Immigrant-Led Organizations Fund

Immigrant-Led Organizations Fund

Program Type: Participatory grantmaking program

Geographic Scope: Maine (unceded Wabanaki Territory)

Focus Areas:

Immigrant, refugee, and asylum seeker flourishing

Education

Gender justice

Food access and sovereignty

Community building

Cultural preservation

Health services

Healing and movement practices

Media production

Youth empowerment

Funding Priorities:
Interventions on persistent issues experienced by immigrants of color:

Xenophobia

Racialized discrimination

Insufficient support from municipal and state governments

Eligibility Requirements:

Immigrant-led organizations

Work in Maine

Advance immigrant, refugee, and asylum seeker flourishing

Nonprofit status

Organizations of color-led

Award Structure:

Multi-year, unrestricted, general operating support

10 organizations per cohort

$15,000 per year over 3-year period ($45,000 total)

Access to peer learning, training, capacity-building, and community outreach activities

Background:
For a three-year period beginning in 2024, the ILO Fund committed to providing $1.35 million in multi-year, unrestricted, general operating support to immigrant-led organizations. This is the second cohort of organizations supported through the program.

Current Grantees (2025 Cohort):

Early Math and Language Initiative (EMLI)

Empowered Immigrant Women Unite

Food For All Services

Gateway Community Services

Mano en Mano

Intercultural Community Center

Ladder to the Moon Network

Maine Afro Yoga Project

New Roots Cooperative Farm

United Youth Empowerment Services

Selection Process:

Participatory grantmaking

2025 ILO Fund Grantmaking Advisory Committee: 25-person decision-making body

Hundreds of volunteer Readers evaluated applications

Contact: maineinitiatives.org