Frequently Asked Questions

GIVE A HOOT is Park County Community Foundation's annual community giving challenge that connects community members with causes they care about most. The goal of GIVE A HOOT is to inspire people to come together, show pride in their community, and contribute to supporting local nonprofit organizations working in Park County.

Funds raised by participating nonprofits during GIVE A HOOT will be eligible to receive partial matching funds from the Park County Community Foundation.

The Park County Community Foundation is the driving force behind GIVE A HOOT thanks to the generosity of the Dennis & Phyllis Washington Foundation, Montana Rail Link, and Willow Creek Ranch. The Community Foundation does not take a portion of gifts made through GIVE A HOOT. We only receive gifts designated specifically for our organization. Our mission is to connect caring people to community needs in Park County, Montana.

• We Learn. Through research, networking, and community conversation we cultivate a deeper knowledge about the issues and opportunities that are shaping our community.
• We Engage. We lead collaborative engagement to address community challenges by convening community groups and leaders to participate in the discussion and innovative action around the issue.
• We Give. We award grants to nonprofits and community groups and provide professional development to support their efforts in addressing community challenges and opportunities within our home, Park County.

Why We Do It

• We believe many of Park County's challenges can be solved through mutual understanding, better cooperation, and a robust culture of philanthropy.
• GIVE A HOOT is possible because of our generous Sponsors, specifically the Dennis & Phyllis Washington Foundation, Montana Rail Link, and Willow Creek Ranch.
• The opportunity to provide partial matching grants to participating organizations is made possible by our 2023 Matching Pool Supporters

Thanks to our event sponsors, Park County nonprofit organizations do not pay any fees to participate in the GIVE A HOOT community giving challenge.

100% of your donation goes to your selected nonprofit(s).

Thanks to the generosity of a core group of committed philanthropists, gifts made by the public to participating nonprofits will be eligible to qualify for partial matching funds. Funds from these supporters also help underwrite the Community Foundation costs for producing GIVE A HOOT, including administration, event management, and marketing. This ensures participation is free for nonprofits, and 100% of all donations go to donor-designated nonprofits.

The GIVE A HOOT matching funds structure will provide partial matching grants that support all participating organizations. The percentage at which eligible designated gifts are partially matched will be based on the number of total gifts designated to participating organizations and the total matching gift pool raised by the Community Foundation. For example, if the public donates $1,500,000 to participating nonprofits during the campaign and the matching pool is $300,000 the partial match will be 20%. Dependant on the matching funds raised participating organizations will be eligible to receive a maximum matching grant between $10,000 -$15,000. An announcement of partial matching grants will be made in September 2023.

A Fundraiser is a way you can raise awareness of your favorite nonprofit by reaching out to your personal network through a peer-to-peer fundraising campaign. It is easy to create a personal Fundraiser. You choose your organization, set a fundraising goal, and customize your page. Then send the link for your GIVE A HOOT Fundraiser to family, friends, neighbors, and colleagues. Each time you share your page by email or social media, you expand the circle of people who know about and can potentially support your favorite nonprofit.

• How to set up a Fundraiser

All gifts are 100% tax-deductible and will be used as unrestricted funds by the recipient organization.

Each donation made to a participating nonprofit will be disbursed by check after the conclusion of the campaign.

Gifts made during GIVE A HOOT are considered unrestricted gifts to the nonprofit.

The GIVE A HOOT website is hosted and managed by Neon One, and all of the financial transactions are processed through Neon Pay. Please note that neither Neon One nor the Park County Community Foundation has access to your financial information; furthermore, no payment information will be stored by any of these three organizations.

While the Park County Community Foundation will be receiving donor contact information and the amounts donated to each organization, rest assured that all donor information is kept confidential and will never be sold or used by the Park County Community Foundation for solicitation purposes. However, we do anticipate the following uses for donor information collected through GIVE A HOOT:

• Information will be shared with the respective nonprofits which each donor is contributing towards.
• Only in cases where the donor has designated the Park County Community Foundation as a gift recipient would we ever reach out to that donor with an additional solicitation.
• At the conclusion of GIVE A HOOT, the Park County Community Foundation will be following up with each donor to send a donation confirmation letter they can use for their tax filing purposes. In addition, we anticipate reaching out next year to make donors aware of the opening dates for GIVE A HOOT.

GIVE A HOOT takes place each year from 12:01 AM on July 1st to midnight on July 31st.

All charitable organizations who meet the IRS' requirements to receive exempt status under section 501(c)(3) of the Code (or are fiscally sponsored by a qualified organization) and who are organized and operated exclusively for charitable, educational, and scientific purposes, that are located in and serving residents of Park County, MT, or Mammoth, WY are welcome to participate in the GIVE A HOOT campaign.

Anyone can donate! Donations can be made online through the GIVE A HOOT website or by check made out to the Park County Community Foundation accompanied by the GIVE A HOOT donation form.

• 2024 Donor Form

We work very hard to keep this a "fee-free" event for participating non-profits. We utilize a portion of administrative funds from our event sponsors to offset processing fees. However, there are fees associated with each credit card transaction.

You are given the option to cover the fees during checkout. Your willingness to cover credit card processing fees ensures we will be able to keep this event "fee-free" for our nonprofits.

Of your donation, a portion will be retained by the credit card companies and Neon One. The fee breakdown is as follows: 

• 2.8% service charge from Neon One for building and maintaining the hosting site. This is the only cost accrued by Neon One and it goes to cover site hosting, maintenance, customer support, and donation processing.
• Visa, Mastercard, and Discover are charged 2.2% + $0.30 on all. Fees are higher for transactions with American Express at 3.2% + $0.30 per transaction. These are standard charges from each credit card company for donations made online. 

Yes! After you complete your donation(s) to participating organizations, you will be given the opportunity to make an additional donation to the "stretch fund" - which is the pool of funds that are distributed through the partial matching grants.

Donors may contribute to as many organizations as they would like to, with the knowledge that each nonprofit will receive 100% of all gifts designated to them, as well as a partial match from the Park County Community Foundation.

Yes! Checks must be made out to the Park County Community Foundation and accompanied by a GIVE A HOOT donation form that indicates which nonprofits will be the recipient(s) of your gift. These can be mailed to PO Box 2199, Livingston, MT 59047.

• 2024 Donor Form

The statement will show a single charge (regardless of how many nonprofits you chose) and will read "GIVE A HOOT Donations".

The list of participating organizations indicates which local nonprofits decided to take part in this year's community-giving challenge. For various reasons, eligible nonprofits may have chosen not to participate. If your preferred organization is not listed, we invite you to let them know of your interest in supporting them during GIVE A HOOT, and perhaps they will participate next year. In the meantime, we encourage you to use the "Search" function on the Give-a-hoot.org/nonprofits page and use keywords to learn about other local organizations that address your areas of interest.