Responding to President Trump’s policies on immigration, a group of California foundations has injected more than $40 million in emergency support to nonprofits in the state in recent months while developing a rapid-response ethos designed to counter fast-moving events in Washington.

The foundations have shortened the grant-making process from many months to just a few days in some cases. And with the legal status of "Dreamers" — people brought into the country illegally when they were children — in limbo, the 13 grant makers have issued a "call to action" for other foundations to pitch in, not only to help with immediate needs of swiftly changing immigration policies but to provide services to foreign-born residents on a long-term basis.

With the help of Grantmakers Concerned With Immigrants and Refugees, a national network of foundations that has been working on immigrant and refugee issues since 1990, the California grant makers interviewed 60 nonprofit leaders across the state to determine their needs and created a spreadsheet to track their immigration-related grant making. On bimonthly conference calls, they shared how they were responding to policy changes, including the travel ban, an increase in anti-immigrant sentiment, and a rise in hate crimes.

Read more about California foundations response to immigration by Alex Daniels at Southern California Grantmakers