Missoula Gives Hopes to Raise $1.5 Million in 26 Hours

Missoula, MT (KGVO-AM News) - Thursday and Friday, May 4 and 5 will be very big days for Missoula’s nonprofit community, as the Missoula Gives fundraising campaign will return, this year with an even more ambitious goal to raise $1.5 million in just 26 hours.

KGVO News spoke with Missoula Community Foundation Executive Director Marcy Allen on Tuesday about the annual event to be held for the first time since the pandemic with live, on-location events.

Missoula Gives has an Ambitious Goal of $1.5 Million in 26 Hours

“We kick off the day which runs for 26 hours from Thursday at five o'clock, where we kick off at Plonk Wine Bar and if you come down and show us your donation receipt, you can get a free GFC cocktail,” began Allen. “We also will be Friday morning at the Wren Hotel where there will be free coffee and treats down there. We'll have Polly our mascot who pollinates philanthropy down there for some photo ops.”

The event, which will help provide funding for 196 nonprofits for the next year, will feature lots of places to go and things to do.

There will be Many Special Events Throughout the 26 Hour Fundraiser

“The Red Cross is doing a blood drive and they will be at the Holiday Inn Parkside,” she said. “You can go in there and if you go online, you can schedule your blood draw, so there's more than one way to give during Missoula Gives. Then in the afternoon, we'll be at Big Dipper Ice Cream, and we'll be there from 3:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. The first 100 donors that show up and show their $20 donation receipt, will get a free ice cream cone. We'll close out the night at the new Confluence Center downstairs downtown on Main Street. We'll have music and art and snacks and drinks and we'll have all the numbers as we close out the day up on the boards and we’ll be celebrating both the nonprofits’ work and also the donor's work in our community.”

Allen said Missoula Gives has an ambitious goal for the coming year.

“Our goal this year is to raise $1.5 million,” she said. “We have 196 nonprofits signed up for the day. Last year, we raised $1.27 million, so we're hoping to raise another $250,000. We tell people they can help us by just spreading the word. The more people that know about it, the better chance we have and you know, if every Missoulian gave $5, we'd all be really wealthy, or we'd be doing lots of good work in the community, I should say.”

Click on 'MissoulaGives.org' to Donate Online May 4 and 5

Allen provided the details about how to help out with Missoula Gives.

“Go to MissoulaGives.org org and you can access what we'd like to call our online library of nonprofits doing great work,” she said. “All of them have their own pages telling you the story of the work they're doing. You can search by topic or cause that you're interested in, or you can search for your favorite nonprofit by name. And then you can give to multiple nonprofits with one easy donation at the one-stop shop. And so if you go to MissoulaGives.org, you can visit all the 196 nonprofits participating in the day.”

Click here to learn more about the Missoula Gives Event.