FundersAlabama

The Montague Family Foundation

Birmingham, AL · EIN 63-1181945. Reported 38 grants totalling $334,717 to 21 organizations across tax years 2021-2024. This foundation did not tell the IRS it funds only preselected organizations.

Yesaccepts unsolicited requests
$625median grant
$334,717granted, 2021-2024
21organizations funded
55%of grantees funded again the next year

Does this foundation accept applications?

Yes -- on its own tax return. Form 990-PF asks every private foundation whether it makes grants only to organizations it selects itself. Of the 91,758 foundations in our data that made a grant and answered, 78% said yes -- and applying to those is wasted effort. The Montague Family Foundation did not check that box on its most recent filing, which puts it in the minority that is at least open to being approached.

This is the foundation's own statement to the IRS, not our judgement, and it says nothing about whether they have a form, a deadline, or an appetite for new grantees. Treat it as the reason this foundation is worth your research time, not as an invitation. Many small foundations of this kind have no website and no application process -- a letter of inquiry is the normal first step.

How big are its grants?

The median grant is $625. Half of everything it gave fell between $150 and $2,000; the smallest was $50 and the largest $273,117. If you are asking for materially more than the top of that range, you are asking the wrong foundation.

Under $1,000
20 grants
$1,000 - $5,000
9 grants
$5,000 - $10,000
8 grants
$100,000 and Up
1 grant

Every organization it funded

This is the complete list from its filings, largest first. Years funded is the number of separate tax years in which the organization received money -- more than one means a real relationship rather than a one-off.

OrganizationLocationTotal receivedGrantsYears fundedLast
Montague Family DafCincinnati, OH$273,117112024
Mountain Brook Presbyterian ChurchBirmingham, AL$19,950332023
The Big Oak RanchSpringville, AL$15,000332023
First LightBirmingham, AL$11,000332023
Jimmie Hale MissionBirmingham, AL$3,000332023
Frontier FellowshipRichfield, MN$2,500222023
Grandview Christian ChurchJohnson City, TN$2,500222023
Chris and Patricia Burns Junior Golf FoundationFlorence, AL$2,000112023
Grace Baptist ChurchNew Market, AL$1,500112022
University of Florida FoundationGainesville, FL$850332023
Presbyterian Home for ChildrenTalladega, AL$750112023
Saint Thomas More AcademySanford, FL$500112023
Friends of SmithsonianWashington, DC$450332023
University of Tennessee FoundationKnoxville, TN$450222022
French Camp AcademyFrench Camp, MS$400222023
Mountain Brook Baptist ChurchBirmingham, AL$200222022
Troy University FoundationTroy, AL$200112022
National GeographicWashington, DC$100112023
St Luke's Episcopal ChurchMountain Brook, AL$100112021
St Mary's on the HighlandBirmingham, AL$100112022
Shades Valley Presbyterian ChurchMountain Brook, AL$50112021

11 of 21 (52%) received money in more than one year over the 4 years we hold.

Measured the way we measure every foundation -- what share of one year's grantees are funded again the next -- this one retains 55%, across 3 year-to-year transitions. The median foundation retains about 67%, so this one is less consistent than most. A high number means its list is close to settled and a newcomer has to displace someone; a low one means it is still moving money around, which is where an opening is.

What the money was for

Taken verbatim from the purpose field of its filings. This is the closest thing to a statement of what this foundation cares about, in its own words.

What kind of organizations it funds

By the recipient's own IRS classification, for the 16 grants where we could identify the organization. These are assigned categories, not our guesses.

Education
8 grants
Human Services
3 grants
Housing & Shelter
3 grants
Religion
2 grants

Giving by year

Tax yearGrantsTotalMedian grant
202113$20,050$250
202211$18,950$300
202313$22,600$750
20241$273,117$273,117

Tax years, not calendar years, and the most recent year is usually incomplete -- filings arrive about a year late, so a low final year means late paperwork rather than a foundation winding down.

Where its money goes

Foundations concentrate geographically far more than their mission statements suggest. 82% of this one's giving went to organizations in Ohio. If you are outside its footprint, that matters more than how well your programme fits.

Ohio
$273K
Alabama
$54K
Tennessee
$3K
Minnesota
$2K
Florida
$1K
District of Columbia
$550
Mississippi
$400

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Funders that support the same organizations

These funders gave to organizations this one also funded -- some private foundations, some community foundations and other grantmaking charities. Shared grantees are the strongest available signal that two funders have overlapping priorities, and a funder already backing your peers is a far warmer prospect than one that merely lists your cause.

Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund9 shared recipientsDonor Advised Charitable Giving Inc9 shared recipientsNatl Christian Charitable Fdn Inc7 shared recipientsThe Community Foundation of Greater5 shared recipientsAmerican Online Giving Foundation Inc5 shared recipientsMorgan Stanley Global Impact Funding Trust Inc5 shared recipients

How to approach this foundation

  1. Check you are its size. The median grant is $625. Asking for ten times that is the most common way small organizations waste a submission.
  2. Check you are in its geography. Its giving is concentrated in Ohio.
  3. Read the recipient list above for organizations like yours. If nothing on it resembles your work, that is a real answer, and a cheap one to get.
  4. Look up the current filing before writing. The 990-PF names the foundation's officers and, where one exists, its application procedure. We link it below.

Related guides

Foundations funding education in OhioEvery funder in this group, ranked

Where these numbers come from

Everything above is taken from The Montague Family Foundation's own Form 990-PF filings, which the IRS publishes in bulk. We used 4 returns (tax years 2021-2024). Nothing here is scraped, inferred, or estimated.

Address of record on the latest return: 9 Innisbrook Lane, Birmingham, AL, 35242. This is the address the foundation gave the IRS; many small foundations file through an accountant or a bank trust department, so it may not be where post to a programme officer should go.

EIN 63-1181945 · See the original filings on ProPublica · How we build this

This is history, not an open call. Foundation returns are published about a year after the tax year ends. Nothing on this page is a deadline. It is a record of who this foundation has actually funded, which is the best available predictor of who it will fund next -- and a much better basis for deciding whether to write to them than a mission statement.

Is something here wrong about your foundation? Email [email protected] and we will correct it.