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Ze Min Xiao is trying to track the effects of the second Trump administration’s policy changes on Utah nonprofits that serve immigrants. She fears further disruption is coming and wants to capture how service providers are changing.
To keep tabs on how these organizations are faring, her Center for Economic Opportunity and Belonging, a group focused on closing opportunity gaps in the Beehive State and supporting other nonprofits, surveyed 28 service providers on their funding and client needs.
The resulting report, released last month, shows declines in funding, some of which comes from the federal government. That finding poses serious concerns for Xiao, the center’s president and CEO.
“There’s not a replacement for that federal funding because they’re not getting any new funding sources coming in,” she said, “which is also troubling, knowing that means that there will be a decrease in services.”
The data paints an uneasy picture for Utah’s immigrant-serving nonprofits, depicting funding gaps, fundraising concerns and heightened fear among clients. The surveyed service providers aid many of the roughly 300,000 immigrants who live in the Beehive State.
(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) People pick out fresh fruits and veggies in the food pantry at the Christian Center of Park City on Thursday, July 17, 2025.
The report was published after the Trump administration moved to make significant federal funding cuts to services across the government and launched an ongoing crackdown on immigrants.
About half of the surveyed nonprofits said they used federal funding and about a third of all respondents reported that more than 25% of those dollars had been cut. Three providers, all focused on meeting basic needs like food and shelter, said they had lost all of their federal dollars.
Private funding has also dropped over the past six months for many organizations, the report found. Forty percent of respondents said they’ve seen non-government giving drop and 23% shared that at least half of those dollars have been lost. Only two of the service providers have seen an increase in individual donor giving.
Xiao said this drop in funding may be attributable to a fluctuating stock market, continued uncertainty around the effects of economic policies and a lack of knowledge about needs in the community.
(Christopher Cherrington | The Salt Lake Tribune)
Comunidades Unidas Executive Director Dominique Byrd said her immigrant rights organization doesn’t use federal funding and had only lost about $8,000 in other contributions recently. Otherwise, she reported, fundraising has remained strong.
The report also captured surging demand for services, despite clients’ increased fears of sharing personal data and being in public. Community members’ requests for child care help, health care, workforce development, basic needs and housing assistance have all jumped by 46% or more. Demand for legal services, meanwhile, has grown by 64% as immigrants look to secure protection from deportation during an uncertain time.
(Christopher Cherrington | The Salt Lake Tribune)
Fear seems to be a dominant emotion among the service providers’ clients. Nearly 90% of respondents said some of their clients feared growing anti-immigrant sentiment. About 85% said that some community members they serve are worried about government documentation being used for enforcement.
Steve Richardson, executive director of Christian Center of Park City, estimates that immigrants make up about half of the clients who rely on the nonprofit’s food, shelter and mental health assistance programs in Summit and Wasatch counties. The organization has made changes to reach those worried about being out in public or sharing their information with outside parties.
“In the past, we would just send a food truck to the [locations] for our mobile food pantry,” Richardson said. “Now, we send a counselor with them, and it’s not to provide counseling right then. It’s to build trust. The number one difference we’ve seen in the last six months is this erosion of trust and [clients] not sure who really has everybody’s back.”
The Christian center is part of the 46% of organizations that have tweaked how they get their services to clients, the report said. Three-quarters of surveyed service providers have made further institutional changes, like shedding some staff or making security upgrades. Some organizations, Xiao said, have started hosting more workshops and events online.
(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) Steve Richardson, executive director of the Christian Center of Park City, is pictured on Thursday, July 17, 2025. Utah nonprofits that serve immigrants have been impacted by changes from the Trump administration, a recent report found.
The Center for Economic Opportunity and Belonging plans to continue periodically surveying the nonprofits to provide updated information on how the system is changing under pressure.