Bigfork non-profits concerned about economy, still optimistic

When the Bigfork Museum of Art and History unveiled its new moniker last year, the last thing the board wanted was to associate the organization with the old, dusty stereotype of a museum.

Now, faced with a more difficult economic situation in the face of the national downturn, the museum is trying to make a few changes to occupy a needed niche in downtown Bigfork.

“It’s been a struggle since the beginning of last year,” said museum director Marnie Forbis. “There’s been a big drop in sales.”

But, Forbis said, thanks to sound financial planning by the organization’s board of directors, the museum had some cash reserves built up for hard times. That stockpile, however, is dwindling.

That has Forbis and the board concerned, but optimistic that the community will continue to support the museum, especially considering its renewed focus on the history of the Village.

“We hope the museum will reflect back on the community now,” Forbis said. “We’re trying to focus on our neck of the woods and our culture.”

The museum will also continue to provide a venue for upcoming artists, something Forbis said is valuable in an art-saturated town like Bigfork.

To bolster the museum’s finances, the board is hoping to increase the number of members as well as strengthen the already-impressive volunteer corps that donate time and energy for everything from staffing the facility to helping with renovations.

Memberships are $40 per family but there are higher tiers of sponsorship rising from there, which entitle the bearer to various discounts and specials.

Other non-profit groups, like the North Shore Nordic Club, rely solely on donations but don’t have a facility with its associated overhead and higher community profile. Club president Dave Hadden said the club is weathering the recession fine so far thanks to a pile of donations that came in at the start of the season from the Community Foundation for a Better Bigfork, Saddlehorn Foundation and an anonymous donor.

The club maintains nordic ski trails at Blacktail Mountain and near Bug Creek that are free to users.

“We’ve had some tight moments,” Hadden said. “But we never ran with much of a surplus anyhow.”

One thing that has helped both the nordic club and the museum has been grants. Hadden said his group received a recreational trails grant at the start of the winter and Forbis said that grant money was one of the drivers behind the inclusion of “museum” in the center’s name.

“Becoming a museum really helps with grants,” Forbis said. “And if you go back to the actual meaning of museum, that’s what we do.”

The building that the museum and the Bigfork branch of the Flathead County Library occupy is owned by perhaps the Village’s largest non-profit, the Community Foundation for a Better Bigfork, formerly — and still often referred to as — the Bigfork Development Company.

Aside from undertaking civic projects on its own, such as the sidewalk along Bridge Street constructed last summer, the CFBB funnels money to other non-profit enterprises around town.

“Our goal is to spend everything we collect,” said CFBB president Paul Mutascio. “We rely completely on donations throughout the year and our annual community fundraiser in September.”

For 2008, that fundraiser came right at the beginning of the economy’s steep slide, something that was immediately evident to the group.

“We felt it right then and there,” Mutascio said. “We were down about 12 percent and end-of-the-year donations were down about that amount as well.”

But despite the slide, Mutascio said the CFBB has taken in a few unexpected donations and so far has nearly made up the difference.

“Overall we’re a little concerned,” he said. “But we’re optimistic.”

For the museum, which because of the public bathrooms located on the foyer functions as a sort of “downtown branch of the chamber of commerce,” according to Forbis, sticking around is simply a matter of hard work and help from the community.

“We stretch the dollar as much as we possibly can,” Forbis said. “We’re not the end-all be-all of downtown, but we’re an integral part of it.”

For more information or to join, contact the museum at 837-6927.