Helena Area Community Foundation

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
810536902
IRS 990 coverage
2022–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025, Form 990-EZ 2020
Location
Helena, MT, USA
Phone
4064414955
Rating
78
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Community Foundations

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$317,562
Expenses
$305,227
Assets
$661,615
Liabilities
$55,399

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

10 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • DARANNE DUNNING (PRESIDENT)
  • JOYCE DAY (VICE PRESIDENT)
  • EMILY FRAZIER (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)

Highest reported compensation

  • EMILY FRAZIER (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $64,573 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

To provide financial assistance to nonprofits benefiting lewis & clark county residents. Fundraising costs to build endowment for grants, which is the exempt purpose.

What it reported doing in 2025

The grants as listed in this return are funded with earnings from an endowment fund held as an asset of Montana community foundation, an agency endowment fund held for hacf at mcf, board designated funds and funds received for re-granting.

Operating model

Revenue model
Mixed. Its operating money came from several sources; no one source provided a clear majority.
Distribution model
Hybrid. The nonprofit split its reported program spending across 53% for direct work, and 47% for grants.

The verdict

SUPPORTED - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised and program spending has declined or grown slowly.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 72
  • Transparency & Controls: 86
  • Accountability: 90
  • Sustainability: 44
  • Growth: 60

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 77.4%; rating input score 77
  • Program expense ratio: 76%; rating input score 76
  • Fundraising efficiency: $8.09 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 32; 32nd percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 93.3%; rating input score 93; 27th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: Limited
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 6 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 75
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 3.9%; rating input score 45; 45th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 2.17; rating input score 61; 61st percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.08; rating input score 23; 23rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 21.2%; rating input score 17; 17th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: -33.2% per year; rating input score 0; 4th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 12.5% per year; rating input score 100; 75th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 6.5% per year; rating input score 100; 50th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 77.4% of revenue deployed · 76% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 9 of 9 board members independent · 6 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $232K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $65K · 10 people listed
  • Consistency: 32 of 32 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 4 filing years from 2022 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
  • 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.

Key Signals

Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.

  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 32/100.
  • High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 45/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Independent financial-statement audit not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 17/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 23/100.