<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html charset=windows-1252"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;"><p class="MsoNormal"><br></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><u><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;">FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE</span></u></b><b><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;">: April 6, 2016</span></b><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);">Contact:</span></b><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);">Meredith Printz, Executive Director, Missoula Community Foundation: </span><a href="mailto:Meredith@MissoulaCommunityFoundation.org"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);">Meredith@MissoulaCommunityFoundation.org</span></a><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);"> or 406-552-7347<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);">Winners Announced for the Missoula Project for Nonprofit Excellence</span></b><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-size: 12.5pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);">Local groups awarded grants to build capacity and create a more vibrant community</span></i><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;">MISSOULA, (Mont.) – This week, three local nonprofits received grants from the Missoula Community Foundation to build stronger organizations and create a more vibrant community. The Foundation selected Blue Mountain Clinic, Inc., Home ReSource and Missoula Community Access Television (MCAT) as the 2016 grant recipients of the <b><i>Missoula Project for Nonprofit Excellence (MPNE)</i></b>. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;">These three nonprofits were awarded funds to work with a local consultant to assess their organizational strengths and needs for improvement. The goal is to identify ways each group can become more effective and efficient in serving clients and their communities, and then help them execute the recommendations to strengthen internal operations necessary to reach their full potential. Each organization and its capacity-building priorities are described briefly below:<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;"><br><b><span style="color: rgb(34, 34, 34);">Blue Mountain Clinic</span></b></span><i><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);"> </span></i><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);">is an independent family medicine clinic that provides nonjudgmental, safe and compassionate healthcare. </span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;">It has never accepted government funding, which allows practitioners to have complete autonomy in how they provide care.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial;"> </span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);">The MPNE grant will help Blue Mountain assess the best way to position itself within the ever-evolving world of medicine while remaining true to their principles.</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);"><br><br><b>Home ReSource</b>’s </span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;">mission is to reduce waste and build a vibrant and sustainable local economy. Their building materials reuse center employs 30 people, diverts more than 1000 tons of materials annually from the landfill, and provides job training to people experiencing barriers to employment. After years of planning, t<span style="color: rgb(34, 34, 34);">hey </span></span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);">recently purchased their store site. This capacity building grant will help the organization manage their rapid growth and navigate the site purchase process.<br><br></span><b><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);">Missoula Community Access Television (MCAT)</span></b><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);"> </span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;">promotes the spread of information and exchange of ideas by providing channel time, equipment and training to as many organizations and people as possible<span style="color: rgb(34, 34, 34);">. Since 1990, it has donated more than $1,000,000 of in-kind video production services to 700 Missoula groups. MCAT is </span>partnering with the Missoula Public Library, Children's Museum Missoula and SpectrUM to fundraise and campaign for a new library/community center that would house all of these resources under one roof. MCAT is also </span><span style="font-size: 11pt;">shifting from a television model to a media center model, which will focus on education about various forms of media. These major transition</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);">s make now the perfect time for this capacity building grant.</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;">MPNE, now in its third year, is coordinated by the Missoula Community Foundation. It is conducted in partnership with the Helena-based Big Sky Institute for the Advancement of Nonprofits (BSI). <o:p></o:p></span><span style="font-size: 14px;">MPNE is a place-based approach to capacity-building grantmaking that
grew out of a multi-year demonstration phase developed by BSI and a
group of Montana funders.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;">MPNE is a collaborative grantmaking program, with Oro y Plata Foundation, Llewellyn Foundation, Pride Foundation, Martha Newell and the Missoula Community Foundation participating in leadership and decision-making over the past three years.</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;"> This year, the grants were made possible with support from Caroline & Willis Kurtz, the <span style="color: rgb(34, 34, 34);">Dennis & Phyllis Washington Foundation, High Stakes Foundation, Martha Newell, Pride Foundation, United Way of Missoula County and the Missoula Community Foundation.</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);">The Missoula Community Foundation connects people who care to causes that matter. Over</span></i><i><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;"> the past fifteen years, the Foundation has given more than $650,000 to 135 </span></i><i><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;">projects, inspiring long-term local philanthropy to ensure the vitality of the Greater Missoula community. </span></i><i><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);">For more information, please visit <a href="http://missoulacommunityfoundation.org">missoulacommunityfoundation.org</a><o:p></o:p></span></i></p><div><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);">###<o:p></o:p></span></p><div></div></body></html>