The Open Society Foundations has awarded grants totaling $42.5 million over five years in support of Asian-American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) and Muslim, Arab, and South Asian (MASA) communities, Axios reports.

Grants were awarded to fifteen organizations dedicated to and led by members of those communities — which have historically received little philanthropic support — to fund nonpartisan, direct advocacy work such as increasing civic participation, conducting voter outreach, pushing for policy reforms, and combatting discrimination. The grants are part of OSF’s ten-year campaign to build and protect a multiracial democracy. Earlier this year, OSF awarded grants totaling $10 million in support of Native American advocacy organizations.

Wa’el Alzayat, CEO of Emgage, a nonprofit focused on engaging and empowering Muslim Americans, told Axios that the organization will use its grant “to strongly push back against redistricting, encroachment on voter rights, [and] on policies that may harm marginalized communities.”

The AAPI Civic Engagement Fund will direct its grant funding to its network of local groups. "If we don’t have strong local groups, we’re not going to have the ability to reach AAPI communities and enable them to participate in this democracy," EunSook Lee, the fund’s director, told Axios.

“[W]e really do hope others join us,” said Open Society-U.S. program co-director Laleh Ispahani. “Our investment won’t come close to meeting the needs of this community.”

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