The $18 billion Ford Foundation is getting its biggest overhaul since 2015 to fight autocracy—with about $700 million in grants expected in 2027
Source: Fortune ·
Less than a year into the job, president Heather Gerken is reorganizing the 90-year-old philanthropy around seven funding areas.
From the source
Less than a year after leaving Yale Law School to run one of the wealthiest private foundations in the U.S., Heather Gerken is putting her stamp on the Ford Foundation and its $18 billion endowment. The Ford Foundation on Thursday laid out a new strategy that reorients the 90-year-old grantmaker around what it calls the “preconditions for thriving democracies,” from the rule of law to trustworthy information and inclusive economies. Some have considered it the Ford Foundation’s most significant strategic shift since 2015, when former president Darren Walker focused the foundation around fighting inequality. The announcement also lands less than two weeks before the midterm elections. “The Ford Foundation’s new vision is an evolution, not a revolution, of our work, and a reflection of this era’s rapidly changing global landscape,” Gerken said in a statement. Despite the name, the foundation operates independently of Ford Motor Company. Edsel Ford (Henry Ford’s son) started the…