Learn about grants for immigrants and refugees by exploring the curated list of top funders below. Related funders may be found in the guide to humanitarian aid grants. Members can also research funding opportunities for nonprofits working with immigrants and refugees by using the search tool for GrantFinder. Become a member.

Funding Trends

Different from a migrant or immigrant, the UNHCR defines a refugee as “someone who has been forced to flee his or her country because of persecution, war or violence. A refugee has a well-founded fear of persecution for reasons of race, religion, nationality, political opinion or membership in a particular social group.” What constitutes refugee or asylum seeker status varies between nation-states and expands or contracts based on geopolitical climate.

Philanthropic giving for immigrants and refugees addresses a number of areas, including immigration reform; refugee resettlement, jobs and rights; and legal aid, integration, human rights, labor rights and social services for immigrants, child migrants, undocumented people, and others. 

While some funders give broadly to support immigrants and refugees, most focus on a particular area of concern, such as immigration policy reform in the United States, refugee resettlement, job skills, emergency aid for refugees from a particular nation or region, or legal services for LGBTQ migrants in U.S. detention facilities. Many grantmakers for refugees or immigrants also also engage in funding for human rights or humanitarian aid and climate change.

Legal, policy and international organizations are currently working to expand the limited definition of a refugee, which currently denies asylum status based on gender violence. As a result, a large gap exists between government and nongovernmental agencies seeking to fund migration issues. In addition, since refugees are so narrowly defined, the term “climate refugees,” or individuals fleeing due to persecution, war and violence caused by climate change pressures, does not yet exist in most laws as a protected group. However, a select group of funders is keeping track of developments facing refugee and immigration law in real time.

Funding for refugees tends to fluctuate according to humanitarian crises like wars or disasters; however, there are also several steadfast funders who consistently make grants for immigrants and refugees. More than 1,000 funders are part of the network for Grantmakers Concerned with Immigrants and Refugees, a philanthropy-supporting organization that mobilizes resources on pressing issues facing immigrants, refugees and asylum seekers. 

The Ford Foundation, a big funder in this field, makes grants for migrants and refugees a part of a broader giving strategy centered on civic engagement; gender, racial and social justice; and creativity and free expression. Meanwhile, Unbound Philanthropy is one of the few foundations focused primarily on immigrants. Funders seeking to support the U.S. immigrant justice movement and improve the lives of immigrants in the U.S. have pooled resources through the Four Freedoms Fund, hosted by intermediary NEO Philanthropy.   

As social movements articulate the ways in which migrant justice intersects with other social justice and climate justice issues, some funders are following suit. More progressive funders are taking an intersectional approach to their grantmaking for immigrants and refugees, and increasingly support movement-building and grassroots organizations. Other philanthropic policy priorities around immigration include reform, legal aid and other services, and rapid relief for refugees and asylum seekers. 


National Foundations for Immigrants & Refugees

ADVANCEMENT PROJECT

The Advancement Project runs a national organization and a separate chapter for its work in the state of California. Nationally, the project supports grassroots organizations involved in voting rights, criminal justice, immigrant justice and education, with a strong focus on racial equity. The California organization maintains initiatives for education equity, equity in community investments and political voice.

AEGON TRANSAMERICA FOUNDATION

Aegon’s grantmaking for refugees centers on housing, transitional services and human services tied to jobs.

AIRBNB COMMUNITY FUND

The AirBnB Community Fund is the philanthropic extension of the Airbnb company and focuses its grantmaking on community development efforts and the needs of refugees, asylum seekers, relief workers and disaster evacuees.

ANGELICA FOUNDATION

The Angelica Foundation funds work that supports the rights of migrant workers and immigrants across the United States and Latin America, with a focus on freedom of the press.

