The yearly ‘Missoula Gives’ fundraiser starts at 5:00 p.m. on Thursday, and for 26 hours all of western Montana is invited to listen, watch and give to their favorite nonprofit organization.

Executive Director of the Missoula Community Foundation, Marcy Allen, describes the yearly event so vital in keeping the area’s nonprofits funded.

“Missoula Gives is a 26-hour online celebration of our community and the work that nonprofits do,” said Allen. “The mission of the Missoula Community Foundation is to enhance community vitality by inspiring community giving, strengthening nonprofits, and really, Missoula Gives is the epitome of that.”

The event will be streamed live online for 26 hours, and Allen provides a preview of what to expect.

“We’ll be streaming starting Thursday at 5:00 p.m. with lots of entertaining content from our nonprofit community and other members of our community,” she said. There’ll be everything from storytelling to comedy shows and variety shows, we’ll have some music and we’ll have some short segments on getting people moving and away from their computer screens.”

Allen said the fundraising goal is an ambitious $500,000.

“We are hoping to raise a half-million dollars,” she said. “That’s a combination of what everybody raises,” she said. “Last year we raised $420,000. We recognize that at this time there are people who are not able to give, but we do feel like those who are able really want to give to the causes they care about, to help their neighbors and ensure that those nonprofits that do really important work in our community are sustaining themselves through this crisis.”

The Missoula Gives event begins at 5:00 p.m. Thursday and ends at 7:00 p.m. on May 1.

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