2025 Impact Report: Minnesota Women’s Press Highlights

As we close out 2025, this report is not only a look back at what we published this year, but a look at what it takes to keep community-based, woman-centered journalism going for the next year.

It is bittersweet that we open our 2025 Impact Report with the news that our dear co-founder, Glenda Martin (pictured right at our 40th anniversary celebration in the spring), passed away under hospice care at home on December 19. We are extremely grateful that we were able to honor her and the other three previous publishers at the celebration.

Co-founder Mollie Hoben, previous publishers Norma Smith Olson and Kathy Magnuson, and co-founder Glenda Martin (photo by Sarah Whiting)

Huge Gratitude

Early in 2025, Unidos MN approached us — thanks to the matchmaking of former Senator Patricia Torres Ray — to do a special 28-page bilingual publication called “Know Your Rights.” Their underwriting support enabled us to produce the magazine, at the same time as our 40th anniversary special issue, and print and distribute 25,000 copies around the state. Recently, we were able to publish the Somali language version, and intend to share one in Amharic as well.

Thanks to underwriting support from financial planner Joan Gilles, we were able to work with writers to produce 50 commentaries in 2026.

Press Forward Minnesota and Lenfest Institute for Journalism enabled us to do deeper work with communities statewide. We talked about:

• Housing in Winona
• Caregiving in Mankato
• Firearms in Grand Rapids
• Gender-based violence in Saint Cloud and Rochester
• Data centers in Farmington and Minneapolis

Thanks to the Wilson Social Justice Fund at First Unitarian Society of Minneapolis, we were able to kick off a special housing community action project that will culminate in a May/June print issue.

Thanks to our 42 advertisers in 2025, we were able to print 11 issues in 2025. Although we are forced to cut that to six issues in 2026, as a cost-cutting measure, we continue to be grateful to advertisers who enable us to be one of the few long-standing print publications in Minnesota.

Our membership enabled us to produce 143 online-only stories in 2025 (see our most popular stories below), which is a huge feat, on top of the stories produced for the magazine.

Embedded in the Community

At Women’s Environmental Institute

Audience Growth

Newsletter readership: up by 374 since 2024, with a 50 percent open rate (compared to industry average of 36 percent). The topics readers have indicated are most important to them, in order:

1. Politics & Policy
2. Re-imagining Public Safety and Justice
3. Gender-based Violence
4. Collective Health
5. Ecosystems

We are entering 2026 with strong ideas and deep community trust, but limited financial margin. Some coverage is supported by underwriters and grants, but many of the topics readers care most about are still funded almost entirely by member support.

Facebook: up by 400 since 2024

• #1 post: Announcement about Melissa Hortman’s political murder (8,990)
• #2 post: Announcement of the passing of MWP co-founder Glenda Martin on December 19 (5,800+)
• #3 post: October No Kings Rally photo gallery

Instagram: up by 1300 since 2024

• #1 post: Candlelight vigil for Annunciation
• #2 post: My Bystander Education essay, by our summer intern about data center issue

LinkedIn: up by 250 since 2024

Our Top 15 most popular stories in 2025

Top 3

• BOOK: Helping Loved Ones With Mental Health Issues
• Photo Gallery: Hands-Off Rally April 2025
• Know Your Rights: Spanish (Spring 2025)

About data centers

• EXPLAINER: What Minnesotans should learn about data centers
• DATA CENTER SERIES: The Impact on Minnesota Waters
• November 13 forum about water and data centers

About collective health

• Calls for Accountability After Domestic Violence Killings in Minneapolis
• Healing Together: A Women’s Support Group Transforms Justice in Ramsey County
• Leading Lights: Advocates Gear Up to Protect Vulnerable Minnesotans
• THIS IS US: A Latina-led nonprofit finds hope in nature
• Reproductive Rights: The Woman Who Held My Hand
• HOUSING A Tale of Twin Cities: Responses to Encampments and Renter Protections
• Commentary from Someone Who Knew the Shooter as a Child and Speaks About the Country’s Giant Unfulfilled Need
• Allison Lussier’s Death: Minneapolis City Council Hears Long-Standing Criticism of Police Response to Domestic Violence
• New Approach to Youth Carjacking Is Having an Impact

Recognition for Our Coverage

We are very proud of the recognitions our team is getting, especially for content and photography.  Publisher Mikki Morrissette gets much of the attention, but long-time operations manager Fariba Sanikhatam and the photography/design support of Sarah Whiting are invaluable (pictured below). We also have great teammates involved in community engagement: Olivia Worcester (editorial/sales), Mingyu Ma (underwriting), Gwendolyn Armstrong (underwriting), Amber Lynum (2026 audio development), and Siena Iwasaki Milbauer’s assistance with Facebook posting.

We are especially proud of being recognized in 2025 by Violence Free Minnesota for our work on behalf of gender-based violence storytelling. Although we did not get a large grant we were seeking to expand that coverage with statewide nonprofits in 2026, we will continue to do what we can to bring attention to this pervasive form of violence.

Can you step more firmly into supporting this work directly? Journalism stays independent and accountable to the communities it serves only because of the support of members and donors.

40th Anniversary Celebration

Co-founder Mollie Hoben,= was able to talk about the origins of the publication — the country’s longest continuously run feminist publication — on MPR on the anniversary date of April 16.

We had a tremendous community gathering to celebrate 40 years, including a powerful group of speakers. If you missed it, here is some of the celebration.

Badass award winners included:

• Long-time advertisers: Mary T., an advertiser since 2013; Laurie Eubanks as Ms. Greenjeans, the longest-running advertiser, since 1994; Joan Jakubas of Minnehaha Family Dental, a loyal advertiser since 2003. Long-time advertiser, donor, and Badass member Joan Gilles also was awarded for her multifaceted support.
• Badass Minnesota winners: Cherilyn Spears, Jessica Stabenow, Catherine Squires
• Legacy speakers: Mollie Hoben, Christine Ewig, Greta Gaard
• Rising to the Now speakers: Winona LaDuke, Yurie Hong, Patricia Torres Ray
• Changing the Future speakers: Nancy Lyons, Emilia Gonzalez Avalos, and Nekima Levy Armstrong.

Everything we were able to do this year happened because supporting members, advertisers, donors, and underwriters stepped up to support this work. Coverage like this rarely finds easy funding, which means it exists only when readers decide it should.

Community Partnerships

We strongly believe in collaborative journalism, and have been connecting with other media outlets and community partners in building and sharing our unique stories.

Our publisher spent the last few months of 2025 — alongside peers from North News, Sahan Journal, and MinnPost — mentoring St. Thomas journalism students

If you believe Minnesota needs journalism that centers women’s voices, listens beyond podiums, and connects stories to action, this is the moment where reader support matters most. A year-end gift or monthly membership helps determine what continues in 2026.

Even five dollars a month helps stabilize staffing, writers, photography, and issues coverage that reaches thousands of Minnesotans for free. Members help shape what stories get told in 2026.