The Montana Family Foundation, the state’s most prominent conservative Christian advocacy organization, announced this week that it is fundraising for the construction of a new 10,000-square-foot headquarters blocks from the state Capitol in Helena.
In a message to supporters and accompanying fundraising video, the Laurel-based group says it plans to relocate to a three-story, multi-million dollar Montana Center for Christian Policy, describing it as a space where Christian nonprofits, conservative attorneys and socially conservative policy advocates can collaborate to defend biblical values and “strengthen the voice of faith in Montana’s public square.”
“For the first time in Montana history, Christians are building a home base to shape public policy,” Derek Oestreicher, the organization’s chief legal counsel, said in the video.
The group plans to build its headquarters on the southwest corner of 11th Avenue and North Roberts Street. The site, about four blocks from the state Capitol, is about two blocks north of the main building used by the Montana Department of Justice and the newly opened Montana Heritage Center museum.
The group’s architectural renderings indicate the building’s first story will be used as a nonprofit incubator offering “affordable workspace and shared resources” for small Christian organizations, complemented by space for pro-bono attorneys to support that work on the second floor. A third floor is planned to be dedicated to legislative advocacy, including what the group describes as a secure meeting room with a view of the state Capitol building.
The 25-year-old family foundation has long been a major player in fraught debates over contentious social issues at the state Capitol, lobbying for abortion restrictions, limits on government acknowledgement of transgender Montanans and restrictions on how educators can discuss gender and sexuality in schools, among other issues.
The family foundation describes itself as a partner of national conservative advocacy groups Focus on the Family, the Family Research Council and Alliance Defending Freedom. It says its mission is “to defend faith, uphold the dignity of the home, and safeguard the liberties that allow Montana to flourish.”
Gov. Greg Gianforte, a Republican who made a fortune as a technology entrepreneur, has been a major supporter of the group’s 501(c)(3) nonprofit arm. According to a prior MTFP analysis of his family foundation’s public tax filings, he donated $1.7 million to it between 2017 and 2022.
A spokesperson for the Gianforte Family Foundation said Tuesday that it has not at this point made a financial commitment to the Montana Family Foundation’s building project.
The Montana Family Foundation’s fundraising appeal states that donations to the new building effort will be tax-deductible. The materials it released this week don’t indicate how much it expects the building to cost or how much it has raised so far.
This story was updated Dec. 2, 2025, to add a statement from the Gianforte Family Foundation indicating it wasn’t at that point a financial backer of the project.
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