The Missoula Urban Demonstration (MUD) Project, a 501c3 nonprofit, is a tool library, demonstration site, and skill-sharing hub rolled into one. Since 1981, MUD has worked toward the vision of a world in which tools and skills are shared for the betterment of our community and planet.
Mission & Vision
Although MUD’s mission and vision have seen many iterations over the years, their core values remain the same. Today, MUD’s mission and vision are:
Mission: MUD empowers people to build a more sustainable community through tool sharing and hands-on learning.
Vision: We envision a connected community where sharing tools and skills is second nature, and every person is empowered to take meaningful steps toward a sustainable future.
Organization Culture Statement
We are committed to sharing our resources and knowledge with everyone in our community. We recognize that every person is shaped by their own journey and experiences and vow to treat everyone with the respect and dignity they deserve.
At MUD we believe in:
- empowering people to make changes in their own lives
- being fair, equitable, open-minded, and respectful
- honoring human dignity
- examining and challenging our own role in perpetuating systems of oppression
We commit ourselves to supporting and working alongside our MUD community members, as well as the greater Missoula community, as we continue learning about issues of inequity, oppression, and racism.
Programs
MUD’s icons – the hammer, sunflower, and greenhouse – each represent a different component of MUD. The hammer stands for the core of MUD: the Tool Library. Boasting more than 3,500 tools, the Tool Library allows MUD members to accomplish nearly any project imaginable with shared tools. By bringing do-it-yourself projects within the reach of all Missoulians, MUD empowers our community to achieve more with less.
Like the MUD Tool Library, MUD’s Demonstration Site and Sustainable Living Workshop (or sunflower and greenhouse, respectively), are two sides of the same coin. The Demonstration Site serves as an example of how sustainable living techniques can be used to live lightly on the earth in an urban setting, similar to the northside homes during the era of the Down Home Project. A full list of these projects can be found here. Interpretive signs dispersed throughout the MUD site highlight each project so Missoulians can visit to learn and be inspired, whether MUD is open or closed.
The majority of MUD’s demonstration projects were achieved with the help of volunteers or workshop participants. Each year, MUD hosts between 20-30 sustainability-oriented workshops, during which skilled MUD instructors guide participants through hands-on projects. Whether you want to raise chickens in your backyard, build a kitchen table for your home, or even learn how to shape red-hot metal using blacksmithing tools, there’s a good chance a MUD workshop can teach you what you need to know.
At MUD, tool sharing, demonstration, and education intertwine to not only serve the needs of the individual, but to bring us all closer to a world in which resources, skills, and knowledge are shared for the betterment of our community and planet.
Dive into MUD’s 2025 Impact Report to learn what we accomplished, meet our Members, and discover the exciting plans on MUD’s horizon:
Annual Impact Reports
Explore previous Annual Reports to track MUD’s growth and impact over the years:
History
The seeds of MUD were planted in 1981 by the Down Home Project, a group passionate about urban sustainability. The project was based out of two northside homes where sustainable practices were woven into the fabric of daily life. The public was invited to learn how to integrate these practices into their own lives through workshops, site tours, and regular community gatherings. As its focus expanded to include tool sharing, the Down Home Project evolved into MUD.
MUD officially sprouted as an offshoot of the Down Home Project in 1989, and continued to operate out of the northside homes for two decades. By 2011, the tool library had become a staple of the organization, and MUD relocated to an empty lot on Wyoming St. There, MUD created more expansive tool storage space and continues to build upon the sustainability projects that have been fundamental to the organization since the very beginning.
MUD would like to acknowledge, recognize, and offer respect to Indigenous people and specifically to those whose land we occupy. We live, work, and recreate on the unceded territory of the Séliš, Ksanka, Ql̓ispé, Niitsitapi, and Tukkutikka.
