The Cinnabar Foundation

Cinnabar is a small, self-funded family-legacy foundation (est. 1985, endowment ~$6.1M as of FY2024) that behaves like a peer network rather than a distant funder — its board is stocked with long-tenured Montana conservation figures (Chair Robin Tawney, Chairman Gordon 'Corky' Brittan, Treasurer Duane Moulton) and its own award names, the Sargent Legacy Grants and Tawney Opportunity Grants, are drawn directly from board-family history. That intimacy shapes the giving philosophy: Cinnabar wants organizations already embedded in Montana and Greater Yellowstone conservation work, not national groups parachuting in. First-time applicants should enter through the competitive Program/Project Grant track ($2,500-$15,000); General Operating Grants ($5,000-$20,000) are invitation-only and reserved for groups with an existing Cinnabar relationship, so do not lead with an unsolicited general-support ask. The relationship progression is straightforward and non-bureaucratic: apply via the GrantInterface portal by the February 20 annual deadline, receive a funding decision by roughly May 31, and — if funded — expect the foundation to track your work informally through its 'Featured Grantees' spotlights (Montana Wildlife Federation, January 2026; Working Dogs for Conservation, September 2025) rather than heavy formal reporting infrastructure. Schools and university programs may apply only for Program/Project Grants, not General Operating support. Because the foundation's own contributions received are minimal ($6,731 in FY2023) and its giving is funded almost entirely from a shrinking endowment's investment income, Cinnabar is conservative about commitments — it favors modest, high-leverage grants over large multi-year pledges, and its stated cap (50% of a project's total budget, or $15,000, whichever is less, for Program/Project Grants; 10% of annual operating budget for General Operating) means applicants must show a credible non-Cinnabar funding base already in place. First-time applicants should study the 2026 Strategic Framework's four program pillars closely and write directly to them, since Cinnabar has just tightened its focus and now favors groups that pair fieldwork with organizing and advocacy capacity.

Cinnabar's total giving has held in a narrow band for over a decade: $453,090 (FY2013) to $582,949 (FY2023), with grants actually paid out ranging $362,000 (FY2012) to $492,000 (FY2022) — a modest, steady program rather than one prone to large swings. Individual grant sizes per the foundation's own published guidelines run $2,500-$15,000 for Program/Project Grants and $5,000-$20,000 for General Operating Grants, meaning a typical annual cycle likely funds somewhere between 25 and 45 organizations. (Note: the foundation's IRS 990 grantee schedule in this dataset is reported as a single aggregated line — 'See Attached Schedule,' 4 filings totaling $1,844,000, averaging $461,000 — which reflects a 990 reporting artifact, not real individual grant sizes; treat the $2,500-$20,000 range from the foundation's own website as the reliable figure.) Geographically, 100% of dollars stay inside Montana and the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, with no out-of-state giving in the available grantee records. The more notable trend is on the balance-sheet side: total assets have declined steadily from $8,872,217 (FY2012) to $6,101,134 (FY2024), a 31% drop over 12 years, even as annual grants payout stayed roughly flat — indicating the foundation is drawing down principal (or absorbing investment losses) faster than it replenishes it, since new contributions received are negligible ($6,731 in FY2023, $13,034 in FY2022, never exceeding $85,455 in the decade of records shown). Net investment income has been the primary revenue engine ($207,032 in FY2023; a spike to $671,635 in FY2020 during the market rally), not fresh donor gifts. Officer/executive-director compensation is modest and has varied ($69,486 in FY2023, $26,645 in FY2022, $45,500 in FY2020), consistent with a lean, largely volunteer-board-run operation. Program-area emphasis per the 2026 framework splits across four roughly equal pillars — climate adaptation, wildlife/wildlands, public lands, and air/water/fisheries — with education funding now explicitly de-emphasized unless embedded in core conservation programming.

