Western Organization of Resource
Billings, MT · EIN 84-1123481. Reported 172 grants totalling $23.0M to 42 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 Western Organization of Resource, the IRS classifies it under community improvement rather than as a grantmaker (NTEE S32C) -- it is an operating charity that also makes grants.
- How spread out its giving is. 42 distinct organizations, with 45% of the dollars going to the largest single recipient. That is concentrated. Most of the money has a settled destination, and the remainder is what is realistically in play.
- How much its list changes. 75% of one year's grantees are funded again the next, across 3 year-to-year transitions. That is well above the 57% median for grantmaking charities, and above the 67% private foundations manage. This list is close to settled, so a newcomer has to displace someone rather than fill a gap.
How big are its grants?
The median reported grant is $50,000. Half of what it reported fell between $13,000 and $140,990; the smallest was $5,200 and the largest $2,949,164. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Western Organization of Resource Councils | Billings, MT | $10.3M | 8 | 4 | 2024 |
| Northern Plains Resource Council | Billings, MT | $1,370,000 | 14 | 4 | 2024 |
| North Dakota Native Vote | Bismarck, ND | $1,345,531 | 6 | 4 | 2024 |
| Dakota Resource Council | Bismarck, ND | $1,212,000 | 10 | 4 | 2024 |
| Western Colorado Alliance | Grand Jct, CO | $1,083,000 | 10 | 4 | 2024 |
| Powder River Basin Resource Council | Sheridan, WY | $965,000 | 10 | 4 | 2024 |
| Dakota Rural Action | Brookings, SD | $721,500 | 11 | 4 | 2024 |
| Big Sky Fifty Five Plus | Helena, MT | $636,395 | 6 | 4 | 2024 |
| Idaho Organization of Resource Councils Inc | Boise, ID | $565,000 | 9 | 4 | 2024 |
| Oregon Rural Action | Lagrande, OR | $552,000 | 8 | 4 | 2024 |
| Western Native Voice | Billings, MT | $420,375 | 9 | 4 | 2024 |
| Middle Fork Strategies Inc | Helena, MT | $355,000 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Clean Up the River Environment | Montevideo, MN | $301,000 | 3 | 3 | 2024 |
| Renew Missouri Advocates | Columbia, MO | $292,000 | 3 | 3 | 2024 |
| Catalyst Montana | Helena, MT | $280,800 | 7 | 4 | 2024 |
| Appalachian Voices | Boone, NC | $265,500 | 3 | 3 | 2024 |
| Mountain Association for Community Economic Development Inc | Berea, KY | $260,500 | 3 | 3 | 2024 |
| Kentucky Coalition Inc | London, KY | $204,500 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Montana Public Interest Research Group | Missoula, MT | $182,700 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Montana Conservation Voters Education Fund | Helena, MT | $176,950 | 6 | 4 | 2024 |
| Georgia Conservation Voters Education Fund Inc | Atlanta, GA | $150,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| One Voice Inc | Oceana, WV | $150,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Peoples Justice Council | Birmingham, AL | $150,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Forward Mt Foundation | Missoula, MT | $140,500 | 5 | 4 | 2024 |
| A Better Big Sky | Missoula, MT | $126,326 | 2 | 2 | 2023 |
| Center for Common Ground | Ruther Glen, VA | $125,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Organizing Empowerment Fund Inc | Mcfarland, WI | $100,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| ACLU of Montana Foundation Inc | Missoula, MT | $87,000 | 2 | 2 | 2023 |
| Montana Wilderness Association Inc | Helena, MT | $76,100 | 4 | 3 | 2024 |
| Native Movement | Fairbanks, AK | $75,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Neo Philanthropy Inc | New York, NY | $75,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Montanans Organized for Education | Helena, MT | $67,000 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Intermountain Planned Parenthood Inc | Billings, MT | $46,700 | 3 | 3 | 2024 |
| Montana Wildlife Federation | Missoula, MT | $40,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Montana Budget and Policy Center | Helena, MT | $29,300 | 3 | 3 | 2024 |
| American Agriculture Movement | Brownsville, TN | $17,000 | 2 | 2 | 2022 |
| Southwest Research and Information Center | Albuquerque, NM | $16,000 | 2 | 2 | 2022 |
| American Federation of Labor & Congress of Industrial Orgs | Helena, MT | $15,200 | 2 | 2 | 2023 |
| Wild Montana Action Fund | Helena, MT | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Greenaction for Health and Environmental Justice | San Francisco, CA | $8,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Honor the Earth | Colstrip, MT | $8,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Montana Federation of Public Employees | Helena, MT | $5,200 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
29 of 42 (69%) 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.
- Western Organization of Resource Councils
FUNDING FOR 501(C)(3) CHARITABLE ACTIVITIES CONDUCTED BY WORC - Northern Plains Resource Council
GENERAL SUPPORT, CAMPAIGNS - Big Sky Fifty Five Plus
MT SENIOR CITIZENS PROJECT - Montanans Organized for Education
ORGANIZATION CAPACITY EXPANSION - Oregon Rural Action
Campaigns: Just Transitions - Planned Parenthood of Mt
EARLY VOTE - PONY UP TO THE POLLS
What kind of organizations it funds
By each recipient's own IRS classification, for the 34 of 42 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 | 55 | $4,102,759 | $15,000 |
| 2022 | 62 | $7,876,049 | $77,125 |
| 2023 | 28 | $5,172,176 | $75,000 |
| 2024 | 27 | $5,816,842 | $80,000 |
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
62% of its giving went to organizations in Montana. 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.
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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.
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 $50,000 -- 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 Western Organization of Resource'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.
On its most recent return it told the IRS it made grants to 22 section 501(c)(3) organizations and 5 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: 220 S 27TH Street B, Billings, MT, 59101.
EIN 84-1123481 · See the original filings on ProPublica · How we build this
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