The Ford Foundation

Donor(s)

Note: If a donor is deceased, the symbol (‡) follows the name.

Henry Ford‡
Edsel Ford‡

Background

Incorporated in 1936 in MI.

The foundation operated as a local philanthropy in the state of Michigan until 1950, when it expanded to become a national and international foundation. Since its inception, it has been an independent, nonprofit, non-governmental organization and has provided more than $11 billion in grants and loans. These funds derive from an investment portfolio that began with gifts and bequests of Ford Motor Company stock by Henry and Edsel Ford. The foundation no longer owns Ford Motor Company stock, and its diversified portfolio is managed to provide a perpetual source of support for the foundation's programs and operations. The foundation is headquartered in New York and has overseas offices in Asia, Africa, Latin America, and Russia.

The trustees of the foundation set policy and delegate authority to the president and senior staff for the foundation's grantmaking and operation. Program officers in the United States, Africa, the Middle East, Asia, Latin America, and Russia explore opportunities to pursue the foundation's goals, formulate strategies and recommend proposals for funding.

Limitations

Giving on an international basis, including the U.S., Africa and the Middle East, Asia, Russia, Latin America and the Caribbean.

No support for programs for which substantial support from government or other sources is readily available, or for religious sectarian activities.

No grants for routine operating costs, construction or maintenance of buildings, or undergraduate scholarships; graduate fellowships generally channeled through grants to universities or other organizations; no grants for purely personal or local needs.

Purpose and Activities

The foundation's mission is to serve as a resource for innovative people and institutions worldwide. Its goals are to: strengthen democratic values, reduce poverty and injustice, promote international cooperation, and advance human achievement. Grants are made primarily within three broad categories: (1) asset building and community development; (2) knowledge, creativity, and freedom; and (3) peace and social justice. Local needs and priorities, within these subject areas, determine program activities in individual countries.

Program Area(s)

The grantmaker has identified the following area(s) of interest:

Community and Resource Development

The area coordinates work in three fields and aims to create conditions for the development of sustainable and equitable communities. 1) Environment and Development: help people and groups acquire, protect, improve and manage land, water, forests, wildlife and other natural assets in ways that help reduce poverty and injustice. 2) Community Development: seek to improve the quality of life and opportunities for positive change in urban and rural communities. The foundation supports community-based institutions that mobilize and leverage philanthropic capital, investment capital, social capital and natural resources in a responsible and fair manner. 3) Sexuality and Reproductive Health: the foundation focuses on the social, cultural and economic factors that affect sexuality and reproductive health. Grant making emphasizes community-based responses to growing needs for prevention strategies and appropriate policies. It also focuses on empowering women and youth to participate in improving reproductive health and related policies.

Economic Development

The area seeks to make durable economic improvements in the lives of the disadvantaged. The area coordinates efforts in two fields: 1) Development Finance and Economic Security: support organizations that help businesses create employment opportunities and help low-income people acquire, develop and maintain savings, investments, businesses, homes, land and other assets. 2) Work-force Development: support organizations that help improve the ways low-income people develop marketable job skills and acquire and retain reliable employment that provides livable wages. The Economic Development area administers program-related investments (PRIs) for the foundation's programs.

Education, Sexuality, Religion

The area works in three fields: 1) Education and Scholarship: seek to increase educational access and quality for the disadvantaged, to educate new leaders and thinkers and to foster knowledge and curriculum supportive of inclusion, development and civic life. Grant making supports policy, research and reform programs in both schools and higher education institutions around the world, with particular emphasis on enhancing the performance of educational systems through improving finance, access, accountability and training. Scholarship is supported to deepen understanding of such issues as gender, identity, pluralism and social change. 2) Sexuality and Reproductive Health: supports efforts to build knowledge, develop policy and deepen public understanding of sexuality and its relationship to human fulfillment, culture, religion and identity. 3) Religion, Society and Culture: examine the role of religious traditions of the world in shaping social values, with the goal of strengthening the contribution of these traditions to creating just, healthy and pluralistic societies. Grant making also seeks to support the participation of historically marginalized groups in the interpretation of diverse religious and cultural traditions and to examine the moral resources they offer contemporary societies.

