Ford Foundation
/OVERVIEW: The iconic Ford Foundation’s global reach and vast grantmaking interests work to address inequality, social, gender & racial justice, freedom of expression, civic engagement, disability rights, climate change & the environment, technology, education, and workforce development in the U.S. and abroad.
IP TAKE: Ford, a GUTC signatory, has been a leading supporter of progressive organizations addressing inequality going back over a half century. It remains a must-know funder for any group working to advance social justice in the United States or abroad. Making over 1,500 grants a year, including to many smaller nonprofits, Ford casts its net widely, believing that “justice begins where inequality ends." In recent years, Ford has been shifting steadily toward offering more general operating support in its 9 main program areas, along with a deeper emphasis on social justice and movement building, shifts that IP has explained here and here.
But while this is an accessible funder on paper, with a clear entry point for grantseekers, Ford can be a very tough nut to crack. Grantseekers have complained about proposals “dropping it into a well so deep you never hear it hit the bottom” and about the funder being “unresponsive.” But for those nonprofits that do make the cut through deep networking and patience, Ford can be a reliable ally and, in some cases, it has been renewing support for leading grantees for decades.
PROFILE: Founded in 1936 by Henry Ford’s son, Edsel Ford, the Ford Foundation is one of the world’s largest and best-known philanthropic organizations. By the late 1940s, the foundation expanded its work, dedicating its giving to the “advancement of human welfare through reducing poverty and promoting democratic values, peace, and educational opportunity.” In 2016, the foundation underwent a restructuring, focusing its work on global inequality of all kinds. It operates an array of national and international programs, with the goal of promoting “a world in which all individuals, communities, and peoples work toward the protection and full expression of their human rights; are active participants in the decisions that affect them; share equitably in the knowledge, wealth, and resources of society; and are free to achieve their full potential.”
In 2020, in an effort to support its grantees through the COVID-19 pandemic, Ford announced that it will “offer for sale $1 billion of taxable Social Bonds, the net proceeds of which will be used for grantmaking to help sustain and strengthen mission-critical social justice and creative expression organizations.” This “will enable the foundation to pay out more than 10 percent of the value of its total endowment in 2020 and 2021.”
Its main focus areas include Civic Engagement and Government; Creativity and Free Expression; Gender, Racial, and Ethnic Justice; Technology and Society; Natural Resources and Climate Change; Future of Work; Disability and Inclusion; International Cooperation and Global Governance; and Mission Investments.
With 13.1 billion in assets, Ford is a grantmaking powerhouse. Its website offers useful insights into how it conducts grant making:
Grants for Work and Opportunity
Ford’s Future of Work aims to “ensure that there is a meaningful future of work that places workers and their well-being at the center.”
Its three-pronged strategy consists of strengthening connection by working to “bridge the gaps between consumers’ hopes and needs, workers’ experiences, changing business models, evolving technology, and political strategies, with an eye to shaping a collective agenda”; shaping solutions in policy and practice through “efforts to develop, test, and implement innovative labor and social protection policies, as well as private sector practices and models”; and strengthening worker organization, voice, and power by “building the capacity of workers and worker-centered organizations to engage in and shape the debate about work today and in the future.”
Past grantees for the future of work include American Sustainable Business Institute, Economic Policy Institute, and Workers Defense Project.
Grantmaking for economic development also stems from Ford’s new Disability and Inclusion initiative, which aims to “support leaders and organizations that advance economic justice for disabled people and bold changes to a system that perpetuates poverty.”
Early grants from this program have gone to the American Association of People with Disabilities, the National Coalition for Latinxs with Disabilities and the Partnership for Public Service’s policy work on “disability rights and creating a more accessible information technology ecosystem.”
Grants for Climate Change
The Ford Foundation’s Natural Resources and Climate Change focus area prioritizes work benefitting or protecting the Global South and Indigenous communities.
The program’s current strategy focuses on fostering agency among “rural communities in South Africa, Zimbabwe, Nigeria, Ghana, Senegal, Colombia, Peru, Brazil, Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, and Indonesia” in order to help those communities “secure land rights and have their say in the planning of projects.” In this way, Ford intends for these communities to enjoy their “fair share of revenues,” as well as compensation “when there are injurious outcomes.” Thus, Ford’s climate change giving supports climate change work that intersects with the vulnerable communities that are amongst the first to be impacted by the global effects of climate change, induced by richer nations.
Ford’s climate change work also works with various companies and governments to “reduce illicit finance, corruption, tax evasion, and environmental crimes associated with the natural resource sector, and to redirect associated savings toward programs that help reduce inequality.”
Grants for LGBTQ, Women and Girls, Immigrants, Racial and Criminal Justice
Ford’s Gender, Racial, and Ethnic Justice program — which has two strategies, one for international grantmaking and one for national — aims to address the structural inequalities that affect women, immigrants, people of color, and LGBTQ people by supporting people and organizations that are “engaging in innovative advocacy, forging unexpected alliances, and reframing narratives to represent lived realities.” This program is dedicated to the intersection between various demographics rather than focusing on any single group. The overall objective of Ford’s grantmaking through this program is to “bridge the gap between formal equality under the law and the reality of inequality in the people’s daily lives.”
Ford’s U.S.-based program prioritizes criminal justice, reproductive and gender justice, immigrant rights, while its international grantmaking through this program largely addresses gender-based violence.
Many of Ford’s gender justice grants directly related to girls and women center on sexuality and reproductive health rights. The program oversees the advancement of “freedom and dignity,” as well as expanding the rights of women and girls.
