For the past 20 years, the Gianforte Family Foundation has been a driving force in strengthening Montana communities. Rooted in a deep commitment to education, family and faith-based support, the foundation focuses on equipping Montanans with the tools they need to build better lives, restore hope and strengthen families.
“It’s inspiring to see how well these organizations know the people they’re serving, understand what they need and are doing the work better than we ever could,” says Catherine Koenen, executive director of the Gianforte Family Foundation. “They’re on the ground, doing the real work and seeing the fruit of that is deeply fulfilling.”
The foundation has granted $130 million in partnership with more than 700 nonprofits, leaving a lasting impact across the state and empowering individuals and families to thrive.
Q: Can you share more about the kind of work the Gianforte Family Foundation supports?
Koenen: We give to organizations across the state of Montana that support families who are struggling, work to restore individuals from incarceration, addiction or trafficking and equip people through education so they can thrive and better support their communities. Seeing this work in action, witnessing the way people are called to lead and knowing we’re able to support them on the back end is incredibly rewarding.
One example of this is Hannah House, a ministry of Community Leadership and Development, Inc. (CLDI), which focuses on the south side neighborhood of Billings. CLDI is a Christian community development organization with a vision of bringing revitalization to a neighborhood with disproportionately high rates of crime, addiction, poverty and family separation.
The Hannah House program began as a single home offering a long-term, safe and sober residence for women coming out of prison or addiction. Many of these women are reunited with their children there, creating a powerful opportunity for whole-family restoration.
Because of Hannah House’s effectiveness and the increasing demand for its services, CLDI has been able to acquire and renovate adjacent properties, building out an entire city block dedicated to this life-changing program. The expanded campus includes multiple housing options tailored to where women are in their recovery journey.
These options include long-term transitional housing, a large community space for weekly gatherings and a child care center for residents’ children. Over the past 12 years, we’ve given $3.8 million to CLDI. It’s been amazing to witness the transformation not only in individual lives but in an entire neighborhood.
Q: Can you tell us about your Native Initiative?
Koenen: One area we’ve grown into is supporting nonprofit organizations in native communities around Montana, which have been historically underserved by private philanthropy. To address that, we hired a Native Initiatives director to focus specifically on this work and adapt our efforts to fit the cultures of these communities.
We’re currently working with Mountain Shadow Association in Lodge Grass, a community on the Crow Reservation in south-central Montana. Like many tribal communities, Lodge Grass faces disproportionately high rates of poverty, addiction, unemployment and a shortage of safe environments and positive role models for children. In some cases, parents make the courageous decision to seek treatment, only to return to a community that lacks the support needed to sustain a sober and healthy lifestyle.
Mountain Shadow’s vision is to change that. Their dream is to establish a long-term sober-living facility where families can live together after parents return from treatment. They also plan to build a group home where children can stay during their parents’ recovery—keeping them in their home community and positioning them to reunite with their parents on a supportive campus once the time is right.
They already own land in Lodge Grass and have opened a child care facility for young children. Construction on the group home—the first phase of their larger campus plan—is currently underway. This effort is being led by local community members who are committed to restoring healthy families and preserving the strength and continuity of Crow culture.
Q: Why is it important for foundations to have the freedom to support the causes they care about?
Koenen: One of the beautiful things about America is the diversity of beliefs and the freedom individuals and organizations have to support causes they care about. We are able to support and come alongside organizations like Hannah House and Mountain Shadow and successfully partner because of the freedom to give.
The freedom to give to the causes that we care about and to do it as we see fit has allowed us to work alongside nonprofits before we even give money to them. We coach on nonprofit management, how to build a nonprofit and how to get to a place where a philanthropic organization is comfortable giving to you. Once we get them to that place, we start partnering with them financially and connect them to other funders to grow this network of nonprofit and philanthropic partners who have aligned values and goals.
We fund a lot of faith-based ministries, which align with the beliefs of the foundation and our trustees. We believe that faith can lead to more holistic healing for individuals, especially for those seeking restoration with their families or communities. It’s not always just about finding a good job or a safe place to live. Spiritual healing is just as important. By supporting organizations that address that spiritual dimension, we believe the people being served can find true and lasting restoration.
