Photo provided by Wisconsin Early Childhood Association (WECA)
Friends:
I am proud to reach out to you today as the President of the Board of Community Shares of Wisconsin to present our annual report for 2024. This past year brought significant challenges for the social and environmental justice movement, as well as for our member nonprofits, but it has highlighted our resilience and commitment to creating positive change.
In 2024, we took proactive steps to enhance our processes and procedures for the board and staff. These improvements empowered us to welcome 2025 from a position of strength, and coupled with a healthy budget surplus, we’re positioned well for the future.
Thanks to your ongoing support and the innovative fundraising initiatives we’ve developed, we are able to continue providing vital financial assistance to our member nonprofits through these trying times.
We proudly distributed over $1 million to our member nonprofits once again in 2024. We also launched a groundbreaking organizational wellness program, in collaboration with our partners, designed not just to help us navigate current challenges but to inspire and foster lasting social change.
We are deeply thankful for your support of Community Shares of Wisconsin through your donations and leadership. Together, we hold the power to strengthen CSW and advance our mission of justice for all, inspiring hope and making a difference for those we serve. Let’s continue this journey together, moving forward with optimism and determination.
Veronica Figueroa Velez
Board President
Community Shares of Wisconsin
2024 Highlights
- CSW proudly renewed our partnership with Madison Community Foundation, which provided another three-year grant to support The Big Share.
- We also deepened our relationship with CORE and the Katz-Krantz Family Philanthropies to continue our work on organizational wellness. We are learning that a major driver of individual and organizational wellness is connection and relationship. We committed to increased engagement with our members and held our first “holiday mixer” where we exchanged white elephant gifts and sang karaoke!
- CSW reached another year-end fundraising record, ending the year with a significant budget surplus. Thanks to you, our donors, and the shoppers at Willy Street Co-op and Capitol Centre Market for supporting CSW.
- We spent 2024 working toward implementation of three strategic microplans that were developed during our planning work in recent years. Outcomes were focused on making the most of and finding new development opportunities, along with documentation of processes and procedures at both the staff and board level.
- We teamed up with friends and family of our departed friend Cheri Maples, to become beneficiaries of the proceeds raised during a game in the inaugural season of the Madison Night Mares women’s softball team.
Photo provided by Working Capital for Community Needs (WCCN)
- The 2024 Community Change-Maker Awards recognized these amazing community leaders:
- Mary Berryman Agard (nominated by Bayview Foundation)
- Brandi Grayson (nominated by Urban Triage)
- Maria I. Rodriguez (nominated by American Civil Liberties Union of Wisconsin)
- Tenant Resource Center and Legal Action of Wisconsin, winners of the Collaboration Award for their work on the Eviction Diversion & Defense Partnership
- Michele Erikson (nominated by Wisconsin Literacy), winner of the Lifetime Achievement Award
How You Support Us
18.1% Community CHIP® / Community Round Up Program ($367K)
16.0% Public Employee Giving Campaign ($323K)
11.9% Private Employee Giving Campaign ($241K)
4.4% Other ($88K)
You Choose How You Give
- Give directly to Community Shares of Wisconsin and support ALL of our member nonprofits.
- Direct your gifts to specific member nonprofits and they receive 100% of your donation.
Expenses
| 2022 |
| 58.5% ($1,194K) |
| 27.9% ($569K) |
| 13.6% ($277K) |
| 2023 |
| 51.9% ($1,020K) |
| 31.8% ($626K) |
| 16.3% ($321K) |
| 2024 |
| 53.9% ($1,035K) |
| 32.6% ($626K) |
| 13.5% ($260K) |
Direct distributions to our member nonprofits
Other support to our member nonprofits
Administration and fundraising
Examples of expenses:
- Direct Distributions to Our Member Nonprofits—gifts that donors direct to member nonprofits, as well as a share of the funds given to CSW.
- Other Support to Our Member Nonprofits—training and technical assistance to member nonprofits; other services to member nonprofits, including services offered by the Center for Change.
- Administration—state and federal reporting and compliance; accounting and bookkeeping.
- Fundraising—raising funds for and representing our member nonprofits through workplace giving, The Big Share, and other fundraising initiatives.
Photo provided by Sierra Club Foundation Wisconsin Chapter
2024 Distributions
Funds from workplace giving, The Big Share, and other support.
