A former pastor and longtime leader of three Billings nonprofits has been fired amid an internal investigation at the Montana Rescue Mission.
Executive Director Matt Lundgren was terminated Wednesday by the 13-member board that oversees the shelter and the two other organizations he leads.
Eric Peterson, a Billings attorney who serves on the board, said an outside firm was hired to look into complaints about the management at MRM. He declined to share specifics about the reasons Lundgren was fired and other personnel issues, citing employee privacy concerns. But, he said, the grievances had nothing to do with allegations of embezzlement, fraud or financial wrongdoing.
Max French, the Billings Leadership Foundation’s operations director, will now step up to serve as interim executive director until the board hires Lundgren’s successor.
Lundgren, 58, took the mission’s helm in 2018 after leading the nonprofit Friendship House for six years. He established the Billings Leadership Foundation, a new organization to encompass both charities, and has since served as executive director for all three nonprofits.
Lundgren was earning more than $275,000 a year for his work for the organizations, recent tax filings show. That’s more than 10% of the combined $2.5 million annual cost of paying about 85 employees across the three nonprofits.
Lundgren’s reported compensation included $35,000 a year in tax-free benefits.
On top of that, records show he had other businesses set up to do maintenance work and provide other services at the nonprofits he was running with the help of about 580 volunteers.
To stay at the shelter, residents are typically required to work 30 hours a week at the thrift store or in other parts of the mission.
The three nonprofits combined brought in roughly $11.8 million in revenue during the 2023 fiscal year and had about $21 million in combined assets, according to the most tax filings available to the public.
Under Lundgren’s leadership, MRM opened a new $25 million campus earlier this year. The expansion includes a shelter with 100 beds and 29 apartments above. It also added space for addiction recovery, childcare, education and job training programs.
Moving forward, Peterson said, the board hopes to focus on how it can maximize the nonprofit’s resources to better support people in need and expand the services it offers.
“We don’t want anyone to feel that we don’t have a welcoming place for those who need our help,” he said. “And we want to make sure we’re benefiting the entire community.”
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Amy Nile
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