Strength in Community

Glacier Bank, in partnership with Federal Home Loan Bank of Des Moines (FHLB Des Moines), is pleased to announce that 17 area nonprofits will be the recipients of a grant from the FHLB Des Moines Member Impact Fund. Total funds disbursed is $190,000. This matching grant program, which was introduced in 2023, provided nearly $20 million to eligible organizations in order to strengthen community in targeted areas of FHLB Des Moines' district. In 2024 FHLB Des Moines increased the Member Impact Fund by $10 million.

Glacier Bank partnered with eligible nonprofits across our five-county market. Each Organization was required to have a mission of promoting affordable housing or community development. Beginning in January, bank staff worked closely with each organization assisting them with the application process. Every nonprofit was required to demonstrate a need for funding for either or both capacity building or working capital which would be used to strengthen their ability to serve affordable housing or community development needs.

In March, the FHLB announced they had matched $3 to every $1 requested for each of our 17 nonprofits which was fantastic news. But the news got even better. In addition to Glacier Bank’s participation in this program, our affiliated Montana Divisions of Glacier Bank requested support for 100 organizations combined. This request resulted in an amazing $2,048,600 being distributed to nonprofits across the state of Montana which will be used to forward the mission of affordable housing and community development.

In April, the funds were awarded and together we met and exceeded the goal of the Member Impact Fund: to help financial institutions like Glacier Bank connect directly with local organizations to create value and lasting impact and help to advance the good work being done in our communities. Glacier Bank is tremendously proud to have partnered with the Federal Home Loan Bank of Des Moines in such a beneficial program.

AWARE's mission is to help people live independent lives. AWARE is a statewide nonprofit organization that offers quality, community-based and residential support for individuals, children and adults with mental health and developmental disabilities. They serve all 56 counties in Montana. AWARE is a recognized leader in human services and is the only organization in Montana that has achieved the unique status as both a licensed mental health center and a qualified provider of services for individuals and families with developmental disabilities. AWARE believes in the premise that all people have the right to be treated with dignity and respect; all people should have access to needed services that achieve optimal outcomes, and all people should be empowered to exercise informed choice. Funds from this grant will be used to assist in the partnership with Holistic Life Foundation (HLF) to nurture the wellness of the children serviced at the Center for Excellence and to work together to train staff to provide a comprehensive approach to care that will help children develop their inner lives through mindfulness and self-care.

Bigfork Food Bank is an all-volunteer food bank supporting Bigfork and surrounding areas, providing eligible clients with the opportunity to shop for groceries in their small grocery store three times each month. In 2023, they distributed 114,689 pounds of groceries. They also registered 221 households with their food bank and served 552 individuals. Their mission is to provide, within their means, high quality food distributed as temporary, emergency assistance to those who income falls below 200% of the federal poverty level. Funds from this grant will be used to help fund a new backup generator for the food bank. This will ensure that they are able to protect the food inventories in the event of a power outage allowing them to continue their mission to feed those in need in the community.

This Community Development Organization is the Fiduciary Agent that assists the local Schools with food distribution to vulnerable children called 'The No Kid Hungry in Bigfork' program. For the last 10 years, the Foundation of the Rotary Club of Bigfork, a Community Development nonprofit, has been raising funds to help feed local children through our "No Kid Hungry in Bigfork" program. There are four key elements to this program. The first being every Friday, students in need receive a bag of food filled with breakfast, lunch, and snacks for the weekend. We currently are averaging 75 children per week between the elementary, middle, and high schools at both Swan River School District and Bigfork School District. The second element to the program is to help cover the cost of classroom snacks for the elementary students. This expense has often been covered by the teachers themselves. The third element is providing food for the middle school and high school food pantries. Students who need food items for more than just the weekend can visit the pantry after school and take what is needed. Pantries are stocked with burritos, cup of noodles, yogurts, snacks, bread, mac and cheese, and several other items. The Foundation of the Rotary Club of Bigfork also provides Grocery Store gift cards to eligible students when other items are needed. The final element to the "No Kid Hungry in Bigfork" is that they supply the drinks and snacks for the Threads Program that is run by the Bigfork Ladies Service Club. Threads is a free thrift store that homeless students use at no cost. Students are offered food at the store as well and clothing and other supplies.

