GrantmakersMontana

Greater Yellowstone Coalition

Bozeman, MT · EIN 81-0414042. Reported 35 grants totalling $5,125,388 to 25 organizations across tax years 2020-2023, on Form 990 Schedule I.

25organizations funded
$10,000median reported grant
$5,125,388granted, 2020-2023
33%of grantees funded again the next year
79%of dollars to its largest recipient

Does this grantmaker accept applications?

Its tax return does not say, and we will not guess. Private foundations file Form 990-PF, which asks outright whether they fund only organizations they select themselves -- 78% say yes, and that one answer is what lets the rest of this site tell you which foundations are worth approaching. Grantmaking charities like this one file a regular Form 990 instead, and the IRS never puts the question to them. Anyone claiming to know the answer from the filing is inventing it.

Three things in the filing do bear on it:

  1. What kind of organization it is. For Greater Yellowstone Coalition, the IRS classifies it under environment rather than as a grantmaker (NTEE C90) -- it is an operating charity that also makes grants.
  2. How spread out its giving is. 25 distinct organizations, with 79% of the dollars going to the largest single recipient. That is extreme concentration. A grantmaker sending three quarters of its money to one organization is in practice a support fund for that organization, whatever its classification says, and an unsolicited request is very unlikely to go anywhere.
  3. How much its list changes. 33% of one year's grantees are funded again the next, across 3 year-to-year transitions. That is below the 57% median for grantmaking charities, and well below the 67% private foundations manage. A list that turns over this much is one a newcomer can realistically join.

How big are its grants?

The median reported grant is $10,000. Half of what it reported fell between $7,500 and $25,000; the smallest was $5,500 and the largest $4,042,460. If you are asking for materially more than the top of that range, you are asking the wrong organization.

Schedule I only reports grants over $5,000. Form 990 requires a charity to list recipients it paid more than that and lets it omit the rest, so every grant-size figure on this page describes the grants it reported, not all of them. Its real median is lower and its real recipient count is higher. This is also why these numbers cannot be compared with the private-foundation figures elsewhere on this site -- Form 990-PF has no reporting floor, so the two are different populations rather than two samples of one.
$5,000 - $10,000
12 grants
$10,000 - $25,000
14 grants
$25,000 - $50,000
3 grants
$100,000 - $250,000
4 grants
$250,000 Or More
2 grants

2 of those grants were non-cash -- goods, property or services worth $4,057,960 in total. In-kind giving is real support but it is not a cheque.

Every organization it funded

This is the complete list from its filings, largest first. Recipients are grouped by the EIN the filer reported, not by name, so an organization that was typed differently in two years appears once rather than twice.

OrganizationLocationTotal receivedGrantsYears fundedLast
Bureau of Land ManagementWashington, DC$4,042,460112023
Yellowstone ForeverBozeman, MT$250,000112020
Usda Forest ServicePortland, OR$244,582222023
Forest ServiceBozeman, MT$140,500112022
Wy Wildlifenatural Rsc TrustCheyenne, WY$100,000112020
Legacy Philanthropy WorksSanta Barbara, CA$46,096222021
Centennial Valley Association IncDillon, MT$30,000442023
Idaho Fish and Wildlife Foundation IncBoise, ID$30,000222023
Tom Miner Basin AssocEmigrant, MT$30,000442023
Buffalo Bill Memorial AssociationCody, WY$25,000112020
Political Economy Research Center IncBozeman, MT$25,000112021
Wyoming Wilderness AssocSheridan, WY$21,500112022
Henrys Fork Wildlife Alliance IncAshton, ID$16,250222022
National Wildlife FederationReston, VA$15,000112023
Usda AphisSt Louis, MO$15,000112020
Western Ecosystems TechnologyCheyenne, WY$15,000112020
Climate ConservationBozeman, MT$10,000112021
Idaho Dept of Fish and GameIsland Park, ID$10,000112020
Jackson Hole Wildlife FoundationJackson, WY$10,000112022
Mountain Time ArtsBozeman, MT$10,000112021
Northern Rockies Conservation CooperativeJackson, WY$10,000112021
Trout Unlimited IncArlington, VA$10,000112023
Gateway Arch & FenceBozeman, MT$7,500112020
Ruby Valley Conservation DistSheridan, MT$6,000112022
Friends of the Bridger-TetonJackson, WY$5,500112022

6 of 25 (24%) received money in more than one year over the 4 years we hold. Remember the $5,000 floor: an organization funded every year at $3,000 shows up here as never funded at all.

