Minnesota · Nonprofit
MINNESOTA WOMEN LAWYERS
MINNESOTA WOMEN LAWYERS (Minnesota) receives grants from 2 organizations whose IRS filings report $35,266 to it, the largest being THE MINNEAPOLIS FOUNDATION ($25,266). 1 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 72% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $428k
- Funders on record
- 2
- Grants received
- $35k
- Net assets
- $380k
What Minnesota Women Lawyers does
Mission
To advance the success of women attorneys and strive for a just society.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
The MWL Annual Rosalie Wahl Leadership Lecture (Fall 2024) Minnesota Women Lawyers (MWL) held the 30th Annual Rosalie Wahl Leadership Lecture on the evening of Thursday, November 14, 2024 at the University of Minnesota McNamara Alumni Center (200 SE Oak Street, Minneapolis). The program was held from 5:30 to 7:00 p.m., with a reception following the program. MWL was pleased to welcome Laura Coates, Anchor and Chief Legal Analyst at CNN, as our keynote speaker. Prior to the keynote remarks, the MWL Foundation presented its 2024 Law Student Scholarships and led its annual "Direct Appeal." The MWL Awards & Recognition Committee also presented the 2024 Social Justice Writing Award. Laura Coates is CNN's chief legal analyst and anchor of Laura Coates Live, airing weeknights at 10:00 pm CST. The show showcases the day's most interesting stories with smart, provocative, and thoughtful analysis, while leveraging Coates' significant experience as a prosecutor and relentless pursuit of the facts. A native of Saint Paul, MN, Coates graduated from Princeton University's School of Public and International Affairs and the University of Minnesota Law School, where she serves on the Board of…
$18,689 spent$19,294 earned by the program72% of program spendingMWL 53rd Annual Meeting Workshop & Luncheon (Spring 2025) Minnesota Women Lawyers invited its membership and the legal community to attend its 53rd Annual Meeting on Friday, May 9, 2025 at Target Plaza Commons (1001 Nicollet Mall in downtown Minneapolis). The event began with a morning of continuing legal education programming and networking. (3.0 CLE credits were received for programs.) At our luncheon over the noon-hour, during the program led by MWL President Emerald Gratz, we celebrated MWL's past accomplishments and planned future successes. We recapped our current fiscal year, introduced the FY25-26 Board of Directors, and honored the 2025 Annual Award recipients. The CLE program speakers did not receive an honorarium.
$7,138 spent$11,367 earned by the program28% of program spendingMWL Member Monday Series (Sept 2024 to June 2025) MWL continued its monthly opportunity to engage with Minnesota Women Lawyers and its members, learn from legal community leaders, and build connections across the profession. Held on the 2nd Monday of each month (unless noted otherwise) from 12:00 noon to 1:30 p.m., MWL Member Mondays provided a consistent opportunity for MWL members and the statewide legal community to connect on topics of common interest, all in support of MWL's mission and values. Each month's gathering offered a dynamic and relevant program in a variety of remote formats. We heard from community leaders, participated in a workshop-style format, and engaged in a group-wide discussion. Furthermore, MWL Member Mondays provided members and non-members alike with the opportunity to learn more about MWL and its benefits, as well as opportunities to volunteer and further engage with the association. MWL Member Mondays were FREE and most offered 1.0 CLE credit. CLE speakers did not receive an honorarium.
Ongoing Leadership, Professional Development and Mentor Programs MWL sponsored ongoing programs throughout the year designed to foster leadership, professional development and mentoring opportunities for women lawyers, held both in-person and remotely. Equity Initiatives MWL sponsored ongoing projects and initiatives related to the systemic advancement and success of women attorneys. Overall, the Equity Committee works to develop and implement action steps for MWL to achieve equity for women in the legal profession, including: 1) assessing the current status of women in the legal profession in Minnesota; 2) identifying barriers that impede women from achieving professional equity; 3) identifying steps (specific programs/initiatives) that can be taken to overcome such barriers; and 4) implementation of action steps as appropriate. Activities are inclusive of both the bench and the bar.