The Boys & Girls Clubs of Glacier Country is a nonprofit community development organization that exists to enable all young people, especially those who need them the most, to reach their full potential as productive, responsible, caring citizens. The Boys & Girls Clubs of Glacier Country has been in the Flathead Valley for over 20 years serving youth between the ages of Kindergarten through Seniors in High School. With the primary location being in Columbia Falls; the reach of the Club has expanded and now extends across the valley into Evergreen. Between the two locations, over 100 at-risk youth are served every day after school. Funds from this grant will help provide funding for their after-hour school programming in Columbia Falls. The after-school programming includes activities for arts, crafts, STEM, life skills, healthy and active lifestyles, and education/literacy enrichment for grades K-8. The funds will allow staff to be provided with extra training in areas of social emotional learning and empowerment. There are also plans to expand the program in 2024 by moving from the current location to the former Gateway Elementary School across the street. This would provide 12,000 square feet and allow the expansion of the program, especially in the summer when, in the past, many youth could not participate due to space issues and were on waiting lists to register for the program. 

The Boys & Girls Club of the Flathead Reservation and Lake County is a youth/teen serving organization that focuses on after-school and summer programming. The Club has three stand-alone facilities that serve more than 200 youth per day and over 1,300 per year. The Club works diligently to see that that every young person served has the opportunity for academic success, development of character and leadership, and the creation of a healthy lifestyle choices. For every child, the Club is a place to BELONG, with space to DREAM and the opportunity to BECOME. Funds from this grant would be used specifically for program growth and instruction. With these funds, they will be able to increase the availability in multiple program areas including STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math), workforce discovery/readiness, vocational skills, and cultural engagement. Income vulnerability among young families is a known challenge in the Boys & Girls Club service area. Funds will also be used in their scholarship program to ensure that every child can participate regardless of ability to pay for membership. The funds will help to ensure that the program quality and sustainability that has been developed will continue and will guarantee that members and their families are well-served.

Cabinet Peaks Medical Center (CPMC) is a rural healthcare hospital located in northwest Montana. The gifting arm of the Hospital is the Cabinet Peaks Foundation. One of the signature programs is the Paint it Pink project. Funds from this grant will be utilized through the Paint it Pink program to increase opportunities for the detection of breast cancer by being able to provide additional mammography and ultrasounds to patients in Lincoln County, MT.

The Flathead Food Bank is the largest and longest operating nonprofit food bank in our community. They offer multiple resources for food because the Flathead Food Bank aims to feed the community through its programs. These resources include the food bank, a distribution of food to the school BackPack program, food supplies to the Flathead School Snack program, supplying other community food pantries, and food for the Senior Commodities. All program recipients meet income eligibility. They have distributed over 3,400,000 pounds of food and fed 78,000 individuals, and the demand is increasing. With the recent purchase of their facility space, they now have room to store and sort more food. However, what lacks is shelving and other food storage supplies to do so. Funds from this grant will allow them to purchase much needed shelving to build-out their warehouse capacity which will increase the amount of food they can have on-hand. This will translate to having the food available to feed more people. It will also protect the safety of their warehouse volunteers and staff.

Habitat for Humanity of Flathead Valley has been building strength, stability, and self-reliance in the Flathead through shelter and community since 1989. Their mission is to build decent, affordable homes and provide homeownership opportunities to qualified families who live and work in Flathead County. They've built 70 homes to date, representing 77 families, 109 adults, and 161 children. Their homeownership program is designed to assist first-time, qualified homebuyers. These families are caught in the middle because they do not qualify for low-income housing and are not able to afford a home in the current housing market. The time and energy that their dedicated volunteers put in allows Habitat to sell our homes at a discounted price, and it gives volunteers a mission they can see getting done as well as its enduring impact. Habitat promotes sustainable community development, as homeownership provides families with a lasting foundation upon which future generations can grow and thrive. Habitat Flathead's biggest challenges are limited construction capacity and land procurement. Their primary objective moving forward is building capacity to serve more families and homeowners, engage more volunteers, and strengthen the community. They are partnering with Northwest Montana Community Land Trust to acquire land at no cost, while concurrently building volunteer capacity. Another initiative is the Habitat International RV Care-A-Vanner program which was formed in 1989 to meet the need for experienced builders by small affiliates. Care-A-Vanner volunteers travel at their own expense to affiliates and provide skilled construction crew leaders who can train and supervise unskilled volunteers, which can allow for more volunteers on the construction site at a time. If awarded funds, we will install six RV hook ups with amenities and laundry facility on the ReStore property to provide an affordable place for Habitat RV Care-A-Vanners to stay while building with Habitat Flathead. Along with the Care-a-Vanners, they can allow other volunteers to park their RV for a set number of days in exchange for a certain amount of volunteer hours.

