 | |
| Founded | January 15, 1936 |
|---|---|
| Founders | Edsel Ford Henry Ford |
| Location | |
Area served
| United States, Africa, Latin America, Middle East, Asia |
| Method | Grants, funding |
Chairman
| Francisco G. Cigarroa |
President
| Darren Walker |
| Endowment | $12.4 billion USD |
| Website | fordfoundation |
Ford Foundation Building in New York
Atrium with garden
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HM's Principal Secretary of State for International Development Justine Greening meets the Hollywood actress Geena Davis at the Millennium Development Goals Countdown event at the Ford Foundation (24 September 2013).
The Ford Foundation is an American private foundation with the mission of advancing human welfare. Created in 1936 by Edsel Ford and Henry Ford, it was originally funded by a US$25,000 gift from Edsel Ford. By 1947, after the death of the two founders, the foundation owned 90% of the non-voting shares of the Ford Motor Company. (The Ford family retained the voting shares.)
Between 1955 and 1974, the foundation sold its Ford Motor Company
holdings and now plays no role in the automobile company. Ahead of the
foundation selling its Ford Motor Company holdings, in 1949 Henry Ford II created the Ford Motor Company Fund,
a separate corporate foundation which to this day serves as the
philanthropic arm of the Ford Motor Company and is not associated with
the foundation.
For years it was the largest, and one of the most influential
foundations in the world, with global reach and special interests in
economic empowerment, education, human rights, democracy, the creative
arts, and Third World development.
The foundation makes grants through its headquarters and ten international field offices. For fiscal year 2014, it reported assets of US$12.4 billion and approved US$507.9 million in grants.
Mission
After
its establishment in 1936, Ford Foundation shifted its focus from
Michigan philanthropic support to four areas of action. In the 1950 Report of the Study of the Ford Foundation on Policy and Program,
the trustees set forth five "areas of action," according to Richard
Magat (2012): economic improvements, education, freedom and democracy,
human behaviour, and world peace.
Since the middle of the 20th century, many of the Ford
Foundation's programs have focused on increased under-represented or
"minority" group representation in education, science and policy-making.
For over eight decades their mission decisively advocates and supports
the reduction of poverty and injustice among other values including the
maintenance of democratic values, promoting engagement with other
nations, and sustaining human progress and achievement at home and
abroad.
The Ford Foundation is one of the primary foundations offering
grants that support and maintain diversity in higher education with
fellowships for pre-doctoral, dissertation, and post-doctoral
scholarship to increase diverse representation among Native Americans,
African Americans, Latinos/Latinas and other under-represented Asian and
Latino sub-groups throughout the U.S. academic labor market.
The outcomes of scholarship by its grantees from the late 20th century
through the 21st century have contributed to substantial data and
scholarship including national surveys such as the Nelson Diversity Surveys in STEM.
History
The foundation was established January 15, 1936, in Michigan by Edsel Ford (president of the Ford Motor Company)
and two other executives "to receive and administer funds for
scientific, educational and charitable purposes, all for the public
welfare."
During its early years, the foundation operated in Michigan under the
leadership of Ford family members and their associates and supported the
Henry Ford Hospital and the Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village, among other organizations.
After the deaths of Edsel Ford in 1943 and Henry Ford in 1947, the presidency of the foundation fell to Edsel's eldest son, Henry Ford II.
It quickly became clear that the foundation would become the largest
philanthropic organisation in the world. The board of trustees then
commissioned the Gaither Study Committee to chart the foundation's
future. The committee, headed by California attorney H. Rowan Gaither,
recommended that the foundation become an international philanthropic
organisation dedicated to the advancement of human welfare and "urged
the foundation to focus on solving humankind's most pressing problems,
whatever they might be, rather than work in any particular field...."
The board embraced the recommendations in 1949.
The board of directors decided to diversify the foundation's
portfolio and gradually divested itself of its substantial Ford Motor
Company stock between 1955 and 1974. This divestiture allowed Ford Motor to become a public company.
Finally, Henry Ford II resigned from his trustee's role in a surprise
move in December 1976. In his resignation letter, he cited his
dissatisfaction with the foundation holding on to their old programs,
large staff and what he saw as anti-capitalist undertones in the foundation's work. In February 2019, Henry Ford III was elected to the Foundation's Board of Trustees, becoming the first Ford family member to serve on the board since his grandfather resigned in 1976.
