Our Mission
Four Freedoms Fund is a national funder collaborative that was launched by NEO Philanthropy in 2003. FFF strengthens the capacity of the immigrant justice movement to ensure all immigrants, regardless of immigration status, have dignity, power to shape change, and agency to determine the quality of their life, community, and future. To achieve this goal, FFF believes we need a robust and powerful infrastructure of organizations leading the transformation of our country’s systems to be inclusive, fair and just, and grounded in racial, economic, and gender justice.
Our Values
Self-Determination
FFF centers, trusts, and supports the leadership of directly impacted people to lead the immigrant justice movement, shape strategy, make decisions, and transform the systems that directly impact their lives.
Racial Justice
FFF recognizes that justice for immigrant communities is impossible to achieve in the absence of racial justice. We prioritize support for organizations advocating for systemic change and anti-racist solutions promoting equitable power, access, opportunity, treatment, and outcomes for all people, within their organizations, across the immigrant justice movement, and beyond.
Inclusion and Equity
FFF strives to resource the work of the immigrant justice movement more equitably. With the understanding that those closest to the problem are closest to the solution, FFF structures our grantmaking to be more accessible to communities that have been historically marginalized and underrepresented in decision making processes. We prioritize support for, and seek to elevate the power of, organizations that are led by and accountable to immigrants, including those living at the intersections of multiple identities and compounding oppressions.
Solidarity
FFF prioritizes support for collaborative efforts that deepen solidarity and alliances within the immigrant justice movement and cross-movement collaboration between partners fighting for immigrant justice, racial justice, economic justice and other inclusive visions for society.
Our Strategy
FFF is a key partner to foundations in building the power of the immigrant justice movement. FFF invests in organizations in more than half of U.S. states, giving us the ability to respond to emerging opportunities and threats, understand trends, and identify and fill strategic gaps across the nation to strengthen the immigrant justice movement.
FFF prioritizes investments in: 1) strengthening the state and local advocacy and organizing infrastructure of the immigrant justice movement, 2) increasing immigrant civic participation in our democracy, and 3) blunting immigration enforcement and criminalization.
Through sustained grantmaking, ongoing technical assistance to grantees, and funder education and coordination, FFF invests in the long-term growth and ability of the immigrant justice movement to thrive, achieve bold, transformational reforms, and win lasting justice.
Across all of our work, FFF pursues the following strategic approaches:
Strengthen the Immigrant Justice Field Across the Nation
Through long-term flexible grants and agile responsive funding, FFF ensures that the immigrant justice movement has the resources and infrastructure to empower, protect, and defend immigrant communities, particularly the most vulnerable and marginalized, under all political conditions. FFF strategically layers investments to strengthen the long-term ability of immigrant justice organizations to effectively organize and build power from the ground up, blunt immigration enforcement, mobilize immigrant voters, secure inclusive state and local immigrant justice policies, shape a pro-migrant public narrative, and build momentum to transform federal immigration systems.
Grow Skills, Organizational Capacity, Leadership, and Impact
FFF provides grantees with high quality technical assistance, skills training, and peer-to-peer learning opportunities to strengthen the effectiveness of leaders and organizations in the immigrant justice movement. Through capacity building support, FFF deepens the resilience, adaptability, relationships, and ongoing ability of grantee organizations and their leaders to build power and achieve equitable outcomes for marginalized communities.
Deepen Connectivity and Cross-Movement Collaboration
FFF fuels efforts that deepen connections within the immigrant justice movement and across movements for racial and social justice. By investing in a broad spectrum of organizations working to advance immigrant justice and collaborations among communities of color, Black and indigenous communities, LGBT advocates, and others across the broader social justice movement, FFF strengthens the network of organizations working together to advance inclusive reforms benefiting the most marginalized communities. Through support for convenings, learning spaces, and centralized tools accessible to partners within and across movements, FFF fosters alignment and transformational alliances to achieve immigrant and racial justice, and reimagine an inclusive and equitable society.
Leverage Political Will and Power
FFF grows the power and policy influence of immigrant communities and the immigrant justice movement through support for organizing, voter engagement, and policy advocacy campaigns. By building the capacity of immigrant justice organizations to mobilize and empower new grassroots voters, leaders and allies through voter engagement and immigrant justice issue campaigns, FFF bolsters the movement’s ability to advance pro-immigrant policies, programs, and influence at all levels of government. By investing in efforts to grow the advocacy leadership and civic participation of Latinx, Asian, Black, MASA and other New American communities and allies, FFF seeks to ensure that decision-makers are accountable to immigrant communities and especially to people historically excluded from political participation.
Spur Funder Education, Collaboration and Aligned Funding for Greater Impact
FFF funders work in community to strengthen the immigrant justice movement’s ability to achieve meaningful, lasting change for immigrant communities. With our staff’s deep expertise and relationships across the immigrant justice field, FFF gathers and shares critical information and deepens donors’ understanding of emerging developments, gaps, and trends. FFF creates the space for veteran and newer immigration grantmakers alike to work together through challenges and opportunities, pool resources, invest in historically under-resourced communities, and collaborate to enhance their collective impact and strengthen the immigrant justice movement.