Governance and Civil Society

The area works in two fields: 1) Governance: strengthen the responsiveness of state and local governments, improve the ability of national government institutions to secure peace and social justice, and build democratic global governance in the arenas of international economics, conflict and security. The area supports efforts to improve government performance, build public awareness of budget and tax issues and confront the challenges posed by the trend toward government decentralization. Additional areas of work promote the value of political equality in America through sound reforms in electoral procedures and campaign financing. The global dimensions of governance are addressed through grant making to improve the management of the international economy and to prevent, mediate and address the consequences of conflict within and between nations. 2) Civil Society: seek to increase the impact of citizens' groups working for peace and social justice, strengthen the philanthropic community that supports them, and encourage citizen oversight of the public and private sectors. The foundation believes in the value of associational life and in nurturing strong, independent and democratic civil societies. Grants seek to increase participation in public affairs beyond the act of voting and to strengthen civil society organizations. Another initiative aims to foster philanthropy that contributes to social justice outcomes. Other work strengthens global civil society and the ability of transnational citizens' coalitions to address public policy problems.

Human Rights

The area works in two fields: 1) Human Rights: promote access to justice and the protection of civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights, especially for the most vulnerable individuals and groups in society. Grant making emphasizes implementation of human rights protections by strengthening advocacy groups, supporting research and promoting outreach and education. Women's rights and racial justice programming builds on the historic victories of these movements in the United States and supports antidiscrimination efforts and the struggles of women and minority groups in Latin America, South Asia and elsewhere. Other programming supports the protection of refugees and the human rights of immigrants domestically and around the world. 2) Sexuality and Reproductive Health: works to secure recognition and enforcement of reproductive rights as embodied in the Plan of Action that emerged from the 1994 United Nations International Conferences on Population and Development in Cairo. This work combines the protection of human rights with the promotion of public health. Grant activities include HIV/AIDS prevention and efforts to end HIV/AIDS-related stigma and discrimination; halting sex-related trafficking, exploitation and violence; and promoting access to reproductive health services and technologies.

Matching Gifts

The foundation matches the monetary gifts of its employees to charitable organizations.

Media, Arts, and Culture

The area seeks to strengthen the arts and media as important contributors to the communities and societies in which they function, and works in two fields to accomplish these goals: 1) Media: strengthens free and responsible media that address important civic and social issues, and promotes policies and regulations that ensure media and information systems serve the public's diverse constituencies and interests. In addition, the foundation supports high-quality productions that enrich public dialogue on such core issues as building democratic values and pluralism. 2) Arts and Culture: the goal is to increase opportunities for cultural and artistic expression for people of all backgrounds; to foster documentation, dissemination and transmission of both new and traditional creative art forms; to broaden audience involvement and access; and to improve the livelihoods of artists and their opportunity to contribute to civic life.

Fields of Interest

Subjects

AIDS
Agriculture
Arts
Civil/human rights
Civil rights, race/intergroup relations
Community/economic development
Crime/violence prevention, abuse prevention
Economics
Education
Education, early childhood education
Education, research
Elementary school/education
Employment
Environment
Environment, natural resources
Government/public administration
Higher education
Housing/shelter, development
Human services
International affairs
International affairs, arms control
International affairs, foreign policy
International economic development
International human rights
International studies
Law/international law
Leadership development
Legal services
Media/communications
Media, film/video
Minorities/immigrants, centers/services
Museums
Performing arts
Performing arts, dance
Performing arts, music
Performing arts, theater
Philanthropy/voluntarism
Public affairs, citizen participation
Public health, STDs
Religion, interfaith issues
Reproductive health
Reproductive health, sexuality education
Research
Rural development
Secondary school/education
Social sciences
Urban/community development
Women, centers/services
Youth development

International Interests

Africa
Asia
Latin America
Middle East
Russia
Southeast Asia

Population Groups

Economically disadvantaged
Immigrants/refugees
Minorities
Women

Geographic Focus

National; international

Types of Support

Conferences/seminars
Consulting services
Continuing support
Curriculum development
Employee matching gifts
Endowments
Fellowships
Film/video/radio
General/operating support
Grants to individuals
Income development
Management development/capacity building
Matching/challenge support
Program-related investments/loans
Program development
Program evaluation
Publication
Research
Seed money
Technical assistance

Publications

Annual report (including application guidelines)
Application guidelines
Informational brochure (including application guidelines)
Newsletter
Occasional report

Application Information

Prospective applicants are advised to review the foundation's Web site for information or current funding guidelines.
Application form not required.
Applicants should submit the following:

1. Timetable for implementation and evaluation of project
2. Qualifications of key personnel
3. Statement of problem project will address
4. Brief history of organization and description of its mission
5. Detailed description of project and amount of funding requested

Initial approach: Brief letter of inquiry or online submission via website
Copies of proposal: 1
Board meeting date(s): Jan., May, and Sept.
Deadline(s): None
Final notification: Initial indication as to whether proposal falls within program interests within 6 weeks
Applications accepted in the following language(s): French; Spanish; Russian

Officers and Trustees

Note: An asterisk (*) following an individual's name indicates an officer who is also a trustee or director.