ASTRAEA LESBIAN FOUNDATION FOR JUSTICE

Astraea directs some grants to organizations that address immigration and refugee issues across most of its programs on a small scale, it predominantly conducts LGBTQ migrant justice work through its U.S. Fund. The fund primarily works to advance "LGBTQ people of color” who are “working to advance racial and economic justice.” It also invests in migrant justice programs to build a strong base of LGBTQ migrant leaders and allies, among other related interests.

JACOB AND HILDA BLAUSTEIN FOUNDATION

The Blaustein Foundation’s grants for refugees overlaps with its International Human Rights program, which protects “the rights of refugees and asylum seekers in the US and other countries,” as well as international women’s rights, especially reproductive rights and justice.

MORTON K. AND JANE BLAUSTEIN FOUNDATION

The Blaustein Foundation’s grants for Immigrant Justice work to protect the rights of immigrants as well as refugees and asylum seekers in the United States.

DR. BRONNER’S FAMILY FOUNDATION

Dr. Bronner’s Family Foundation supports human rights, and immigrants and refugees, human rights, agriculture, animals and wildlife, and public health in places all over the world.

BROMLEY TRUST

Bromley funds work that addresses the human rights of detained refugees.

CARTER CENTER

The Carter Center does not have a dedicated program for immigrants and refugees, but it does support displaced peoples through some of its other initiatives.

CENTER FOR ARAB AMERICAN PHILANTHROPY

The Center for Arab American Philanthropy makes grants to support the Arab American community nationwide. Its grantmaking supports racial justice, community development, disaster relief, and women and girls, and it also serves to raise the profile of the Arab community in the United States.

CHANEL FOUNDATION

Chanel’s grantmaking for immigrants and refugees is modest and focused on women and children.

CLARA LIONEL FOUNDATION

The Clara Lionel Foundation supports climate resilience, disaster relief, racial justice, global health, immigrants and refugees, and other issues of interest to the founder in the U.S., the Caribbean and other countries around the world, particularly in Africa.

EVAN CORNISH FOUNDATION

The foundation’s Refugee & Asylum Seekers program supports projects that advocate for refugees and asylum seekers, improve the quality of life for vulnerable refugees, asylum seekers, and migrants, and promote community cohesion.

DANPAUL FOUNDATION

This foundation invests in refugee enrichment program works to help refugees transition, as well as in various programs for immigrant children.

DREAM BLUE FOUNDATION

The foundation, so far, has limited its grants for immigrants and refugees to projects that support Syrian refugees.

EBAY FOUNDATION

Much of eBay’s development giving addresses refugees, such as the foundation’s grants to Capacity, which empowers refugee and migrant entrepreneurs.

ELMA RELIEF FOUNDATION

The ELMA Relief Foundation’s grantmaking for refugees overlaps with its humanitarian relief giving, focusing on investing in organizations that address the displacement of people in the immediate aftermath of a disaster or disease outbreak.

EMERSON COLLECTIVE

The collective’s immigration and refugee funding supports work centered on DACA holders, legal counsel, civil violations of detention centers, community advocacy, and immigrant and refugee rights.

EVERY MOTHER COUNTS

Grants for refugees come in the form of emergency grants, which can address building temporary, portable birthing shelters; basic needs for a safe birth; midwifery; c-section equipment; and safe family planning efforts, among several other areas of giving related to providing access to safe and respectful maternal care.

FIREDOLL FOUNDATION

This foundation’s grants for immigrants and refugees overlap with its human rights work. It supports organizations that provide “alternatives to detention” and advocate for immigration, especially those that offer legal aid for those facing deportation.

FLUOR FOUNDATION

Fluor’s grants for refugees focuses on disaster relief for those in crisis.

FORD FOUNDATION

Ford’s grantmaking for immigrants tends to be broad, in contrast to other areas of its funding; however, related work tends to focus on structural inequalities that effect immigrants and their demonization.

FOUNDATION FOR MIDDLE EAST PEACE

FMEP’s grantmaking for refugees awards grants to those addressing the needs of victims of the current and ongoing conflict in the Middle East, especially Palestinian refugees.

