WOMENS FOUNDATION OF MINNESOTA
105 5th Ave S No 300, Minneapolis, MN 55401 www.wfmn.org

---

Organizations Filed Purposes: Women's Foundation of Minnesota is a statewide community foundation investing in innovation to drive gender and racial equity. WFMN maintains the diversity of multiracial and cultural perspectives in the service of its mission, governance, operations and processes.

To invest in innovation to drive gender and racial equity in Minnesota.

Grantmaking: In FY20 (Apr. 1, 2019 - Mar. 31, 2020), the Foundation awarded $2.0 million in grants to create equal opportunity and build pathways to economic security for women and girls who experience the greatest disparities in outcomes, particularly low-income women and girls, women and girls of color, and women and girls from Greater Minnesota. The Foundation's $2.0 million investment across Minnesota in FY20 included:* 251 grants to 158 nonprofit organizations * 136,438 women and girls served The Women's Foundation of Minnesota has the following grantmaking funds: girlsBEST (girls Building Economic Success Together) Fund, Community Response (formerly Innovation) Fund, Fund for Safety, and the Young Women's Initiative of Minnesota (YWI MN). A commitment to communities in Greater Minnesota and a value of inclusivity are reflected in the demographics of all the funds. 1. girlsBEST (girls Building Economic Success Together)Launched in 2002, girlsBEST awards multi-year grants to programs that build the opportunity and future economic success of Minnesota's girls, ages 12-18. Priority is given to programs that include outreach to underserved, underrepresented populations of girls around the state, including low-income girls, girls of color and American Indian girls, and girls from Greater Minnesota. Grantees are funded in one of four program tracks: Academic; Entrepreneurial; Employment Development & High-Paying/High-Skill Careers; and Public Education & Advocacy.girlsBEST awards grants to programs that build the opportunity and future economic success of Minnesota's girls, ages 12-18. Priority is given to programs that include outreach to underserved, underrepresented populations around the state, including low-income girls, girls of color, American Indian girls, and girls from Greater Minnesota.Since the launch of girlsBEST in 2002, WFMN has funded five multi-year cohorts of grantee-partners across the state. Through these cohorts, WFMN has provided planning and implementation grants totaling more than $4.8 million to 132 girl-led and girl-driven programs statewide and impacted more than 50,600 young women across Minnesota. In FY20, WFMN approved $301,000 in grants to support the final year of cohort V girlsBEST grantee-partners across the state with 18 multi-year and five planning grants. This is the third-year renewal of a multi-year grant from girlsBEST. Multi-year grants are renewed for up to three years, based on an annual grant review and approval of progress towards goals. Planning grants are limited to one year. The grant period is June 15, 2019, to June 14, 2020.Last year, girlsBEST impacted the economic well-being of 4,063 girls through grants to our partner organizations. The most recent program evaluation of girlsBEST Cohort V grantee-partners (April 2019) clearly illustrates the model's effectiveness: * High School Graduation: girlsBEST participants have an 95% high school graduation rate, compared to 50-83% in Minnesota overall, depending on ethnicity.* Post-Secondary Enrollment: girlsBEST participants have an 88% post-secondary education enrollment rate, compared to 44-72% in Minnesota overall, depending on ethnicity.* Teen Pregnancy: girlsBEST participants have a teen pregnancy rate of 3 per 1,000, compared to 18-48 per 1,000 in Minnesota girls overall, depending on ethnicity.2. Community Response FundThrough Community Response fund grantmaking, the Foundation can respond quickly to emerging community needs and fund programs that ensure women's safe and healthy lives. Because inequity looks different in every community, we use our Intersectional Equity Framework to look at how gender, race, place (geography), and equity (ethnicity, sovereignty, class, age, ability, LGTBQ+, immigration status) intersect in order to target the most innovative solutions to build greater gender and racial equity. Priority is given to organizations that ensure women's safe and healthy lives. During our last fiscal year, WFMN awarded a total of $139,480 in general operating grants through our Community Response Fund to thirteen organizations to respond to the vital needs of communities around Minnesota, including policies that violate immigrants' human rights and threaten women's reproductive rights; they also provide general operating funding to organizations that drive gender and racial equity in Minnesota.Through our Status of Women & Girls in Minnesota research and early conversations with grantee-partners, we knew women and girls would be distinctly impacted by COVID-19. In the last month of FY20, WFMN leveraged its responsive grantmaking infrastructure to launch the COVID-19 Women and Girls Response Fund to award a half-million dollars in emergency grants of up to $10,000 to organizations serving women and girls experiencing gender-based violence, older women, and women and girls who need short-term financial support for childcare, eldercare, food, housing, transportation, health, wellness, and safety from violence. As caregivers, service workers, providers, and those most likely to be facing violence and abuse at home, women and girls in the communities we serve across Minnesota face multiple, intersecting burdens and barriers to their economic security, safety, and well-being. Grantmaking through this fund, an extension of the Community Response Fund will be made in FY21.3. WFMN Fund for SafetyThe Fund for Safety continues and expands upon the investments made through the Women's Foundation of Minnesota's MN Girls Are Not for Sale campaign. In its final year of funding the MN Girls Are Not for Sale, WFMN was responsive to community input as partners requested funding focused on strengthening systems and infrastructure of the field. As WFMN transforms its role from a central leader to a partner in the movement to end sex trafficking, WFMN continues to invest in women's safety and work with communities broadly to end gender-based violence, a continuum that includes sexual harassment, assault, domestic violence, rape, and sex trafficking. During our last fiscal year, WFMN awarded $251,201 to eight organizations and the City of Minneapolis. By resourcing the continued progress of the movement and supporting existing and emerging programming by and for underrepresented cultural communities, WFMN is investing to create a Minnesota where girls and women are free from every form of violence and can experience their homes, schools, and communities as safe places.4. Young Women's Initiative of Minnesota (YWI MN) In 2016, WFMN launched the Young Women's Initiative of Minnesota, a public-private partnership, co-led with the Minnesota Governor's office. YWI MN is a seven-year, $10 million statewide initiative focused on young women, ages 12-24, from eight communities facing the greatest systemic disparities in our state: African American, African Immigrant, American Indian, Asian American and Pacific Islander, Latina, LGBTQ+, Disabilities, and Greater Minnesota. We believe a public-private cross-sector partnership is essential for systems change to occur. No state in the country has established a formal statewide initiative for young women (ages 12-24) in partnership with a Governor - until now. YWI MN is built on girl-focused work WFMN has led since 2002, including our girlsBEST (girls Building Economic Success Together) program and our MN Girls Are Not For Sale campaign to end sex trafficking in Minnesota. YWI MN is driven by and with young women and other cross-sector partners to increase equity in outcomes for all young women.The Women's Foundation of Minnesota (WFMN) announced an investment of $432,056 in one-time, general operating grants to 22 organizations serving girls and young women, ages 12-24. In addition, WFMN awarded a $150,000 grant to YWCA St. Paul to provide leadership development and support to the Young Women's Cabinet and $15/hour payment to 32 members for participation on the Cabinet. Total grantmaking through YWI MN in FY20 is $582,056. Internship & Fellowship ProgramThrough the Wenda Weekes Moore Internship and Dr. Reatha Clark King Fellowship WFMN hosted one intern and one fellow during the past year in all aspects of its operations, including evaluation, fundraising, grantmaking, and administration. The program also provides rigorous training and professional development opportunities.

