Women's Environmental Institute

The Women’s Environmental Institute is a nonprofit environmental justice organization that brings together food, racial and gender justice strategies in urban and rural places — one community at a time, one farm at a time, one person at a time and all of us together.

Nothing is more essential than clean food, air, and water. Yet many communities of color and low-income Minnesotans struggle with food insecurity and disproportionate levels of toxic environmental exposures. By supporting the Women's Environmental Institute (WEI) you are helping address these inequities and making a real difference for traditionally underserved communities.

Founded in 2003, the Women’s Environmental Institute (WEI) was an early leader in the grassroots movement toward environmental justice. WEI implements strategies that include hands-on education in organic farming and sustainable living; advocacy work for racial, gender, economic, and environmental justice; and both urban and rural community-based access to equitable food production. Please see our most recent Annual Report for more information about our recent projects and accomplishments.

Through its work, WEI serves as a greenhouse of ideas to "seed" environmentally sound practices, social and economic equity, and agricultural justice into all of our lives. We invite you to plant a seed for a greener, more just world with your gift to WEI today. 

Your gift in any amount helps cultivate a healthier, more just Minnesota. Thank you!

Your gift during 2024 Give to the Max will support:

• Scholarships for our Educational Programs, which serve the next generation of organic farmers and all interested participants in everything from farming, beekeeping, goat husbandry, and aquaponics to herbalism, soil health, and chainsaw safety. All of WEI's one-day classes offer partial and full scholarships. We see this as an indicator that we are meeting the access gaps to land-based education and training. This year's Give to the Max donations will help replenish WEI's scholarship fund, to help ensure all of our programs remain accessible. 
• General Fund for Operations and Programs, which means your donation supports our collaborative Environmental Justice initiatives, particularly in the Phillips and other low-income and BIPOC neighborhoods of the Metro; our Farming and Food Security programs, including WEI's 40-acre, organically certified, regenerative demonstration and education farm on the Amador Hill Farm Campus in North Branch, Minnesota. The farm supports a CSA program, active internships, incubator farming opportunities, community visitors, students, and volunteers. Your donation also goes toward the administrative and operational expenses that keep our lights on!

Please learn more about our programs, membership, and volunteer opportunities at w-e-i.org.