Giving Compass' Take:

• In this report for Grantmakers Concerned with Immigrants and Refugees, Alice Cottingham and Althea Gonzalez share best practices for philanthropists working to support undocumented immigrants through cash assistance. 

• What role can you play in supporting undocumented immigrants in the short- and long-term?

• Learn about the realities that undocumented families face following disasters. 

This is a report about a time of desperation, illness, economic crisis, and death for immigrants. It is a report about remarkable collective action to respond with vital cash assistance. It is a reflection on raw truth, and on what has been learned so far in a pandemic that has not yet ended. It is a philanthropic call to action: a call to embrace the best of pandemic funding and forward-thinking, long overdue equity-centered grantmaking, to step up in a larger way to press for systemic change, to stand together.

In March 2020, Covid-19 began to smolder in the U.S. Among the hardest hit have been Black Americans, Latinx people, essential workers, older people, people with comorbidities, and individuals living in poverty. Immigrants, often members of one or more at-risk groups, have been disproportionately affected. Undocumented people are particularly vulnerable as a consequence of often unsafe occupations, crowded living conditions, and lack of access to health care. The pandemic’s devastating impact on hours and jobs in many low-wage industries caused widespread economic insecurity and financial ruin for undocumented people as well.

Uprisings in 2020 for racial justice following the murder of George Floyd coincided with rising deaths from Covid-19. Recent calculations found that Covid-19 has slashed the average lifespan of Black and Latinx people in the U.S. by two years. Structural racism compounded by the pandemic proved deadly.

In response, foundations, state and local governments, and community nonprofits worked together. Hundreds of funds provided crisis relief to undocumented immigrants, getting cash to people excluded from federal aid and ineligible for most safety net benefits.

Commissioned by Open Society Foundations and Grantmakers Concerned with Immigrants and Refugees (GCIR), Stand Together analyzes findings from nationwide research, about such assistance to undocumented immigrants and their families during this time. Using an online survey, one-on-one interviews, and literature review, we identified reliable, successful ways to respond, often centered on racial justice and efforts to reach the most marginalized. We describe these, along with a few variations that were equally effective, and also identify quandaries that funders should consider in future crisis responses.

A central theme of the outpouring of pandemic support is familiar from other times of crisis: remarkable efforts helped some, and illustrated just how urgently structural solutions are needed to reach everyone. Relief can never fix inequalities.

But systemic change can. In responding with cash assistance, some foundations came to realize that relief was not enough, and turned to systems change funding. Others reaffirmed their previous commitments to structural change, even as they added direct relief in the early days of the pandemic.

The report ends with recommendations in three categories:

  • Philanthropic role and practice
  • Partnering with immigrant justice organizations
  • Beyond cash assistance to systemic change