What the money was for

Taken verbatim from the purpose column of its filings, largest first. This is the closest thing to a statement of what it funds, in its own words.

What kind of organizations it funds

By each recipient's own IRS classification, for the 13 of 25 recipients we could match to a registered organization. These are assigned categories, not our guesses -- Schedule I reports the recipient's EIN, so this is a lookup rather than a name match.

Environment
6 orgs
Animal Welfare
4 orgs
Arts & Culture
2 orgs
Public & Societal Benefit
1 org

Giving by year

Tax yearGrants reportedTotalMedian grant
202011$593,629$15,000
20218$91,217$10,000
20229$223,500$10,000
20237$4,217,042$15,000

Tax years, not calendar years, and the most recent year is usually incomplete -- Form 990 arrives about a year after the year it covers, so a low final year means late paperwork rather than a grantmaker winding down.

Where its money goes

79% of its giving went to organizations in District of Columbia. Community foundations and federated funds are usually the most geographically bounded funders there are -- being outside the footprint is normally disqualifying in a way that a weak programme fit is not.

District of Columbia
$4.0M
Montana
$509K
Oregon
$245K
Wyoming
$187K
Idaho
$56K
California
$46K
Virginia
$25K
Missouri
$15K

Down to the city

Washington, DC
$4.0M
Bozeman, MT
$443K
Portland, OR
$245K
Cheyenne, WY
$115K
Santa Barbara, CA
$46K
Dillon, MT
$30K

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Funders that support the same organizations

These grantmakers and private foundations gave to organizations this one also funded. Shared grantees are the strongest signal available 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 Fund8 shared recipientsDonor Advised Charitable Giving Inc8 shared recipientsCommunity Foundation of Jackson Hole7 shared recipientsNational Philanthropic Trust6 shared recipientsMarin Community Foundation6 shared recipientsNational Fish and Wildlife Foundation6 shared recipients

How to approach this grantmaker

  1. Look for a published programme first. Unlike most private foundations, organizations of this kind often do run open, deadlined grant cycles with written guidelines. Its own website is the authority on that; this page is the authority on who it has actually paid.
  2. Check you are its size. The median reported grant is $10,000 -- and because grants under $5,000 need not be reported, it very likely writes smaller cheques than this page can see.
  3. Check you are in its geography. Its giving concentrates in District of Columbia.
  4. Read the recipient list for organizations like yours. If nothing on it resembles your work, that is a real answer and a cheap one to get.

Related guides

Foundations funding environment in District of ColumbiaEvery funder in this group, rankedFoundations funding arts & culture in District of ColumbiaEvery funder in this group, rankedFoundations funding public & societal benefit in District of ColumbiaEvery funder in this group, ranked

Where these numbers come from

Everything above is taken from Greater Yellowstone Coalition's own Form 990 Schedule I filings, which the IRS publishes in bulk. We used 4 returns (tax years 2020-2023). Nothing here is scraped, inferred or estimated.

On its most recent return it told the IRS it made grants to 5 section 501(c)(3) organizations and 2 other organizations. That is the filer's own count for one year; the totals above cover every year we hold.

Address of record on the latest return: 215 South Wallace Ave, Bozeman, MT, 59715.

EIN 81-0414042 · See the original filings on ProPublica · How we build this

This is history, not an open call. Form 990 is published about a year after the tax year it covers. Nothing on this page is a deadline. It is a record of who this organization has actually funded, which is the best available predictor of who it will fund next.

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