Development Co‑operation Profiles: Ford Foundation
Table of contents
Ford Foundation is an independent organisation headquartered in New York. It has 10 regional offices across Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East.
This foundation works to address inequality and build a future grounded in justice. For more than 85 years, it has supported activities on social change worldwide, guided by its mission to strengthen democratic values, reduce poverty and injustice, promote international co-operation, and advance human achievement.
This profile presents verified data on development assistance allocation. See the Development Co-operation Profiles.
Ford Foundation provided USD 304.4 million for development in 2023 through its grantmaking activities. Compared to 2022, this amount represents a decrease by 5.4% in real terms. Grants represented 100% of the Ford Foundation’s gross disbursements.
In 2023, Ford Foundation channelled its bilateral development finance mainly through non-governmental organisations (NGOs) (USD 255.3 million) and universities, research institutes or think-tanks (USD 29.9 million).
In 2023, Ford Foundation provided USD 7.5 million to the multilateral system, representing 2.5% of its total development finance. All of these were earmarked for specific countries, regions, themes, or purposes. Over half (66 %) of these multilateral contributions were channelled through United Nations (UN) organisations and UN funds and programmes.
The UN system received USD 5 million from the Ford Foundation in 2023. The most significant UN recipients were UNWOMEN (USD 1.9 million), PAHO (USD 1 million) and OHCHR (USD 700 thousand).
See the section on Geographic and thematic focus of ODA for the breakdown of bilateral allocations, including ODA earmarked through the multilateral development system.
In 2023, civil society organisations (CSOs) received USD 255.3 million of the Ford Foundation’s gross bilateral finance, of which 45.9% was directed to developing country-based CSOs. Overall, over half (58.3 %) was allocated to CSOs as core support, while 25.5% was earmarked to specific projects or programmes. From 2022 to 2023, the combined core and earmarked contributions for CSOs increased as a share of bilateral ODA, from 77.6% to 83.9%.
Learn more about the DAC Recommendation on Enabling Civil Society in Development Co-operation and Humanitarian Aid.
In 2023, Ford Foundation’s development finance was primarily focused on Latin America and the Caribbean and Africa. USD 68.9 million was allocated to Latin America and the Caribbean and USD 61 million to Africa, accounting respectively for 22.6% and 20% of gross bilateral development finance. A sum of USD 128.3 million (42.1%) was unspecified by region in 2023, mainly including multi-regional programmes, core support and research grants.
In 2023, 32.5% of gross development finance went to the top 10 recipients, most notably Brazil and Indonesia.
Least developed countries (LDCs) and other low-income countries (LICs) received respectively USD 4 million (1.3%) and USD 600 thousand (0.2%) of Ford Foundation’s gross disbursements in 2023. Ford Foundation allocated the highest share (27.7%) of its bilateral development finance to upper middle-income countries in 2023, followed by lower middle-income countries (8.5%), noting that USD 189.4 million (62.2%) was unallocated by income group.
Furthermore, Ford Foundation allocated USD 2.5 million of its development finance to landlocked developing countries in 2023, and USD 1 million to small island developing states (SIDS) in 2023. The main SIDS recipients are Cuba and the Dominican Republic.
Support to contexts with high and extreme fragility reached USD 21.2 million in 2023, representing 7% of Ford Foundation’s bilateral development finance. Of this, contexts with extreme fragility received a sum of USD 700 thousand.
Learn more about the OECD States of Fragility platform.
In 2023, Ford Foundation’s largest allocations went to social infrastructure and services. Investments in this area accounted for 76% of bilateral commitments (USD 206.2 million). Bilateral contributions allocated to multi-sector amounted to USD 30.7 million, with a strong focus on general environmental protection. The production sectors totalled USD 6.4 million, while humanitarian assistance amounted to USD 3.6 million.
In 2023, Ford Foundation committed the largest shares of its contributions to SDG 16 (peace, justice and strong institutions), SDG 5 (gender equality) and SDG 10 (reduced inequalities) of the United Nations 2030 Agenda. Support for SDG 5 amounted to USD 94.4 million. Contributions to SDG 13 (climate action) totalled USD 19.7 million.
Access the full list of providers at this link: Development Co-operation Profiles.
Official website: https://www.fordfoundation.org
The methodological notes provide further details on the definitions and statistical methodologies applied, including the grant-equivalent methodology, core and earmarked contributions to multilateral organisations, country programmable aid, channels of delivery, bilateral ODA unspecified/unallocated, bilateral allocable ODA, the gender equality policy marker, and the environment markers.
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