Juntos Community denounces The Denver Foundation

Juntos Community is calling for accountability from The Denver Foundation and CEO Javier Alberto Soto, after $80,000 in awarded grant funds have been frozen since May 2025, conditioned on demands that would require us to alter our mission, obscure the people we serve, and surrender our governance to funder control.

In September 2025, we were told to do two things in order to have these funds released:

First, we were asked to remove the word “undocumented” from our mission and vision.Second, we were asked to change language in our training materials.

We were clear that our mission and vision language is non-negotiable. It belongs to our board and the communities we serve.

At that point, we were offered an alternative: complete a legal “due diligence” review of our public-facing materials with the foundation’s legal counsel. We were told that once we completed that process, we would be able to make our own decisions about any resulting recommendations—and that the funds would then be released.

We did that.

We acted in good faith.We invested staff time, organizational capacity, and resources.We completed the legal review in December.

After we completed that work, the conditions changed again.

We were then asked to disclose what internal decisions we made and to share legal materials protected by attorney-client confidentiality. When we declined, the funds remained frozen.

This is not risk management.This is coercion.

Two grants remain frozen, including:

• A $40,000 flagship Community Grant 

• A $40,000 grant awarded by an independent, community-led committee through the Denver Immigrant Legal Services Fund

Together, that is $80,000 in awarded funding that has been withheld for months.

We exist to serve undocumented people, DACA recipients, and mixed-status families. Being asked to remove or obscure that fact is not neutral. It is erasure.

Safety does not come from silence.

Justice does not come from compliance.Communities do not survive by disappearing.

Philanthropy should support civil society—not control it.

Call to Action: Other Organizations

We have now learned that we may not be the only organization experiencing this kind of pressure.

If you are a community-serving organization that has been:

• Pressured to change your mission or values

• Asked to make governance decisions under threat of losing funding

• Told to erase or obscure the people you serve

• Conditioned into silence in the name of “risk”

We invite you to share your experience. Organizations may sign on anonymously if safety or retaliation is a concern.

This is about nonprofit independence, ethical grantmaking, and whether philanthropy exists to support communities—or control them.

Our Demands

We are calling for:

1. Immediate release of all awarded funds

2. A public apology

3. A written commitment to end coercive practices and respect nonprofit independence

We expect a response by end of day Friday, January 23rd.

If this matter is not resolved, we will begin a public accountability campaign calling on donor-advised fund holders to divest from The Denver Foundation in alignment with their stated values.

This is not about politics.It is about power.And it is about whether philanthropy stands with communities—or silences them.

We remain open to repair. Repair requires accountability. 

Luis Antezana

CEO, Juntos Community