Although he is stepping down as chair of the Missoula-based Montana Meth Project, tech entrepreneur Thomas Siebel has announced a $5 million challenge grant to the organization from the Thomas and Stacey Siebel Foundation, the Helena Independent Record reports.

The foundation will match the first $5 million the organization raises from private and corporate gifts over the next year as it launches a capital campaign. The organization's efforts have relied heavily on graphic advertisements on billboards, radio, television, and in newspapers showing the perils and physical consequences associated with methamphetamine use. The annual cost of the program is expected to be around $6 million annually, including a total of $4 million in state and federal funding.

Siebel, who formed the group with state attorney general Mike McGrath in 2004, said he will remain active with the organization but in a less active role. For the past two years, he has funded much of the project out of his own pocket but noted that he had always intended to step aside at some point and let others take over. Mike Gulledge, publisher of the Billings Gazette, has been named chair of the organization.

"Two years ago, meth officially wasn't a problem," Siebel said. "Today, it's recognized as a national problem and we are doing something about it. We are being held up as a model for the rest of the nation. That is something we can be very proud of."