FORD FOUNDATION

Contact information:
320 East 43rd Street
New York, NY 10017
Phone: 212-573-5000
Fax: 212-351-3677

Website: http://www.fordfound.org/

Type of foundation: Independent

Types of grants: General/core support; project; planning; matching; endowment; foundation-administered project; program-related investment.

Description: The Ford Foundation was founded in Michigan by Edsel Ford, president of the Ford Motor Company, with an initial gift of $25,000. Edsel's father, Henry, was the founder of the Ford Motor Company. The Foundation operated as a local philanthropy in Michigan until 1950, when it expanded to become a national and international foundation. Since its inception, it has been an independent, nonprofit, non-governmental organization and has provided more than $15 billion in grants and loans. The Foundation no longer owns Ford Motor Company stock and is completely separate from the company.

The Ford Foundation supports "innovative thinkers, leaders and organizations that are working to reduce poverty and injustice and to promote democratic values, free expression and human achievement. When making grants, [the Foundation thinks] about long-term strategies, knowing that lasting social change requires decades of effort."

The Ford Foundation has a long history of support for public media, beginning with core funding in the 1950's to develop educational broadcast channels and programs that eventually led to the creation of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting in 1967. Since 1951, the foundation has provided more than $435 million of support to public television and radio for core support, innovative programming and educational outreach. This includes funding for Sesame Street and for production of independent documentaries broadcast on public media outlets such as the award-winning Eyes on the Prize. In 2007, Ford invested $50 million in helping leading public media organizations expand their capacity to present “Global Perspectives in a Digital Age.”

Media grants are made principally through the Foundation’s Freedom of Expression giving area, which the Foundation breaks into sub-areas, including:

• Advancing Media Rights and Access, which aims to promote media diversity and ensure equal access to all media platforms.
• Exploring Issues of Justice Through Media, which promotes projects focused on educating the public about social justice issues. This is the program area that appears to have the most promise for U.S. public media.
• Advancing Public Service Media, which focuses on building vibrant public interest media service for the 21st century in Eastern Africa, West Africa, Indonesia, India, Nepal and Sri Lanka. Note: The Foundation used to make grants to U.S. public media through this program; it appears to focus now only on international media.
• JustFilms, which supports documentary films exploring social justice issues.
• Religion in the Public Sphere, which supports media-based efforts to "increase the presence and effectiveness of diverse religious perspectives dedicated to social justice."
• Supporting Diverse Arts Spaces, which supports emerging and established arts facilities that are firmly grounded in the communities in which they reside and that are models of artistic innovation, cultural and community collaboration, and social partnership.

The Foundation’s approach to funding media has undergone some changes in recent years. Like the Foundation’s other grant areas, Freedom of Expression places heavy emphasis on social justice. It has become increasingly global in focus. And it is placing more emphasis on collaboration. This speech by Foundation President Luis Ubiñas sheds light on the evolution of Ford’s thinking around media funding.

The Freedom of Expression program is directed by Jonathan Barzilay who joined the Foundation in 2011. Before coming to the foundation, Barzilay was senior vice president and head of content at FLO TV since 2008. Prior to that, he was senior vice president and general manager at CBS Interactive, overseeing the online entertainment business for the network. Previously, he served as senior vice president at Disney/ABC Cable Networks and general manager at Toon Disney and ABC Kids, among numerous other management posts over 15-years at Disney/ABC. For Barzilay’s views on the Ford Foundation’s media funding and its growing interest in supporting collaborations, listen to this interview with On the Media.

In addition to the Freedom of Expression program, the Foundation has strong interests in several other issues that intersect with public media’s work, including:

• Increasing civic and political participation.
• Economic fairness and security.
• Educational opportunity, including transforming secondary education.
• Human rights, including racial justice and LGBT rights.
• Transforming the criminal justice system.
• Sustainable development, including climate change’s impact on rural areas.