Research, Education, and Public PolicyStatus of Women and Girls in MinnesotaIn 2009, the Foundation launched the Status of Women & Girls in Minnesota (Status) research project in partnership with the University of Minnesota's Humphrey School's Center on Gender, Women, and Public Policy. Data specific to Minnesota women and girls has been gathered, analyzed, and published in economics, safety, health, and leadership. The Status research and community input expands the available data on women and girls, provides ongoing trend analysis, informs the Foundation's annual grantmaking and policy agenda, identifies new areas where research is needed, and raises public awareness about the needs of women and girls in Minnesota. During the year ended March 31, 2020, the Foundation completed the 2020 Status of Women and Girls in Minnesota, planned for wide release in Fall 2020.Status of Older Women in MinnesotaDuring the year ended March 31, 2020, the Women's Foundation of Minnesota (WFMN) released the first research report focused on older women (55+) in Minnesota, with the University of Minnesota Humphrey School's Center on Women, Gender, and Public Policy, which analyzed and summarized data, and produced new research for the report. Through data disaggregated by gender, race, place, and age, the report focuses on the impacts of housing, transportation, healthcare, caregiving, and economics on the lives of older women in the state. The report was released in May 2019 (FY20).* Intersectional Equity Framework: Published in September 2019, to further illustrate how expanding a place- and race-based lens to include the missing intersections of gender and additional identities (sovereignty, socioeconomic class, age, disability, sexual orientation, and immigration status) to funding and policy decisions will create a more complete picture of the intersectional lives of women and girls, resulting in solutions of greater impact.* Framework for Impact and Growth: Published in September 2019, documents the models and practices that have contributed to the organization's success and 800% growth over the last 20 years.* Minnesota Trust Black Women and Girls: In April 2019, in partnership with the African American Policy Forum, worked to bring more than 200 people together for the Minnesota Trust Black Women and Girls Town Hall Hearing, focused on elevating the stories and experiences of Black women and provided a qualitative research experience for policy makers across housing, education, criminal justice, and health.* Young Women's Initiative of Minnesota Early Outcomes Report: Published in November 2019, developed in partnership with the third-party evaluator Korwin Consulting, the report is the first comprehensive evaluation of the initiative. * In addition to quantitative and qualitative research, WFMN conducted listening sessions to develop a strategy to address the safety for women and girls.Public Policy* During Minnesota's legislative session in 2019, YWI carried a legislative agenda, mobilized the public, and increased the visibility and priorities of young women. Following a full-day retreat in December, the Young Women's Cabinet created a comprehensive policy agenda and elected policy leaders to work with a hired lobbyist to prioritize and move forward bills. Simultaneously, young women received rigorous policy training using a curriculum that centers people of color to engage in policy for systems change. * The centerpiece bill was the Women of Color Opportunity Act that aimed to increase career pathways, STEM education, opportunities for entrepreneurship, and academic success for young women of color. The bill ran into roadblocks in the 2019 session and WFMN is working with legislators of both parties to coordinate efforts for it to advance in the 2020 and 2021 sessions. * In the same legislative session, WFMN supported a successful bill that established a state Task Force to examine the root causes and solutions that address Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women. Brook LaFloe, WFMN's former Dr. Reatha Clark King Fellow, YWI Program Manager, and member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa, was appointed to the Task Force. WFMN also supported bills that promoted drivers' licenses for undocumented immigrants and prohibited mental healthcare professionals from providing conversion therapy to LGBTQ+ people, vulnerable adults, and children.State & National PartnershipsThe Foundation engages in collaborative funding and partnerships within Minnesota's foundation community dedicated to social change grantmaking. WFMN engages in collaborative funding and partnerships within Minnesota's foundation community dedicated to social change grantmaking. We are a member of several funder collaboratives, including the emerging Minnesota Philanthropic Collective Committed to Racial Equity and Justice, Minnesota Disaster Recover Fund from Coronavirus, National Collaborative of Young Women's Initiatives, MN Human Trafficking Task Force, Prosperity Together (complete), Funders for Reproductive Equity, Women's Funding Network, Grantmakers United for Trans Communities, Minnesota Council of Foundations, Grantmakers for Effective Organizations, Black Women's Forum (developed out of Trust Black Women and Girls Townhall), Women's Consortium, Mission Investors Exchange.

