BILLINGS — After weeks of scrutiny over mismanagement at multiple high-profile nonprofits, three major Billings organizations are launching new efforts to restore public trust and strengthen oversight across the sector.
Watch how Billings organizations are assisting local nonprofits:
The Billings Chamber of Commerce, the Billings Community Foundation, and United Way of Yellowstone County announced a coordinated initiative Friday aimed at expanding training, transparency and board-governance support for local nonprofit leaders and board members.
The move follows a string of recent controversies that made headlines, including criminal charges and internal investigations involving leaders at Centennial Ice Arena, the Montana Rescue Mission and New Day Inc.
Centennial Ice Arena’s former program and facility director, Sean Michael Gilmore, was arrested last month and charged with embezzling more than $15,000. In a letter to association members, board president Monica Anderson wrote that the board launched its own investigation after noticing accounting discrepancies and uncovered what she called “poor decisions” by Gilmore, ultimately terminating him.
“We are devastated to join a growing number of nonprofit organizations in Billings that have been taken advantage of in recent months,” Anderson wrote.
Related: Prosecutor: Ex-Centennial Ice director misspent $15K, including at strip club
In September, the Montana Rescue Mission fired Executive Director Matt Lundgren following an internal human resources investigation. Joanna King, program director at the Billings Leadership Foundation, said the priority has been reopening communication with partners and keeping their main goal of serving the community in mind.
"One of the things in all of the leadership changes is, reopen lines of communication with area partners," King said in an interview with MTN last month. "At the end of the day, we want to make sure that we are providing the best care that we can."
Related: Ex-employee describes 'toxic' work culture under ousted Billings nonprofit director Matt Lundgren
At New Day Inc., former CEO Sheri Lynn Boelter, who left the organization in October 2024, was charged with embezzling between $25,000 and $100,000 for personal purchases, including furniture, designer clothing, and lingerie.
Related: Ex-Billings nonprofit CEO charged with embezzling thousands to buy personal goods
The allegations prompted concern from donors, according to the Billings Community Foundation.
“We definitely got phone calls of people taking pause," said the foundation's executive director, Zack Terakedis.
Terakedis said his organization had already been working with New Day for 10 months before Boelter was charged and helped guide its leadership team through the transition.
"They had a transition team, and they brought in outside expertise, and they brought us to the table," said Terakedis. "Their number one priority is they could not have a disruption in service, even as they deal with leadership transition."
Terakedis emphasized that while a few organizations have stumbled, they have also corrected course quickly, and hundreds more continue to do good work for the community.
"Nonprofit sector is doing great. We have over 900 nonprofits in Yellowstone County," he said. "We want to make sure people are confident in what's going on and knowing that those missteps are being taken care of internally with those organizations.”
It's those concerns that sparked Friday’s open letter from the three organizations, outlining new commitments to support nonprofit governance and rebuild public confidence. The groups plan to expand leadership training, board-education sessions, and financial-management workshops to help prevent similar crises.
"In most cases, it's not the good work that they're doing that's the problem. It's just that they don't understand a certain aspect of their nonprofit structure,” said Terakedis.
The chamber already offers free quarterly classes. The Community Foundation, backed by a large grant from NorthWestern Energy, is preparing its next training session for next month and is working with the Montana Nonprofit Association to bring in specialized experts. The partners aim to create ongoing cohorts so board members and executives can learn from one another and spread best practices throughout their organizations.
"We're going to start working directly with board executives to make sure those board executives have the tools they need to understand nonprofit finance, building their endowments," said Terakedis.
He encouraged residents with concerns to ask questions directly rather than withdraw support. For the foundation, the effort is a step in the right direction toward increasing public trust in a sector that does so much for the Billings community.
"Keep encouraging people to come out and support," said Terakedis. "Get involved, be involved, you'll know what's happening, and that's where we really need our community to always step up."
