Immigration Project
The Immigration Project is an organization founded in 1995 that provides legal assistance and social services to immigrants living in Central and Southern Illinois. 1 The Project helps migrants get citizenship through U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), as well as work authorization and deferment of deportation through the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. 2
Contents
Social services include mortgage assistance, monetary assistance for immigrants without work visas, and help accessing health care through Medicaid. Costs for these services move on a sliding scale and are based on the income of the immigrant seeking assistance. 3
Legal Services
NAI Initiative
The Immigration Project is one of 50 organizations that works with the Illinois Coalition for Immigrants and Refugee Rights (ICIRR) and the Illinois Department of Human Services on the New American Initiative (NAI). The initiative provides financial support for immigrants looking to receive citizenship or renew Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) status. 4
Citizenship Scholarship
The Immigration Project helps immigrants apply for a citizenship scholarship which covers application fees for naturalization. To qualify for the scholarship, an immigrant must be eligible for naturalization, apply through NAI, and meet income guidelines, with higher earners being eligible to receive more from the scholarship. 2
DACA Scholarship
Through NAI, the Immigration Project can help DACA members earn a $495 scholarship towards renewing their deferral. For an immigrant to qualify, he or she must apply through an NAI partner program, such as the Immigrant Project, meet income guidelines, and not be applying for a USCIS scholarship. 2
Social Services
In 2020, the Immigration Project offered cash assistance to immigrants who did not receive money from the federal CARES Act because they or a family member did not have a Social Security number. The Immigration Project donated over $200,000 in cash through the program. Individuals were eligible if they did not receive a stimulus check, could not use federal assistance, or were out of work. The people who qualified and whose applications were accepted received a $500 check from the Immigration Project. 5
Funding
The Immigration Project has received funding from groups such as the PayPal Charitable Giving Fund, The Heartland Alliance for Human Needs & Human Rights, Chicago Community Trust, Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights (ICIRR), the Vera Institute of Justice, and Yield Giving. The ICIRR donated more than $720,000 between 2009 and 2021, 6 making it the longest financial supporter and second highest financial supporter of the Immigration Project. The Chicago Community trust donated $133,000 between 2016 and 2018. 7 The Vera Institute of Justice gave a large one-time donation of $150,000 in 2021. 8
The largest donation the project received came from Yield Giving in 2024. Yield Giving is one of the many philanthropic groups started by billionaire, Mackenzie Scott, ex-wife of Amazon creator Jeff Bezos. 9
Financial Statistics
Total Assets
Total Revenue
Total Expenses
| Year | Total Assets | Total Revenue | Total Expenses | Filing |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | $4,068,699 | $5,617,153 | $3,231,104 | View |
| 2023 | $1,457,382 | $2,773,447 | $2,357,237 | View |
| 2022 | $731,830 | $2,014,877 | $1,766,798 | View |
| 2021 | $507,858 | $2,192,526 | $2,097,182 | View |
| 2020 | $302,949 | $716,035 | $729,734 | View |
Prior year filings: 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011
Revenue Detail
Expenses Detail
Employee Compensation
- Number of Employees: 57
Highest Earning Employees
| Employee | Title | Total Compensation |
|---|---|---|
| Charlotte Alvarez | EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR | $102,001 |
| Mary L Landon | FINANCE DIRECTOR | $100,586 |
Grant Activity
All-time grants received statistics from Candid dataset:
- Total Grant Value: $6,903,998
- Number of Grants: 77
- Number of Funders: 21
Selection of highest value grants received from the last seven years: