Moonlight Community Foundation
Big Sky, MT · EIN 80-0941705. Reported 129 grants totalling $3,304,380 to 51 organizations across tax years 2021-2025, 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. 51 distinct organizations, with 13% 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. 69% of one year's grantees are funded again the next, across 4 year-to-year transitions. That is about the 56% median for grantmaking charities -- lower than the 67% median for private foundations. It describes the organizations it already funds, not whether it would consider a new one.
How big are its grants?
The median reported grant is $16,000. Half of what it reported fell between $10,000 and $30,000; the smallest was $1,000 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 | $415,000 | 5 | 5 | 2025 |
| The Big Sky Community Organization | Big Sky, MT | $411,691 | 5 | 5 | 2025 |
| Wellness in Action | Big Sky, MT | $341,925 | 5 | 5 | 2025 |
| Morningstar Learning Center Inc | Big Sky, MT | $228,000 | 5 | 5 | 2025 |
| Big Sky School Parent Teacher Organization | Gallatin Gateway, MT | $158,800 | 3 | 2 | 2025 |
| Big Sky Sno Inc | Big Sky, MT | $157,057 | 5 | 5 | 2025 |
| Gallatin River Task Force | Big Sky, MT | $138,500 | 5 | 5 | 2025 |
| Human Resource Development Council of District Ix Inc | Bozeman, MT | $127,860 | 4 | 4 | 2025 |
| Big Sky Rotary Foundation | Big Sky, MT | $102,500 | 3 | 3 | 2025 |
| Crosscut Mountain Sports Center Inc | Bozeman, MT | $90,000 | 3 | 3 | 2023 |
| One Valley Community Foundation | Bozeman, MT | $90,000 | 3 | 3 | 2025 |
| Friends of Big Sky Education | Big Sky, MT | $82,000 | 6 | 4 | 2025 |
| Friends of Big Sky Education | Big Sky, MT | $73,967 | 4 | 4 | 2025 |
| Bienvenidos a Gallatin Valley | Bozeman, MT | $72,300 | 3 | 3 | 2025 |
| Big Sky Ski Education Foundation | Big Sky, MT | $70,000 | 4 | 4 | 2025 |
| Greater Gallatin United Way Inc | Bozeman, MT | $61,000 | 3 | 3 | 2025 |
| Big Brothers Big Sisters of Big Sky Country | Bozeman, MT | $58,500 | 4 | 4 | 2025 |
| Climate Conservation | Bozeman, MT | $57,500 | 3 | 3 | 2024 |
| World Language Initiative Mt | Bozeman, MT | $56,000 | 3 | 3 | 2025 |
| Rimrock Foundation | Billings, MT | $49,595 | 2 | 2 | 2023 |
| Grow Wild Inc | Bozeman, MT | $48,900 | 4 | 4 | 2025 |
| Arts Council of Big Sky | Big Sky, MT | $42,500 | 4 | 4 | 2025 |
| Hatch | Bozeman, MT | $30,000 | 2 | 2 | 2022 |
| Hatch | Bozeman, MT | $28,000 | 3 | 3 | 2025 |
| Montana Land Reliance | Helena, MT | $27,500 | 2 | 2 | 2022 |
| Montana State University Foundation | Bozeman, MT | $26,000 | 4 | 3 | 2025 |
| Bozeman Deaconess Foundation | Bozeman, MT | $25,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Dirt Concern | Bozeman, MT | $20,000 | 2 | 2 | 2025 |
| Thrive Inc | Bozeman, MT | $17,500 | 2 | 2 | 2023 |
| Big Sky Futbol | Big Sky, MT | $17,000 | 2 | 2 | 2025 |
| Friends of the Big Sky Community Library | Big Sky, MT | $15,500 | 2 | 2 | 2023 |
| Eagle Mount - Bozeman | Bozeman, MT | $15,000 | 2 | 2 | 2025 |
| Gallatin River Child Care | Big Sky, MT | $15,000 | 1 | 1 | 2025 |
| Montana State University | Bozeman, MT | $15,000 | 3 | 2 | 2025 |
| Red Lodge Area Community Foundation | Red Lodge, MT | $15,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Big Opportunities | Big Sky, MT | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| MT64 Hockey Association Inc | Big Sky, MT | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2025 |
| 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 |
| Befrienders | Bozeman, MT | $7,500 | 1 | 1 | 2025 |
| Family Promise of Gallatin Valley Inc | Bozeman, MT | $7,500 | 1 | 1 | 2025 |
| Montana Land Reliance | Helena, MT | $7,500 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Yellowstone Club Community Foundation | Bozeman, MT | $5,936 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Bozeman Symphony Society | Bozeman, MT | $5,000 | 1 | 1 | 2025 |
| Friends of Montana Shakespeare in the Parks | Bozeman, MT | $5,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Roots Family Collaborative | Bozeman, MT | $5,000 | 1 | 1 | 2025 |
| Jack Creek Preserve Foundation Inc | Ennis, MT | $4,777 | 1 | 1 | 2025 |
| Lone Peak Film Institute | Gallatin Gtwy, MT | $4,000 | 1 | 1 | 2025 |
| Special Olympics Montana Inc | Great Falls, MT | $3,572 | 1 | 1 | 2025 |
| Opera Montana | Bozeman, MT | $2,500 | 1 | 1 | 2025 |
32 of 51 (63%) received money in more than one year over the 5 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. - Big Sky School Parent Teacher Organization
BIG SKY PTO COST OF LIVING ALLOWANCE - 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
What kind of organizations it funds
By the activity category the IRS assigns each recipient, for the 39 of 51 recipients we could match to a registered organization. The categories are the IRS's, not ours -- 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 |
| 2025 | 36 | $945,269 | $13,500 |
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
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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 a sign of overlapping priorities and nothing more: they do not show that any of these funders would consider a new organization. Each page says what its filings show.
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 $16,000 -- 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 5 returns (tax years 2021-2025). Grant figures are from its returns. Recipient classifications, the concentration and retention figures and the funders that support the same organizations are our own calculations from them, described in how we build this.
On its most recent return it told the IRS it made grants to 36 section 501(c)(3) organizations and 0 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: Po Box 161013, Big Sky, MT, 59716.
EIN 80-0941705 · See the original filings on ProPublica · How we build this
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