Mujeres Unidas Y Activas
Public records show a registered, tax-exempt organization in good standing.
What it says it does
MUAis an organization of Latina and Indigenous immigrant women with the mission of growing our personal and community power to achieve social and economic justice. Personal transformation and civic-political participation go hand in hand.
- Income
- $7.0 million
- Spending
- $10.2 million
- Spent on programs
- 88%
- Reserves
- 9 months of spending
- Largest source of income
- donations and private grants, 80%
- Employees
- 55
- Volunteers
- 115
- Highest pay
- $117,308, executive dir.
Source: Form 990 for the year ending December 31, 2024, filed with the Internal Revenue Service. Rating method 2026.2. How we rate
Financial health
Good: 73 out of 100. Higher than 50% of charities in its peer group (human services, $1m to $10m).
Reserves
28 of 35Spendable reserves would cover 9.0 months of spending.
Debt
20 of 20It owes 8% of what it owns.
Living within its means
0 of 15Spending exceeded income by 45% of income.
Income trend
10 of 15Income fell 4% on the year before.
Spending floor
15 of 1588% of spending went to programs and raising each dollar of donations cost 5 cents.
Source: Form 990 for the year ending December 31, 2024, filed with the Internal Revenue Service. Rating method 2026.2. How we rate
Governance
Strong: 100 out of 100. Higher than 65% of charities in its peer group (human services, $1m to $10m).
Independent board
25 of 258 of 10 voting board members are independent.
Conflict of interest policy
15 of 15Has a written conflict of interest policy.
Whistleblower policy
8 of 8Has a written whistleblower policy.
Record keeping policy
7 of 7Has a written policy on keeping and destroying records.
Board minutes
5 of 5Keeps minutes of board meetings.
Board sees the tax return
10 of 10Gave the board a copy of this return before filing it.
Pay set independently
5 of 5Sets its chief executive's pay through independent review and comparison.
Independent check of accounts
15 of 15Its accounts were audited by an independent accountant.
No reported misuse
10 of 10Reports no diversion of assets, excess benefits or loans to insiders.
Source: Form 990 for the year ending December 31, 2024, filed with the Internal Revenue Service. Rating method 2026.2. How we rate
Impact evidence
Describes programs. Its tax return describes what it does but we have found no measurable results in it.
Programs described in its return (2)
- $5.8 million spent. The California Domestic Worker Coalition is made up of 11 organizations statewide that organize both domestic workers and their employers to advocate for better wages, more stable employment and healthier working conditions for domestic workers. In 2024, our coalition reached a major milestone by concluding the first iteration of the California Domestic Worker Education and Outreach Project (DWEOP), a first-of-its-kind in the country pilot program aimed at addressing wage theft and other widespread workplace violations affecting domestic workers. This program was carried out in partnership with the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement of the State of California.Together, our coalition organizations reached thousands of workers across the state. Here are some of the numbers: -Coalition organizers and member leaders made over 290,000 outreach contacts with workers-Held almost 600 labor protections & Know-Your-Rights workshops,resulting in over 15,000 workers trained-Made over 74,000 outreach contacts with Californias domestic employers to support them to create fair working relationships with the people they employ in their homes-Recuperated almost half a million dollars of stolen wages back into the hands of workers. In the second half of 2024 we initiated the application process to renew our partnership with the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement in order to continue and strengthen DWEOP for another 5 years, after having won the allocation of an additional $35 million in the state budget for this purpose. We are excited to expand this work in the coming years, reaching tens of thousands of additional domestic workers statewide. In September, we celebrated the historic signing of SB 1350, authored by our legislative champion Senator Maria Elena Durazo of Los Angeles.Since 2020, our coalition has led a tireless campaign to end the exclusion of domestic workers from the states occupational safety and health laws. Together, we brought the voices and creative leadership of domestic workers to the State Capitol. SB 1350 amends the legal code in California to include the more than 175,000 domestic workers who are employed by agencies under Occupational Health & Safety protections. In October, in anticipation of the renewal and expansion of DWEOP, the Coalition transitioned out of being housed at Mujeres Unidas y Activas to a new fiscal sponsor, the Center for Empowered Politics Education Fund. As part of this move, we transferred more than $3 million in accumulated assets from MUAs bank accounts to those of our new fiscal sponsor. This move will help ensure that we have the administrative capacity to efficiently manage and implement a significantly expanded statewide program, allowing us to take on additional partner organizations.
