Who's Funding Policy Advocacy for Immigration Reform and Immigrant Rights?

With immigration continually in the news, both as a hot-button political cause and as a long-term civic and demographic issue, we’ve been writing about the philanthropic funders who support immigration-related causes, including immigrant students and legal services for immigrants and refugees. Here, we’ll be taking a look at some of the key philanthropies backing a set of causes that set the groundwork for so much else in this space: policy advocacy for immigration reform and immigrant rights.

Comprehensive immigration reform has been on the docket (so to speak) for years, but efforts continue to stall in Congress. In fact, the last time significant reform was successful was in 1986 under the Reagan administration. While some piecemeal immigration policies have been included in larger congressional spending packages, presidents have realized that the bulk of the immigration-related policy changes they’ll ever get to make will have to take the form of executive orders. These are, for good and for ill, much more easily undone than legislation — both by the courts and by subsequent presidents.

Most recently, President Joe Biden used his executive order power to strictly limit asylum seekers — a move that was met with criticism from advocates and prompted a lawsuit from the American Civil Liberties Union. Following the outcry, Biden issued a further executive order allowing the undocumented spouses and children of U.S. citizens to remain the U.S. while getting their papers in order.

While the federal government controls immigration law and policy, states can also have a big impact. In Texas, a new law that’s currently being blocked by the courts would allow local law enforcement officials to arrest, jail and send to deportation authorities anyone suspected of crossing the Texas-Mexico border between ports of entry. State laws can also have positive impacts, such as allowing immigrants to obtain drivers’ licenses or giving them access to healthcare coverage.

As is the case in other arenas where the powers and resources of the public sector dwarf those of private grantmakers (i.e., most arenas), influencing policy can be an effective lever to pull for philanthropists interested in advancing immigrant rights. And policy advocacy for immigrant rights can involve much more than just pushing for immigration reform. Immigrants, asylum seekers and refugees require policies to protect their rights, from civil rights to workers’ rights, voting rights and more. As is the case when it comes to a lot of philanthropy, these issues are often siloed, though there are some funders who take more intersectional approaches. Per Candid’s data, between 2004 and 2024, grantmakers have awarded almost $3 billion to support immigrant rights in the U.S.

Given Biden’s election-year immigration orders and the looming threat of a possible second Trump presidency, which promises to be especially hostile to immigrants, funding policy advocacy efforts for immigrant rights is especially important. To that end, here are some of the key funders doing that right now.

Ford Foundation

It will come as no surprise that the Ford Foundation is far and away one of the biggest funders working in the immigrant rights and policy advocacy space. In fact, according to Candid, it is the biggest funder of immigrant rights in the U.S.

Housed under its Gender, Racial and Ethnic Justice Program, Ford’s U.S. immigrant rights strategy seeks to protect and expand the rights, safety and wellbeing of all immigrants in the U.S., regardless of their documentation status. It provides support for efforts to “strengthen and broaden the immigrant justice field to advance reforms that promote more just and human migration policies,” especially for immigrants from communities that are especially vulnerable, such as disabled individuals, women and LGBTQ migrants.

Ford’s grantmaking is primarily focused on two priorities: state, local and federal advocacy, and “revitalizing a diverse support base.” For the latter, the foundation notes it is particularly interested in work that engages new allies and organizations that represent “the full diversity of experience and identity among immigrant communities.” Ford also supports exploratory learning on strategic communications and narrative work as well as convenings and other collaborative spaces that bring together leaders working in this space.

The foundation has an annual budget of $7.5 million for its immigrant rights work, and has devoted $20 million of its BUILD budget to that work over five years. Some of its recent grantees include the National Immigrant Justice Center, Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, the Brennan Center for Justice, Center for Community Change, UCLA Labor Center to Advance Immigrant Rights, Alabama Coalition for Immigrant Justice United and The Young Center for Immigrant Children’s Rights.

Four Freedoms Fund

Named after President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s famous speech outlining the four essential freedoms everyone should enjoy, the Four Freedoms Fund is a funder collaborative that works to strengthen the immigrant justice movement in the U.S. The fund was established in 2003 by five foundations — the Carnegie Corporation of New York, Ford Foundation, Open Society Institute, Mertz Gilmore Foundation and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation — as a response to the rise in anti-immigrant sentiment that followed the 9/11 attacks. It is housed at NEO Philanthropy.

The Four Freedoms Fund has drawn in funding from a wide array of grantmakers in addition to those initial five: They include the Evelyn and Walter Haas Jr. Fund, the Heising-Simons Foundation, Unbound Philanthropy, the Grove Foundation, the Gates Foundation, the JPB Foundation, the Kresge Foundation, the Oak Foundation, the Walder Foundation and the Kaphan Foundation, among others.

The Four Freedoms Fund’s investment priorities include supporting state and local advocacy and organizing infrastructure, as well as increasing the civic participation of immigrants, “blunting” immigration enforcement and criminalization, and building momentum to change federal immigration systems. It does so through grantmaking (including general operating, capacity-building and rapid response grants), technical assistance, and funder education and coordination.

Some of the fund’s grantees include the Alabama Coalition for Immigrant Justice, Black Alliance for Just Immigration, Black Immigrant Collective, One Arizona, the Florida Immigration Coalition, Immigrant Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights (CHIRLA), Detention Watch Network and the National Immigration Law Center.

