Table of Contents
2024 Impact Report
“Building a Minnesota that is the home of our dreams for everyone — those of us first here, those of us here now, and those of us yet to come.”
We got this. Together.
One year ago, we became co-executive directors of TakeAction Minnesota. We are incredibly proud of what we have accomplished over this past year, and hope you take the time to celebrate the role you played. Thank you for choosing to give your time, your talent, and your money to building a strong organization with us.
We believe that to make change, you must have power. To have power, you must organize people and money to act together in public toward a common goal. That simple reality is what guides every choice we make about our work; pushing us to make tough calls, take risks and adapt to a changing landscape without ever losing focus on our mission or our commitment to impact. The stakes for our families, communities, country and planet are too high to get distracted.
Three years ago, we set our north star toward building power to win a transformational care and climate agenda in Minnesota. Today the urgency to continue building a caring state that confronts the present and imminent crises of climate change is clearer than ever. Whether we are talking about housing in Duluth, or organizing our members to protect our democracy, or building with labor partners for strong public schools – care and climate has to be at the center in order for us to not only confront the crises we are facing but transform them into the powerful vision we have for our state: a Minnesota where everyone lives with abundant safety, health, and happiness – those of us first here, those of us here now, and those of us yet to come.
The work to build a better future has never depended on who occupies the White House or who is in power at the State House. The power to build our future lies with us. And, we are clear-eyed: that work will get much harder in the years to come and it is going to take all of us. We will meet this moment powerfully with you and thousands of organized TakeAction members ready to keep on making progress in our cities and state, to fend off the worst of what is to come, and to care for each other when the times get very hard.
We are so grateful to be building with members and allies like you who choose hope and action in even the hardest of times. We got this.
In unbreakable solidarity,
Co-Executive Directors, TakeAction Minnesota
Building the better world that we dream of
Our 2024 Work by the Numbers
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25,550 Conversations Held
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51,109 Doors Knocked
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1,040,026 People Reached
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83% of Endorsed Candidates Won
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33% Growth in Membership
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254 News Hits
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5 New Fiscally Sponsored Projects
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37 Organizations Partnered With
Our Campaigns
Building Power for Safe and Stable Housing with Duluth Tenants
In every county in Minnesota, at least 1 in 4 renter households pay more than they can afford for housing. In Duluth, 43.2% of housing units were built before 1940. With an aging and unaffordable housing stock, Duluth is feeling a unique crunch. We talked to more than 2,000 renters about the challenge of finding and staying in affordable, safe housing, and built a team that grew from 4 members to regularly 40+ at our monthly open meetings. We completed trainings and leadership development in relational organizing, research, issue-cutting, and the skills of strategic campaigning. The team publicly launched in October 2024 with 130 people on the steps of City Hall and will be launching a campaign in early 2025 to ensure every renter has a safe and stable place to call home.
Improving Working Conditions with Twin Cities United Performers (TCUP)
After organizing in solidarity with the unionizing workers at First Ave venues, musicians in the Twin Cities came together to form TCUP (pronounced “teacup”) to make Minnesota the best place in the country to be a performer. With incredible momentum to improve an industry they care deeply about, leaders hit the ground running supporting the federal Living Wage for Musicians Act which would require music streaming platforms like Spotify to fairly compensate artists. They won Congresswoman Ilhan Omar’s commitment to co-sponsor the bill! As 2024 ended, they launched their inaugural campaign with 167 performers signing TCUP’s Power Pledge for better treatment, transparency and accountability in the local scene.
Tackling the Childcare Crisis with Minnesota United Parents (MNUP)
Minnesota has some of the most expensive childcare in the country, with many families spending more than a fifth of their incomes to care for their kids. Parents and caregivers are organizing to reform our broken childcare system and win investments in our children and families. MNUP leaders met with legislators and shared testimonies to advocate for the Great Start Affordability Program bill, which would have expanded public investment in childcare, but ultimately did not pass during the 2024 legislative session. They are now expanding their team, exploring opportunities to win childcare support at the municipal level, and building towards the 2026 elections.
Strengthening Public Education with Parents, Students, Educators, and Elected Officials
Building on several years of organizing around public education, we are growing teams of parents and students organizing alongside labor unions and elected officials to win fair budgets and that defend and strengthen public education. In 2024, our organizing has looked like dozens of parents testifying at School Board meetings or meeting with elected officials; rallying with hundreds of educators, students and parents; participating in a interjurisdictional committee to address challenges in Minneapolis Public Schools; organizing to leverage Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) funds to decarbonize Saint Paul Public Schools; and, high school fellows surveying thousands of their peers about student-led changes they want to see.
Our Campaigns
Tackling the Childcare Crisis with Minnesota United Parents (MNUP)
Minnesota has some of the most expensive childcare in the country, with many families spending more than a fifth of their incomes to care for their kids. Parents and caregivers are organizing to reform our broken childcare system and win investments in our children and families. MNUP leaders met with legislators and shared testimonies to advocate for the Great Start Affordability Program bill, which would have expanded public investment in childcare, but ultimately did not pass during the 2024 legislative session. They are now expanding their team, exploring opportunities to win childcare support at the municipal level, and building towards the 2026 elections.
Building Power for Safe and Stable Housing with Duluth Tenants
In every county in Minnesota, at least 1 in 4 renter households pay more than they can afford for housing. In Duluth, 43.2% of housing units were built before 1940. With an aging and unaffordable housing stock, Duluth is feeling a unique crunch. We talked to more than 2,000 renters about the challenge of finding and staying in affordable, safe housing, and built a team that grew from 4 members to regularly 40+ at our monthly open meetings. We completed trainings and leadership development in relational organizing, research, issue-cutting, and the skills of strategic campaigning. The team publicly launched in October 2024 with 130 people on the steps of City Hall and will be launching a campaign in early 2025 to ensure every renter has a safe and stable place to call home.