1000 Friends of Wisconsin $6,813
ABC for Health $11,178
American Civil Liberties Union of Wisconsin $29,161
Bayview Foundation $20,094
Center for Media and Democracy $9,028
Chrysalis $16,321
Citizens for Safe Water Around Badger (CSWAB) $3,980
Citizens Utility Board of Wisconsin $8,441
Clean Wisconsin $22,478
Common Wealth Development $13,072
conNEXTions $5,725
Create Wisconsin $5,622
Disability Rights Wisconsin $16,910
Embolden WI $17,048
End Domestic Abuse Wisconsin $18,000
Fair Housing Center of Greater Madison $4,723
Fair Wisconsin Education Fund $14,076
FairShare CSA Coalition $18,251
Freedom, Inc. $23,768
Friends of Wisconsin State Parks $32,427
Gathering Waters: Wisconsin’s Alliance for Land Trusts $13,165
GSAFE $89,364
Housing Initiatives $3,675
Kids Forward $14,074
League of Women Voters of Wisconsin $29,030
Legal Action of Wisconsin $16,071
Madison Area Community Land Trust $6,144
Mentoring Positives $9,699
Midwest Environmental Advocates $20,655
MOSES – WISDOM of Madison $11,007
NAACP Dane County $11,154
Natural Circles of Support, Inc. $3,660
Nuestro Mundo, Inc. $9,626
Orgullo Latinx LGBT+ of Dane County $2,900
OutReach LGBTQ+ Community Center $24,103
Padres E Hijos En Acción $3,103
Physicians for Social Responsibility Wisconsin $13,044
The Progressive $11,699
Project Home $19,268
RCC Sexual Violence Resource Center $27,554
REAP Food Group $12,161
Rebalanced-Life Wellness Association $6,079
River Alliance of Wisconsin $24,535
Rock River Coalition $5,045
Rooted $15,104
Sierra Club Foundation Wisconsin Chapter $16,020
Southern Wisconsin Bird Alliance (formerly Madison Audubon) $26,293
Sustain Dane $9,822
Tenant Resource Center $23,117
UNIDOS $6,647
Urban Triage $15,709
Voces de la Frontera $10,220
Wheels For Winners $13,475
Wisconsin Coalition Against Sexual Assault $9,052
Wisconsin Conservation Voices $18,973
Wisconsin Council of the Blind & Visually Impaired $17,773
Wisconsin Democracy Campaign $16,664
Wisconsin Early Childhood Association (WECA) $15,332
Children’s Mental Health Alliance (dba Wisconsin Family Ties) $5,601
Wisconsin Literacy, Inc. $33,051
Wisconsin Wetlands Association $22,933
Wisconsin Women’s Network $9,911
Women In Transition $14,462
Worker Justice Wisconsin $5,880
Working Capital for Community Needs (WCCN) $8,887
WORT 89.9 FM Community Radio $18,049
Non-member Nonprofits
Proud Theater $15,286
Madison Commons $2,599
Total $1,034,789
Fostering Civic Engagement
Since 2012, the Wisconsin Women’s Network has been committed to increasing the number of Wisconsin women who have the confidence, skills, and strategic knowledge to successfully engage in their local and statewide communities on policy issues that matter to Wisconsin’s women and girls. To work toward this goal, the Wisconsin Women’s Network Policy Institute provides hands-on leadership, communications, and policy advocacy training to 25-30 women from around the state every year.
Photo provided by Wisconsin Women’s Network
WORKING FOR THE ENVIRONMENT, SUSTAINABILITY, FOOD, AND FARMS
Rock River Coalition’s stream monitoring program has been monitoring streams in Wisconsin for over 20 years and providing invaluable data to the public, scientists, and municipalities. In 2024, Rock River Coalition worked with Water Action Volunteers (WAV) and Wisconsin EcoLatinos to host a bilingual (Spanish and English) stream monitoring training to connect with a previously untapped set of environmentally minded volunteers. Due to the success of the bilingual training, the organizations plan to hold another bilingual training in 2025.
Photo provided by Rock River Coalition
EMPOWERING PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES
Co-organized by member nonprofits Southern Wisconsin Bird Alliance (formerly Madison Audubon) and Wisconsin Council of the Blind & Visually Impaired, along with the Aldo Leopold Nature Center, Birding by Ear classes provide the tools and techniques for identifying birds by close listening. The classes are specially designed to serve those who experience blindness or low vision, as well as individuals with full sight. People of all physical abilities, ages, and birding skills are welcome.
Photo provided by Wisconsin Council of the Blind & Visually Impaired
SUPPORTING WOMEN, CHILDREN, AND FAMILIES
ECCHO (Engaging Communities to Change Health Outcomes), a project of Embolden WI, is a civic engagement training program that seeks to improve community health outcomes by engaging those most impacted by generational and systemic racism in Dane, Milwaukee, and Rock Counties. During the two-year training program, participants work together as a cohort to design and implement a community-based project that meets the health and civic health needs of their community.
Photo provided by Embolden WI
WORKING FOR A JUST, EQUITABLE SOCIETY
Every other year, Fair Wisconsin hosts Equality Day at the Capitol, a day of connecting and grassroots advocacy with fellow activists from around the state. Fair Wisconsin Education Fund works to build a fair, safe, and inclusive Wisconsin for all LGBTQ people by advancing, achieving, and protecting LGBTQ civil rights and workplace equality through education, movement capacity building, grassroots organizing, civic engagement, research, and legal challenge preparation.
Photo provided by Fair Wisconsin Education Fund
ENSURING AFFORDABLE, ACCESSIBLE HOUSING
In 2021, member nonprofits Tenant Resource Center and Legal Action of Wisconsin, along with Community Justice Inc. and the UW Law School, partnered to set up the Eviction Diversion & Defense Partnership. The EDDP improves housing stability for Dane County tenants by providing housing support, housing counseling, court navigation, mediation services, and rental assistance. The program also refers eligible tenants whose housing stability is at risk to partner attorneys who provide legal representation at no cost to tenants.
Photo provided by Tenant Resource Center
Photo provided by GSAFE
Looking Ahead
At a time when diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives are being dramatically cut at the federal level and elsewhere, CSW remains steadfast in our commitment to racial justice and continues to build upon the foundational work we’ve completed in the past.
In 2022, the CSW board approved bylaw and policy changes that require a clearly and publicly stated commitment to racial and social justice from new and continuing Community Shares member nonprofits. In addition, membership requirements were adapted to make membership at CSW more accessible for nonprofits which have the greatest alignment with our values.
Our board met in April for a planning meeting to address new member recruitment and assess our readiness for increasing our outreach in the community. We are stronger and more authentic in our efforts toward anti-racism and have developed leadership throughout our membership that will help us to recruit new member nonprofits that will make us even stronger.
This summer we kick off our first new member recruitment process since 2018. We have a goal of adding 10 to 15 new member nonprofits by the end of 2025.