Silicon Valley Community Foundation

The largest community foundation in the U.S. (and one of the largest foundations in the country full stop), the Silicon Valley Community Foundation is a powerhouse grantmaker. In 2023 alone, it awarded more than $3 billion in grants to Bay Area nonprofits, $145.8 million to organizations in California outside of the Bay Area, and $1.1 billion to organizations outside the state. Although it doesn’t count immigration as one of its primary issue areas, SVCF channels money to “programs and policies that advance just and humane immigration reform” as well as other immigrant-related causes. Candid’s data shows that over the past two decades, SVCF has been one of the bigger funders in the immigrant rights space.

Grantees include Immigrant Legal Resource Center, National Immigration Forum, Voces De La Frontera, Grantmakers Concerned With Immigrants and Refugees, United We Dream, Immigrant Legal Resource Center and Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition.

Carnegie Corporation of New York

Founded in 1911 by Andrew Carnegie (himself an immigrant), the Carnegie Corporation of New York is one of the oldest grantmaking institutions in the U.S. Its programs include education, democracy, international peace and security, and higher education and research in Africa.

Through its Strengthening U.S. Democracy program, Carnegie supports immigrant integration, with citizenship as one of its long-term priorities. It also funds research on issues like voting rights, immigration, citizenship and the census, while also supporting alliance-building, field-building and policy development that focus on immigration policy reform. In addition to being one of the biggest backers of the Four Freedoms Fund, Carnegie’s grantees include the Immigrant Legal Resource Center, the State Infrastructure Fund, Migration Policy Institute, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, and the Niskanen Center for Public Policy.

Carnegie also has a special yearly award project called The Great Immigrants initiative, which “celebrates the exemplary contributions of immigrants to American life.” Some of last year’s honorees include Elle Editor-in-Chief Nina Garcia, who was born in Colombia and is the first Latina woman to lead a major fashion magazine in the U.S.; champion runner and five-time Olympian Bernard Lagat, who was born in Kenya; Academy-Award-winning actor Ke Huy Quan, who was born in Vietnam; actor Pedro Pascal of “Game of Thrones” and “The Last of Us” fame, who was born in Chile; and U.S. Rep. Ted Lieu, who represents California’s 36th District and was born in Taiwan.

NEO Philanthropy

NEO Philanthropy is a funding intermediary committed to social justice and human rights. In addition to housing the Four Freedoms Fund (see above), it is one of the biggest movers of dollars in the immigrant rights space, next to major foundations like Ford and Carnegie. Many of NEO’s grants for immigrant rights are to state-based organizations.

Grantees include the Georgia Latino Alliance for Human Rights, the Virginia Coalition for Immigrant Rights, Arkansas United, the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, the Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition, the Florida Immigrant Coalition, the Colorado Immigrant Rights Coalition and the Louisiana Organization for Refugees and Immigrants.

Morton K. and Jane Blaustein Foundation

The Morton K. and Jane Blaustein Foundation “supports efforts to confront racism, protect against prejudicial treatment toward immigrants, refugees and asylum seekers, and mitigate climate change and its impact on vulnerable communities.” Its primary geographic focus areas are Baltimore, the Maryland and D.C. regions, and New York. Through its Immigrant Justice program, the foundation offers grants across three areas: support for immigrant-led organizing and advocacy for just immigration policies; support for legal services and impact litigation to ensure legal and social protection for immigrants, refugees and asylum seekers; and support for refugees and asylum seekers fleeing violence.

Some of Blaustein’s grantees include the American Civil Liberties Union Foundation, Capital Area Immigrants’ Rights Coalition, Freedom for Immigrants, Florence Immigrant and Refugee Rights Project, and the International Refugee Assistance Project, among others.

Evelyn and Walter Haas Jr. Fund

Based in California, the Evelyn and Walter Haas Jr. Fund includes immigrant rights among its six key areas of focus, zeroing in especially on helping immigrant children and youth thrive and reach their potential.

The fund works with both state-based and national partners. Grants related to immigrant rights and policy advocacy include support for Black Alliance for Just Immigration, California Immigrant Policy Center, Coalition for Human Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles (CHIRLA), Community Change, Grantmakers Concerned with Immigrants and Refugees, National Immigration Forum, National Immigration Law Center, and the Youth Center for Immigrant Children’s Rights, among others.

James Irvine Foundation

Founded in 1937 with a mandate to help the people of California, the James Irvine Foundation launched its Protecting Immigrant Rights program in 2016, supporting grassroots and statewide efforts to “inform, engage and protect immigrant families.” The program ended in 2020, but Irvine continues to fund immigrant-related causes, most notably through its Just Prosperity initiative, which supports statewide efforts to advance, develop and implement policies that reflect the priorities of low-income workers.

Some of its recent grants related to immigrant policy advocacy include million-dollar grants to the California Immigrant Policy Center, the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights, and the National Immigration Law Center.

Rosenberg Foundation

Like the James Irvine Foundation, the Rosenberg Foundation, which is also based in California, concerns itself with the intersection of immigrant rights and workers’ rights. The foundation maintains that the future of the state depends on engaged and empowered immigrant communities. As such, its Immigrant Rights and Workers’ Rights program supports immigration reform and grassroots advocacy, as well as enforcing voting and language rights and strengthening the communications capacity of immigrant rights advocates.

The foundation also supports the state’s Dreamer movement and considers Dreamers to be “a critical part of the immigrant rights advocacy infrastructure in the state.” Since the 1950s, Rosenberg has also prioritized support for the state’s farmworkers and currently backs a number of related efforts, including strengthening labor protections for immigrant agricultural workers and challenging unfair wages and unsafe and exploitative working conditions.

—

Other funders backing policy work on immigrant rights include the California Community Foundation, Unbound Philanthropy, the Heising-Simons Foundation, New York Community Trust, the Greater Washington Community Foundation, Seattle Foundation, Chicago Community Trust, New York Foundation and Boston Foundation, among others.