Montana Budget and Policy Center

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
800624179
IRS 990 coverage
2011–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Helena, MT, USA
Phone
4064225848
Rating
86
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Research Institutes and Public Policy Analysis

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$1,789,415
Expenses
$1,490,597
Assets
$1,843,105
Liabilities
$82,548

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

12 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • MADALYN QUINLAN (President)
  • JAMES STEELE JR (Vice President)

Highest reported compensation

  • HEATHER O'LOUGHLIN (Executive Dir.): $118,476 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

To advance responsible tax, budget, and economic policies through credible research and analysis in order to promote opportunity and fairness for all Montanans.

What it reported doing in 2024

MBPCs mission is to advance responsible tax, budget, and economic policies through credible research and analysis in order to promote opportunity and fairness for all Montanans. The Montana Budget & Policy Center produced a dozen reports on budget and tax issues impacting those experiencing poverty; disseminated the research and analysis to a wide variety of audiences; conducted outreach to partners, impacted individuals, community leaders, and policy makers; and gave multiple presentations on a range of public policy issues. MONTANA KIDS COUNT, NORTH DAKOTA KIDS COUNT, AND SOUTH DAKOTA KIDS COUNT ARE PROJECTS OF THE MONTANA BUDGET & BUDGET & POLICY CENTER, PROVIDING RELIABLE DATA AND ANALYSIS ON CHILD WELL-BEING IN THE THREE STATE REGION.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 96% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 87% of reported program-service expenses outside its grant, affiliate-payment, and member-benefit lines. This expense classification does not rule out separately announced grant awards.

The verdict

STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Total assets are small relative to annual expenses; liquid coverage is unknown and some filed totals do not add up.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 80
  • Transparency & Controls: 87
  • Accountability: 100
  • Sustainability: 60
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 75%; rating input score 75
  • Program expense ratio: 89.4%; rating input score 89
  • Fundraising efficiency: $44 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 76; 76th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 93.3%; rating input score 93; 22nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 88.2%; rating input score 88; 37th 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: 16.7%; rating input score 72; 72nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.24; rating input score 50; 50th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.04; rating input score 53; 53rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 7.9%; rating input score 44; 44th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 9.9% per year; rating input score 100; 62nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 9.8% per year; rating input score 100; 66th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 14.1% per year; rating input score 100; 70th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 75% of revenue deployed · 89.4% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 11 of 11 board members independent · 8 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $1.3M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $118K · 12 people listed
  • Consistency: 29 of 30 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes major donors and grants
  • Filing history: 14 filing years from 2011 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 7 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 6 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.

Key Signals

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

  • Review — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 50/100.
  • Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 44/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 53/100.