Cinnabar is by far the smallest and most narrowly geographic funder in this set — its $6.1M endowment is roughly 4% the size of Wilburforce's and its awards top out at $20,000, versus six- and seven-figure grants from Yellowstone Park Foundation and Bair Ranch Foundation. That makes it a realistic first funder or gap-filler for grassroots Montana/Yellowstone groups too small or too new to compete for Wilburforce- or Bair-scale grants, but not a source of transformative multi-year funding on its own — most Cinnabar grantees should expect to stack it alongside 2-4 other funders in this table.

The most recent verifiable activity is the 2026 update to Cinnabar's Conservation Program Areas and Funding Priorities page, which reorganized giving around four pillars (Adapt to a Changing Environment, Conserve Wildlife and Wildlands, Preserve Public Lands, Restore Air and Water Quality and Fisheries) and added explicit language favoring grantees that 'organize, advocate, and build durable conservation power' — a meaningful signal that Cinnabar wants applicants to show organizing/advocacy capacity, not just field delivery. In 2025 the Board formally adopted a policy to rarely fund standalone K-12 education or community ecology programs unless embedded in an applicant's broader conservation strategy, a real narrowing that education-adjacent applicants need to account for. On the leadership side, longtime board Vice Chair Judi Stauffer announced her retirement in the foundation's late-2024 newsletter, alongside a board roster (Chair Robin Tawney, Chairman Gordon 'Corky' Brittan, Treasurer Duane Moulton, Secretary Lisa Flowers, Director Grant Parker) that otherwise shows long tenure and continuity. The foundation's most recent named grantee spotlights are Montana Wildlife Federation (January 2026) and Working Dogs for Conservation (September 2025), both consistent with the wildlife/wildlands and advocacy-capacity pillars. The 2024 award cycle recognized Jim Evanoff with the Jim Posewitz Professional Conservationist Award and Paul Hawks and Jerry Iverson as Len + Sandy Sargent Stewardship recipients, non-competitive honors distinct from the regular grant cycle. No major new-program announcements, staff additions, or large capital commitments surfaced in available 2025-2026 reporting — this remains a stable, low-turnover operation rather than one undergoing rapid change.

Apply during the single annual window: the portal (grantinterface.com/Home/Logon?urlkey=cinnabargrants) opens in mid-January and closes February 20, with decisions communicated by roughly May 31 — there is no rolling or second cycle for competitive grants, so missing the deadline means waiting a full year. First-time applicants must create a new GrantInterface account even if they have prior informal contact with the foundation; do not assume an old account carries over. Because Cinnabar's board is composed of working Montana conservationists, proposals read better when they use the foundation's own 2026 framework language directly — cite one of the four pillars (Adapt to a Changing Environment, Conserve Wildlife and Wildlands, Preserve Public Lands, Restore Air and Water Quality and Fisheries) by name rather than describing work in generic terms. A common mistake is applying for General Operating support without an existing Cinnabar relationship — that track is invitation-only, so unsolicited general-operating requests are effectively dead on arrival; route first asks through Program/Project Grants instead. Do not propose capital improvements, equipment purchases, exhibits, or standalone film/website/publication projects — the foundation has explicitly ruled these out unless they are one component of a larger, already-funded campaign. Since Cinnabar caps its Program/Project award at 50% of total project budget (or $15,000, whichever is less), proposals need to show the other half of the budget is realistic, not aspirational — name the other funders or revenue sources already committed. Given the newly stated preference for groups that 'organize, advocate, and build durable conservation power,' applicants whose work is field/restoration-only should explicitly connect it to broader organizing, coalition, or advocacy outcomes, since pure service delivery is now less competitive than it was pre-2025. Education-focused applicants should lead with how programming is embedded in a larger conservation strategy, not framed as education for its own sake, given the 2025 policy shift away from standalone K-12/community ecology funding. Relationship-building is low-key here — there's no indication of required site visits or heavy cultivation expectations — but applicants without 501(c)(3) status must include a signed fiscal sponsor letter, and multi-year or General Operating eligibility questions should go directly to the foundation by email before applying rather than being guessed at in the portal.