Livingston Depot Foundation Inc

What it reported doing in 2025

Building preservation/community cultural center the organization raises funds to preserve this historic and iconic former railroad depot through rentals of auxiliary buildings, fundraising events, and providing a venue for community celebrations and events. The organization was formed in 1985 to restore and maintain the building in perpetuity. The buidling was designed by reed & stem, the original architects for New York's grand central station. Several large-scale infrastructure projects have been undertaken through the years in order to preserve the iconic building as the anchor of the historic downtown district. Beginning in 2018, an hvac system upgrade has been providing more energy efficiency. The foudation completed an upgrade of single pane windows to increase efficiency in accordance with best practices in historic preservation. In december of 2022, the foundation obtained 151,600 in federal funding through the american rescue plan act and the city of livingston to address water and sewer infrastructure needs, including restoroom accessibility throughout the historic property. Additional fundraising and design work commenced in 2023 and continued in 2025 to improve health, safety, and accessibility for the community while continuing to preserve the depot for the future. The project commenced in late 2024, and is slated to be completed in 2026. The building has served as a welcome center for visitors to yellowstone park for over a century. Summer travelers use its central location to launch their visits to the park and shop in downtown livingston. Many nonprofits use the building to gather or raise funds, including aspen (abuse support prevention and education network), big sky passenger rail authority, bozeman downtown improvement district, community school collaborative, elevate montessori, indivisible park county, living hope church, livingston downtown improvement district, livingston healthcare, loaves and fishes, Montana archaeological society, Montana conservation voters, Montana freshwater partners, Montana rotc, montessori island school, park county community foundaiton, park county rural resilence, rocky mountain songwriter festival, city of livingston, livingston hospice care, Montana democrats, nra foundation, park high school jazz program, and western sustainability exchange. The building also offers a local and low- cost option for professional conferences, including the park county special education cooperative, Montana professional photographers association, and community health partners. Annual events include light up livingston-the lighting ceremony for over 100,000 in depot park, and the lighting of the memorial tree each year in conjunction with the hospice program. The depot park is also a key link to a bike path that connects bicyclists from the north side of town to a path that stretches miles down paradise valley towards the park. It serves as the first stop of many bicycle tour groups, further increasing traffic and commerce to downtown businesses.

Financial Efficiency

• Mission deployment rate: 75%; rating input score 75
• Program expense ratio: 81.9%; rating input score 82
• Fundraising efficiency: $13.22 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 44; 44th 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: 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: 4 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 50
  • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
  • Whistleblower policy: Fail
  • Document-retention policy: Pass
  • CEO compensation review process: Pass
  • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
  • Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
  • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
  • Audit committee oversight: Missing
  • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

• Operating margin: 9.5%; rating input score 55; 55th percentile among comparable filings
• Total-asset coverage ratio: 2.63; rating input score 72; 72nd percentile among comparable filings
• Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.02; rating input score 56; 56th percentile among comparable filings
• Officer compensation ratio: 14.2%; rating input score 26; 26th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

• Program expense growth: 16.8% per year; rating input score 100; 74th percentile among comparable filings
• Revenue growth: 15.6% per year; rating input score 100; 75th percentile among comparable filings
• Asset growth: 8.4% per year; rating input score 100; 49th percentile among comparable filings