The story

At the founding of the Missoula Makers Collective in 2021, we knew we wanted to give back to the community and specifically, that we wanted the booth fees we collected from the markets to fund whatever it was that we decided to do.

We began to set aside 5% of all booth fees we collected when we began hosting Winter Markets at the Oi Yoi Studio in 2021. At the time, 5% of booth fees came to less than $50/market.

Our original goal was to raise $500 to give away to a maker at the end of the year. Once we began hosting our summer markets, that “5%” began to grow. We went from hosting 12 makers once a month, to hosting 25+ makers twice a month. We quickly hit our $500 goal mid-summer, and realized that this could be more than a one-off gift to a maker.

Since our 2022 summer markets we’ve continued to collect booth fees for the grant fund, and expanded to selling merchandise to raise funds too. As of now we’ve raised more than $2,000 and are in the process of founding the nonprofit, Making Missoula, so that we can continue to fund maker’s growth for years to come. We’ll be awarding our first grant this year, and applications will become available in summer 2023.