We believe that everyone deserves dignity, fairness, and the chance to stay with their loved ones. Your support strengthens the network of organizations fighting every day for immigrant justice and family unity.
The Defending Our Neighbors Fund is a dedicated fund designed to ensure that immigrant families have fair access to lawyers and are not facing a complex and punishing immigration system on their own. At a time when legal support is increasingly out of reach, the Fund provides urgently needed financial support to trusted legal organizations working in communities across the country. By providing grants to organizations offering legal representation and, when possible, bond assistance, the Fund helps keep families together and ensures more people can navigate their cases with dignity and due process.
Supported by United We Dream and the ACLU, the Defending Our Neighbors Fund is a dedicated fund within the Abundant Futures Fund (AFF), a fiscally sponsored project of Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors. The Fund is focused on fundraising, identifying grantees, and rapidly distributing resources to organizations working on the frontlines of the immigration rights crisis.
The Defending Our Neighbors Fund operates as a dedicated fund within the Abundant Futures Fund, a fiscally sponsored project of Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors. It pools donations and distributes grants on a rolling basis to vetted legal service providers and nonprofit bond funds. These grantees deliver direct support, including legal representation, and when possible, bond assistance, to families across the country facing detention and deportation. The Fund accepts contributions as small as $10, making it easy for individuals looking to support immigrant families in need.
There is a robust network of legal service providers across the country that have years of experience supporting people who are immigrants and helping keep families together. These organizations are deeply embedded in and trusted by their communities, but they are often operating with limited resources, making it difficult to meet the growing demand for legal support and protection. The Defending Our Neighbors Fund was created to get critical resources directly into the hands of these legal service providers, ensuring that the communities most in need get the legal help and support they deserve. Similarly, a network of community-based bond funds across the country provides much needed support to families who cannot afford the court-set bonds to secure a loved one’s release from detention. When possible, the Fund will deploy resources to such groups.
The Fund supports organizations that provide legal representation and, when possible, bond assistance. These services are critical for families navigating the immigration system and dramatically increase their chances of staying together and securing due process.
No, the Fund does not provide legal services directly. It funds community-based organizations and legal service providers with deep experience in representing and supporting people who are immigrants.
As of October 2025, the Defending Our Neighbors Fund has raised over $10 million, with a goal of raising $30 million to meet urgent and growing needs. Early grants have already helped expand the capacity of legal providers and nonprofit community bond funds serving people who are immigrants and their families and offering key resources in high-need communities, and ongoing fundraising will ensure continued support.
All donations from supporters like you go directly to legal service providers and, when possible, community bond funds working to keep families together. The Fund’s operating and administrative costs (including costs associated with fiscal sponsorship) are currently separately covered by other donors, except for a minimal transaction fee for each donation. The Defending Our Neighbors Fund grantees will have flexibility to determine how grant resources can be used to best meet the legal and related needs of their clients.
In areas where ICE has escalated enforcement, like Minneapolis, people with lawyers are far more likely to stay with their families, yet nearly 60% of people facing deportation have no legal representation. Many people detained in Minnesota are transferred to detention facilities across the country, like Texas, making access to legal help even harder. Your donation to the Defending Our Neighbors Fund supports immigrant communities in Minneapolis and beyond.
The Defending Our Neighbors Fund moves money quickly to trusted local organizations in ICE-affected communities like Minneapolis, helping ensure families at risk of deportation can access legal representation. The fund also supports community groups that help pay court-set bonds, including the Midwest Immigration Bond Fund and Prairielands Freedom Fund serving Minnesota. These groups help our immigrant neighbors who are eligible for release be reunited with their families and communities. Since launch, has raised over $13 million dollars, and provided grants to 32 nonprofits delivering essential legal services nationwide.
Donations are made to Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, and are tax-deductible to the extent permitted by law.
Visit here to donate. The minimum contribution required is $10 and will help keep families together to ensure justice for our communities.
The Defending Our Neighbors Fund has already begun rapidly deploying resources to scale up support for legal service providers and community nonprofit bond funds working coast-to-coast. We know time is of the essence, and families cannot afford to wait for support. That means we make grants on a rolling basis. As donations come in, they are quickly deployed to service providers in the field.
The Defending Our Neighbors Fund supports organizations from coast-to-coast, from Florida and Texas to Colorado, Illinois, New York, and beyond. The Fund will continuously assess where the need is greatest and where there is the highest opportunity for impact. Examples of the kinds of factors that may guide prioritization include: being deeply rooted in and trusted by immigrant communities; serving areas with large immigrant populations, near immigration detention centers, or within legal deserts; and providing legal services to vulnerable groups, including children, women fleeing violence, and people at risk of deportation without due process.
To date, the Fund has supported both nonprofit legal service providers and community bond funds, many of which have decades of experience representing and supporting people in immigration court. We don’t publicly share grantee lists, given the sensitive nature of immigrants’ rights work.
The Fund will continuously assess where the need is greatest and where there is the highest opportunity for impact. Examples of the kinds of factors that may guide grant decisions include: being deeply rooted in and trusted by immigrant communities; serving areas with large immigrant populations, near immigration detention centers, or within legal deserts; and providing legal services to vulnerable groups, including children, women fleeing violence, and people at risk of deportation without due process.
At this time, the Fund is not accepting unsolicited proposals. The Fund staff will invite proposals from organizations based on an assessment of real-time needs in the ever-evolving landscape.
