One Day. Dozens of Causes. All Rising Together. 10/14
October 14, 2026 | A 24-hour giving day for the organizations that don't usually get one.
Wisconsin Roots Rising is a 24-hour online giving day built for grassroots groups and emerging nonprofits doing community-driven work across Wisconsin. These are organizations led by neighbors, advocates, and changemakers who are just getting started -- fiscally sponsored by Embolden WI and the Center for Community Stewardship so they can focus on their work while they grow.
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On October 14, donors across Wisconsin have the chance to support dozens of organizations in one place, in one day. Every dollar you give goes directly to the program or project you choose. No big budgets. No fancy fundraisers. Just real work, real people, and one day to make it count.
Presenting Sponsor
Every one of our sponsored partners already relies on Mazlo to process their donations securely. This year, Mazlo is giving back as the Presenting Sponsor of Wisconsin Roots Rising.
Supporting Sponsor
How It Works
Give Directly
Find an organization whose work moves you, and give directly to their program or project. Every dollar raised stays with that organization. What they raise is theirs.
Spread the Word
Create your own peer-to-peer fundraising page on Zeffy and invite your network to give. The more people who know about Wisconsin Roots Rising, the bigger the impact for every organization on the page.
Explore our digital storefront and choose from a variety of unique items during our fundraiser. Every offer you place supports local progress, as all winning contributions are shared among our partners.
Start Early
Beginning October 10, pre-giving starts. Donate early to support your community before the day.
Donate Directly to OUR PARTNERS
We are proud to partner with grassroots organizations across Wisconsin, providing the infrastructure they need to grow and thrive.
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Browse the partners below.  If you simply can't decide which partner to donate to, you can also choose to donate to Embolden WI directly to support our fiscal sponsorship program. Our shared infrastructure supports all of our partners, and direct donations make it possible for Embolden WI to take on new endeavors with confidence.
AMIWI is an organization that brings together the Kinyarwanda Speaking Community and their friends who reside in Greater Milwaukee Wisconsin and surrounding areas. Our mission is to build a thriving, happy, successful, healthy community by bringing together the Kinyarwanda Speaking Community and their friends and providing a vehicle to support one another and implement programs and projects for the betterment of themselves and the community of where they live.
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Break School Inc. honors neurodiversity as human diversity. On a working farm in Oak Creek, Wisconsin, made available by Growing Power founder Will Allen, we're building a school where neurodivergent and neurotypical youth ages 10 to 21 learn side by side, growing real food, running a real farm stand, and building the confidence to lead.
The Building Families Alliance is a coalition of over 1,000 Wisconsinites advocating for fertility-friendly state legislation defining statewide industry standards for fertility care, and providing networking opportunities for patient advocates and fertility professionals in their quest to build a family. Â
The Comité Sin Fronteras is a collective of young adult undocumented and DACAmented leaders who are dedicated to advancing immigration reform. Its work centers on community protection and mutual aid for Milwaukee's immigrant community: training and deploying legal observers during ICE enforcement actions, running a multilingual statewide ICE hotline, training "community verifiers" to help identify federal agents, providing mutual aid (groceries, furniture, etc.) to undocumented families, free DACA renewal assistance, and coalition-building with Arab, Muslim, labor, and anti-war groups.
ECCHO is a civic engagement training program that seeks to improve community health outcomes by engaging those most impacted by generational and systemic racism in Dane, Milwaukee, and Rock county. ECCHO is committed to community-based leadership and decision-making that centers the views and experiences of those most affected by the issue. By investing in and lifting-up those most negatively impacted by generational and systemic racism in our state, ECCHO aims to transform local systems of power and improve health outcomes.
FCN Digital Library is a project building a digital library of cytology slides to make high-quality training material freely accessible to cytology and cytopathology training programs. Founded by Michele Smith of Madison, Wisconsin, it covers the shipping, scanning, and digitizing of slide material at no cost to the training program. The name honors three foundational figures in cytology education — Florence Patten, Catherine Keebler, and Norma Arvold — while also standing for "Future of Cytology is Now."
Dementia Care Alliance of WI carries forward work that started with the Alzheimer's and Dementia Alliance of Wisconsin (ADAW), a longtime Madison-based nonprofit that closed its doors in 2023. The mission of the Dementia Care Alliance of WI is to improve the quality of life for people living with dementia and those who care for them through accessible education, supportive consultation, and compassionate community programming.
