Making A Difference

A family legacy of generosity continues to shape Billings and beyond

When festivities begin for the 43rd Billings Clinic Classic, guests will be celebrating more than a premier fundraising event. They’ll be honoring a family whose generosity has helped transform healthcare across Montana for generations.

Danielle Moore and her mother, Lesly Smith, members of the Fortin family, are serving as co-chairs of Billings Clinic's annual fundraising event, helping lead the final push to complete the hospital's Level I Trauma Center initiative and emergency department expansion.

Their involvement is fitting. For more than 73 years, the Fortins have quietly invested in the health and well-being of Billings residents. So much so that there are few corners of Billings untouched by the Fortin family’s generosity. In the past 17 years alone, their foundation has directed an estimated $200 million in charitable giving.

Families facing homelessness have found stability through gifts to Family Promise of Yellowstone Valley. Neighbors struggling with food insecurity have received help through Family Service, whose expanded facility was made possible in part by a Fortin Family Foundation gift. Children have discovered creativity through programs at the Yellowstone Art Museum. Across the city, from healthcare and education to homelessness and the arts, the fingerprints of this family can be found everywhere.

"We decided a long time ago that it was important to the legacy of the foundation that we continue to fund the place where it all started, which is Billings," Danielle Moore says. "If we can help, we want to help."

It’s a chain of giving that started 73 years ago with the patriarch of the family, Phil Fortin.

A Legacy Born in Montana

Phil Fortin's story began in northern Montana, where he was born in 1890. A successful oilman, Fortin built a thriving career and eventually split his time between Billings and Palm Beach, Florida.

Despite his success, those who knew him remember a man far more interested in helping people than drawing attention to himself.

"Phil Fortin was absolutely loved by everybody who knew him," says longtime family friend and Fortin Family Foundation Board Member, Nick Cladis. "He was a very successful oilman, but he always had enormous respect for his hometown and wanted to share his resources with Billings."

That commitment only deepened when he married Mary Alice Stockard.

Family lore recalls the evening the two widowers met at a dinner party in Palm Beach that Mary Alice almost didn't attend.

"Her friend told her she couldn't skip because it would ruin the seating arrangements," Danielle says with a laugh. "So she went, sat next to Phil Fortin, and I swear, six months later they were married."

The pairing would become one of philanthropy's great partnerships.

"My grandmother was from New York and didn't know much about Montana," Danielle says. "But she grew to love Billings as much as Papa did."

When Phil died in 1986, the family could have concentrated their efforts in Florida, New York, or California, where family members lived and worked, Nick says.

“They could have easily chosen to move their interests elsewhere, but they made a decision to continue supporting Billings,” he says. “People would be taken aback by what they have given.”

Are We Making a Difference?

The question that has guided the family's philanthropy for decades is remarkably simple. “Are we making a difference?” According to those who worked alongside Phil Fortin, it was a question he often asked when evaluating charitable investments. That question helped the foundation fund more than 50 nonprofit organizations in Billings, along with major gifts to organizations such as St. Vincent de Paul, Boys & Girls Clubs, the Montana Rescue Mission, churches and countless smaller organizations that often struggle to attract major donors.

Perhaps nowhere is the Fortin family's impact more visible than at Billings Clinic.

In the 1970s, Phil Fortin made what was then the largest philanthropic gift in the hospital's history, funding the construction of a critical care wing that helped pave the way for Montana's first open-heart surgery.

That gift also planted the seeds for something much larger.

"Mr. Fortin is truly the reason the Billings Clinic Foundation exists today," says Nichole Mehling, president of the Billings Clinic Foundation. "He understood the vital role philanthropy plays in sustaining a nonprofit, community-governed hospital."

Over the decades, Fortin family gifts have helped modernize hospital facilities, establish the Mary Alice Fortin Health Conference Center, expand mental health services, strengthen psychiatric care throughout the rural West, and improve countless aspects of patient care.

Now, the family is helping shape the future of emergency medicine.

A $7 million Fortin Family Foundation gift is helping complete the final phase of a multi-year effort to establish the region's first Level I Trauma Center.

"When the project was brought to us and we realized there wasn't a Level I Trauma Center within several hundred miles, it was exciting. Healthcare is really the cornerstone of communities these days," Danielle says, adding the consequences of limited access to care reach far beyond the patient. “It’s not just the expense of healthcare itself. It's what an illness does to the entire family. It's the comprehensive stress it places on everyone." She adds: “Everyone deserves first-class healthcare.”

Leading by Example

For Nichole Mehling, Danielle’s and Lesly’s involvement in this year’s Classic feels especially meaningful, saying both were among the very first supporters of the $32 million Level I Trauma Campaign.

“They have been with us every step of the way — from believing in the vision at the outset to celebrating the dedication of the Fortin Trauma Tower last summer and now helping us put the finishing touches on this transformational project,” Nichole says. “It just feels right to celebrate their leadership and commitment as we work to complete the final chapter of this journey.”

The Next Chapter

As the Fortin Family Foundation enters its eighth decade, its leaders remain focused on putting resources to work in ways that strengthen communities and improve lives. They hope it’s contagious.

"I certainly hope people of wealth will see the need and step up to help Montana," Danielle says. "I hope they see the good things that are happening and jump on board."

As for Phil Fortin’s famous question, “Are we making a difference?” Nichole says that’s a question she can easily answer.

“The answer today is a resounding ‘yes,’” she says, adding that his spirit is now living on through his daughters and granddaughter. “Generosity is at the heart of everything they do."

Top Classic — Billings Clinic Classic 2026

A Top Gun–Themed Evening for a Powerful Cause

AUGUST 15, 2026

At this year’s Billings Clinic Classic, guests will be immersed in the excitement of a Top Gun-inspired evening, featuring aviation-themed décor, live music, raffles, a silent auction, and a high-energy party atmosphere. Proceeds from the event will support the expansion of Billings Clinic’s Emergency Department, helping to increase access to lifesaving care through additional treatment rooms, a new trauma bay, expanded ambulance capacity, advanced imaging technology, and increased patient capacity. Click the link to learn more: https://www.billingsclinic.com/giving/events/classic/.