Nonprofit Grants for Immigrant and Refugee Communities

Roughly 14% of the American population is composed of immigrants - and a vast majority of the population are descended from immigrants if you go back far enough. Immigrants, despite forming such a large part of the culture and workforce of the nation, face many unique challenges. There are many nonprofits that operate with missions to specifically benefit the immigrant community within the nation and beyond.

These nonprofits are only able to do their good work thanks to the generous donations provided by immigrant grants. This grant money can be put towards a wide range of projects and programs. This can include language classes, vocational training, cultural orientation or legal assistance. 

There are many organizations that provide immigrant grants. These traditionally included federal and state groups, like the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. There are also many community and private foundations involved in this space, such as the Ford Foundation and the Open Society Foundations. 

When drafting an immigrant grant proposal, you need good storytelling abilities - testimonials from actual immigrants your nonprofit has helped can significantly improve your case. You’ll also want to back up your proposal with data. This can include, depending on the purpose of your nonprofit, statistics on things such as immigrant language proficiency or employment rates. You can start looking for this data from a few sources - the U.S. Census Bureau and Pew Research Center are good places to get started. 

If you need any more pointers on writing excellent, award-winning grant proposals, make sure to check out our full overview on the topic. You can also browse an excellent selection of immigrant grants right here, all ready and open for applications.