Ford Foundation plans larger grants and seven funding areas

The Ford Foundation announced on Thursday that it plans to make larger grants, commit more money over multiple years and expand flexible funding as it reorganises its work into seven funding areas. The New York-based foundation supports more than 2,300 grantees, and some existing recipients will eventually lose funding as certain programmes close.

The strategy follows the foundation’s 2015 shift toward fighting inequality. The foundation describes its new focus as the “preconditions for thriving democracies” and says it is responding to rising autocracy, widening inequality and declining public trust.

Larger grants and more flexible support

A foundation spokesperson told the Associated Press that it expects to award about $700 million in grants in 2027, a figure that could rise. That annual grant budget is separate from the foundation’s $18 billion endowment, its pool of invested assets. The foundation operates independently of Ford Motor Company.

Alongside larger grants and more multiyear commitments, the foundation plans to expand general operating support: funding for an organisation’s overall work rather than a specified project. It cites decades of research and experience that it says show flexible, long-term funding leaves recipients better prepared for unexpected developments.

The seven funding areas

The foundation will organise its grantmaking around these areas:

• Democratic governance and the rule of law
• Inclusive economies
• Information as a public good
• Safety and justice
• Gender equality
• Global cooperation
• Racial justice

The plans include a dedicated racial justice fund and an expansion of gender equality work to cover the full range of reproductive health care. The information programme will seek to influence how digital tools are built, introduced and overseen.

A staged rollout and programme closures

The foundation has not identified which programmes or grantees will lose support. Nicholas Turner, its executive vice president of programs, told the Associated Press it was “too early to say” which programmes would be affected. He promised care and support as the foundation leaves those areas.

The foundation plans to roll out strategies for each of the seven funding areas in stages throughout 2027.