Hispanic Federation

Funding comes from government grants, corporate donations, and private foundations.² Notable foundation contributors include the left-of-center institutional funders, including the Foundation to Promote Open Society, the JPB Foundation, and the Ford Foundation.³

Background

The Hispanic Federation’s first office opened in New York City in 1990, with its first location outside New York City opening in 2005. Luis Miranda, Jr., a Democratic political consultant for the MirRam Group best known as the father of Broadway and Hollywood songwriter and performer Lin-Manuel Miranda, founded Hispanic Federation after serving in the administration of former New York Mayor Ed Koch (D).⁴

As of January 2026, there are 149 member groups in the Federation that receive money for technical assistance, fundraising workshops, and grants. ¹ The HF has offices located in New York, D.C., Connecticut, Florida, California, and Puerto Rico, with members in other East Coast states, including New Jersey and Pennsylvania. There is also a state coordinator and an office at Rhode Island College in Rhode Island.⁵ As of 2017, the HF’s programs and policies expanded to reach 20 states throughout the U.S.⁶

Activities

Immigration

Expanded immigration and securing legal status for illegal immigrants are priorities of Hispanic Federation advocacy. HF is a member of a coalition of Hispanic organizations ⁷ that support the “Green Light Bill,” which would allow illegal immigrants in the state of New York to obtain drivers’ licenses.⁸

After the law was partially enjoined because of a possible conflict with federal law, the HF, along with other members of the coalition, filed a motion to intervene in litigation to ensure the law takes effect.⁹

In an opinion piece in the Washington Post, the founding president of HF, Luis Miranda Jr., and others including a former aide to President Barack Obama and a U.S. Representative declared that Hispanics are under attack in the U.S., blaming President Donald Trump.¹⁰

The HF raised money for illegal immigrants applying for the Obama administration‘s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. Under former President Barack Obama, illegal immigrants who came to the country before the age of 16 received protection from deportation for at least two years.¹¹

The organization’s former president, Lillian Rodriguez Lopez, boasted in 2010 that the HF worked to ensure that illegal immigrants “who lost employment or housing on 9/11 qualified for federal disaster assistance.”¹²

Immigrants: We Get the Job Done Coalition

In July 2025, the Hispanic Federation launched the Immigrants: We Get the Job Done Coalition with donations from over 125,000 people to provide an initial $3 million in funding to 14 immigrant-service organizations.  ¹³

The money raised will be used to “help fill gaps created by the sudden cancellation of most federal grants for immigrant assistance and address the exponentially increased need for services. Funds will also help facilitate collective action on the part of the coalition. The coalition will provide a wide range of essential legal-related services based on the greatest needs we see in communities across the country. Coalition leaders will also educate immigrants about their legal rights, providing direct representation, organizing volunteer attorneys, assisting unaccompanied minors, and taking legal action to halt implementation of Executive Orders and actions that violate the Constitution. The groups will also provide social services to immigrants and their families, including emergency food, health, counseling, mental health, and housing aid.” The funds were raised at an exclusive event where the Broadway play Hamilton, written by Lin-Manuel Miranda, was performed. ¹³

In addition to the Hispanic Federation, the groups ACCESS (Arab Community Center for Economic and Social Service), Alianza Americas, America’s Voice, the Asian Law Caucus, the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights (CHIRLA), the Haitian Bridge Alliance, Immigration Equality, Kids in Need of Defense (KIND), the National Day Laborer Organizing Network (NDLON), the National Immigration Law Center (NILC), the Tahirih Justice Center, the Texas Civil Rights Project, and United We Dream are also a part of the coalition. ¹³

Civic Engagement

Hispanic Federation aims to increase the number of Hispanics registered to vote.¹⁴ HF is working with Univision Communications Inc., a Spanish-language media company, to gather, share, and influence state-by-state voter turnout in advance of the 2020 election. Univision launched the “2020 Vota Conmigo” campaign with the help partners including the HF, in order to “turnout the Hispanic vote.”¹⁵

The HF’s work to register voters is hyper-focused on states with high Hispanic populations. In April 2019, the HF received a $500,000 to increase the number of registered Hispanic voters in the state of Florida prior to the 2020 presidential election.¹⁶

In January 2026, the HF criticized the U.S. Supreme Court for opening the door to more legal challenges to voting by mail. “Today’s decision by the Supreme Court opens the door for candidates to launch new legal attacks on elections, including vote by mail, a method used by almost 30% of voters in the 2024 elections. This decision only puts absentee ballots at risk and creates greater skepticism around the validity of elections. Time and time again, credible investigations and reports have found that mail-in voting is secure, safe, and a critical tool for election accessibility,” the group said in a statement. ¹⁷