Strengthening Public Education with Parents, Students, Educators, and Elected Officials
Building on several years of organizing around public education, we are growing teams of parents and students organizing alongside labor unions and elected officials to win fair budgets and that defend and strengthen public education. In 2024, our organizing has looked like dozens of parents testifying at School Board meetings or meeting with elected officials; rallying with hundreds of educators, students and parents; participating in a interjurisdictional committee to address challenges in Minneapolis Public Schools; organizing to leverage Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) funds to decarbonize Saint Paul Public Schools; and, high school fellows surveying thousands of their peers about student-led changes they want to see.
Improving Working Conditions with Twin Cities United Performers (TCUP)
After organizing in solidarity with the unionizing workers at First Ave venues, musicians in the Twin Cities came together to form TCUP (pronounced “teacup”) to make Minnesota the best place in the country to be a performer. With incredible momentum to improve an industry they care deeply about, leaders hit the ground running supporting the federal Living Wage for Musicians Act which would require music streaming platforms like Spotify to fairly compensate artists. They won Congresswoman Ilhan Omar’s commitment to co-sponsor the bill! As 2024 ended, they launched their inaugural campaign with 167 performers signing TCUP’s Power Pledge for better treatment, transparency and accountability in the local scene.
Member Spotlight:
Sharmarke Hussein (he/him), Minnesota United Parents (MNUP)
“Before I joined TakeAction, I felt demotivated by politics. I don’t feel that way anymore. Being around other people with the same values motivates me to keep pushing forward. I feel more of a sense of control over my life, and I can see that I don’t have all the power, but I can work toward gaining more with other parents.”
Curbing Corporate Healthcare Greed
Protecting Billions of Public Health Dollars
In a dead-of-night backroom deal during the 2017 legislative session Minnesota became the last state in the country to allow health insurance plans to convert from non-profit to for-profit. Since then, TakeAction has been working to ensure that the billions of public interest dollars these non-profits were given by the state to serve our public health is protected from turning into private profit lining the pockets of rich CEOs. This year we successfully passed strong regulations in partnership with Attorney General Keith Ellison, SEIU Healthcare, and the Minnesota Nurses Association. Together, we’re guaranteeing that billions of our public dollars stay serving our public health.
Reigning in Big Pharma
Everyone deserves access to affordable medicine. However, for years, pharmaceutical companies have hiked up prescription drug costs and legally price-gouged life-saving medication. Last year, we passed one of the strongest Prescription Drug Affordability Boards (PDAB) in the country to end these practices and lower the cost of medicine we need to be healthy and well. This year, we continued to support the successful implementation of the board so that Minnesotans can access the medications we need at affordable prices.
Member Spotlight:
LyLy Vang-Yang (she/her),
TakeAction Minnesota Board Member
“TakeAction has been a transformative force in my life. I appreciate the investment, care, and impactful teachings from former colleagues who have turned into lifelong friends! I’m honored I can support TakeAction now as a Board Member.”
Building Voter Power
At TakeAction, we are building with voters to be a powerful force in primary and general elections. Just like organizers invest in members and leaders to develop their political analysis and leadership, our voter ladder invests in a voter’s political fluency and voting behavior. We target voters who have been historically left out of and disinvested in by our democracy, which means we prioritize reaching out to people under the age of 35 and BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, people of color) folks. Because, just like our leader teams, they are renters, parents, caregivers, workers and students and together we can ensure future wins at the ballot box and change who our elected officials feel accountable to.
Our program reaches voters year-round, to build trust and alignment around issues so that when it is time to show up in elections, they know who to vote for in alignment with their values. By layering door canvassing, phone calls, mail, digital ads and following up via phones and text, our program evaluation shows high impacts:
Voters we have reached with any type of contact were 5.9% more likely to vote than those we did not reach.
Voters we reached with two conversations were 20.1% more likely to vote than the ones we did not reach.
This last election was marked by low turnout, but precincts in Saint Cloud and Minneapolis, where we focused our work, had a 2.3% higher turnout rate than the district average.
Member Spotlight:
Will Richardson (he/him),
Duluth Tenants
“Since I’ve started organizing, I’ve immensely evolved as a person and leader. I lead the canvassing team for Duluth Tenants – and even last year, I didn’t think I’d be able to lead like I am now. It has been super fun to plan, train, and coach others to have awesome conversations on the doors. I have a voice that can inspire folks to join in our work and act.”
Building Pro-Peace Power
In 2024, the United States spent $886 billion dollars on defense and war and the Defense Department failed their annual audit for the seventh time in a row. That is $886 billion dollars of mismanaged money that did not go into childcare, housing, schools, climate, or healthcare. The U.S. military is also a major source of greenhouse gas emissions and has a larger carbon footprint than any other institution in the world. The future we dream for every Minnesotan requires we invest in life here and across the globe because our futures are tied.
In 2024, we campaigned to win a permanent ceasefire in Gaza and the release of all hostages. TakeAction member leaders organized with others in Minneapolis to pass the strongest ceasefire resolution in the country with a veto-proof majority. And, we joined the Vote Uncommitted Movement to put primary election season pressure on the Biden-Harris Administration successfully mobilizing more than 40,000 Minnesotans to vote uncommitted which was 19% of the Democratic Primary vote. In August, we organized a Not Another Bomb Minneapolis campaign kickoff in Loring Park with more than 300 people in attendance and a powerful group of speakers and performers.