HSM4A WIÂ is a statewide coalition of individuals, schools, school districts, community organizations, farmers, and food advocates united around one goal: making free, nutritious school meals available to every Wisconsin K-12 student.
Mental Health Access Wisconsin brings mental health support directly into Wisconsin schools. For the past six years, our clinical team has partnered with 21 school districts and more than 50 schools across southeastern Wisconsin, working alongside teachers, administrators, and families to help students who are struggling. Our approach goes beyond individual counseling: we train school staff and build collaborative relationships between therapists, teachers, and families so that schools themselves become safer, more supportive places for kids.Â
Rooted in lived experience and driven by community, the Parkinson's Disease Alliance of Wisconsin advocates for the policies and systems that improve life for every Wisconsinite touched by Parkinson's disease. At the heart of our work is a commitment to establishing a statewide Parkinson's Disease Registry — building the foundation of data, equity, and accountability that Wisconsin needs to meet the growing impact of this disease.
At PATCH, we work with teens (ages 14–18) to bring their real-life experiences, ideas, and perspectives into adolescent health work. We connect teens with the people and organizations working to serve them, creating spaces where teens feel comfortable showing up as themselves and sharing what their generation really thinks and needs
Roots4Change (R4C) is the first women owned cooperative founded by immigrant Latina/Indigenous and community-based Doulas in Wisconsin. R4C walks with immigrant families in their journey of parenting, childbirth, motherhood, and womanhood. We work on making our bodies and reproductive rights visible and audible by providing channels to tell our stories with the hues and the accents of our histories, one pregnancy at a time.
Connecting Faith, Environmental Justice, Sustainability, and Healing through Education and Service since 2005. Wisconsin Green Muslims, a statewide grassroots environmental justice group formed in 2005, intends to educate the Muslim community and the public about the Islamic environmental justice teachings, to apply these teachings in daily life and to contribute to coalitions and collaborations working toward a just, healthy, peaceful and sustainable future.
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The Young Parent Collective helps teen and young parents move from isolation and stigma to community, confidence, and leadership. We build their skills to advocate for themselves so they can close the education and health gaps their own communities face. Every gift supports mentorship in judgment-free spaces.
Madison Zero Waste (MZW) is a community organization founded in 2018, dedicated to promoting lower-waste lifestyles through education and local advocacy. They envision a vibrant Madison community where businesses, individuals, and organizations prioritize zero waste practices, making sustainable choices the norm.
SILENT AUCTION
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Private 4-Person Sound Bath — Unwind with a guided sound bath experience for you and three friends, courtesy of Ascended Touch and Alcemy. A $200 value.
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4 Climbing Intro Packages — Try something new at Boulders Climbing Gym with four introductory climbing sessions. A $120 value.
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Thursday Chef's Tasting Dinner for Two — Savor DelecTable's five-course seasonal tasting menu, prepared right before your eyes in their open kitchen. Up to a $79 value.
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10 Free Scoop Tokens — Sweeten your fall with 10 scoops from Chocolate Shoppe Ice Cream. A $55 value.
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These are just a preview, dozens more items will be up for bid on Wisconsin Roots Rising Day of Giving!Â
Roots Rising Day of Giving Hosts
Power & Promise of Fiscal Sponsorship
With a vision of healthy, vibrant, equitable, and socially just communities, Embolden WI amplifies and catalyzes programs and initiatives that improve health outcomes, advance health equity and health justice, and strengthen civic health.
Behind every established nonprofit is a moment when the work existed before the organization did. A group of people had a vision, a community had a need, and the only thing missing was a way to make it official. Fiscal sponsorship bridges that gap. It gives emerging leaders and grassroots projects the legal standing, financial infrastructure, and administrative support they need to do real work right now, without waiting to build a nonprofit from scratch. It's how communities invest in what's rising before it's fully formed. And it's how some of Wisconsin's most important work is getting done today.
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Embolden WI and the Center for Community Stewardship are Wisconsin's leading fiscal sponsors, and together they are doing something no single organization could do alone. Between them, they support nearly 100 community-led initiatives across the state, organizations rooted in neighborhoods, led by people who know their communities best, and working on the issues that matter most. Wisconsin Roots Rising brings those two networks together for the first time around a shared belief: that when we invest in what's rising, all of Wisconsin rises with it.
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With a mission to empower community-based organizations to build a more just and equitable society, C4CS provides fiscal sponsorship, coaching, training, and administrative support.