Founded in 1989, ImagineIF Library Foundation is a section 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization whose role is to raise private dollars to enhance patron services of the ImagineIF Libraries, working closely with the Library Board and Library Director to fund facility upgrades, programming, and materials not included in the county library budget. ImagineIF Libraries provide a vital learning and connection hub across three Flathead County communities. Beyond the benefits of books and literacy that libraries provide, ImagineIF Libraries aim to provide programs that improve the quality of life, support workforce readiness, and inspire lifelong learning. ImagineIF Libraries provide a welcoming space for all library users to make lasting community connections, services and programs that foster literacy and a love of reading, and support the exploration of personal interests and hobbies, and creates opportunities for enhanced social connections. ImagineIF Foundation is creating a 21st century library that will meet the needs of residents of all ages and abilities. When fully renovated, the 6,000 square foot space will offer a large, flexible meeting room with updated technology ideal for hosting community meetings and special events; two soundproof study pods for individual work, podcasting, and/or phone calls; a flexible open floor plan with modular furniture and maker spaces; an expanded collection of new books, DVDs, music, hotspots, computers, and technology. The entire facility will be ADA compliant, including parking spaces, bathrooms, and programming areas, ensuring ImagineIF Bigfork is truly an inclusive space. Renovation on the new facility began in October 2023 and is anticipated to open to the public in July 2024.

InterBel Telephone Cooperative Inc is a telecommunications cooperative established in 1962 and has provided both residential and commercial communications services to the greater Tobacco Valley in Eureka, Montana. Their service area covers a vast territory of both Lincoln and Flathead Counties in a remote, rural portion of the State, in Moderate Income tracts. Funds from this grant will be used to leverage their Education Scholarship Trust. This will allow them to provide more scholarship opportunities to area students for additional education options including those in the trades. Oftentimes these opportunities result in supporting local construction labor demand for welding and electrical skills. Highly proficient trade professions often require obtaining skilled resources from outside of the Tobacco Valley, thus increasing costs for local projects, due to travel, etc. By using the FHLB grant resources along with the Educational Trust, they can provide more scholarships for individuals to become proficient in the trades and thus can increase local labor availability.

Kalispell Education Foundation (KEF) believes that every student in our community should have the opportunity to succeed in school. They believe a quality education is essential to thrive as a member of society, regardless of the many prohibitive factors that may exist in childhood. Their goal is to ensure that every teacher is afforded the resources they need to inspire and deliver the best education to each individual student. This is done primarily through their classroom grants program that enables teachers to apply for innovative classroom funding during the school year. The KEF Executive Director is currently part-time and the only staff member. KEF has been thoughtful and careful in their growth but has reached a point where they are no longer able to meet the needs of our students and teachers without funding additional staff time. Since adding a staff position in 2019, KEF has increased its funding by 275%. This has resulted in increasing student impact by 105% through classroom grant funding, adding an after-school program, and creating a district-wide teacher appreciation program. Funds from this grant will allow them to invest additional staff hours into growing their marketing and outreach capabilities, enabling them to raise more funds to meet student needs. Due to a lack of funding resources, KEF regularly turns down funding requests that would positively impact student learning.

The mission of LCCDC is to enhance the quality of life and sustainable economic well-being of all residents of the communities we serve. Founded in March 1995 as a 501-C (3) nonprofit organization, Lake County Community Development Corporation (LCCDC) DBA Mission West Community Development Partners (MW) is a regional economic development organization established to provide leadership, community and economic development efforts and to address growth issues as they affect residents, communities and the quality of life in the region they serve; Lake, Sanders and Mineral counties. MW is recognized as an EDA Economic Development District and a MT Certified Regional Development Center. This designation provides resources throughout their partner counties. Mission West Community Development Partners (MW) is launching a capital campaign to increase the capacity of the organization that will strengthen their community development mission and delivery of services from their Community Economic, Cooperative, and Food and Agriculture Development Centers. This will be accomplished through improved data management, building staff capacity, and completing a board strategic planning process. MW is also building a working capital pool that will be used to improve its current assets by converting a portion of their building into a full-scale retail operation that will act as a community hub and become a key catalyst in the efforts to revitalize the city of Ronan.