In 2012, stating that it is not a research library, the foundation transferred its archives from New York City to the Rockefeller Archive Center in Sleepy Hollow, New York.
Major grants and initiatives
Based
on recommendations made by the Gaither Study Committee and embraced by
the foundation's board of trustees in 1949, the foundation expanded its
grant making to include support for higher education, the arts, economic
development, civil rights, and the environment, among other areas.
In 1951, the foundation made its first grant to support the development of the public broadcasting system, then known as National Educational Television (NET), which went on the air in 1952.
These grants continued, and in 1969 the foundation gave US$1 million to
the Children's Television Workshop to help create and launch Sesame Street. The Corporation for Public Broadcasting replaced NET with the Public Broadcasting Service on October 5, 1970.
The foundation underwrote the Fund for the Republic in the 1950s.
The foundation's first international field office opened in 1952 in New Delhi, India.
Throughout the 1950s, the foundation provided arts and humanities fellowships that supported the work of figures like Josef Albers, James Baldwin, Saul Bellow, Herbert Blau, E. E. Cummings, Flannery O'Connor, Jacob Lawrence, Maurice Valency, Robert Lowell, and Margaret Mead. In 1961, Kofi Annan received an educational grant from the foundation to finish his studies at Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota.
Under its "Program for Playwrights", the foundation helped to
support writers in professional regional theaters such as San
Francisco's Actor's Workshop and offered similar help to Houston's Alley Theatre and Washington's Arena Stage.
In 1968, the foundation began disbursing $12 million to persuade law schools
to make "law school clinics" part of their curriculum. Clinics were
intended to give practical experience in law practice while providing pro bono representation to the poor. Conservative critic Heather Mac Donald
contends that the financial involvement of the foundation instead
changed the clinics' focus from giving students practical experience to
engaging in leftwing advocacy.
In 1967 and 1968, the foundation provided financial support for
decentralization and community control of public schools in New York
City. Decentralization in Ocean Hill–Brownsville led to the firing of
some white teachers and administrators, which provoked a citywide teachers' strike led by the United Federation of Teachers.
Beginning in the late 1960s and continuing through the 1970s, the
foundation expanded into civil rights litigation, granting $18 million
to civil rights litigation groups. The Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund was incorporated in 1967 with a US$2.2 million grant from the foundation. In the same year, the foundation funded the establishment of the Southwest Council of La Raza, the predecessor of the National Council of La Raza. In 1972, the foundation provided a three-year US$1.2 million grant to the Native American Rights Fund. The same year, the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund opened with funding from numerous organizations, including the foundation. In 1974, the foundation contributed funds to the Southwest Voter Registration Education Project and the Latino Institute.
In 1976, the foundation helped launch the Grameen Bank, which offers small loans to the rural poor of Bangladesh. The Grameen Bank and its founder Muhammad Yunus were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006 for pioneering micro-credit.
Between 1969 and 1978, the foundation was the biggest funder for research into In vitro fertilisation in the United Kingdom, which led to the first baby, Louise Brown born from the technique. The Ford Foundation provided $1,170,194 towards the research.
In 1987, the foundation began making grants to fight the AIDS epidemic and in 2010 made grant disbursements totalling US$29,512,312.
Over two decades ago, American author, conservative philosopher, and critic of feminism Christina Hoff Sommers, pointed a finger at The Ford Foundation in her book The War Against Boys (1994) as well as other institutions in education and government.
While she alleged that the Ford Foundation funded a gender feminism or
mainstream feminist ideology that supports her thesis, a Washington Post
book review by E. Anthony Rotundo, author of "American Manhood: Transformations in Masculinity from the Revolution to the Modern Era,"
exposed how Sommers "persistently misrepresents scholarly debate, [and]
ignores evidence that contradicts her assertions" about a gender war
against boys and men. Spanish judge Francisco Serrano Castro made similar claims in his 2012 book The Dictatorship of Gender. Such conservative claims imply The Ford Foundation is a funding agency supporting a liberal agenda.