Kathryn S. Fuller,* Chairperson
Luis A. Ubinas, President
Barron M. Tenny, Executive Vice President, Secretary, and General Counsel
Linda B. Strumpf, Vice President and C.I.O.
Alison R. Bernstein, Vice President, Knowledge, Creativity, and Freedom
Pablo J. Farias, Vice President, Asset Building and Community Development
Mary E. McClymont, Vice President, Peace and Social Justice
Marta L. Tellado, Vice President, Communications
Nicholas M. Gabriel, Treasurer and Director, Financial Services
Nancy P. Feller, Associate General Counsel
Afsaneh M. Beschloss
Anke A. Ehrhardt
Juliet V. Garcia
Irene Y. Hirano
J. Clifford Hudson
Wilmot G. James
Yolanda Kakabadse
Thurgood Marshall, Jr.
Richard Moe
Yolanda T. Moses
Carl B. Weisbrod
W. Richard West

Number of Staff

321 full-time professional
232 full-time support
2 part-time support

Memberships

Regional Associations of Grantmakers

Council of Michigan Foundations
Donors Forum of Chicago
New York Regional Association of Grantmakers
Northern California Grantmakers
Southeastern Council of Foundations
Southern California Grantmakers

Affinity Groups

Asian Americans/Pacific Islanders in Philanthropy
Association of Black Foundation Executives
CFLeads
Consultative Group on Biodiversity
Disability Funders Network
Emerging Practitioners in Philanthropy
Environmental Grantmakers Association
Funders' Committee for Civic Participation
Funders' Network for Smart Growth and Livable Communities
Funders Concerned About AIDS
Funders Network on Population, Reproductive Health and Rights
Funders for Lesbian and Gay Issues
Grantmakers Concerned with Immigrants and Refugees
Grantmakers Income Security Taskforce
Grantmakers In the Arts
Grantmakers Without Borders
Grantmakers for Education
Grantmakers for Effective Organizations
Grantmakers in Film and Electronic Media
Grants Managers Network
Hispanics in Philanthropy
International Funders for Indigenous People
Latin American Studies Association
Native Americans in Philanthropy
Neighborhood Funders Group
PRI Makers Network
Technology Affinity Group
The Communications Network
Women's Funding Network

Associations and Other Philanthropic Organizations

Association for Research on Nonprofit Organizations and Voluntary Action (ARNOVA)
Council on Foundations
European Foundation Center
Independent Sector
International Society for Third Sector Research
Nonprofit Coordinating Committee of New York
Philanthropy Roundtable
Women & Philanthropy

Financial Data

Year ended 9/30/07:

Assets: $13,659,731,000 (market value)
Expenditures: $765,871,000
Total giving: $580,680,000
Qualifying distributions: $580,680,000

Giving activities include:
$580,680,000 for grants
$9,753,000 for foundation-administered programs
$26,185,000 for loans/program-related investments

Selected Grants

The following grants were reported in 2007:

$10,000,000 to Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan, Detroit, MI. For New Economy Initiative to leverage resources and catalyze positive economic and social change in Detroit metropolitan area, payable over 2.25 years.

$3,000,000 to National Public Radio, Washington, DC. To expand international reporting and programming capacity and for News and Notes, public affairs program giving voice to issues of importance to black Americans, payable over 1.75 years.

$2,000,000 to Living Cities: The National Community Development Initiative, New York, NY. For general support for a collaborative program to promote large-scale positive change in the way the public and private sectors invest in urban neighborhoods, payable over 3 years.

$1,510,000 to Dalit Foundation, New Delhi, India. To strengthen economic and social advancement of Dalits through social justice philanthropy, payable over 3 years.

$1,200,000 to Migration Policy Institute, Washington, DC. For general support for research, policy analysis, communications, publications and networking on global migration and refugee issues, payable over 2 years.

$675,000 to National Consumer Law Center, Boston, MA. To curb growth of lending practices that foster debt and drain assets from low-income families by expanding mortgage data repository and launching consumer awareness campaign, payable over 1 year.

$650,000 to National Association of Universities and Institutes of Higher Education, Mexico City, Mexico. To expand academic and support services for indigenous students in Mexican higher education institutions and promote institutional reforms for their academic advance, payable over 2 years.

$400,000 to Workforce Alliance, Washington, DC. For general support to promote public policies at state and federal levels that support training, advancement and economic security of low-wage workers, payable over 2 years.

$350,000 to Government Accountability Project (GAP), Washington, DC. To institutionalize independent whistleblower protection programs within international financial institutions, payable over 2 years.

$200,000 to Seventh Generation Fund for Indian Development, Arcata, CA. To expand work with native artists and arts organizations, and further develop Arts and Cultural Expression program, payable over 2 years.