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The Fund for Belonging

The Community Foundation has long recognized that immigrant communities are central to the vitality and resilience of the region. Yet persistent systemic barriers—exacerbated by volatile political environments, public health crises, and climate-driven disasters—continue to threaten the wellbeing of many immigrants in Sonoma County.

CFSC’s Fund for Belonging aims to respond to these intersecting challenges by providing support for immigrant communities through targeted grantmaking, strategic collaboration, and responsive civic leadership. Our vision for the Fund for Belonging is to create an inclusive Sonoma County that welcomes immigrants and supports the conditions for them to thrive. By investing in the Fund for Belonging, we invest in the very fabric of our community.

We invite you to join us in building this powerful coalition. By pooling our resources and forging private-public partnerships through the Fund for Belonging, we can create a lasting impact and ensure that all immigrants have access to justice, opportunity, and a pathway to the American Dream, even in the face of unprecedented challenges.

Opportunities for Partnership

The experience and knowledge of our many partners informs our ability to fund complex systems where added resources can be most meaningful. To ensure this coordinated work is fully informed by local voice and national expertise, CFSC engaged a team of experts in the immigration philanthropy space to facilitate an Opportunity Assessment. Through in-depth conversations with 80 local and regional stakeholders, including community members closest to the issues and nonprofit, government, and funding leaders, we collaboratively identified the current priorities for the Fund for Belonging.

Those engaged through the Opportunity Assessment highlighted that heightened threats of deportation and racial profiling have affected their feelings of safety and, consequently, their health and well-being. These threats create fear of attending work or school and even seeking medical care or going to the grocery store. They have deepened a sense of isolation and disconnection from other members of the community. This fear is compounded by the lack of a reliable source of information on ever-shifting legal and policy changes. It has also increased economic uncertainty, with challenges to accessing work that is stable and safe. In addition, language barriers (i.e. Spanish, indigenous languages, Haitian Creole, and Asian languages), population-specific intersections (i.e. LGBTQIA+, older adults, and people with disabilities), and location-specific needs (i.e. more rural areas) present cross-cutting challenges.

We invite you to read more about the Opportunity Assesment findings at the link below.

Read The Opportunity Assessment White Paper

Grant Program Overview

In 2025, we granted $665,000 to address the results of our community engagement process. In 2026, the Fund for Belonging will continue to support in these key areas, distributing more than $1 million in our community.

1. Information Sharing: To create a centralized source of easily understood legal and policy information that will be widely disseminated across Sonoma County through trusted messenger organizations.

Through our 2025 and 2026 investments, two new collaboratives have launched. Sonoma Together produces vetted legal and policy information in easy-to-understand formats and many languages. The Trusted Messenger Network recommends content based on community need and distributes information throughout the county. Together, these entities are ensuring high-quality information reaches those who need it most, reducing fear, and helping local families plan.

2. Income Generation: To support immigrant employment security, job training, and transition into high-growth sectors as well as entrepreneurship and small business development.

With support from our 2025 funding, local organizations are investing in immigrant communities in recognition that they are some of the biggest drivers of our local economy. From training in culinary skills to permitting for small businesses, funded organizations are providing opportunities that will impact the wellbeing of all who live in Sonoma County.

In 2026, we know that immigrant communities are especially vulnerable to economic shifts in agriculture and other industries in Sonoma County. We also know that changes in federal food and healthcare policy will further impact financial security for many immigrant families. Therefore, we are convening stakeholders from nonprofit, business, and government to identify opportunities to invest in initiatives that support both local food production and worker financial stability.

3. Safe Spaces & Wellbeing: To invest in safe, welcoming systems and spaces of belonging, where immigrants can connect to resources and build community.

2025 grantees in this area are supporting immigrant wellbeing in many ways, including providing mental health services, improving accessibility at community events, planning for emergencies, elevating immigrant voices, and building community power in safe, welcoming spaces.

