Montana Lions Sight & Hearing Foundation

The purpose of the Foundation as stated in the By-Laws is: “Plan, develop, and maintain a unified program by which each and every Lions Club in Montana may participate voluntarily in providing services to sight, hearing and/or speech impaired persons. The Foundation may receive any property, real, personal, or mixed by gift, device, bequest . . . The Foundation will operate exclusively for charita

ble, educational, literary, or scientific purpose.”

The Foundation is dedicated to providing assistance, through the Lions Clubs of Montana, to Montanans in need of assistance with sight, hearing and/or speech problems. The formation of the Montana Lions Sight & Hearing Foundation was approved by the Directors of Lions International on November 12, 1980 and by the Council of Governors of MD 37 in Medicine Hat, Alberta on June 6, 1981. The Foundation is a not-for-profit corporation established under the laws of the State of Montana on January 26, 1981. The Foundation was initially administered in conjunction with Montana Low Vision Services, Inc. In 1985 the Trustees of the Foundation employed an administrator and the Foundation was separated from Montana Low Vision Services. On April 5, 1989, the Internal Revenue Service granted the Foundation a 501 (c) (3) status for income tax purposes. Contributors may deduct specific donations, bequests, honorariums and memorials for income tax purposes, as provided in the Internal Revenue Tax Codes. The Foundation is managed by a Board of Trustees consisting of the immediate past District Governors of Districts 37N and 37S, the districts sight and hearing chairpersons and members-at-large appointed from each district. The Foundation involves all the Lions, Lioness and Leos Clubs in the State of Montana.