A nonprofit that helps immigrants apply for legal status and work permits accused The Denver Foundation of holding back $80,000 in grant funding for several months unless it agreed to “alter its mission” and “obscure the people” it serves.
Juntos Community leaders said the Denver nonprofit was told it was being awarded two grants, each for $40,000, but then was told by the foundation that the funds were on hold because Juntos was so public about the fact that it works with immigrants who are living in the country illegally.
“We were told to remove our language,” Juntos CEO Luis Antezana said. “We were told to remove the word ‘undocumented.’ We were told to make ourselves quieter to be ‘safer.’ We said no.”
The Denver Foundation, a 100-year-old philanthropic organization that has received $2.1 billion in donations and dispersed $1.6 billion for community initiatives including several that help immigrants, first said Tuesday that it would not comment on the dispute. Later, it said a board committee voted Tuesday afternoon to approve the grants for Juntos during a meeting that had been previously scheduled.
The foundation will notify Juntos on Wednesday that the grants were approved, said Abigail Kesner, the foundation’s senior vice president of communications.
“We do not comment publicly on grant applications unless and until they are approved,” she said. She said that Juntos, whose members showed up outside The Denver Foundation offices Tuesday morning carrying signs that said “We will not be erased,” knew the board committee was meeting Tuesday afternoon to consider the grants.
Antezana said in an interview that Juntos was thrilled to learn that it would receive grant funding for a third year in a row. Then, in May, the funds were frozen. Antezana said he was told by Denver Foundation President and CEO Javier Alberto Soto that the grants were on hold “because of fear of retaliation.” Antezana said Soto told him that he was concerned that in the current political climate, Soto could go to jail and the foundation could lose its nonprofit status if it supports services for undocumented immigrants.
“We have learned that we are not the only organization that is experiencing this,” Antezana said. “But everyone is too scared to say something. We said, ‘That is not going to stop us.’”
The foundation first asked the nonprofit to remove the word “undocumented” from its mission and to change language in its training materials, he said. It refused. Next, Juntos was asked to complete a legal review of its “public-facing materials” with The Denver Foundation’s legal counsel. After that, Juntos was “asked to disclose what internal decisions we made and to share legal materials protected by attorney-client confidentiality,” Antezana said. “When we declined, the funds remained frozen.”
Juntos recently decided to go public after several months of staying quiet about the ongoing argument over the funds, which the organization intends to use to help DACA recipients renew work permits, Antezana said. “Dreamers,” who came to the country as children and have temporary protection from deportation under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, must renew their work authorization every 18 months through a process that costs $550.
Juntos holds clinics to help immigrants with the paperwork and covers the fees for people who can’t afford it. The $80,000 in funding would help more than 140 immigrants retain or get jobs, Antezana said.
“We exist to serve undocumented people, DACA recipients, and mixed-status families,” Juntos wrote. “Being asked to remove or obscure that fact is not neutral. It is erasure. Safety does not come from silence. Justice does not come from compliance. Communities do not survive by disappearing. Philanthropy should support civil society — not control it.”
The letter demanded that the foundation release the funds and that Soto apologize.
Part of the reason for going public, Antezana said, was to let donors know what is happening with their gifts in the hopes that those donors would pressure the foundation to release the funds. The foundation receives some of its donations through donor-advised funds, which are investment accounts for charitable giving.
“If this matter is not resolved, we will begin a public accountability campaign calling on donor-advised fund holders to divest from The Denver Foundation in alignment with their stated values,” Juntos said in its letter.
“Denver is a community of amazing people that take care of each other,” Antezana said.
