Former housing secretary Julián Castro has announced plans to build a $250 million endowment for the Latino Community Foundation, aiming to expand grantmaking across the southwestern United States. The California-based nonprofit, which Castro has led since January 2024, hopes to address chronic underfunding of Latino-serving organisations.
Philanthropic support for groups serving people of Latin American descent routinely falls below one per cent of all funding, despite nearly 20 per cent of the US population identifying as Hispanic or Latino. Castro described the need as a 'five-alarm fire' amid rollbacks to education, business and immigration opportunities.
The announcement comes as President Donald Trump’s sweeping immigration enforcement policies have heightened fears in Latino communities. The foundation last month launched its first national fund, with an initial $500,000 supporting five grantees in Minnesota, California and Nevada to hold federal immigration officers accountable and protect families.
Castro, a former San Antonio mayor and housing secretary under President Barack Obama, said the foundation’s current endowment of roughly $35 million is 'modest' and insufficient to meet growing need. 'Now is the moment, under these unique circumstances that we face, to go bigger and to seek to make a real, lasting impression on philanthropy,' he told the Associated Press.
The endowment aims to provide at least $10 million annually in grants, building on last year’s above-average giving driven by the Los Angeles-area wildfires. Castro emphasised that the fate of the United States is 'intertwined with the destiny of the Latino community' and that supporting Latinos helps ensure the country’s future success.