FRANKEL FAMILY FOUNDATION

Frankel’s Refugees and Displaced Persons grantmaking focuses on “expanding educational opportunities for refugees and internally displaced people living in protracted exile.”

FUND FOR GLOBAL HUMAN RIGHTS

The Fund for Global Human Rights supports Migrants’ Rights by reducing violence towards migrants during their journeys, promoting migrant children’s rights, and advocating for migrant policies that respect migrants’ rights.

GATES FOUNDATION

While the Gates Foundation does not have a separate program to benefit refugees, much of its funding indirectly assists refugees. However, when funding is awarded to refugee-related issues, it is awarded through programs other than Emergency Relief and often given to projects that support women and children.

WALLACE ALEXANDER GERBODE FOUNDATION

Since 2016, the rights of immigrants and refugees in the U.S. have become an area of increasing concern for the Gerbode Foundation.

GLOBAL FUND FOR CHILDREN

The Global Fund for Children supports organizations that empower, educate and advocate for youth immigrants and refugees.

WOMEN FIRST (GILDERSLEEVE INTERNATIONAL FUND)

Women First conducts its grants for refugees through a gender lens all over the world.

GLOBAL RESILIENCE FUND FOR GIRLS AND YOUNG WOMEN

Immigrant and refugee women represent another population of interest for the Global Resilience Fund, which has thus far focused on providing information and health resources to marginalized and displaced groups during the COVID-19 crisis.

GOOGLE.ORG

Google conducts grants for refugees through its giving for disaster and humanitarian relief.

GROVE FOUNDATION

Grove’s broad giving for immigrants and refugees overlaps significantly with it’s human rights work.

EVELYN AND WALTER HAAS, JR. FUND

Haas’s Immigrant Rights grantmaking program centers on “eliminating barriers to immigration” for undocumented immigrants and achieving a “fair and efficient immigration system” in the U.S. The foundation works to build a more robust immigrant rights movement in California and nationally.

HEISING-SIMONS FOUNDATION

This foundation conducts grants for immigrants, specifically those who are undocumented, through its human rights giving.

IKEA FOUNDATION

IKEA is a big funder in the refugee giving space. It’s philanthropy here is focused on the intersection of refugee families, economic development and climate change.

J.M. KAPLAN FUND

The Kaplan Fund’s grants for immigration work to “strengthen social, civic, and economic opportunities for immigrant youth and families, and build power in immigrant communities to shift policy.”

MAX AND ANNA LEVINSON FOUNDATION

Many of the foundation’s grants for immigrants and refugees appear to center on children and border crisis response.

LIBERTY HILL FOUNDATION

The Liberty Hill Foundation does not specifically name immigrants and refugees causes as a priority area, but the foundation regularly supports organizations that support the rights and concerns of these populations across all of the foundation’s focus areas.

M.A.C. AIDS FUND

The Fund’s grants for immigrants focus on the global LGBTQ community.

MARY’S PENCE

This foundation’s grants for refugees and immigrants focuses on women around the world.

BARBARA MCDOWELL AND GERALD S. HARTMAN FOUNDATION

The foundation broadly funds causes related to immigrants and refugees.

MICROSOFT PHILANTHROPIES

Through it’s Humanitarian Action program, the foundation focuses on partnering with “nonprofit organizations to provide digital skills resources and training to help displaced people gain access to economic opportunity—and to help the crisis affected communities they now call home.”

MILAGRO FOUNDATION

The Milagro Foundation works in the arts, education and health, prioritizing vulnerable children and youth around the world and the Bay Area. While Milagro doesn’t have a program dedicated to immigrant and refugees, it conducts related work across it’s health and education giving that occurs through a social justice lens.

NEO PHILANTHROPY

NEO Philanthropy is a grantmaking intermediary working the area of social justice. Current funding programs concern immigrant justice and civic participation in underrepresented communities across the U.S.

