Top Grants for Refugee and Immigrant Services: July–December 2026

Every refugee-serving organization learned the same lesson these past years: federal resettlement funding moves with politics, and an organization built on one funding stream is one policy memo from a layoff plan. Diversification isn’t a strategy retreat — it’s survival engineering.

Here’s the fall 2026 map, verified against each funder’s own page, with the Twin Cities as the worked example.

Federal — two forecasted ORR competitions

Both of these are listed as forecasted on Grants.gov — the dates are the government’s own estimates, so watch for the final notices.

ORR Placement and Coordination Program — estimated deadline August 15, 2026. $1M–$5M cooperative agreements (about ten awards) for refugee placement and intensive case management. Nonprofits are eligible; current Program of Initial Resettlement recipients are not. Opportunity.

ORR Wilson Fish Bridge to Employment — estimated deadline July 31, 2026. $18M for employment services and English language training for refugees in their first 36 months — a one-to-one match with workforce English and job placement programs. Opportunity.

The Twin Cities foundation stack

Saint Paul & Minnesota Foundation and F. R. Bigelow Foundation — both August 14, 2026 for November awards, through a shared Community Solutions application. Up to $50,000 a year in general support; Bigelow adds a capital track up to $250,000 over two years (a sewing cooperative workspace, a legal clinic expansion). Geography note: both fund East Metro impact — a Minneapolis organization qualifies through work with St. Paul’s Karen community and other East Metro newcomers. SPMF · Bigelow.

Management Improvement Fund — quarterly, next deadlines August 20 and November 12, 2026. Up to $15,000 for capacity building — fund development, technology, planning — for Minnesota nonprofits under $5M serving low-income communities, with priority for BIPOC-led organizations. Capacity money is diversification money. Details.

Andersen Corporate Foundation — window August 1–31, 2026. $5,000–$50,000 (most $5,000–$20,000) for Twin Cities and St. Croix Valley nonprofits across housing, health, education and hunger — one of the few local corporate funders with a genuinely open application. Foundation info.

Headwaters Foundation for Justice Rapid Response Fund — new cycles open August 2026. Up to $25,000 in unrestricted general operating support for Minnesota organizations responding to emerging policy moments. For an org whose funding whipsaws with immigration policy, “rapid response to policy shocks” is a budget line. Details.

Sauer Family Foundation — proposals due September 25, 2026. Twin Cities children-and-family funder (typically $25,000–$100,000 per public filings). Their process requires a staff conversation before you can apply — book that call in July, not September. Apply.

Worth naming: the closed doors

Target’s Hometown giving reopens around spring 2027. Otto Bremer Trust doesn’t accept applications. The Women’s Foundation of Minnesota’s immigrant fund is invitation-only. Minneapolis Foundation’s economic mobility grants open in 2027. And Marbrook Foundation’s immigrant and refugee grants take letters of inquiry by February 1 — a strong first-quarter 2027 target to calendar now.

Found the grant? Now win it

Every grant above will attract a crowd. When a funder gets two hundred applications for twelve awards, the work that wins isn’t always the best work — it’s the proposal that answers exactly what the funder asked, speaks to the funder’s own priorities, and leaves nothing missing.

That’s the part GrantOrb was really built for. It finds verified grants like these in the background — and when you’re ready to apply, it drafts a funder-aligned proposal in minutes, built from your organization’s profile and the funder’s own requirements. You add your numbers and your voice, and you submit something that reads like it took three weeks. Free to start, no credit card required.

Deadlines like these open and close all year. Subscribe to the newsletter to stay on top of new verified grants — and reach out to me on LinkedIn if you have any questions.