Ford also conducts grantmaking that benefits the LGBTQ community. Divided into international and national funding, the foundation’s LGBTQ work largely supports “countering abuses of power and reimagining the state’s role in protecting the safety and dignity of all people.”
Past LGBTQ efforts aid HIV positive individuals in Africa, as well as LGBTQ individuals who live under repressive regimes.
In recent years, Ford has been increasing grantmaking for trans justice and the LGBTQ community.
Grantmaking related to criminal justice centers on mass incarceration occurring at intersection of race and immigration status, to address:
“sentencing reforms aimed at reducing prison populations and redirecting funds into crime prevention and other initiatives”
“innovative alternative-to-incarceration models”
“communications initiatives that push back against the narrative of incarceration as an answer to public safety.” A recent project focused on immigrants centers on narratives of the border.
Grants for Community Development, Civic Engagement and Democracy
The Ford Foundation awards grants related to civic engagement and democracy through several of its program areas. Its Civic Engagement and Democracy focus area works to “protect and help civic spaces thrive to ensure all people have the opportunity to raise their voices, influence decisions, and hold governments to account.”
Its U.S.-based strategy aims to foster coordination and collaboration between “a mix of grassroots, policy, and advocacy organizations led by people of color, women, immigrants, people with disabilities, youth, and the LGBTQ+ community” to promote civic participation and leadership.
Its international strategy aims to “increase and improve civic space by countering negative trends and promoting a positive, tangible understanding of its role” in East Africa, North Africa, the Middle East, and Latin America. It generally focuses on region-specific issues such corruption, government violence, and workers’ rights.
Finally, Ford’s Technology and Society program area aims to promote “equal access to, and fair regulation of, digital technology that is designed to advance transparency, privacy, access to knowledge, and free expression for all people” by supporting the growth of “technically sophisticated, diverse organizations dedicated to advancing equitable and more inclusive digital spaces and systems.”
It works to foster collaboration between social justice organizations and tech companies and advocate for progressive technology policy.
This work distinct from the Disability x Tech Fund, which Ford launched with Borealis Philanthropy and which is housed at the latter group’s Disability Inclusion Fund.
Grants for Journalism, Arts and Culture
The Ford Foundation conducts some grantmaking for journalism through its Creativity and Free Expression program. This program seeks to explore “how cultural narratives affect and shape our reality, and how the arts, journalism, and film can contribute to fairer and more just societies.” It supports projects from individuals and organizations that draw attention to underrepresented groups and strengthen marginalized peoples.
Operating within the Creativity and Free Expression program, JustFilms supports film, video, and emerging media projects that “inspire imaginations, disrupt stereotypes, and help transform the conditions that perpetuate injustice and inequality.” View recently produced films from this program here to see what types of projects JustFilms supports.
Grants for Global Development and Health, Immigrants and Refugees and Climate Change
A significant portion of Ford’s grantmaking works across multiple interest areas and intersecting issues and needs. Ford’s newest grantmaking initiative, the International Cooperation and Global Governance program, recognizes inequality, climate change, pandemics and migration as pressing global issues and works toward “bringing together diverse ideas, institutions, and individuals to advance a shared vision for achieving a just and inclusive global order.” In addition to grantmaking, this initiative aims to work with governments and private sector entities to create dialogue and viable solutions. Early grants from this program have supported the European Advisory Group’s Sustainability Reporting Board, the Ideas for Peace Foundation and the International Institute for Sustainable Development.
In 2020, the foundation created the $50 million Ford Global Fellowship program, which seeks to end inequality around the world in communities most affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Grant seekers interested in global development should also consider Ford’s programs in Civic Engagement and Government, Equitable Development, Gender, Race, and Ethnic Justice, Inclusive Economies, and Youth Opportunities and Learning, among other programs. While the foundation has offices around the world, grant seekers should familiarize themselves with Ford’s geographic restrictions, particularly as they relate to specific programs.
An older initiative, Building Institutions and Networks (BUILD), works globally to support the strength and resilience of social justice organizations. This program provides unrestricted funding to organizations, usually over a period of several years, along with strategic and developmental supports. BUILD grants prioritize stable organizations with strong connections to and roots in the communities they serve. Past grantees include South Africa’s Katswe Sisterhood, the School of Public Affairs and Global Policy at the American University in Cairo, the Center for Popular Democracy and Earthsight, an organization that investigates environmental and social crime globally.
Grants for Humanitarian Relief
In 2020, in an effort to support its grantees through the COVID-19 pandemic, Ford announced that it will “offer for sale $1 billion of taxable Social Bonds, the net proceeds of which will be used for grantmaking to help sustain and strengthen mission-critical social justice and creative expression organizations.” This “will enable the foundation to pay out more than 10 percent of the value of its total endowment in 2020 and 2021.”
Important Grant Details:
The Ford Foundation has recently made about $700 million in grants a year. Grants typically range from $75,000 to $5 million, with an average grant size of about $200,000. Ford prioritizes a handful of grantees; however, new grantees appear on their roster each year. Grants tend to center on the New York and Washington D.C areas, but funding occurs at both the national and international levels. General, direct and core support are offered here, as well as individual fellowships based on an array of research areas.
This funder supports organizations of all sizes and works globally in its areas of interest. More information on past grant recipients can be found in the program’s grants database.
Ford offers detailed insights into how it makes grants.
Darren Walker, CEO of the Ford Foundation, “How can we help you” letter.
Grants for Individuals, which includes the Ford Global Fellowship and International Fellowships Program.
While the Ford Foundation does not run an open application program, it posts current opportunities on its website and invites grantseekers to sign up for updates at the bottom of the page.
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