The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $25,827.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2021, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2021, 50 means half. The number beside each label in the key is where it ended.
Balance sheet
Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2021 to 2022, from $333k to $436k (+31%).
How it's funded, over time
Each bar is one year's revenue split into where it came from, and every bar is the same height — these are shares, not amounts, so a year that raised twice as much looks the same size. Hover a bar for the split.
Government-grant reliance: 2021 10% · 2022 0% · 2023 0% · 2024 0% · 2025 0%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 of the last 5 reported years ran a deficit.
reserve
Leadership and staff
The officers, directors, trustees and key employees listed on each return. Joined and no longer listed compare each filing with the year before, matching people by surname and first initial; a year after a gap, or a roster under three people, has no comparison.
Chief executive
Debra Pexa
Executive Director
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2020 → 2023: the base held at 1 funder, grant income fell $10k → $5k.
1 of 2 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 72% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.
From the IRS filings of MINNESOTA WOMEN LAWYERS’s funders (the co-funder graph). Association, not causation. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
How concentrated its funding is
MINNESOTA WOMEN LAWYERS leans on a few funders — its largest provides 72% of grant income and the top three 100%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
72% of the income these shares are computed over arrives through pass-through sponsors or from payers whose filings do not say what kind of payment it is. Concentration is still measured over all of it, because the money is real; what it does not support is a claim about how many institutions have chosen to fund MINNESOTA WOMEN LAWYERS.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2020 100% · 2021 100% · 2023 100% — broadly stable.
“Effective funders” = inverse Herfindahl index (1 / Σ shareᵢ²) — the number of equal-sized funders that would give the same concentration. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
Where its funders are
72% of MINNESOTA WOMEN LAWYERS's grant income arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors, whose addresses record where the money is held rather than where the donor is. Of the $10k that is directly attributable, 100% of it comes from Minnesota funders.
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $25k arriving through sponsors registered in 1 state is excluded from the map and the split above: a sponsor holds money on a donor’s behalf, so its registered address would place those dollars somewhere no donor need ever have been. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
Organizations like MINNESOTA WOMEN LAWYERS
Organizations whose mission and program text most resemble this one, by semantic similarity over every organization in the US filings — the closest peers, and often the clearest route to shared or prospective funders.
In Minnesota
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Governance
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for MINNESOTA WOMEN LAWYERS: IRS status (Business Master File, Publication 78, auto-revocation), the OFAC sanctions lists, the Internal Revenue Bulletin, and California registration, with the Rev. Proc. 2018-32 §8.01 reliance elements stated element by element. Generated from the current files at the moment you download it.
Screens are triage, not determinations; a source that cannot be read reports not screened, never clear. Screen this nonprofit · How the screen works · on the API as GET /api/screening/{ein}?format=pdf
Questions and answers
- Who funds MINNESOTA WOMEN LAWYERS?
- MINNESOTA WOMEN LAWYERS (Minnesota) receives grants from 2 organizations whose IRS filings report $35,266 to it, the largest being THE MINNEAPOLIS FOUNDATION ($25,266). 1 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 72% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does MINNESOTA WOMEN LAWYERS have?
- IRS filings report 2 organizations giving $35,266 in grants to MINNESOTA WOMEN LAWYERS, 1 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of MINNESOTA WOMEN LAWYERS?
- THE MINNEAPOLIS FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $25,266 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like MINNESOTA WOMEN LAWYERS find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Minnesota. The funding by cause and by state pages list the largest funders for a given area and how to approach them.
Play a game about who funds Minnesota Women Lawyers →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2021–2025), and the filings of 2 funders that report grants to it. “On record” means captured in the filings we have parsed — a funder that does not e-file, or whose grant detail is not itemized, will not appear. Filings run roughly 12–24 months behind. Trends on this page end at FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving; later years are shown and marked, and move no figure. Data on this page was exported October 14, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing