Montana State University Bobcat Taco Dowler launches youth foundation
By Leslie Kilgore EBS STAFF
After helping lead Montana State University to a national championship, Bobcat football player Taco Dowler is working to build a different kind of legacy, one that reaches far beyond the football field.
During a date following the championship season earlier this year, Dowler and his wife Caylee found themselves reflecting on the whirlwind year and the opportunities they had growing up. They talked about always having what they needed for school, being able to play sports, and realized not every child has those same opportunities.
That conversation became the beginning of the Taco Dowler Youth Foundation.
“I was telling her a little bit about my childhood, and how fortunate I was to go to school with everything I needed, and play all the sports that I ever wanted to play,” Dowler said. “We started thinking about how lucky we were to grow up the way we did and how a lot of kids don’t get the same opportunities that we got.”
The couple decided they wanted to do something tangible to help children in Montana facing financial hardships.
The nonprofit is dedicated to helping children overcome barriers that prevent them from succeeding in the classroom and on the playing field by providing essential school supplies, athletic equipment and other resources that build confidence and opportunity.
The foundation’s first initiative, Backpack to Belong, is reaching students across Montana by partnering with school principals, counselors and administrators who already know which of their students need additional support. It provides backpacks filled with school supplies, hygiene products and a handwritten note from Dowler himself reminding each student that they belong.
“We want kids to show up to school with a sense of belonging and confidence,” he said.
For Dowler, the handwritten note is the most meaningful item inside every backpack.
“My favorite thing that we’re putting in the backpacks is a note from the foundation, from me, with a simple little note saying, ‘you belong,’ and ‘keep working,’” he said. “Just so a kid can see that I’m thinking of them and I’m with them.”
Each backpack currently includes notebooks, pencils, paper, folders, scissors, deodorant, toothpaste and toothbrushes. As the program grows, Dowler hopes to personalize backpacks based on each child’s interests and eventually include sports equipment such as football cleats and other gear.
The foundation is beginning its work in Montana, partnering with schools in the Gallatin Valley, Billings School District 2 and Kalispell. Schools apply directly through the foundation’s website, where administrators submit requests based on student needs.
“We just told five schools that they’re going to get 20 backpacks for the start of school,” Dowler said. “That’s our first little wave, 100 backpacks.”
Demand has already surpassed those first backpacks.
“We’ve already got more than 500 more asked for throughout this school year, and we’re raising money to try and get as much of that done.”
If fundraising continues to grow, Dowler hopes to expand the foundation throughout the region before eventually serving children across the country. Community support has exceeded his expectations. In just over a month, the foundation has raised approximately $35,000 through online donations, business partnerships and online contributions.
“We’ve really only been accepting donations for about a month,” Dowler said. “It’s amazing, and we’re already making a difference.”
Several Montana businesses have stepped in to help. The foundation was the beneficiary of Outlaw Partners’ 50-50 raffle during the Big Sky PBR, Vera Bradley donated 100 backpacks from its Disney collection, and Staples launched school supply drives at all seven Montana locations.
“We’ve got backpacks fully stocked with school supplies just because of the fundraising in the first few weeks,” Dowler said.
Shoppers can purchase school supplies and place them in Taco Dowler Youth Foundation collection bins at participating Staples stores throughout Montana, and make donations on the organization’s website.
Dowler also hopes to host community backpack-packing events where volunteers can help assemble backpacks and write encouraging notes to students.
“I think volunteers always help,” he said. “There’s a lot of planning and behind-the-scenes work that goes into all of this.”
Rather than personally delivering backpacks, the foundation ships them directly to schools, where principals and counselors discreetly distribute them to students, an effort to protect students’ dignity.
“The principals and teachers will give out the backpacks to kids who are in need, and hopefully the kids in each school won’t necessarily know who receives them,” Dowler said. “The whole point of everything we are doing is so that all kids can have a sense of belonging at their schools.”
That sense of belonging remains the driving force behind the foundation.
“I hope that a lot of kids can smile, and not walk into school feeling like they’re already five steps behind, Dowler said. “It’s not their fault that a family has a hardship financially, and I want to break those barriers and hopefully change some kids’ lives.”
Although Dowler serves as the public face of the organization, he said the foundation would not exist without his wife.
“She’s really the brains behind the whole thing, and I’m just the face right now,” he said. “She’s incredible. Everything that I’m doing, she’s doing as well. Whenever I say ‘I,’ it’s really ‘we.’”
The foundation is guided by a five-member board that brings together expertise in law, finance, education and community leadership. Dowler also credits Montana State for giving him the platform to make a difference, while noting that NCAA and NIL regulations keep the university separate from the nonprofit’s fundraising efforts.
“I wouldn’t be who I am without Montana State,” he said. “Everyone wants to help because of how great the Bobcats are, what we did last year, and the community that supports the team so loyally.”
Still, Dowler hopes his greatest legacy won’t be measured in wins or championships.
“I really want my legacy to be more than football,” he said. “I want people to hear the name Taco Dowler and not necessarily think football first. I want them to think about someone in the community who is trying to do good for the community.”
Dowler said he believes that beyond hard work, most everyone who experiences success is because of their community and their family.
“All the support throughout my community has been so amazing to me. I feel like I’d be stupid not to give back to the community that’s given me so much,” Dowler said.
That community is one of the reasons he returned to Montana State for another season.
“I just love Montana,” he said. “That’s why I stayed to play football here for another year. I’m addicted to the culture that Montana has, and the grit and the competitiveness.”
Looking ahead, he has no plans to stop once his football career ends.
“I don’t see this foundation ending or stopping or even plateauing in the next couple years,” Dowler said. “I want to continue to grow it every year. Failure is just not an option for me, in anything I do.”
For those interested in supporting the foundation, Dowler says every contribution matters.
“Any financial contribution, even if it’s five dollars, goes a long way,” he said. “But also, the most important thing is just sharing the story, sharing why it’s important, sharing how people can help. If it resonates with one person, it can resonate with thousands.”