In 2001, the foundation launched the International Fellowships
Program (IFP) with a 12-year, $280 million grant, the largest in its
history. IFP is entering its concluding phase. The final cohort has been
selected, and the program will conclude in 2013. Fellows represent
historically disadvantaged groups from outside the United States. IFP
has identified nearly 4,350 emerging leaders. More than 80 percent have
completed their studies and are now serving their home communities.
In 2003, the foundation was critiqued by US news service Jewish Telegraphic Agency, among others, for supporting Palestinian nongovernmental organizations that were accused of promoting antisemitism at the 2001 World Conference Against Racism. Under pressure by several members of Congress, chief among them Rep. Jerrold Nadler,
the foundation apologized and then prohibited the promotion of
"violence, terrorism, bigotry or the destruction of any state" among its
grantees. This move itself sparked protest among university provosts
and various non-profit groups on free speech issues.
The foundation's partnership with the New Israel Fund,
which began in 2003, was frequently criticized regarding its choice of
mostly liberal grantees and causes. This criticism came to light after
the 2001 Durban Conference, where some nongovernmental organizations funded by the foundation backed resolutions equating Israeli policies as apartheid,
and later, against those groups which support the delegitimization of
Israel. In response, the foundation adopted stricter criteria for
funding.
In 2005, Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox
began a probe of the foundation that ultimately backfired. Though the
foundation is headquartered in New York City, it is chartered in Michigan,
giving that state some jurisdiction. Cox focused on its governance,
potential conflicts of interest among board members, and what he viewed
as its poor record of giving to charities in Michigan. Between 1998 and
2002, the foundation gave Michigan charities about US$2.5 million per
year, far less than many other charities its size. The foundation
countered that an extensive review and report by the Gaither Study
Committee in 1949 had recommended that the foundation broaden its scope
beyond Michigan to national and international grant-making. The report
was endorsed by the foundation's board of trustees, and they
subsequently voted to move the foundation to New York City in 1953.
For many years, the foundation topped annual lists compiled by the Foundation Center
of US foundations with the most assets and the highest annual giving.
The foundation has fallen a few places in those lists in recent years,
especially with the establishment of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation in 2000. As of May 4, 2013, the foundation was second in terms of assets and tenth in terms of annual grant giving.
In April 2011, the foundation announced that it will cease its
funding for programs in Israel as of 2013. It has provided US$40 million
to nongovernmental organizations in Israel since 2003 exclusively through the New Israel Fund
(NIF), in the areas of advancing civil and human rights, helping Arab
citizens in Israel gain equality and promoting Israeli-Palestinian
peace. The grants from the foundation are roughly a third of NIF's
donor-advised giving, which totals about US$15 million a year.
Relationship with the United States
The foundation was accused of being funded by the US government. John J. McCloy,
the foundation's chairman from 1958–1965, knowingly employed numerous
agents and, based on the premise that a relationship with the CIA was
inevitable, set up a three-person committee responsible for dealing with
its requests.
Inequality and Impact
Ranked
No. 24 on the Forbes 2018 World’s Most Innovative Companies list, the
Ford Foundation utilized its endowment to invest in innovative and
sustainable change leadership shifting the model of grant-making in the
21st century. According to Forbes, "Ford spends between $500 million and
$550 million a year to support social justice work around the world.
But last year, it also pledged to plow up to $1 billion of its overall
$12.5 billion endowment over the next decade into so-called
mission-related investments (MRIs) that generate both financial and
social returns."
With assets totaling $12,364,759,000 and total giving amounting to
$526,405,000 in 2018, President Darren Walker has led the organization
with a new purpose. He wrote in an op-ed in the New York Times that that
grant-making philanthropy of institutions like the Ford Foundation
"must not only be generosity, but justice." The Ford Foundation seeks to address "the underlying causes that perpetuate human suffering" to grapple with and intervene in "how and why" inequality persists.
Ford Foundation Building
Completed in 1968 by the firm of Roche-Dinkeloo, the Ford Foundation Building
in New York City was the first large-scale architectural building in
the country to devote a substantial portion of its space to
horticultural pursuits. Its well-known atrium was designed with the notion of having urban greenspace accessible to all and is an example of the application in architecture of environmental psychology. The building was recognized in 1968 by the Architectural Record
as "a new kind of urban space". This design concept was used by others
for many of the indoor shopping malls and skyscrapers built in
subsequent decades. The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission designated the building a landmark in the mid-1990s.
