The Ford Foundation, one of the world’s largest grantmakers, will throw more weight behind democracy

NEW YORK (AP) — The Ford Foundation, one of the world’s largest private grantmakers, will overhaul its spending to counter what new leadership views as the mutually reinforcing rise of both autocracy and inequality.

The New York-based philanthropy committed Thursday to driving more funds toward the basic building blocks of democracy. The new strategic direction comes less than one year into Ford Foundation President Heather Gerken’s tenure at the helm of the social justice funder’s $18 billion endowment. In a report to trustees, Gerken — widely recognized as a leading expert on constitutional law and elections — framed the changes in the context of an “emboldened strain of 21st-century authoritarianism.”

Seven new programs — focused on democratic governance, inclusive economies, trustworthy information, public safety, gender equality, global cooperation and racial justice — will be detailed throughout next year. Their impact, Gerken suggested, will reach beyond just issues of democracy.

“If you don’t have a rule of law, if you don’t have an election system that functions, all the other values that Ford cares about, all the other projects that Ford has done over the years, fall apart,” she told The Associated Press. “So, protecting marginalized communities, pushing forward on equality, protecting the climate, all of these depend on those basic building blocks.”

It’s the foundation’s largest strategic refresh since immediate past president Darren Walker prioritized inequality in a 2015 overhaul. Already the nation’s leading democracy grantor by some counts, the Ford Foundation sees this new approach as a necessary extension of that focus.

A heightened focus at a time of growing philanthropic attention on democracy

The latest changes arrive in the heat of a midterm election cycle that has underscored the strains on American democracy.

Republicans drove unusual levels of partisan redistricting this year and the Supreme Court hollowed out the landmark Voting Rights Act. Fewer U.S. adults said democracy is central to the country’s identity in an April survey from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. International monitors have warned of a deterioration in political rights and civil liberties worldwide.

Foundations have fielded recent years’ tests to American democracy by increasing support. Foundation funding for democracy broadly tripled from 2016 to 2020, according to the nonprofit research service Candid, and has climbed slightly since a 2021 dip. George Soros’ Open Society Foundations pledged $300 million in May toward initiatives intended to defend democratic rights.

Meanwhile, President Donald Trump’s administration has sought to influence nonprofits by withholding funding or threatening investigations. The president has, at times, directed his campaign of retribution toward the advocacy groups underpinning civil society. Trump named billionaire philanthropists Soros and Reid Hoffman last year as he ordered a crackdown on “left-wing terrorism.” His allies in Congress have pushed for federal probes into nonprofits they oppose.

In response to the funding constraints faced by the philanthropic sector, the Ford Foundation vowed to deliver more larger-sized, multiyear general operating support. The most resilient grantees, Gerken said, have been those with more flexible funding. “The last year has confirmed how extraordinarily important it is for philanthropy to work in this way,” she said.

That commitment comes after the Ford Foundation discontinued a program that offered flexible funding for nonprofits’ general operations. Nick Turner, the executive vice president for programs, emphasized they are incorporating that effort, known as Building Institutions and Networks, into “the DNA of all of our grantmaking.”

Pro-democracy nonprofits need more sustained, generalized funding “that is less subject to the boom and bust cycle that we know will happen during election years,” according to Democracy Fund vice president Sanjiv Rao. The Democracy Fund, established by eBay founder Pierre Omidyar, has recently led efforts to support U.S. organizations that knock doors, run hotlines and challenge voting restrictions well in advance of Election Day.

Rao also stressed the need for philanthropy to adopt an expansive definition of pro-democracy work.

“Groups that are galvanizing their communities around issues of shared concern, regardless of what those issues are, are all pro-democracy groups,” he said.

‘Marginalized communities’ remain central to mission

Gerken is also standing firm on the foundation’s support for LGBTQ causes, racial justice and other “work for marginalized communities.” She noted that she used her presidential funds to double the foundation’s immigration budget this year.

“Those are places where not everyone is staying,” she said. “We are staying.”

Such commitments have, in recent years, put the foundation at odds with conservative policymakers including Vice President JD Vance. Speaking as a 2021 U.S. Senate candidate, Vance described the Ford Foundation and others as “cancers on American society” while decrying that “we are actively subsidizing the people who are destroying this country.”

Progressive nonprofits questioned whether major foundations would maintain their support when such critics entered the White House last year. Gerken emphasized that “the most important thing in a moment like this is not to be buffeted.” The Ford Foundation, she noted, defended free speech during the era of McCarthyism and supported civil rights litigation in the 1960s.

“The protection of marginalized communities and their basic rights is central to what we do,” she said. “While I recognize that that work isn’t always a source of common ground, it is incredibly important and it is the right thing to do.”

Gerken also emphasized that the foundation’s work is nonpartisan. She pointed to $80 million this year for nonprofits working to safeguard election results including Pillars of the Community. Co-led by a former White House counsel to President Barack Obama and an adviser to multiple Republican presidential campaigns, the nonprofit seeks to build public confidence in voting systems.

While the philanthropic sector has invested heavily in reducing polarization, Gerken plans to focus on another possibility: that polarization will exist well into the future. Without sharing details, she said her team is “thinking hard” about how to bolster democratic institutions “in a world where we’re completely polarized.”

Beginning January 2027, Ford Foundation staff will shift to three temporary units to maintain its existing grants while simultaneously transitioning new ones. To pause grantmaking “would be a sin at a moment like this,” Gerken said. A spokesperson estimated the foundation will move $700 million in grants for 2027 — though that figure could increase based on new needs and endowment growth.

The changes do mean other programs will eventually be sunset. Ford Foundation officials declined to share which of its more than 2300 grantees will lose funding; Turner said it’s “too early to say.” He pledged to exit fields responsibly “with respect and grace and care and support.”

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