Sample grants:

• $3,000,000 to NPR to expand its international reporting and for News and Notes, a public affairs program focusing on issues of importance to Black Americans (2007).
• $1,250,000 to Minnesota Public Radio/American Public Media to establish and launch Wealth and Poverty Desk on Marketplace program which will produce and distribute original reporting and analysis on economic disparity and inequity in the United States (2012).
• $1,200,000 to NPR to expand international reporting and programming capacity and for Tell Me More, public affairs program giving voice to issues of importance to black Americans (2009).
• $1,000,000 to Independent Television Service for Global Perspectives Project's independently produced television documentary programming to bring international perspectives to the U.S. and carry diverse American perspectives to the world (2012).
• $1,000,000 to Tribeca Film Institute for Tribeca New Media Fund to develop, produce and disseminate Transmedia projects on social justice issues and develop targeted outreach plans to better engage non-traditional and new audiences (2012).
• $1,000,000 to Sundance Institute for Documentary Film Program's grant making, screenings and collaborative initiatives to support independent artists worldwide and promote the exhibition of documentary films on contemporary issues (2012).
• $850,000 to ProPublica to fund three investigative reporting positions focusing on issues of inequity and to produce investigative journalism in the public interest (2012).
• $700,000 to WGBH Educational Foundation for production of four new American Experience documentaries (2005).
• $600,000 to the Prometheus Radio Project to build a nationwide participatory media infrastructure by helping community groups secure radio licenses, build stations and adapt in the digital age and promoting a favorable regulatory environment (2012).
• $600,000 to the Center for Media Justice for work that aims to advance racial justice, economic equity, and human rights (2012).
• $520,000 to Los Angeles Times to enable the LA Times to cover under-reported topics of public interest and importance including wealth and poverty, immigration and criminal justice (2012).
• $500,000 to Southern California Public Radio for in-depth coverage of governance and civic engagement issues, with an emphasis on urban affairs, equity and injustice (2012).
• $500,000 to Consumers Union of the United States for Knowledge Exchange Project to organize four meetings between grassroots and Washington-based media reform organizations to encourage and facilitate collaboration on media justice issues (2012).
• $500,000 to WP Company, LLC (Washington Post) for a team of investigative reporters to undertake a broad range of social justice reporting focused on government accountability at the federal, state and local levels (2012).
• $500,000 to WETA to produce, create and implement a public engagement, education and communications campaign for The Latino Americans, a television documentary series chronicling Latino American history since 1800 (2011).
• $500,000 to WNYC Radio to help New York Public Radio (NYPR) acquire four New Jersey public radio stations as the first phase of a plan to create a multi-platform, New Jersey-centric news operation providing programming to underserved audiences (2011).
• $500,000 to Participant Media to implement local market social action campaigns in up to 20 cities related to the documentary, Waiting for Superman, a Review of American Public Education (2010).
• $500,000 to ITVS to bring more international perspectives to US audiences (2009).
• $480,000 to Minnesota Public Radio for core support for broadcast of Krista Tippett-On Being, nationally distributed radio program which works to challenge, enrich and reframe the public dialogue about religion and belief through both radio and online conversations (2011).
• $400,000 to Radio Bilingue for reporting on immigration, workforce development and democratic participation for Spanish-speaking and indigenous audiences nationwide (2012).
• $400,000 to WGBH Educational Foundation to Launch Historysync, an online media portal using American Experience film clips and the power of social media to fuel public conversation and dialogue on present-day social justice issues (2012).
• $400,000 to NBC Universal for In Plain Sight, a series of stories, features and in-depth reports on the new face of poverty in America including the growing disparity between different income and asset classes and racial groups (2012).
• $400,000 to WNET for production of Exploring Our Roots, special PBS series featuring Henry Louis Gates, Jr (2011).
• $375,000 to Futuro Media Group to support Latino USA, the longest running Latino-focused program on the radio, so they may produce a series of special reports on issues of civic and social justice (2012).
• $325,000 to America Abroad Media to produce radio and television programs on international issues (2008).
• $320,000 to Minnesota Public Radio for Speaking of Faith (2009).
• $300,000 to the Nation Institute to create reporting fellowships to investigate and report on the root causes and consequences of social inequality in the United States and commission related features (2012).
