The Montana Healthcare Foundation offers Rural Health Small Grants for organizations located in and serving rural Montana. Through a simplified application, rural Montana organizations can apply for grants of up to $10,000 to help address a health issue in their community.

The rural grant opportunity is open only to organizations that are located in the rural community they serve. We define rural Montana as any community outside of the seven urban hubs (Billings, Missoula, Bozeman, Great Falls, Kalispell, Helena, and Butte).

Communities face many challenges that impact health. We encourage projects that support work addressing a broad range of issues. Projects may focus on any health-related issue, for example, mental health, housing, food, child or elder care, public health, or cultural connection.

The strongest applications are for projects that will build relationships, fill unmet needs, and have impacts that last beyond the grant. Please refer to the selection criteria for more information about what we look for in applications.

This grant initiative is intended to be a low-barrier opportunity for organizations in rural Montana that may have fewer staff and resources, making it difficult to compete for larger grants. Therefore, preference may be given to applications from organizations that are not under the umbrella or network of a larger entity. We also prioritize applications from smaller communities and those located in particularly remote areas of the state. We may also prioritize applications from communities in which MTHF has provided relatively little funding to date.

Grant Size

Requests may be up to $10,000 for projects up to one year (12 months).

2026 Timeline

Opportunity Opens	First Review Funding Decision Announcement	Opportunity Closes	Second Round Funding Decision Announcement
March 2	June 30	September 1	October 9

Application Process

This grant opportunity is a two-step process. Applicants will first submit a brief letter of interest through the grant portal: Rural Health Small Grant Letter of Interest

The letter of interest questions include:

1. Organization name and tax ID number (or your fiscal sponsor’s tax ID number if applicable)
2. Physical location of your organization (street, city, state, zip code) and the geographic communities it serves (towns or counties)
3. Brief, two-to-four sentence description of the project
4. If applicable: links to your website, social media, or any existing materials about the organization or project (brochure, flyer, one-pager, etc.)

The Foundation will review this information, generally within 30 days. If your organization is eligible for funding and the project aligns with the foundation’s funding goals, we will email an invitation to complete the full application in our grant management system.

Full applications will be accepted on a rolling basis. Applications received by June 15 will be reviewed in the first round, with decisions sent on June 30. Applications received after June 15 will be reviewed in the second round, with decisions sent on October 9. Applications not funded in the first round will remain in consideration in the second round.

Eligibility Criteria & FAQs

The Rural Health Small Grant opportunity is open only to organizations that are located in the rural community they serve. We define rural Montana as any community outside of the seven urban hubs (Billings, Missoula, Bozeman, Great Falls, Kalispell, Helena, and Butte).

Rural Montana-based organizations that are eligible to apply for funding include:

• Tax-exempt organizations described in Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code (excluding those classified as private foundations or any type III non-functionally integrated supporting organization under Section 509(a) of the code).
• Tax-exempt educational institutions.
• State, tribal, or local government agencies.

Organizations with a fiscal sponsor are eligible for funding, providing the fiscal sponsor is one of the above eligible organization types.

NOTE: Eligible applicants may use a portion of the budget to fund consultants who may not meet these eligibility criteria.

Selection Criteria

We recognize that each application reflects a unique set of needs and challenges. Proposal reviewers apply our selection criteria holistically as a lens to understand each application’s strengths, weaknesses, and potential challenges. The quality of the writing in the application is not a factor in our consideration.

This grant initiative is intended to be a low-barrier opportunity for organizations in rural Montana that may have fewer staff and resources, making it difficult to compete for larger grants. We give preference to applications from organizations that are not under the umbrella or network of a larger entity. We also prioritize applications from smaller communities and those located in particularly remote areas of the state. We may also prioritize applications from communities in which MTHF has provided relatively little funding to date. We consider the following selection criteria in reviewing every application:

The MTHF Board of Trustees reserves the discretion to consider factors not explicitly described when approving or rejecting grants. 

What We Do Not Fund

Funding restrictions for all proposals: 

• Activities that do not qualify as a charitable contribution as described in section 170(c)(2)(B) of the Internal Revenue Code (IRC)
• Activities that may supplant government funding of existing programs. All applicants must read our guidelines on supplanting
• Lobbying as defined by the U.S. IRC, section 4945(d)(1)
• Activities supporting political candidates or voter registration drives as defined in IRC section 4945(d)(2)
• Individuals
• Organizations that discriminate by reason of race, religion, gender, national origin, sexual orientation, or political orientation

Additional funding restrictions for the Rural Health Small Grants: 

• Medical research or research lacking a direct, targeted, and practical benefit to Montanans’ health
• Capital campaigns, endowments, or fundraising events
• Operating deficits or retirement of debt
• Organizations or foundations for the redistribution of funds via sub-grants
• Direct financial assistance programs