08/12/2026
Today the Whitefish Community Foundation’s Great Fish Challenge launches. Each year Great Fish promotes many worthy local nonprofit organizations through a month-long series of events. Organizations benefit from matching funds and other boosts to visibility and giving. In a time when funding and grants are becoming scarcer, this is an important event to support nonprofits that care well for the needs of our community. The Whitefish Community Foundation is a great community resource, and the Great Fish Challenge provides essential avenues for local nonprofits to better serve our community. We wish Whitefish Community Foundation and this year’s Great Fish participants a wonderful and successful event this year.
Since becoming a nonprofit in 2021, Valley Neighbors has received support and encouragement from the Whitefish Community Foundation (WCF), including receiving a Community Grant in 2024 and covering some costs of moving to the industry standard accounting software QuickBooks. Given the reputation and visibility of the WCF, community members often advise us to also apply for the Great Fish Community Challenge, so we put some significant effort into this goal. For a couple of years, Valley Neighbors worked with valuable feedback from the WCF to meet the requirements to apply, which we finally did in 2025.
We were surprised that our application was rejected citing only the WCF’s understanding that our organization did not qualify to participate because our activities include “political advocacy.” We considered this explanation vague and not reflective of a clear understanding of our engagement with the public square. We also noted that many of the local organizations that are welcomed into Great Fish advocate for their clients and community in manners parallel to us.
After our 2025 rejection letter, we held a productive dialogue with the WCF in which more substantive organizational reasons were given for us not being invited to participate. At the same time, it was conveyed that our manner of advocacy for our immigrant neighbors in the public square may be viewed as divisive, and in fact a couple donors had complained about our receipt of a Community Grant. While not reflective of the viewpoints of the WCF, community xenophobia and racism do continue to have a significant hold locally, and we think this can have a chilling affect on things like participation in events like Great Fish.
It is difficult when organizations that the WCF perceives or deems to engage in political advocacy are shut out from this foundational event. The guidelines for participation for 2026 include this: “Organizations must confirm that funds raised will not be used for programs promoting a religious doctrine or political agenda.” This is subjective and does not provide a definition of “political agenda.” Is a food bank advocating for policies that help feed hungry people political advocacy? If not, how is that different from immigrant organizations advocating for the safety and best interests of the communities their missions serve, while staying within IRS guidelines for such involvement?
Preliminary research of the parallel giving campaigns found in community foundations throughout the state has not located any similar requirement. It appears that the state standard for these community-wide fundraising events is to allow any nonprofit operating in the local community of the foundation and in good standing with its IRS requirements to participate in the community giving campaign. Other state foundations trust their donors to make their own choices about where to direct their dollars; the giving platform and added resources are not constrained by control from the top but empowered by individual decisions from the public. We think this is a better approach, but since it is not the approach the WCF currently utilizes, we find ourselves at a fundraising disadvantage in relationship to many of our peer immigrant service organizations across the state, such as Soft Landing Missoula and Bienviendos a Gallatin Valley.
This can be discouraging, but Valley Neighbors’ strongest asset in fundraising has never been large organizations providing support; it has always been the commitment of our local donors. Whether these donors give $5 or $50,000, almost all of our donors come from our local community and choose to share their hard-earned money with their immigrant neighbors because the work of welcome is deeply important to them.
So we are reaching out to you, our faithful donors. We are so grateful for your consistent support in this challenging time. You give wholeheartedly and specific needs that arise rarely remain unmet. You love your neighbors!
For the next month, parallel to Great Fish, Valley Neighbors will be focusing on our own fundraising and raising awareness within our community. As you share your support with the many worthy organizations supported through WCF and the Great Fish fundraiser, we’d encourage you to also set aside some funds for Valley Neighbors. Consider signing up for a monthly donation or providing a one-time gift.
We invite you to become a financial supporter, host us at a community event, or collaborate with us on how we can work together in support of local immigrants.
Together in the work of welcome,
Rebecca Miller
Johnny Ratka Skinner
Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash
