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As president of the Women In Northfield Giving Support (WINGS), Margit Johnson is one of many women in Northfield, Minnesota, working to support programs and initiatives dedicated to serving women and youth.

“ Teaching women how to be effective philanthropists is a really important part of WINGS’ mission. We want to expand the number of women in philanthropy and educate women to be effective philanthropists.”

Margit Johnson, WINGS president

Get to Know WINGS

A Mission to Improve the Lives of Women and Youth

Women In Northfield Giving Support (WINGS) was founded in 2000 by three women, with a mission to improve the lives of women and youth in the Northfield area through pooled investments and resources. WINGS donates 90 percent of those pooled resources back into the community.

WINGS is just one of the local, community-led organizations the Saint Paul & Minnesota supports through our Community Affiliates program. These foundations grant thousands of dollars to their communities by utilizing some of the tools and resources we provide to help them carry out their vision.

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Making a Difference in the Community

One of the organizations that has benefited from WINGS’ work is Northfield Union of Youth (NUY). NUY is one of a few organizations in the country with a board composed completely of youth, giving young people the power to make decisions about the issues that affect them the most. NUY runs a youth center, called “The Key,” that provides adolescents and teens in Northfield with the skills they need to be healthy and successful adults.

“Everything we do is through youth voice and is youth-informed,” said executive director Emily Fulton-Foley.

Thanks to support from WINGS, NUY is able to implement initiatives that help more than 300 youth a year, including mental health support, housing and food programming.

“ Northfield is extremely lucky to have a broad array of nonprofits that can help provide services and be a help to women and youth in the community. I think it’s those underlying needs that most people aren’t aware of that WINGS helps to address, by providing an alternate funding source to those nonprofits.”

Jacqui Dorsey, WINGS board member