The annual ‘Missoula Gives’ fundraiser begins at 5:00 p.m. on Thursday, and everyone is invited to listen, watch, and give to their favorite local nonprofit organizations. Marcy Allen is the Executive Director of the Missoula Community Foundation and she said this event is so vital in keeping the area’s nonprofits funded.

“Missoula Gives is a 26 hour online fundraising event,” Allen said. “We have over 163 organizations participating this year. It is a great way to celebrate our community. In this past year, we especially want to celebrate the work the non-profits have done for our community.”

Last year, Missoula Gives set an ambitious fundraising goal of $500,000, but they crushed that amount and are hoping to get even more this year.

“We have set a pretty audacious goal this year,” Allen said. “We are hoping to raise $1 million for Missoula and Bitterroot nonprofits. Last year, in 2020, we raised $811,000. We are only talking about $190,000 more.”

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

“We have some great entertainment on Thursday night,” Allen said. “We have local comedians Rosie Ayers and Teresa Waldorf doing ‘Laugh Your Mask Off’. We have local podcast phenomes Jeremy and Rasa Smith that have a podcast called ‘You Must Know Everything’. They are doing a show from our studio live. We have former Missoulian and national comedian Chris Fairbanks doing a show at 9:15 Thursday night. We also have two bands performing live at the Giggle Box, Strummingbird and Letter B Trio.”

Out of the hundreds of organizations that will be participating, Allen said a decent amount are brand new to the event.

“We have about 20 new organizations that have never participated in the day,” Allen said. “The money goes directly to them. If you find one on the MissoulaGives.org page, that money goes directly into their bank account. We will start that live stream at 5:00 p.m. on May 6th and we will run through 7:00 p.m. on Friday. You can give at MissoulaGives.org.”

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