Education

Hispanic Federation creates education-related programs and activities for children and young adults, ranging from the youngest students to college-aged.¹⁸ One program used to assist college-aged students is CREAR (College Readiness, Access and Retention) Futuros 2.0, which works to improve retention, graduation rates, course completion, and grades of Hispanic students nationally. This HF was given $1 million for this program by the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation in 2015.¹⁸

In June 2018, a Spectrum Learning Lab was opened at the HF’s location in New York City, where the learning lab is the central feature of the HF’s conference center that is a gathering place for the Hispanic-oriented non-profit sector.  The lab will be used for learning sessions, workshops, and training programs. It will be used by Hispanic students to work on college applications, scholarship research, and financial aid forms.¹⁹

Opposition to President Trump

Hispanic Federation publicly denounces President Donald Trump and his policies. In a press release the HF applauded the House of Representatives’ decision to proceed toward opening an impeachment inquiry against President Trump over allegations of corruption related to a conversation with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.²⁰ HF joined a rally alongside 18 other left-of-center groups calling for impeachment proceedings in September 2019. ²¹

In April 2025, the HF released a statement denouncing the first 100 days of President Trump’s second administration. The statement said, “The unfortunate truth is that many of the Trump administration’s executive orders have had a disproportionate negative impact on Latinos, particularly as it relates to immigration, voting rights, and pocketbook concerns. In addition, multiple polls are showing how Latino voters are saying the country is heading in wrong direction, clearly signifying that D.C. needs a course correction.” ²²

In January 2026, the HF called for more oversight of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) after a series of shootings in Minneapolis of American citizens and the revealing of a memo that allowed ICE agents to enter homes without judicial warrants. ²³

Leadership

The president and CEO as of January 2026 of the Hispanic Federation is Frankie Miranda, who took over in 2019. He joined the HF in 1998. Previously, he worked as Hillary Clinton’s deputy press secretary for Spanish language media for her U.S. Senate campaign in 2000. ²⁴

As of January 2026, the chairman of the board is Marcos Torres, who is a managing director and head of the U.S. communications, media and entertainment at RBC Capital Markets. ²⁵

Since its creation there have been four presidents of the Hispanic Federation: Luis A. Miranda Jr., founding president, from 1990 to 1998; Lorraine Cortes-Vazquez from 1998 to 2004; ²⁶ Lillian Rodriguez Lopez, from 2004 to 2012;¹² and Jose Calderon, from 2012 to 2019. Leaders of the HF have played active roles, both during and after their tenure at the HF, in various left-wing groups, for example, as board members of left-of-center organizations²⁷ or as consultants to Democratic political campaigns.²⁸

Financials

According to the Hispanic Federation’s 2024 tax returns, the group had $61,820,502 in revenue, $67,187,853 in expenses, and $47,315,885 in net assets. The group had 176 employees and 377 volunteers. The group paid its president, Frankie Miranda, $405,336 in total reported compensation. The group received $39,927,126 in government grants. The group paid $32,253,724 in grants to its member groups. ²⁹

Funding

The HF receives substantial funding of more than $250,000 from major businesses and advocacy organizations, including the Ford Foundation, Michael and Susan Dell Foundation, the Coca-Cola Company, and Walmart. Those companies contributing more than $100,000 include AARP-NY, Aetna, Comcast, W.K.Kellogg Foundation, and Wells Fargo. Those companies contributing more than $50,000 include Citi Foundation, Delta Air Lines, Ford Motor Company Fund, Google, JPMorgan Chase, Nielsen, Toyota, Univision Communications, and Verizon.³⁰

Celebrity activists and prominent liberal institutions have also contributed to Hispanic Federation. The organization’s 2018 tax returns report seven-figure contributions from the Miranda Family Fund, a grantmaking entity founded by Lin-Manuel Miranda, son of HF founder Luis; the Open Society Foundations founded by George Soros, the Oprah Winfrey Charitable Foundation, and the UNICEF United States Fund.³¹

In 2025, Hispanic Federation received a grant from Yield Giving, MacKenzie Scott’s philanthropic initiative started in 2022. Scott is the former wife of Amazon CEO and founder Jeff Bezos and gave over $7.16 billion to various organizations in 2025. ³²