NEW YORK COMMUNITY TRUST

Grantmaking has focused on legal assistance, advocacy, organizing and leadership development programs and is sourced from several different grantmaking programs and subprograms.

NOVO FOUNDATION

The NoVo Foundation conducts grants for immigrants and refugees that focus on “driving systemic social change in communities around the world” and combating the “breakdown of the fundamental pillars of democracy,” such as “independently functioning branches of government, rule of law, and a free press.”

OPEN PHILANTHROPY PROJECT

Grants support the development of U.S. policy to “allow more people to be able to move internationally, particularly from lower-income to higher-income countries.”

OPEN SOCIETY FOUNDATIONS

OSF funds immigrants and refugees across several programs and initiatives.

OSPREY FOUNDATION

The Osprey Foundation supports immigrants and refugees via its social justice and empowerment initiative.

PINK HOUSE FOUNDATION

Pink House’s social justice grantmaking broadly extends to organizations working with immigrants and refugees in the U.S.

PITNEY BOWES

The corporate responsibility program has supported several organizations that work with immigrants and refugees in recent years.

PROSPECT HILL FOUNDATION

The Prospect Hill Foundation supports immigrants’ and refugees’ causes through its youth funding program, which was launched in 2020 in response to “the rise of xenophobia; unfettered displays of racism and white supremacy.

RAINBOW WORLD FUND

The fund make grants for LGBTQ refugees all over the world across several programs.

SIGRID RAUSING TRUST

SRT’s Xenophobia and Intolerance program makes grants to support European, Middle Eastern, and sub-Saharan African organizations “defending the rights of populations who, due to their ethnic identity or their refugee status, are discriminated against, subject to hate speech and demonization or denied access to justice.”

DOROTHEA HAUS ROSS FOUNDATION

This foundation’s grants for refugees focus entirely on displaced and refugee children.

RUSSELL SAGE FOUNDATION

The Race, Ethnicity, and Immigration program supports “multi-disciplinary perspectives on questions stemming from the significant changes in the racial, ethnic, and immigrant-origin composition of the U.S. population.”

THRESHOLD FOUNDATION

Threshold’s Immigrant Justice funding program focuses on the rights of migrating people in specific border regions. Areas of interest include legal challenges to anti-immigrant policies and ending the practice of family detentions and violence toward migrants.

TINKER FOUNDATION

While the foundation doesn’t have a distinct program dedicated to immigration, it funds issues related to migration in Latin America across some of it’s programs.

TRIPADVISOR CHARITABLE FOUNDATION

The foundation names refugee humanitarian needs, information, education, empowerment and resettlement opportunities as priorities and, in addition to grants, has provided “in-kind support for key projects.”

UBS OPTIMUS FOUNDATION

Although the foundation does not reveal its grantee list in full, UNFCU's humanitarian efforts prioritize man-made, humanitarian, and natural disasters alike. It funds work focused on refugees through it’s humanitarian giving.

UPS FOUNDATION

UPS gives to organizations supporting refugees across it’s grantmaking.

VODAFONE AMERICAS FOUNDATION

This foundation invests in refugee children’s education.

WERNER-KOHNSTAMM FAMILY FUND

The Fund supports organizations and projects that address immigrants’ rights, advocacy and movement building.

WESTERN UNION FOUNDATION

The foundation supports global education projects that benefit refugee and displaced youth. As well, some giving here focuses on work opportunity.

WILF FAMILY FOUNDATIONS

The Wilf Foundations’ grantmaking for humanitarian aid and refugees mostly overlaps with its Jewish giving and is conducted through Jewish federations and international organizations.

THE CHAN ZUCKERBERG INITIATIVE

The Immigration Reform program works to “support comprehensive immigration reform that keeps families and communities together, drives economic growth for all, and includes a path to citizenship for the 11 million immigrants without status, who call [the U.S.] home.”