Eight Funders Support Collaborative Track Focused on Immigrants, Refugees, and Asylum Seekers

In response to policy changes that are threatening the rights of immigrants, refugees, and asylum seekers across the United States, the Social Innovation Forum announced in March that it would highlight this issue in our 2017-18 portfolio. SIF reached out to funders who were interested in coming together to sponsor a “social issue track” for our Social Innovator Accelerator.

Within weeks of our initial call to action, our community responded with thoughtfulness, caring, and an intense commitment to learn and engage. Eight funding partners signed on to participate: the Ansara Family Fund, Barr Foundation, The Clowes Fund, the Hyams Foundation, the Landry Family Foundation, Macomber Family Fund, Suhrbier Family Fund, and the Tomfohrde Foundation. 

Not only did the members provide enough support to sponsor an accelerator track, but they also decided to fund SIF’s “Capacity Camp” next spring, which will allow SIF to offer a condensed version of the accelerator for six to eight organizations selected from the applicant pool. This is both a larger financial commitment and time commitment for the partners but they quickly jumped on the opportunity to leverage the impact of this track. 

“We deeply appreciate the willingness of our funding community to step up,” said Executive Director Susan Musinsky. “The additional support for the ‘Capacity Camp’ program means that together we can accelerate the impact of more organizations serving refugees, immigrants and asylum seekers.” 

The Immigrant and Refugee Funder Collaborative is SIF’s second issue-specific funding collaborative. In 2016, the Social Innovation Forum helped bring together a unique funding collaborative committed to working together to improve the lives of women and girls. In both cases, SIF facilitated a consensus approach in working with the funders to explore key issues related to the topic, identify areas for impact, and define the focus of the track. 

SIF is currently seeking nominations for the Social Innovator Accelerator and first round applications are due July 12. Over the next six months, the Track Partners will have the opportunity to be involved in all stages of the Social Innovation Forum’s evaluation process, from reviewing first and second stage applications to interviewing finalists and participating in the due diligence process. SIF will announce the selection of the Social Innovator for the track, along with those on our seven other tracks, in early December.