Downtown Missoula Partnership
What Is the Downtown Missoula Partnership?
The Downtown Missoula Partnership (DMP), created in 2014, is a collaboration of three distinct organizations that serve the needs of Downtown Missoula. The DMP’s overall vision is to lead and nurture a vibrant Downtown Missoula as a place where people are inspired to live, work, shop, and play.
With leadership from nine full-time staff, four boards, and eight committees, the Downtown Missoula Partnership works closely with the community to make Missoula an award-winning, healthy, thriving, and beautiful city center — the envy of many cities across the country.
What Are the Three Organizations Under the Downtown Missoula Partnership?
The three organizations overseen by the Downtown Missoula Partnership are the Missoula Downtown Association, the Downtown Business Improvement District, and the Missoula Downtown Foundation. While these organizations are individually governed and have separate missions, budgets, and programs, the DMP is a unified staff that supports all three. In addition, the Downtown Missoula Partnership has its board of directors, consisting of two representatives from the board of each sub-organization.
Missoula Downtown Association (MDA)
The Missoula Downtown Association (MDA) is a private, non-profit, membership-based business organization dedicated to promoting, supporting, and enhancing the vitality of Downtown Missoula for the betterment of the community. Its mission is to retain and promote Downtown Missoula as Western Montana’s center of business, culture, and entertainment; provide a forum for mutual solutions to common challenges downtown; encourage preservation and enhancement of the area’s physical beauty; and create public awareness of Downtown’s historic and cultural significance.
Downtown Business Improvement District (BID)
The Downtown Business Improvement District of Missoula (BID) enhances the vitality of Downtown Missoula by facilitating commerce, promoting investment, enhancing streetscapes, conducting maintenance, and improving security and safety for the Downtown Business District, the City of Missoula, and the people of Montana.
Missoula Downtown Foundation (MDF)
The Missoula Downtown Foundation, Inc. (MDF) is a public benefit corporation organized exclusively for charitable and educational purposes. MDF supports and promotes efforts that enhance the arts, culture, livability, economy, safety, and infrastructure of the greater Downtown Missoula area. The foundation is sustained by grant funding, annual fundraising campaigns, event sponsorships, and development of both public and private resources.
When Were the Downtown Missoula Partnership and Its Sub-Organizations Founded?
The Missoula Downtown Association (MDA) was originally a retail committee of the Missoula Chamber of Commerce. In 1975, the downtown retailers separated from the Chamber and formed the Downtown Merchants Association. In response to changes in the Missoula community and the decline of downtown, the organization restructured in 1980 and broadened its membership and mission, becoming the Missoula Downtown Association. The MDA is currently celebrating its 50th year of operation!
With the sunset of Urban Renewal District 1 approaching in 2005, the City of Missoula challenged the MDA to maintain the public investments made by the Missoula Redevelopment Agency and take on more management responsibilities. In response, the MDA created the Downtown Business Improvement District of Missoula (BID), with support from over 63% of the area’s property owners. The BID was renewed in 2010 and again in 2020 with nearly 75% approval.
The Missoula Downtown Foundation (MDF) was created in 2010 by the MDA and BID as a 501(c)(3) entity to assist in the acquisition of financial resources for the betterment of Downtown Missoula and the implementation of the Downtown Master Plan.
In 2013, the three primary downtown organizations formalized their partnership to share resources, retain quality employees, and acquire the skillsets needed to advance shared goals. This collaboration led to the formation of the Downtown Missoula Partnership, Inc., and the restructuring unified staff under a single organizational framework while maintaining support for all three distinct boards.