2024 Stories of Impact

Your gift to community shares of Wisconsin member nonprofits has impact. Support powerful work on the front lines of social and environmental justice.

Fostering Civic Engagement

After many years of statewide grassroots advocacy and litigation from Wisconsin Democracy Campaign and other nonprofits (including League of Women Voters of Wisconsin and Wisconsin Conservation Voices), Wisconsin now has fair legislative voting maps for the first time in over a decade.

Working For The Environment, Sustainability, Food, and Farms

In her job with Ashland County, MaryJo has witnessed the devastating impact of big storms and flooding on her community. When the storms continued to cause damage, she thought “there has to be a better way.” Wisconsin Wetlands Association helped MaryJo discover how nature-based solutions—including wetland protection, wetland restoration, and floodplain reconnection—offered a better way to slow the flow of water on the landscape by helping bring back the landscape’s natural ability to store water.

Empowering People with Disabilities

As a social worker at Women In Transition, Megan provides services to women with severe mental illness. Megan also hosts groups and workshops for the residents, including a Pride celebration with bingo cards to teach about the topic. “Ally is the first space on your bingo card, what does it mean to be an ally?” This simple game opened up conversations between the residents including how they can support the LGBTQ community.

Supporting Women, Children, and Families

An employer was not paying farmworkers with H-2A visas correctly, confiscated their passports, and forced them to work 12-hour days, 7 days a week. Following a discrete meeting with the farmworkers, Legal Action of Wisconsin reported the employer to law enforcement and filed a federal civil complaint against the employer claiming unpaid wages, violations of migrant labor laws, and labor trafficking. The employer agreed to settle the case and the farmworkers received payment for hours worked and compensation for some of the abuses.

Working for a Just, Equitable Society

In 2024, Working Capital for Community Needs celebrates 40 years of providing access to microfinance for low-income entrepreneurs in Latin America. One entrepreneur is Rosa Melida Diaz from El Salvador who transitioned from selling tortillas as a child to managing a thriving business at 63 thanks to assistance from her husband and financing from WCCN’s partner ASEI. Presently, Rosa sells 1,000 tortillas daily, providing employment opportunities and ensuring stability for her family.

Ensuring Affordable, Accessible Housing

With five home sales in 2023, Madison Area Community Land Trust (MACLT) was able to support five very low-income families on their journey to homeownership. To date, MACLT has assisted 123 low-income families in achieving homeownership. “As a single-income family of six people, we would normally be unable to afford a house in Madison. Our MACLT condo has given us a beautiful neighborhood to live in, with wide open shared yards for my children to play in.”