from town. The trail is open to hikers, bikers, and horse users and is comprised of stacked loops, scenic overlooks, single-track trail and gated logging roads. Our vision is to create a 55-mile recreational loop trail around whitefish lake connecting the community of whitefish to the adjacent state and federal lands. Ongoing operations and maintenance is managed through a partnership with the city of whitefish and is funded 100% through the wt endowment fund and whitefish legacy partners. The whitefish trail and trailhead construction to close the loop of the whitefish trail is funded through grants and matching funds raised by whitefish legacy partners. The close the loop efforts will plan, design, and fund the final phases of the whitefish trail by year 2025.
$457,560 spent$84,984 earned by the program58% of program spendingOperations & education: whitefish legacy partners works as the community partner and catalyst to create a natural surface trail system, known as the whitefish trail, encompassing the 13,000 acres of state lands in our stunning backyard. Our work permanently protects and connects these important landscapes, supports the growth of tourism and the local economy, and engages the local community through mutually beneficial and sustainable solutions. Wlp's education and stewardship programs on the whitefish trail offer a unique opportunity to cultivate connections between our community, our natural lands, and our outdoor heritage. Whitefish legacy partners facilitates outings on the trail and we strive to educate locals, visitors, and youth about conservation and the interwoven elements of a thriving forest, scenic viewsheds, clean water, critical wildlife corridors, and quality recreation opportunities. Education and stewardship programs are funded 100% through whitefish legacy partners annual operations, grants, and private fundraising efforts.
$195,772 spent$8,240 earned by the program25% of program spendingConservation: our community conservation projects known locally as smith lake legacy and places worth protecting create a legacy of permanent, public access to clean water, wildlife habitat, uncluttered views, high quality recreation, working forests. Our work creates permanent, public access and trails in sustainable, working forests through a combination of licenses, agreements, easements, land swaps, community forests, community stewardship, and other innovative solutions. Our places worth protecting work identifies our priority conservation strategies, drives the legally complex transactions, and directs the complicated funding mechanisms and opportunities. The smith lake legacy efforts will protect an additional 800 acres by year 2025.
$129,006 spent16% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $782,338.
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 2022 to 2023, from $1.9M to $3.5M (+84%).
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: 2020 7% · 2021 9%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
88% of WHITEFISH LEGACY PARTNERS INC’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than 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 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
Heidi Van Everen
Executive director
Board chair
Reid Sabin
Chair
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 6 funders to 16 funders, grant income rose $135k → $1.5M.
10 of 39 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 WHITEFISH LEGACY PARTNERS INC’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 39 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
WHITEFISH LEGACY PARTNERS INC leans on a few funders — its largest provides 43% of grant income and the top three 73%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
53% 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 WHITEFISH LEGACY PARTNERS INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 94% · 2018 82% · 2019 54% · 2020 67% · 2021 78% · 2022 38% · 2023 53% — 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
68% of WHITEFISH LEGACY PARTNERS INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 59% 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
52% of WHITEFISH LEGACY PARTNERS 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 $2.1M that is directly attributable, 92% of it comes from funders outside Montana, across 12 states.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $2.3M 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
WHITEFISH LEGACY PARTNERS INC runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 2,186 environment nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 2,186 environment nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2024
Government funding WHITEFISH LEGACY PARTNERS INC receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $221k on record.
- Department of Agriculture$221k
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 WHITEFISH LEGACY PARTNERS 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
91% 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 WHITEFISH LEGACY PARTNERS 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 WHITEFISH LEGACY PARTNERS INC?
- WHITEFISH LEGACY PARTNERS INC (Montana) receives grants from 39 organizations whose IRS filings report $4,425,105 to it, the largest being WHITEFISH COMMUNITY FOUNDATION INC ($1,919,808). 23 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 WHITEFISH LEGACY PARTNERS INC have?
- IRS filings report 39 organizations giving $4,425,105 in grants to WHITEFISH LEGACY PARTNERS INC, 23 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of WHITEFISH LEGACY PARTNERS INC?
- WHITEFISH COMMUNITY FOUNDATION INC is the largest funder on record, with $1,919,808 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like WHITEFISH LEGACY PARTNERS 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 Whitefish Legacy Partners →
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 39 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