Ford Foundation
ActivePhilanthropy & VoluntarismMakes PRIsFunds Individuals
About Ford Foundation
The Ford Foundation funds large-scale social justice infrastructure, prioritizing movement-building, policy advocacy, and capacity-building for organizations advancing racial, gender, and economic equity in the U.S. and the Global South. Its grants frequently support intermediaries and donor collaboratives that regrant or incubate initiatives (reproductive justice, criminal-justice reform, racial equity in media, and community-led land/forest rights), while also underwriting fellowships and institutional strengthening for long-term field development.
Focus Areas
Reproductive justice and abortion access advocacy (national and state policy and civic engagement)Criminal justice reform and economic mobility for people with convictions (Justice and Mobility Fund-style initiatives)Racial justice and alternatives to policing (community-led anti-violence strategies and regranting funds)Building and strengthening progressive infrastructure and civic participation (state infrastructure funds, voting rights, organizing networks)Global civil society and land/forest rights in the Global South (indigenous and community land tenure, civil society endowments)Capacity-building for philanthropic and policy intermediaries (donor collaboratives, fellowship programs, and regranting organizations)
About Ford Foundation
The Ford Foundation’s most distinctive recent pattern is its use of large, flexible grants to build social justice infrastructure around criminal justice reform, reproductive rights, public interest technology, and global civil society. One of its largest recent grants went to Blue Meridian Partners Inc for the Justice and Mobility Fund, a recurring investment tied to economic mobility for people with convictions and incarceration histories. Another major grant supported Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors Inc for the Reproductive Health and Women’s Rights Collaborative, showing how the foundation often funds through intermediaries and collaboratives rather than only direct operating grants. That intermediary-heavy approach appears across its grantmaking. The foundation has backed donor collaboratives, regranting vehicles, fellowships, and institutional-strengthening efforts, including the Ford Fellowships Program at the National Academy of Sciences. Its recent grants also include substantial support for land and resource rights for Indigenous peoples, Afro-descendants, and local communities through Climate and Land Use Alliance LLC, as well as funding for media ecosystem work through the International Fund for Public Interest Media. The pattern is less about isolated projects than about underwriting fields, networks, and long-term organizational capacity.
What Ford Foundation Funds
In criminal justice and economic mobility work, the Ford Foundation gave $18,664,000 to Blue Meridian Partners Inc for the Justice and Mobility Fund, aimed at accelerating economic mobility through criminal justice reforms for people with convictions and incarceration histories. In reproductive health and women’s rights, it gave $10,000,000 to Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors Inc for the Reproductive Health and Women’s Rights Collaborative. It also backed the launch of the Black Feminist Fund with $3,000,000 to The Global Fund for Women Inc, connecting resources to Black feminist organizing around the world. The foundation also funds immigration and media infrastructure. It gave $5,000,000 to Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors Inc for the New Immigration Fund, a national funder collaborative focused on immigrant justice. In public interest media, it gave $3,490,000 to Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors Inc for the International Fund for Public Interest Media to improve media ecosystems and promote equality and social justice. Across these areas, the emphasis is on collaborative vehicles and field-building rather than isolated project grants.
Financial Snapshot
Annual Giving
$1.5B
Total Assets
$17.5B
Total Revenue
$1.1B
Total Expenses
$1B
Typical Grant Size
Most grants fall between $20K and $250K, with a median of $100K.
25th Percentile
$20K
Median
$100K
75th Percentile
$250K
Geographic Reach
National39 states funded
About 30% of grants go to recipients in NY.
Funding intensity
LowHigh
Headquarters
Leadership
Funding intensity
LowHigh
Where Ford Foundation Funds
Top 10 recipient countries by grant volume for Ford Foundation.
| Rank | Country | Grants | Total | Share |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | United StatesDomestic | 6,275 | $1.8B | 64.8% |
| 2 | Brazil | 425 | $65.9M |
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