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Nonprofits are woven into the fabric of our community – Western Montana InBusiness

Missoula is the nonprofit capital of Montana.

Chances are, if you’ve lived in Missoula for even a week, you count among your friends and relatives someone who works – as a paid employee or volunteer – for a local nonprofit group.

If you’ve lived here for two weeks, you’ve likely been the beneficiary of such a group – or been solicited as a potential benefactor.

By SHERRY DEVLIN

Surely, my own family has many Missoula nonprofits to thank for their good work over the years. My children were among the first to ride A Carousel for Missoula when it opened all those years ago. They dutifully – and then happily – trotted along beside me for many a Montana Natural History Center "family naturalist" program. As teenagers and young adults, they "returned the favor" as volunteers for Flagship’s after-school programs, for Big Brothers/Big Sisters, for church and school service groups.

Until we started work on the October edition of Western Montana InBusiness http://www.mtinbusiness.com/inbiz-0710/ , though, I hadn’t given much thought to the economic impact of nonprofit groups on our community. But if you think about all the nonprofits that make their headquarters in Missoula, it makes sense. Reporter Tyler Christensen kicks off our coverage with the statistics that prove what we’ve known all along: Missoula is the nonprofit capital of Montana.

There are 1,282 registered 501(c)(3) organizations in our midst, one for every 78 residents of Missoula County. They count $755 million in assets. Statewide, nonprofits employ 37,000 of our friends and neighbors, with an annual payroll of $1.1 billion.

They’re a big part of what makes Missoula such a caring – and hard-working – community.

Or, as Brian Magee, executive director of the Montana Nonprofit Association, says: "Missoula’s always struck me as a place where if people see a need, and they don’t see that need being met, they will do something about it."

Indeed, ours is a state of philanthropists.

Montanans consistently rank among the nation’s most active and generous volunteer populations, giving 3.7 percent of our income and even more of our time, year to year.

By one accounting, Montana ranks seventh in the nation for its percentage of volunteers and hours of volunteer service.

Reporter Lori Grannis has a fascinating look at volunteerism and how it’s affected by age. Twenty-somethings are often looking for volunteer assignments associated with class credits or stipends or resumes.

Baby boomers need to feel like they’re working toward big societal or landscape-level changes – and they need to see that change happening.

People in their 60s and 70s will volunteer in any capacity for any organization in whose mission they believe.

All, of course, are crucial to the success of nonprofit organizations – which could not accomplish all that they do without the legions of volunteers who answer the phones, lead the hikes, plant the trees, raise the money and organize the events.

This issue of InBusiness http://www.mtinbusiness.com/inbiz-0710/ also includes profiles of several Missoula nonprofit successes: Women’s Opportunity and Resource Development, YWCA Missoula, the Washington Foundation and the Missoula Skatepark Association.

We’ve also got a Q&A with Susan Hay Cramer, the new executive director of United Way of Missoula, whose professional life has been devoted to nonprofit groups: their growth, their missions and ensuring their success.

And there’s a look at Montana’s hospitals, which also are nonprofits. That means they roll back any profit directly into the institution.

"It’s the difference really, in my mind, between having stockholders and stakeholders," said Community Medical Center spokeswoman Karen Sullivan.

Nonprofit hospitals offer health services their for-profit brethren might not, because they typically lose money. That includes mental health care, emergency room care, and all manner of educational and preventive-care outreach programs.

So you see, our lives here in the Garden City are profoundly – and daily – enriched by nonprofit groups. Every time we go to the hospital. Every morning we spend hunting owls with a volunteer naturalist. Every day we spend sharing our time and talents wherever they are needed, creating a community we’re proud – and ever thankful – to call home.

Reach editor Sherry Devlin at (406) 523-5250 or by e-mail at [email protected].

SHERRY DEVLIN Is editor of the Missoulian and Western Montana InBusiness Monthly.

Full Issue: http://www.mtinbusiness.com/inbiz-0710/

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