National Affordable Housing Network [NAHN] is a nonprofit organization founded in 1994 by senior staff members of the Buildings Group and Energy Group of a national research nonprofit. The mission of the organization is to assist households in need to reach the dream of homeownership through education and construction of high-performance homes, particularly by self-help family teams. The Network conducts demonstration projects and programs to assist its home area of Southwest Montana, while providing technical assistance and educational house plans illustrating methods currently in use. The organization serves low/moderate income individuals and adults with disabilities. Funds from this grant will be used for working capital. NAHN will use this grant for predevelopment costs for development of additional building sites adjacent to current land holdings in Uptown Butte on Iron Street.

Northwest Montana Community Land Trust's (NWMTCLT) seeks to expand the stock of affordable housing and increase opportunities for home ownership for low- and moderate-income individuals and families in NW Montana. NWMTCLT provides permanently affordable home ownership opportunities by acquiring homes and removing them from the for-profit real estate market. Under the community land trust model, the homebuyer owns the home, while the CLT retains ownership of the land under it. A 75-year, renewable ground lease is executed between the homebuyer and NWMTCLT and includes deed restrictions for future sales. Separating the ownership of the land and deducting the appraised value of the land from the dwelling allows NWMTCLT to reduce the home's sale price. Eligible buyers have a household income up to 120% AMI and must qualify for a mortgage from a conventional lender. NWMTCLT currently owns 55 properties in Kalispell and Whitefish. Funds from this grant will be used for Land Banking. They intend to add 611 Trailview Way to their CLT inventory in May 2024. These funds will be part of the capital stack made up of grants, private donations and municipal contributions that will be used to take title of the land under the home built at 611 Trailview. The home will be purchased by an eligible homebuyer on their waitlist whose income is between 60% and 120% AMI for their household size.

Polson Loaves & Fish is a nonprofit food pantry that serves the greater Polson area. It is totally volunteer run and serves about 350 families each month. The backpack program, which targets food-vulnerable students, sends food home with 89 school children each weekend. All of their programs are funded with donations and grants, and they serve primarily low income individuals and families. The numbers they serve, both families and school children, continue to grow. They purchase the majority of their food from the Montana Food Bank Network at wholesale. They also purchase food through local grocery stores. As prices rise, so do expenses. Funds from this grant will allow them to assist more people and purchase more food. Food pantries are also equipment dependent. Their equipment is aging, and they must replace or repair as needed. Those types of expenses are likely to occur without much notice. Their facility is also seeing a rapid increase in monthly utility bills, insurance, and transportation costs. Grant funds will be used to meet these costs.

Samaritan House Inc. (SH) is a local nonprofit seeking to end homelessness in the Flathead Valley of Northwestern Montana. Chronic homelessness is by far one of the most broadly misunderstood traumatic experiences humans may face. Within the label of homelessness alone comes numerous other challenges that affect a person's quality of life. SH Staff come to work every day with the number one goal of meeting client's needs to provide stability and safety for them as they work to support them out of crisis. They see each client equally as the human next to us at home, at work, or in the grocery store. Each deserves the same respect and dignity as the next, regardless of who they are or where they come from. Choosing to acknowledge homelessness and step inside of the shelter shows that their clients are in a vulnerable state and allows them to take a small part in their journey. Funds from this grant will be used as working capital to add to the Owner's already established equity amount of $750,000. This will assist in filling the existing financing gap for the Samaritan House Family Living project, which will be completely financed through State, Federal, and Foundation grants as well as individual donations from an ongoing Capital Campaign.

Whitefish Community Foundation (WCF) works tirelessly with donors and nonprofits to benefit our community through donor-advised and competitive grant programs, the Great Fish Community Challenge, capacity building opportunities, and training. As one of the most pressing issues facing the Flathead Valley, their support of housing organizations has become a significant part of their work. In fact since 2018, WCF has granted $3.4M directly to local housing organizations including $1.2M in 2023 alone. Additionally, local housing organizations participate in their nonprofit development program and receive training and resources. For example, Housing Whitefish was invited to participate in their Capacity Building program and received a grant of $1,500 to purchase and implement new donor-database software. Finally, WCF staff attend regular community housing meetings to discuss funding strategies and opportunities for local projects. They also play a critical role connecting major donors to important community housing projects. For example, in 2023, they awarded $150,000 in donor advised fund grants to Northwest MT Community Land Trust to fully fund their Trail View Affordable Housing project in Whitefish. Funds from this grant will be used to grow the capacity of their community housing nonprofits through direct funding opportunities, hosting the Great Fish Community Challenge, fostering new donor relationships, developing fundraising strategies, and providing free training opportunities. They hope to increase the support of Housing projects and programs in 2024.