Building Philanthropy for Gender & Racial EquityA critical part of the Foundation's work is helping people understand the power they have to change the world through personal philanthropy. Our donor-partners and donor advisors are encouraged to embrace their philanthropic leadership by participating in donor workshops, sharing community and grantee connections, and engaging in giving opportunities, such as donor advised funds and legacy and planned giving. Additional donor engagement opportunities building philanthropy for gender and racial equity include:* In FY20 (April 12, 2019), the Foundation held its third annual Economic Opportunity Summit to bring together corporate, philanthropic, and individual donor-partners with policymakers, young women leaders, and statewide grantee-partners from all our funds - girlsBEST, MN Girls Are Not For Sale and Fund for Safety, Innovation/Community Response, Young Women's Initiative, and donor advised funds - for a day of inspiration, learning, and cross-sector networking. * Donor-Centered Grantmaking: Ripley Memorial Foundation, a donor advised fund of the Women's Foundation of Minnesota, awarded $74,700 in grants to 11 organizations focused on teen pregnancy prevention in Ramsey and Hennepin counties. Over the past year, in response to the changing landscape for adolescent sexual health, Ripley Memorial Advisors have adopted a new funding statement for 2020, simplified operations, and aligned with the Young Women's Initiative of Minnesota (YWI MN) to engage with Recommendation #15 of the YWI MN's Blueprint for Action: to promote access to women's health education and services built on cultural and community strengths so that young women know about their bodies and can make appropriate and healthy choices as they grow and age. The grant period is January 1, 2020, to December 31, 2020.* Engaged a paid Wenda Weekes Moore Intern and Dr. Reatha Clark King Fellow as we invest in building a pipeline of leadership opportunities for women of color leaders-a value to philanthropy, nonprofits, and communities. Through the program to date, WFMN has engaged 38 women of color and American Indian women in all aspects of its operations, including evaluation, fundraising, grantmaking, and administration. The program also provides rigorous training and professional development opportunities.* As of 3/31/20, the Foundation has 62 donor advised funds, which is a decrease of 1 from the previous year. The combined assets of all donor advised funds totals: $5,450,147.* In FY20, we provided opportunities for donor advisors to learn about and engage with the Status of Older Women research, and local and international funding opportunities for consideration.

---

---

Data for this page was sourced from XML published by IRS (public 990 form dataset) from: https://s3.amazonaws.com/irs-form-990/202012799349300206_public.xml