About Montana Legal Services Association
Provide free civil legal services and promote access to justice for Montana's low-income and vulnerable residents. "Justice Lives Here."
Focus Areas
Civil legal aidHousing and eviction defenseDomestic violence and victim advocacyTribal/Indian lawHomelessness preventionAccess to justice/community educationMedical-legal partnership
Who They Fund
tribal sovereigns / tribal governmentsAmerican Indian and Alaska Native community members involved in tribal justice systems
Funding Style
capacity building (technical assistance)direct legal services
About Montana Legal Services Association
Montana Legal Services Association’s largest recent grant was $264,772 to Naicja for technical assistance that addresses the unique interests of tribal sovereigns as defined by the community the justice system serves. That award points to the foundation’s defining pattern: it supports tribal justice systems and legal services tied to tribal courts rather than broad unrestricted philanthropy. Recent grants also show repeated support for representation in tribal courts, including awards to New Mexico Legal Aid, Texas RioGrande Legal Aid, and Oklahoma Indian Legal Services. The foundation operates at a meaningful but focused scale, with annual grants of $2,223,892 and total assets of $3,027,068. Its giving is centered on civil legal aid for low-income and vulnerable residents, with a strong emphasis on tribal and Indian law, domestic violence and victim advocacy, housing and eviction defense, homelessness prevention, and access to justice education. Leadership is listed under Craig Cowie. The grant record suggests a funder that combines direct legal services with capacity-building support for tribal justice work.
What Montana Legal Services Association Funds
Tribal law is the clearest thread in the foundation’s recent grantmaking. It gave $113,339 to New Mexico Legal Aid for legal representation in tribal courts, and other awards for the same purpose went to Texas RioGrande Legal Aid at $108,360 and Oklahoma Indian Legal Services at $102,165. The foundation also backs tribal-court advocacy across a wider set of legal-aid providers. Dna People's Legal Services received $96,405, while Legal Aid of Nebraska was awarded $84,105 for the same work. Capacity building appears alongside direct representation. Naicja received $264,772 to provide technical assistance that will address the unique interests of tribal sovereigns as defined by the community the justice system serves. That mix shows support for both courtroom representation and the legal infrastructure around tribal justice.
How Montana Legal Services Association Gives
Typical grant sizes cluster in the mid-five-figure range: the 25th percentile is $27,628, the median is $41,205, and the 75th percentile is $71,699. The recent record shows both repeated recipients and repeated purposes, especially around tribal-court representation across 2024 and 2025. This looks like ongoing programmatic grantmaking rather than one-off awards. The foundation does not make grants to individuals and does not make program-related investments. Its grants are all domestic, and the recipient distribution in the file is entirely in the US.
Financial Snapshot
Annual Giving
$1.3M
Total Assets
$3M
Total Revenue
$10.3M
Total Expenses
$9.9M
Typical Grant Size
Most grants fall between $28K and $72K, with a median of $41K.
25th Percentile
$28K
Median
$41K
75th Percentile
$72K
Geographic Reach
National19 states funded
About 0% of grants go to recipients in NE.
Funding intensity
LowHigh
Headquarters
Leadership
CRAIG COWIE
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