Our 2026 grantmaking incorporates learnings from the experiences of past disasters in Sonoma County as well as insights from communities that have faced large-scale immigration raids. We know that immigrant communities are almost always disproportionately impacted in any emergency, and our community has more to do to prepare together. To address this need, we are investing in Regional Emergency Response Plans within each supervisorial district. These plans will support nonprofit activation during any emergency and foster equitable access to emergency resources for immigrant communities.

2025 Grant Recipients

Organization	Grant Purpose
Immigration Institute of the Bay Area, Sonoma Immigrant Services, and Vital Immigrant Defense Advocacy & Services	to provide centralized legal & policy information
North Bay Organizing Project	to support the development of a Trusted Messenger Network
Family Resource Center Network (La Luz, Corazon Healdsburg, Child Parent Institute, Sonoma CAN, Petaluma Family Resource Center)	to support the development of a Trusted Messenger Network
Secure Families Collaborative	to support the development of a Trusted Messenger Network
Raizes Collective	to support the development of a Trusted Messenger Network
Entrepreneurs of Tomorrow Foundation	to support the development of a Trusted Messenger Network
Health Action Together & Sonoma Connect/Sonoma Unidos	to support the development of a Trusted Messenger Network
Santa Rosa Junior College	to support the development of a Trusted Messenger Network
Alliance Medical Center	to support the development of a Trusted Messenger Network
La Familia Sana	to support the development of a Trusted Messenger Network
Northern California Center for Well-Being	to support the development of a Trusted Messenger Network
Legal Aid of Sonoma County	to support the development of a Trusted Messenger Network
Bienestar Collective	to support the development of a Trusted Messenger Network
North Bay Organizing Project	to provide safe spaces for wellbeing & belonging
Asian American Pacific Islander Coalition North Bay	to provide safe spaces for wellbeing & belonging
On the Margins	to provide safe spaces for wellbeing & belonging
Botanical Bus	to provide safe spaces for wellbeing & belonging
On the Move (La Plaza)	to provide safe spaces for wellbeing & belonging
Health Action Together & Sonoma Connect/Sonoma Unidos	to provide safe spaces for wellbeing & belonging
Sonoma Valley Rapid Response Team (La Luz)	to provide safe spaces for wellbeing & belonging
Sonoma Valley Mentoring Alliance	to provide safe spaces for wellbeing & belonging
Corazon Healdsburg	to provide safe spaces for wellbeing & belonging
Nuestra Comunidad	to provide safe spaces for wellbeing & belonging
Café Puente	to provide safe spaces for wellbeing & belonging
River to Coast Children's Services	to provide safe spaces for wellbeing & belonging
Latinos Unidos del Condado de Sonoma	to support income generation activities
Vamos North Bay	to support income generation activities
Sonoma Family Meal	to support income generation activities
Graton Day Labor Center	to support income generation activities
Bienestar Collective	to support income generation activities & advise on the Trusted Messenger Network

Supporting the Fund for Belonging

CFSC is in a unique position to support this critical work through our place-based connections, our ability to aggregate donor generosity, and our expertise in managing funds that are responsive to evolving needs over time. We envision a collaborative ecosystem where private foundations, individual donors, local government and partner agencies work together through the Fund for Belonging to support our immigrant communities.

There are several easy ways to support the Fund for Belonging. If have questions about supporting the Fund for Belonging, please contact Deirdre Holbrook, Vice President for Philanthropic Advancement, at dholbrook@sonomacf.org.

Give Online
Make a secure credit card donation through our website.

Through Your Fund at CFSC
If you have a donor-advised fund at Community Foundation Sonoma County, you can make a grant recommendation through the Giving Center.

By Check
Send a check made payable to Community Foundation Sonoma County.
Memo Line: Fund for Belonging
120 Stony Point Road, Suite 220
Santa Rosa CA 95401

Gifts of Stock
If you would like to contribute to the Fund for Belonging, please call or email us to let us know your gift is coming! View stock gift instructions here.