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 nine main program areas, along with a deeper emphasis on social justice and movement building.

While this is an accessible funder with a clear entry point for grantseekers, Ford can be a 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, often through deep networking and patience, Ford can be a reliable ally and a source of support for many years.

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 to pursue a mission to “to reduce poverty and injustice, strengthen democratic values, promote international cooperation, and advance human achievement.” 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.”

The Ford Foundation’s stated focus areas are Civic Engagement and Government; Creativity and Free Expression; Disability Rights; Future of Work(ers); Gender, Racial, and Ethnic Justice; International Cooperation; Natural Resources and Climate Change; Technology and Society; and Mission Investments, which aim to “to develop a more inclusive form of capitalism that prioritizes purpose alongside profit.”

With 13.1 billion in assets, Ford is a grantmaking powerhouse. Its website offers useful insights into how it conducts grantmaking:

Grants for Work and Opportunity, Disabilities

Ford’s Future of Work(ers) program focuses on “ensuring that all workers, regardless of their status, have equal rights to labor protections, that social protections are guaranteed to all, and that workers shape the policies and economic systems that affect their lives.” The foundation’s “aim and approach” for this program involves:

Strengthening the capacity of labor organizations;
Supporting advocacy and organizing for a just and equitable “21st century labor policy;
Collaborating with stakeholders to “bring a worker lens to tech policy and governance”;
Building the “technical capacities or worker organizations” to increase their impact;
Advancing “communications strategies” related to workers’ rights and protections; and
Facilitating collaborations and alignment among groups that “advocate for labor protections with multilateral institutions and investors.”
Past grantees of this program include the American Sustainable Business Institute, the Economic Policy Institute and the Workers Defense Project.

One of Ford’s newer endeavors, its Disability and Inclusion initiative 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 the Environment and Climate Change

The Ford Foundation’s Natural Resources and Climate Change focus area prioritizes work benefiting or protecting the Global South and Indigenous communities.

The program’s current strategy focuses on fostering agency among communities in the “Andean region, Brazil, Indonesia, Mexico and Central America, Southern Africa, West Africa.” Grants focus on resource mobilization, the development of leaders and networks and the amplification of “positive narratives” and the “voices of communities.”
Ford’s climate change work also engages companies and governments in efforts 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, Reproductive Health, 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 intersections of 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. Strategy prioritizes immigrant rights, community safety and reproductive justice, while its International Strategy focuses on reducing gender-based violence by placing women- and girl-led organizations “at the center of developing solutions.”
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’s Building Institutions and Networks (BUILD), works globally to support the strength and resilience of social justice organizations, including gender and reproductive health and justice groups. This $2 billion program provides unrestricted funding to a variety of 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 a five-year, $4 million commitment to UltraViolet, which promotes gender justice.
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 people 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.
U.S. grantmaking for immigrant rights and community safety focus on community-led organizations that “center a culture of belonging over a culture of criminalization” and “recognize the humanity of all people.”

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 Government 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. Strategy works to “build stronger and broader coalitions of people, organizations, and institutions that are committed to reshaping democracy into a ‘bigger we.’” In addition to support for national initiatives for democracy and fair elections, grants work at the state level in Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Minnesota, New York, and Texas, targeting “rural communities, including working-class and low-income communities, that feel the impact of entrenched inequality.”
The 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, Middle East, India, Brazil and Mexico. Grantmaking focuses on region-specific issues such as 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 is 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, Film, Arts and Culture

The Ford Foundation conducts grantmaking for journalism, the arts and documentary film 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 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, Gender, Race and Ethnic Justice and Natural Resources and Climate Change for guidance on specific priorities and goals. 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 would “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.”

Other Grantmaking Opportunities:

With its new Mission Investments program, Ford joins the ranks of philanthropies “leverag[ing] capital markets to address social problems.” Working globally, Ford’s approach to impact investing involves:

“Building the sector” by sharing information and forging alliances and collaborations among groups that “that channel more capital toward social good and reduce business behaviors that harm people and the planet” and
Making program-related investments in “entities that advance the public welfare,” especially those “led by women or people of color.”

While this program is still in its early stages, early investments have gone to initiatives for affordable housing in the U.S., financial inclusion in developing nations and health technologies for underserved populations around the world.

Important Grant Details:

Ford’s grants range from $10,000 to $7.5 million, although most grants stay below the $2 million mark.

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.
Large, well-established organizations working nationally or globally account for the majority of Ford’s grantmaking, but small and grassroots groups are represented here.
General, direct and core support are offered here, as well as individual fellowships based on an array of research areas.
More information on past grant recipients can be found in the program’s grants database.
Ford offers detailed insights into how it makes grants. Of additional interest to grantseekers is CEO Darren Walker’s How can we help you letter.
The Ford Foundation also makes Grants for Individuals through programs including 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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