April 2026 

Letter from Mary, President and CEO

Dear Friends,

Every year, the Montana Community Foundation publishes our Impact Report. It’s one of the ways we share the progress and success made possible by generous donors and dedicated organizations working across the state to shape a brighter future for Montana.

Our three core pillars are impact, stewardship, and partnership. In this year’s report, you can read how MCF is living out these commitments — from distributing $5.6 million from endowments to more than 800 organizations statewide to launching new scholarship programs like the Indigenous Student Rapid Assistance Fund, which provides timely support to help Indigenous students continue their education.

We use innovative, long-term investment strategies to steward $216 million under management, ensuring our donors’ hard-earned dollars are working as effectively as possible for Montana. Through partnerships with organizations like the Otto Bremer Trust, we awarded $1.5 million in grant funding to support education, health care access, and infrastructure.

We’re also looking ahead, continuing to innovate to reach more Montanans. We launched a podcast, Impact Under the Big Sky, to share stories from donors, advisors, and community partners, illustrating how planned giving and permanent philanthropy benefit communities for generations. The new Montana Impact Investing Program is also deploying $2 million in flexible capital, offering a new approach to addressing the state’s most critical challenges.

Together, these efforts reflect both the impact of today and the promise of what’s ahead. We are grateful to the donors, partners, and communities who make this work possible. As we look to the future, we remain committed to listening, learning, and evolving to meet Montana’s changing needs. We hope this report offers a clear picture of that shared progress and inspires continued partnership in the years to come.

2025 Annual Impact Report

The 2025 Impact Report includes stories and highlights of the Montana Community Foundation over the past year.

Read the Report

Check Out the Video

Hear from Montana Community Foundation President and CEO Mary K. Rutherford as she shares highlights from the 2025 Impact Report. Last year, MCF distributed $5.6 million in grants to more than 800 charitable organizations across the state, all made possible by the generosity of its donors. And that’s just part of the story.

2025 Impact Report Highlights

The Gary Olszewski Memorial Scholarship

Gary Olszewski was a man who believed in the value of hard work and the satisfaction of a job done well. He spent his life in North Central Montana, and as a dryland farmer he knew the value of trade skills in repairing and maintaining his equipment.

He knew that those skills could be hard to find in rural communities around Montana and wanted to encourage young people to pursue careers where they work with their hands.

The Gary Olszewski Memorial Scholarship helps fulfill his goals by supporting students from Hill, Blaine, and 

Siegel Giving Center

Montana Community Foundation unveiled the Siegel Giving Center in downtown Helena on September 17, 2025.

The building honors Arne and Steffi Siegel and their commitment to helping others.

“There are few feelings as good as looking back on your life and knowing you’ve done some good,” Steffi Siegel said at the dedication ceremony. “I hope what we’ve shown is that you don’t have to be a millionaire to make an impact in your community.”

The next time you're in Helena, we hope you'll stop by our building at 33 S. Last Chance Gulch.

Montana Impact Investing Program

Seeing a need to leverage Montana Community Foundation’s capital to make strategic investments in communities around the state, MCF created the Montana Impact Investing Program in 2025.

We made two $1 million loans last year, with competitive interest rates and preferred repayment terms of 10 years or less. The program focuses on MCF’s core impact areas of education, equity, and culture; community and economic vitality; land and resilience; and health and well-being. With MCF’s commitment to invest 5% of investable assets in Montana, the program will mean $10 million toward bettering Montana.