The Wisconsin Coordinating Council on Nicaragua (WCCN) has worked since its founding in 1984 to establish healthy, equitable relations between the US and Nicaragua.

Wisconsin and Nicaragua have been official "sister states" since the 1960s, and WCCN's mission and activities build on that historic relationship. WCCN was founded by Wisconsin citizens opposed to the US government supported war being waged against their sister state and came together to express their opposition. In its early years, WCCN's activities centered on political activism, material aid, and resistance to the US embargo against Nicaragua.

In 1990, after the Nicaragua's Sandinista government lost the presidential election, WCCN redefined and expanded its mission and undertook two new solidarity projects, both of which grew from the same commitment to foster equitable relationships between citizens of the US and Nicaragua:

• The U.S.-Nicaragua Women's Empowerment Project [1] was established in 1990. Initially it focused on enabling women in the United States and Nicaragua to share experiences and strategies for combatting domestic violence. In the 1990s, it expanded its focus to explore new ways to eliminate traditional patterns of economic, political, and gender exclusion.
• WCCN's loan fund project began in 1991 as the Nicaraguan Community Development Loan Fund (NCDLF), a partnership between WCCN and the Nicaraguan Council of Protestant Churches (CEPAD). In 1998, WCCN diversified its lending by establishing the Nicaraguan Credit Alternatives Fund [2] (NICA Fund), which now helps finance 14 different partner agencies in Nicaragua that offer loans to low-income Nicaraguans.

In 1997, WCCN began participating in an annual Alternative Holiday Fair, in which nonprofit organizations sell crafts and other products, many of them produced by Third World artisans, to raise funds for solidarity projects. WCCN has also participated in a number of relief efforts in response to natural disasters that have affected Nicaragua. After Hurricane Mitch devastated Central America in October 1998, WCCN organized relief efforts that raised $80,000 in short-term aid and continued with long-term recovery assistance. WCCN responded again after an earthquake shook the southern Pacific zone of Nicaragua on June 26, 2000, killing seven people and leaving thousands homeless.

In 2003, WCCN decided to organize its projects into two broad categories:

• Sustainable Development, which aims to promote economic justice through alternative models of development. Currently this category includes the NICA Fund [3], the fair trade coffee educational campaign [4], and the Madison-Managua Sister City relationship [5].
• Social Justice, which aims to promote alternative models of activism. Currently this area includes the U.S.-Nicaragua Women's Empowerment Project [6] and the Housing and Property Rights Project [7].