Patricia Donath is a director of the League of Women Voters of the United States (LWVUS) and trustee of the LWV Education Fund. At the national level, Ms. Donath is also a member of the LWVUS Streamlining Task Force and served on the LWVUS Bylaws Committee in 2004. She has served on the League of Women Voters of Michigan state board since 1997, including 4 years as state president (1999-2003). Ms. Donath first joined the state board as the Government director, and that has been one primary focus of her work in the League ever since. Her work as Special Projects director (2003-2010) included judicial independence and voting reform projects as well as being the spokesperson for LWVMI at the state legislature. In 2007, she became one of Michigan’s Membership Recruitment Initiative coordinators, in order to help carry out her commitment to grow the Michigan League.

Ms. Donath first joined the League in Basking Ridge (NJ) and joined the Lansing Area (MI) League when she moved back to Michigan. She served on the Lansing area board as Program vice president and president-elect from 1992-95 and as president from 1995-97.

Ms. Donath was born and raised in Michigan and graduated from Michigan State University with a BA in Humanities. She attended Northwestern University Law School in Chicago, obtaining a J.D. in 1968. She has lived in Washington, DC, Alabama, and New Jersey, where she worked for the state legislature as the sole staff person for the Senate and Assembly Judiciary Committees—working for both Republicans and Democrats as part of the non-partisan Legislative Services Bureau. Upon moving back to Michigan, Ms. Donath worked for the state legislature in several capacities and served as a member of the Ingham County Board of Canvassers from 1986-94 and the Ingham County Republican Party Executive Committee from 1978-94.

Ms. Donath is currently a member of the Capitol Area United Way Community Investment Committee and has served on a grant team for a number of years. She is a board member of the Michigan Campaign Finance Network and has worked with both Justice at Stake and the Midwest Democracy Network on issues and projects. Ms. Donath is a member of the State Bar of Michigan. She is a member of Pilgrim Congregational UCC and currently serves on the church Vitality and Communications and Membership teams, as well as singing in the choir and playing hand bells.

Ms. Donath has one son, Gregory, who has a PHD in Chemical Engineering and a passport with stamps that have been growing in number.