- $3.1 million spent. Healing and personal growth programs: MUA continued offering a variety of wellness and trauma recovery programs to members, including peer counseling, grief support groups, parenting groups, Zumba, nutrition, arts for healing, and group coaching. A total of 1236 immigrant women participated in one or more of these programs in 2024. Organizing/Basebuilding: In 2023 and 2024, MUAs Crecer la Base (Grow the Base) team of organizers received intensive training and regular coaching from the Groundswell Organizing Institute, which in turn strengthened our basebuilding capacity. In 2024, we exceeded our anticipated outcomes in this area, reaching 1415 immigrant women (goal: 800-1000), of which 950 expressed interest in receiving further information (goal: 400-600), and 408 new women began participating as members (goal: 150). Vocational training: 170 women participated in vocational training workshops in 2024. Topics included: CPR certification for childcare workers, negotiating a fair wage, ergonomics for caregivers, non-toxic housecleaning, using your phone to look for employment, and more. (Goal: 85)Leadership development: MUA offers the following leadership training series. -Basebuilding Training (3 sessions)-Group Facilitator Training (4 sessions)-Peer Counselor Training (4 sessions)-Leadership for Community Power Training (6 sessions) -Grassroots Fundraising Training (1 session)In 2024 a total of 56 women graduated from one or more of these training series, with a majority participating in at least two of the series. (Goal: 50) 102 women participated in one or more leadership committees, this was a significant increase from the steady 70-75 total active leaders weve had every year for the last three years. Grupo Mam: MUA currently offers twice monthly peer support groups in the Maya Mam language to Guatemalan women for whom this is their native language, and now provides community services navigation and peer counseling in Maya Mam in our Oakland office every day of the week. To date, over 170 Indigenous Maya Mam women have participated in one or more of MUAs programs, with approximately 35 Mayan women participating on a regular basis. In collaboration with Canticle Farm, in 2024 Grupo Mam expanded a community garden project in the Fruitvale area of Oakland. As of 2024, there are now Maya Mam speakers in every program and committee in MUA. In late 2023 our Board created two spots for Mam speaking members, with the goal of ensuring that Indigenous women have a voice in our decisions. In 2024, we brought our Mam Program Coordinator onto the management team. Another two Mam leaders are representing nannies and housecleaners on the Leaders Council of the National Domestic Workers Alliance. Arts and culture: In collaboration with NAKA Dance Theater, MUA has been offering a variety of therapeutic and cultural arts programs to our members. In 2024 this included bordados feministas - an project to reclaim sewing circles as a feminist act via the embroidery of messages of empowerment onto patches that were then sewn into a quilt and displayed in local cafes and art galleries. Another project which ran from mid 2023 to late 2024 was the Weaving Wisdom project, in which Mayan Indigenous women from different municipalities of Guatemala met every Saturday at our Oakland office to engage in traditional weaving of Mayan clothing and to teach one another the designs of their regions. As a result, they produced new weavings that interwove the designs and colors of different regions into new beautiful pieces of art/clothing. These were then displayed for over a month in a beautiful art exhibit at EastSide Arts Alliance. Experienced weavers led guided tours of the exhibit for non-Mayan MUA members and allies, showing off their cultural and artisanal expertise. Advocacy Campaigns: Through our coalition work, in 2024 we achieved various policy victories statewide and locally, including:-The passage of SB686, a new statewide law which requires agencies that hire and employ domestic workers to comply with the CalOSHA guidelines -- the first ever enforceable health and safety legislation for domestic workers in California. -With EBASE (a local labor rights organization), we advocated for implementation of Oaklands Measure Z -- a law which we helped pass in 2019, which increased wages for hotel cleaning staff and created the Department of Workplace Enforcement Standards (DWES) in the City of Oakland. We arranged for DWES staff and prosecutors from the Alameda County District Attorneys office to meet with low-wage domestic workers and hotel workers to hear evidence on specific cases of severe exploitation and to advocate that they enforce laws against wage theft and sexual harassment in the workplace.
Source: Form 990 for the year ending December 31, 2024, filed with the Internal Revenue Service. Rating method 2026.2. How we rate
Legitimacy checks
Is it registered with the IRS? Passed.
Listed in the IRS master file of tax-exempt organizations as a 501(c)(3) charitable organization.
Source: Exempt Organizations Business Master File, Internal Revenue Service, file dated October 13, 2026.
Has the IRS revoked its tax-exempt status? Passed.
Not on the IRS automatic revocation list.
Source: Automatic revocation of exemption list, Internal Revenue Service, file dated November 6, 2026.
Are donations tax-deductible? Passed.
On the IRS list of organizations eligible to receive tax-deductible contributions.
Source: Publication 78 data: organizations eligible for tax-deductible contributions, Internal Revenue Service, file dated October 13, 2026.
Is it keeping up with its IRS filings? Passed.
Most recent return on file covers the year ending December 2024.
Source: Exempt Organizations Business Master File, Internal Revenue Service, file dated October 13, 2026.
How long has it been tax-exempt? Passed.
Recognized by the IRS since July 2005.
Source: Exempt Organizations Business Master File, Internal Revenue Service, file dated October 13, 2026.
Is it in good standing with state regulators? Passed.
Not on California's list of charities barred from soliciting. Other states are not yet checked.
Source: May Not Operate or Solicit for Charitable Purposes list, California Attorney General, Registry of Charities and Fundraisers, file dated November 4, 2026.
Ratings and checks are our reading of public records, using the published method. They are not a statement about anyone's honesty. If you work for this organization, you can send corrections or results, confirm you want gifts through Veridonate, or ask to be removed from giving.