Real Talk: Grassroots Organizations Need Us All To Step In

By: Kiarah Hortance, Senior Program Associate at Boston Women’s Fund

You don’t need me to tell you how urgent this time is for immigrant, migrant, and refugee communities. (At least, I hope not! 👀) In the wake of this administration’s horrific policies and actions targeting undocumented folks, immigrants, and anyone who appears to be so, we have found ourselves at yet another critical juncture where grassroots organizations and leaders are forced to bear the brunt of our collective responsibility (more on this later). 

Recently, Boston Women’s Fund assembled a committee of grantee partners, community leaders and allies in the immigrant justice movement, and members of the nonprofit movement building community to help us allocate $75,000 to grassroots organizations in Greater Boston advancing immigrant justice. Through our work interviewing the leaders of over 30 nominated organizations and the immigrants and migrants they serve, and reconnecting with our existing grantee partners, the stories we’ve gathered have been critical to our understanding of the current moment. Here’s what we’ve learned as a trusted partner of grassroots organizations in Greater Boston.

Boosting Direct Support & Security

Many immigrant-serving grassroots organizations are shifting toward boosting their direct support — increasing one-on-one services, making themselves available day and night, and strategizing to offer services that are in uncharted territory for their organization. At the same time, these organizations are limiting external access to their work and information to protect their staff and communities — removing staff information from websites, dialing back external communications, and prioritizing a word-of-mouth approach to promoting events and programs — even if it impacts their visibility and fundraising. These grassroots organizations are doing everything in their power to build community and provide critical services in the face of surveillance from authorities and our government, threats to their staff’s and constituents’ safety, and fear. 

Navigating Funding Cuts

It’s worth noting that these grassroots organizations are offering more support to immigrants, migrants, and their families while also reporting cuts to institutional funding and an abandonment of trust-based philanthropy as funders seek to minimize liability and protect their resources and power. Thirty-six percent of our grantee partners have experienced funding cuts since this administration took office. For most of these organizations, these cuts have created a gap of up to 30% in their budgets. Where one might expect the local, state, or federal government to be the source of these funding cuts, the reality is different — philanthropic institutions are the most common offender. Many of our grantee partners shared that institutions often cited strategic pivots to “dial back” in response to anti-DEI executive orders. As a grantmaker and a grant-seeker, BWF is no stranger to uncertainty in this current moment, but we urge our fellow funders to remember that the chill effect is, in part, this administration’s goal.

Holding The Community’s Trauma 

In my conversations with our existing grantee partners, a leader shared, “our proximity to trauma is traumatic.” At BWF, we believe that leaders should come from within their own communities. However, we cannot overlook the toll of fighting against systems that harm leaders just as much as the people they serve. Why have we accepted such a disparity of investment where grassroots leaders lean in and everyone else leans back? We cannot allow the organizations and leaders closest to communities facing harm to be the only ones putting themselves on the line. The responsibility to meet the current moment is on ALL of us.

How To Step In

I won’t pretend that I, my colleagues, or our board of directors have all the answers. But we won’t let that stop us. We recognize how easy it is to hesitate, retreat, and fall into old molds where resources are deemed more worthy of protection than people. As funders, what might it look like to prioritize a return on community? Is it really a “waste” to fund an organization that may not be here next year if they’re providing a service that their community is asking for? If meeting the urgent needs of current and potential grantees truly detracts from your strategic plan, shouldn’t that tell you something?

As individuals, we look to the four Ts of philanthropy. Every single one of us has time, talent, treasure, and/or tradition to offer each other. So, I ask you this — what do you know about the community you live and work in? How do you all communicate with each other? What are some ways you can be a more active member? What about the community/ies next to you?

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P.S. I’d be remiss if I wrote a piece about the current movement for immigrant justice and didn’t highlight the incredible work of the LUCE Immigrant Justice Network of Massachusetts, a coalition of immigrant-led, grassroots organizations (including BWF grantee partners) who are doing critical organizing, information sharing, and mutual aid work in this moment. If you’d like to support their work, volunteer, and/or participate in their advocacy efforts, visit their website here.