Forward Mt Foundation

Overview

Mission

Educate, engage and organize young montanans to shape their democracy to improve their lives and the lives of fellow montanans.

What it reported doing in 2024

VOTER REGISTRATION AND MOBILIZATIONForward Montana Foundation registered 8,022 voters, through in-person and online tactics. You could reliably find our staff and volunteers with clipboards in hand registering Montanans to vote at farmers markets, campuses, concerts, and state-wide events. We also knocked on 5,359 doors in a door-to-door voter registration canvass.We held voter registration drives on 20 high school campuses and over 13 college campuses across the state, including public, private, and tribal colleges. Forward Montana Foundation also collected 5,767 pledges-to-vote, and followed up with those voters via text ahead of the primary and general elections. Forward Montana Foundation high school fellows made 7,533 calls to our state's youngest voters.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 99% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
Distribution model
Hybrid. The nonprofit split its reported program spending across 73% for direct work, and 27% for grants.
  • Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
262075145
IRS 990 coverage
2016–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-EZ 2015
Headquarters
Missoula, MT, USA
Phone
4065428683
Rating
84
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Research Institutes and/or Public Policy Analysis

The verdict

STRONG - The filed numbers largely add up and a large share of total spending goes to programs. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and total assets are small relative to annual expenses; liquid coverage is unknown.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 67
  • Transparency & Controls: 94
  • Accountability: 100
  • Sustainability: 72
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 56.7%; rating input score 57
  • Program expense ratio: 83.8%; rating input score 84
  • Fundraising efficiency: $23.27 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 63; 63rd percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 72nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 8 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 100
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Other executive compensation review process: Pass
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 32.4%; rating input score 85; 85th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.71; rating input score 56; 56th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.15; rating input score 50; 50th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 0.5%; rating input score 81; 81st percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 25.1% per year; rating input score 100; 89th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 21.6% per year; rating input score 100; 89th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 26.8% per year; rating input score 100; 91st percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 56.7% of revenue deployed · 83.8% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 9 of 9 board members independent · 8 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $1.5M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $101K · 10 people listed
  • Consistency: 31 of 31 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 8 filed schedules · includes major donors and grants
  • Filing history: 9 annual filings from 2016 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 3 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 2 filed related-organization links
  • Grant readiness: Federal tax and exclusion status, award history, and grant-maker relationships.
  • People: Everyone the filings name, and which of them the filings identify by more than a name.

Leadership & pay

10 people listed

Highest reported compensation

  • KIERSTEN IWAI (Executive Dir.): $100,724 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: FY2024.