BUTTE, Mont. — A recent target of the Department of Government Efficiency’s spending cuts is the nonprofit Montana Fair Housing, which learned it lost 80% of its budget in an email last month.

Visitors to the organization’s website are met with a message detailing how the Department of Housing and Urban Development cut an award from the organization at the direction of DOGE. Now the nonprofit is asking for the public’s help.

“We have been there for you for 37 years. Now we are asking you to be there for us,” the website states.

Pam Bean, Montana Fair Housing’s executive director, said her reaction to the email detailing the cut began with her thinking it was a scam, followed by tears.

“And then I just kind of had to step away until the next morning, because it was just overwhelming. There was no notice. It wasn’t based on performance or lack thereof,” Bean said.

The grant provided $425,000 per year to address housing discrimination with education, outreach and resolving disputes. Communications from HUD ended the three-year grant on Feb. 27, effective immediately.

“HUD is terminating this award because it no longer effectuates the program goals or agency priorities,” the letter stated.

Montana Fair Housing planned to hire two new employees before the funding loss. Those plans are now scrapped, Bean told NBC Montana.

The nonprofit has three employees for the 180-200 calls, emails and walk-ins received per month, she said. These three will not be able to keep doing this work unless something changes.

“If I’m not able to get some funds secured pretty quickly from other sources, we won’t,” Bean said.

The nonprofit will remain “on a very limited basis” without other funding, leaving the state lacking in services, she said. The federal government could use “some trimming,” Bean conceded, but described the current process as “slashing agencies.”

“Without notice, the people they’re putting out of work there, which means many, many, many services for U.S. citizens are going to be waning in several areas,” Bean told NBC Montana. “It’s just very sad, and I think it could have been done in a much more organized and professional manner.”

Montana Fair Housing joined a nationwide class action complaint against the cuts, which is currently in front of a Massachusetts District Court.