Contours' 2025 WFF grant letter reveals WFF's stated western-state mission, grant restrictions and required reporting

A September 4, 2025 Contours Inc. response to an IRS Form 1024-A information request includes the actual representative grant letter for Contours' April 2025 grant to Western Futures Fund. The letter confirms a $350,000 general-support grant after an April 10, 2025 solicitation from WFF. It describes the grant as assisting WFF with its mission to 'resurrect statewide political competition in rural red states, west of the Mississippi.' The grant term ran April 1–December 31, 2025. Contours states that its support is based on WFF using the funds consistently with 501(c)(4) purposes, primarily through grassroots lobbying and issue-advocacy communications; the funds are general support and not earmarked for a specific WFF activity. The letter expressly acknowledges that WFF may use a portion of the donation for political purposes, but says Contours is not making the grant specifically to further political activity or WFF independent expenditures. It also says any subsequent WFF grants/transfers are at WFF's own determination without earmarking or direction from Contours. At the same time, Contours imposed compliance conditions and required a final report due Jan. 31, 2026 containing a 1–2 page narrative and full-budget financial accounting of WFF activities during the grant period. WFF Director of Operations Kelly Poduch signed the acknowledgment on April 25, 2025 on behalf of WFF. This is unusually direct evidence of the upstream-funder→WFF relationship: a funder selects WFF based on mission alignment, imposes legal/compliance/reporting terms, but expressly leaves specific downstream transfers and political use decisions to WFF rather than earmarking them.