A Great Decade for Great Fish
As the Flathead Valley nonprofit fundraising campaign gets underway for its 10th year, organizers and participants highlight its achievements, including a record-breaking opening night that netted $380k
By Tristan Scott
When the Great Fish Community Challenge kicked off on Aug. 8, organizers and participants harbored high hopes that the nonprofit giving campaign’s 10th edition would infuse its heavyweight roster of nonprofit organizations with financial support while also raising the profiles of organizations throughout the Flathead Valley.
Within 24 hours, the 2024 fundraising campaign had already exceeded expectations — on the five-week drive’s opening night, it netted a record $388,000, while 80 nonprofit organizations are participating, also a record.
The Great Fish Community Challenge is the Whitefish Community Foundation’s marquee fundraising campaign, and while it represents just one of the various ways in which the foundation has been helping local nonprofits since 2000, it’s by far the most visible to the Flathead Valley’s nonprofits it was built to serve.
“It’s by far our biggest program,” Alan Davis, president and CEO of the Whitefish Community Foundation, said recently. “It costs us over $300,000 to host the challenge and fund the match pool because we want to make it 100 percent free for the nonprofits. We don’t take a cut out of anyone’s donation and the matching portion is on top of all that. We work really hard to simplify the giving and multiply the gift, which makes it more efficient foe everyone involved.”
For example, donors can choose to give to multiple nonprofit organizations with a single transaction. At the conclusion of the campaign, Whitefish Community Foundation awards a percentage match on the first $25,000 raised by each participating organization. The match is made possible by Whitefish Community Foundation’s Circle of Giving donors, as well as donors who designate their gift to the Great Fish Match Fund.
And despite the fundraising drive’s title, its reach extends beyond Whitefish.
“It benefits the entire Flathead Valley, from Bigfork to Kalispell, Lakeside to Columbia Falls,” Davis said. “Every person in the community is touched by a nonprofit that participates in the challenge.”
One of the local nonprofits that’s participated in every iteration of the challenge is the Flathead Youth Home, an eight-bed group home operated by the nonprofit organization Youth Homes, which cares for children facing abuse, neglect, emotional trauma and substance abuse issues. Based in Missoula, Youth Homes works with kids throughout western Montana through its network of emergency shelters, therapeutic group homes, foster care and adoption programs and counseling services.
Flathead Youth Home’s Kalispell facility has served hundreds of kids in crisis since it opened here 25 years ago, but Amy Schaer, the program’s executive director, said it wouldn’t remain financially solvent without the annual fundraising boost it receives from the Great Fish Community Challenge and the Whitefish Community Foundation.
“I can say we are a better organization, a better home for vulnerable youth because of the Whitefish Community Foundation,” Schaer said. “Not only because of the generous support we receive from the community, but also because of the message it gives the youth living in our home — that people in this community, who often have never met them, care deeply for their wellbeing and healing. It is one more spark that gives our youth hope.”
Flathead Youth Home Development Coordinator Hannah Plumb recalls getting involved with the Whitefish Community Foundation’s early fundraising efforts 18 years ago, and how the Great Fish Challenge emerged as a fireball of fundraising energy.
“When I started my job 18 years ago, I had never done fundraising and I was eager to learn about these initiatives,” Plumb said. “I started calling all the movers and shakers and participated in the Whitefish Community Foundation’s Duck Derby, and it was very supportive. But then the Great Fish Community Challenge came along and it just broke open this awareness of all the nonprofit organizations in the Flathead Valley. It really established a deeper connection between the organizations and the communities they serve.”
In honor of the 10th anniversary of the Great Fish Community Challenge, Whitefish Community Foundation will award more than $100,000 in incentive grants to nonprofits throughout the campaign. Donors will have numerous opportunities to help their favorite nonprofits win an incentive grant ranging from $1,000 to $10,000.
“We are excited to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the challenge with some big incentive grants that will inspire the Flathead Valley to give,” Davis said. “Whether you live in Kalispell, Columbia Falls, Whitefish or Bigfork, there is a nonprofit participating in this year’s Challenge that impacts your life. Make a gift to support their work and watch the impact of your gift multiply with a percentage match from Whitefish Community Foundation.”
Nonprofits interested in participating in the 2024 Challenge applied through a comprehensive application process this spring. Of the 80 nonprofits invited to participate, five are new to the campaign. They are Bigfork ACES, Bigfork Food Bank, Flathead Valley United, My Glacier Village and Writing Coaches of Montana.
Since 2015, the Great Fish Community Challenge has raised over $28 million for Flathead Valley nonprofits, including $6.2 million raised for 77 nonprofits in 2023.
There is no cost for nonprofits to participate in the Challenge. Whitefish Community Foundation underwrites the cost of hosting the campaign with support from title sponsor BNSF and additional sponsors First Interstate Bank, Glacier Bank, Glacier Guides, Harris Financial, Iron Horse Foundation, JCCS, Park Side Credit Union, Stockman Bank, Summit Beverage, Three Rivers Bank and Whitefish Credit Union.
This year’s campaign kicked off with the Great Fish Launch Party on Thursday, Aug. 8 at 5:30 p.m. at Three Rivers Bank in Whitefish. From Aug. 8 to Sept. 13, there will be many opportunities for donors to give to the campaign and help their favorite charities earn more incentive grants.
The Great Fish Fun Run and Community Celebration is scheduled for Saturday, Sept. 7 in Depot Park in Whitefish. The event will include 5K, Para 5K and one-mile races, free BBQ lunch, a nonprofit fair and the presentation of awards and prizes. Registration for the Great Fish Fun Run is open at runsignup.com/great-fish-fun-run.