Moonlight Community Foundation
Big Sky, MT · EIN 80-0941705. Reported 93 grants totalling $2,359,111 to 41 organizations across tax years 2021-2024, on Form 990 Schedule I.
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:
- What kind of organization it is. For Moonlight Community Foundation, the IRS classifies it under environment rather than as a grantmaker (NTEE C30) -- it is an operating charity that also makes grants.
- How spread out its giving is. 41 distinct organizations, with 14% of the dollars going to the largest single recipient. That is genuinely spread out -- the mark of a funder making many independent decisions rather than underwriting one institution.
- How much its list changes. 62% of one year's grantees are funded again the next, across 3 year-to-year transitions. That is about the 57% median for grantmaking charities -- noticeably lower than the 67% private foundations manage. Organizations like this one rotate more of their list each year, which is where an opening for a newcomer tends to be.
How big are its grants?
The median reported grant is $18,500. Half of what it reported fell between $10,000 and $29,595; the smallest was $5,000 and the largest $115,000. If you are asking for materially more than the top of that range, you are asking the wrong organization.
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.
| Organization | Location | Total received | Grants | Years funded | Last |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Big Sky Community Housing Trust | Big Sky, MT | $335,000 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| The Big Sky Community Organization | Big Sky, MT | $315,371 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Wellness in Action | Big Sky, MT | $241,925 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Morningstar Learning Center Inc | Big Sky, MT | $158,000 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Big Sky Sno Inc | Big Sky, MT | $116,917 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Gallatin River Task Force | Big Sky, MT | $103,500 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Crosscut Mountain Sports Center Inc | Bozeman, MT | $90,000 | 3 | 3 | 2023 |
| Human Resource Development Council of District Ix Inc | Bozeman, MT | $81,200 | 3 | 3 | 2024 |
| Friends of Big Sky Education | Big Sky, MT | $73,000 | 5 | 3 | 2024 |
| Climate Conservation | Bozeman, MT | $57,500 | 3 | 3 | 2024 |
| Big Sky Rotary Foundation | Big Sky, MT | $55,000 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Big Sky Ski Education Foundation | Big Sky, MT | $50,000 | 3 | 3 | 2024 |
| One Valley Community Foundation | Bozeman, MT | $50,000 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Rimrock Foundation | Billings, MT | $49,595 | 2 | 2 | 2023 |
| Fobse for Big Sky School District Local Food and Sustainability Project | Big Sky, MT | $48,967 | 3 | 3 | 2024 |
| Big Brothers Big Sisters of Big Sky Country | Bozeman, MT | $48,500 | 3 | 3 | 2024 |
| Bienvenidos a Gallatin Valley | Bozeman, MT | $47,300 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Big Sky School Parent Teacher Organization | Gallatin Gateway, MT | $45,000 | 2 | 1 | 2024 |
| Greater Gallatin United Way Inc | Bozeman, MT | $41,000 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Grow Wild Inc | Bozeman, MT | $38,900 | 3 | 3 | 2024 |
| World Language Initiative Mt | Bozeman, MT | $36,000 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Hatch | Bozeman, MT | $30,000 | 2 | 2 | 2022 |
| Arts Council of Big Sky | Big Sky, MT | $27,500 | 3 | 3 | 2024 |
| Montana Land Reliance | Helena, MT | $27,500 | 2 | 2 | 2022 |
| Bozeman Deaconess Foundation | Bozeman, MT | $25,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Montana State University Foundation | Bozeman, MT | $21,500 | 3 | 2 | 2023 |
| Hatch | Bozeman, MT | $18,000 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Thrive Inc | Bozeman, MT | $17,500 | 2 | 2 | 2023 |
| Friends of the Big Sky Community Library | Big Sky, MT | $15,500 | 2 | 2 | 2023 |
| Red Lodge Area Community Foundation | Red Lodge, MT | $15,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Big Opportunities | Big Sky, MT | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Rileys Urgent Fund for Friends | Gallatin Gateway, MT | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Big Sky Parent Teacher Organization | Gallatin Gtwy, MT | $8,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Montana State University - Health & Human Development | Bozeman, MT | $8,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Eagle Mount - Bozeman | Bozeman, MT | $7,500 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Montana Land Reliance | Helena, MT | $7,500 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Montana State University | Bozeman, MT | $7,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Yellowstone Club Community Foundation | Bozeman, MT | $5,936 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Big Sky Futbol | Big Sky, MT | $5,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Dirt Concern | Bozeman, MT | $5,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Friends of Montana Shakespeare in the Parks | Bozeman, MT | $5,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
27 of 41 (66%) 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.
- Big Sky Community Housing Trust
GOOD DEEDS AND RENT LOCAL INCENTIVE PROGRAM - Big Sky Community Organization
BSCO WILL USE THIS FUNDING TO FOCUS ON THEIR CORE PROGRAMS AND OPERATIONAL SUPPORT TO MANAGE AREA PARKS AND TRAILS, AS WELL AS FOR BASE COMMUNITY CENTER BUILDING DEFICIT, AND COMMUNITY PARK IMPROVEMENTS. - Wellness in Action
AFFORDABLE COUNSELING PROGRAM - Morningstar Learning Center
SUSTAINABLE CHILDCARE OPERATIONS - Crosscut Mountain Sports Center
FUNDS USED FOR THE PURCHASE OF TRAPPERS CREEK CABIN - Big Sky Sno
FUNDS WIL BE USED FOR CLIMATE ACTION PLAN IMPLEMENTATION LAUNCH TO APPLY SOLUTIONS-DRIVEN EFFORTS, SUPPORTING THE REDUCTION OF GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS COMMUNITY-WIDE. FUNDS WILL ALSO BE USED FOR DATA PROCUREMENT AND MONITORING.
What kind of organizations it funds
By each recipient's own IRS classification, for the 30 of 41 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.
Giving by year
| Tax year | Grants reported | Total | Median grant |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 17 | $319,436 | $15,000 |
| 2022 | 26 | $587,134 | $12,608 |
| 2023 | 25 | $685,341 | $20,000 |
| 2024 | 25 | $767,200 | $20,250 |
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
Find more funders like Moonlight Community Foundation
We read newly filed IRS returns and email you the grantmakers whose giving matches your state and cause, as they are published. Free.
No spam, unsubscribe in one click. We never sell or share your address.
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.
How to approach this grantmaker
- 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.
- Check you are its size. The median reported grant is $18,500 -- and because grants under $5,000 need not be reported, it very likely writes smaller cheques than this page can see.
- Check you are in its geography. Its giving concentrates in Montana.
- 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.
Where these numbers come from
Everything above is taken from Moonlight Community Foundation's own Form 990 Schedule I 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: Po Box 161013, Big Sky, MT, 59716.
EIN 80-0941705 · See the original filings on ProPublica · How we build this
Is something here wrong about your organization? Email hello@funderscope.com and we will correct it.