MISSOULA — On this International Women's Day, two women who started the Missoula Makers Collective are taking another step forward by launching a nonprofit for creatives called Making Missoula.
When you walk into Pearl Boba Tea on Higgins Avenue you’ll be surrounded by handmade items. That’s because the spot also serves as the Missoula Makers Collective’s (MMC) shop.
“It's twofold, we're helping makers, but also we're enriching our community with so much more local art and personality,” offered MMC co-founder Rachel Cowan.
Missoula is full of creatives and you may have seen some of these goods at the summer Makers Market or at Holidays on Higgins around Christmas. However, the collective does so much more like classes and networking for makers.
“We realized all of that programming, one is very expensive and like very hard to maintain and [two] as an LLC, we can't take donations," MMC co-founder Bailey Durnell detailed.
So, to help makers even more, the organization is getting bigger, adding a non-profit piece called Making Missoula.
“The growth was kind of very natural. Like we knew that if we wanted to continue to provide services to makers and continue to provide the support that we were going to end up being a nonprofit,” shared Durnell.
“I feel like we had to jump through a lot of hoops being a mission-based business from like the jump. So now, we've got a little bit of a foothold," added Cowan. "It feels really good to kind of see it come back full circle and have like our original goals be accomplished,”
Part of the non-profit is the grant fund which they seek to expand."
“We gave away our first grant from the Missoula Makers grant fund last year, last summer. She's a block printing artist and she was able to purchase a press with the grant fund. Then, she ended up leaving her full-time job and pursuing like being a maker, full time," said Durnell. Additionally, Cowan expressed, “We knew we were gonna make a grant to like, help somebody grow their business. But, when we had that immediate feedback of like, 'oh my gosh, we actually really made a difference', it makes it even that much more easy to like keep putting the pedal down and keep going.”
MMC is transitioning its educational programming, business development, and financial support into the non-profit. Plus, launching it on International Women’s Day for a reason.
“We're so curious what happens to our community and to our community's development, our community’s sustainability when women have financial autonomy, when we're using handmade businesses to bridge the wage gap when we're supporting women's financial success,” explained Durnell.
Making Missoula held a kick-off and pop-up shop at 420 North Higgins Avenue on Friday. To learn more visit their website.
