Giving Compass' Take:

• Carlin Politzer and Linda Gargiulo discuss the Packard Foundations grant to Hispanics in Philanthropy in order to support humanitarian needs of migrants.

• How can donors help support the infrastructure of communities helping migrants?

• Learn how donors can help the family separation crisis on the US border.

Earlier this year, the Packard Foundation made a $250,000 grant to Hispanics in Philanthropy (HIP) for its Family Unity Fund that addresses humanitarian needs of migrants seeking asylum at the U.S.-Mexico border. As the crisis escalated, we wanted to do more.

Hispanics in Philanthropy is a nonprofit that has worked for over 35 years and is strengthening Latino leadership, influence and equity by leveraging philanthropic resources, and doing so with an unwavering vision on social justice and shared prosperity across the Americas.

Following the initial grant to the Family Unity Fund,  we continued to discuss opportunities for the Foundation to support HIP’s Migration and  Forced Displacement Program, which they developed in response to the evolving crisis. This program is taking an expansive, long-term approach to addressing the spectrum of issues  associated with migration to the United States.

The situation along our border takes a tremendous toll on the individuals and families who are migrating as well as on the communities that are welcoming them. Significant investments need to be made in the organizations that are meeting emergency needs and helping to preserve and protect the human dignity of migrants and asylum seekers.

Following our trip to El Paso-Ciudad Juárez, the conversations with HIP continued and we ultimately awarded a $5 million dollar grant, which will specifically fund the organization to do the following:

  • Provide critical funding to first responders to meet the urgent humanitarian needs of migrants who are in transit along the migrant corridor and waiting out their legal cases in the U.S. and Mexico.
  • Help grantee organizations expand and enhance their operations and services to offer an effective response to the scale of the crisis.
  • Help build a stronger, nimble, and sustainable transnational network of first responders.
  • Support grantee organizations in successfully using a positive, unified narrative about migration and forced mobility.

Read the full article about Packard Foundation's response to the humanitarian crisis along the migrant corridor by Carlin Johnson Politzer and Linda Gargiulo at The David and Lucile Packard Foundation.