• $300,000 to Global News Enterprises, LLC, Global Post to produce a series of multimedia special reports and a daily blog on social justice issues around the world and to staff the project (2012).
• $300,000 to Active Voice for The Story Strategy and Sustained Impact Project to expand and deepen the impact of powerful social justice films helping them become catalysts for short- and long-term social change (2012).
• $300,000 to Koahnic Broadcast Corporation to produce, distribute and promote daily news and information programs, National Native News and Native America Calling, and to expand national radio distribution service, Native Voice One (2011).
• $300,000 to Prometheus Radio Project for organizational development, advocacy and expansion of community-based radio (2008).
• $250,000 to Show of Force to produce Half the Sky, a four-hour primetime television series highlighting individual stories and critical issues related to women's economic development and struggles against fundamentalism (2012).
• $250,000 to Educational Broadcasting Corporation for post-production support for Women, War and Peace, a five-part documentary series examining how women are suffering casualties in today's wars but also emerging as leaders in brokering peace (2011).
• $240,000 to Pacific News Service for Save Our Services campaign to help local ethnic media in 16 states and metropolitan areas develop and place customized messages encouraging their communities to participate in the census (2010).
• $200,000 to Public Radio Exchange to develop its distribution service across multiple platforms and harness technology to enable a diverse range of content providers to deliver high-quality programming on critical social issues (2012).
• $200,000 to Educational Video in Spanish to complete production of Harvest of Empire, a feature-length documentary focusing on the connection between immigration and the history of U.S. intervention in Latin America (2012).
• $200,000 to Educational Broadcasting Corporation for production of Wide Angle, a public TV news show covering underreported issues (2009).
• $200,000 to Native American Public Telecommunications to train Native American theater and radio artists to produce audio works for public broadcast (2006).
• $150,000 to Progressive, Inc. for The Progressive Media Project to place minority and immigrant voices in mainstream newspapers and train racial justice organizations on how to effectively disseminate their messages through op-eds (2012).
• $150,000 to NPR to produce a series of programs on immigration (2008).
• $125,000 to Independent Feature Project for Independent Filmmaker Lab, year-long mentoring program for first-time directors and to expand the marketing and distribution labs for filmmakers to provide more attention for each project (2012).
• $100,000 to Arts Engine for outreach and distribution of "THE INTERNET MUST GO," a comedic, plot-driven documentary designed to educate the public about net neutrality and the importance of the open Internet (2012).
• $100,000 to Principe Productions to complete post-production on Raca, a documentary examining Brazil's struggle for racial equity through three interwoven stories (2012).
• $100,000 to National Black Programming Consortium for Public Media Corps, new national service that would train fellows to work in public media institutions, schools, libraries and community centers to drive broadband adoption (2010).
• $60,000 to the Media and Democracy Coalition for its annual meeting and transition management (2012).
• $25,000 to Reel Lives for general support to teach marginalized refugee and war-affected youth to find an authentic voice through the medium of film (2012).

Fit for public broadcasting: The Ford Foundation has a long-standing and continuing commitment to public-service media. It has made significant investments in helping public media address global issues and move successfully into the digital age. The Foundation also moved relatively early into supporting public-service media outlets that are not associated with the public radio and television system (e.g., ProPublica). Public media stations should note the Foundation’s heavy emphasis on social justice and on collaborations. The strongest fit for public media is clearly going to be for initiatives that address key social justice issues, that leverage impact through innovation and collaboration, and that reach and engage broad audiences through innovative use of on-air and digital media. Stations that have or are developing community-based arts spaces may want to investigate the Foundation’s Supporting Diverse Arts Spaces giving area.

Deadline: None

How to apply: Initial approach is by brief letter of inquiry or online submission via website. A Grant Application Guide explains the Foundation’s grant-making process. Note that the Foundation receives 40,000 proposals each year and awards about 1,400 grants. It can take a long time to cultivate a relationship with the Foundation.

Giving range: $10,000 - $6,000,000 plus.

Assets: $10,498,932,621 (year ended Sept 30, 2011).

Total giving: $427,625,656; $60 million in Freedom of Expression area (year ended Sept 30, 2011).

View all annual reports dating back to 2000 here.