Utah Fair Districting

As of the end of 2024, MWEG had spent a total of $89,000 to support its participation in advocating for and defending fair districting in Utah. Estimated 2025 expenses are approximately $30,000. Every single dollar came from donations by MWEG members and friends in Utah. MWEG members who choose to participate as “sustaining members” give anywhere from $5-25 each month. We have been able to draw from the donations of Utah sustaining members to fund this work. This is in addition to thousands of volunteer hours donated by MWEG members and leaders over the course of the past seven years. MWEG has two entities: a 501(c)(3) named Mormon Women for Ethical Government Foundation and a 501(c)(4) named Mormon Women for Ethical Government. Our advocacy for fair districting is funded by our 501(c)(4). Our filed IRS 990 tax forms (https://mormonwomenforethicalgovernment.org/donate#annual-reports)can be found on our website for those who would like to explore the above numbers in greater detail.

Campaign Legal Center is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, and we are a “pro bono” client. We had some small legal expenses in 2022 for our organizational attorney’s fees, as we were evaluating our participation in the lawsuit and reviewing the initial f ilings. The rest of our expenses are for staff time, paying MWEG leaders to oversee our advocacy for fair districting and our participation in the lawsuit.

Our largest grants to date have been given to our 501(c)(3) public charity, Mormon Women for Ethical Government Foundation, and that money is utilized to run our empowerment programs, including media literacy, peacemaking, and civic skills building, like learning how to write an op-ed, navigate state legislative sessions, or reach out to legislators. Our largest expense is staff time. In other words, we are paying Latter-day Saint women with professional skills in relevant areas to nurture our community and to run the programs that empower other women to develop peacemaking skills and to participate as principled citizens in the public sphere. None of our 501(c)(3) donations have been used to fund our efforts to advocate for and defend Prop 4. As stated above and below, MWEG members contribute to our 501(c)(4) through sustaining memberships and through fundraising drives. MWEG members in Utah donate sufficient funds to fully support this particular endeavor.

We are a proud adherent to the standards of ethics developed by the Utah Nonprofit Association, a member of the National Council of Nonprofits. Best practices in fundraising include strict standards around donor privacy paired with transparency facilitated by public disclosure on IRS Form 990s. Many of our donors choose to be publicly associated with their contribution, and many do not. We respect their decisions and deeply appreciate the relationships of trust we are building with both individuals and institutions around the country who choose to support our mission. Recent excitement around our redistricting win has demonstrated the wisdom of allowing our donors, including our MWEG members, to choose whether they want to be subject to public scrutiny for their, in most cases, small-dollar donations to this work. Additionally, MWEG has strict, self-imposed fundraising policies that require intense leader and board scrutiny of all large donations to assess alignment with our mission. At this point, the majority of our larger donations from outside funders are “general operating grants,” which is money that is not designated for a particular program or purpose. This means Latter-day Saint women are making decisions about how to spend our money in ways that will best empower the women of their faith. We are so grateful to the many supporters we have outside of our community who see the value MWEG and our members bring to building a more peaceful, just, and ethical world.

We have not received any money or grants from the government.

Every single dollar we have spent advocating for and defending Prop 4 in Utah comes from donations by MWEG Utah members and friends. As of 2024, the political affiliation of our MWEG members was as follows: 40% Republican 34% Democrat 26% independent, third party, unaffiliated Our defense of ethical government is a truly cross-partisan endeavor!