Our Mission

Impact Areas

We work with community leaders and nonprofits to co-create and invest in solutions that expand access across three impact areas:

Essential services

Leveraging technology and transportation to expand access to essential services when and where they are needed in the community

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Education for the future of work

Providing the next generation of leaders from under-resourced and underrepresented communities with access to training, programs and resources to work in the new economy

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Entrepreneurship

Connecting entrepreneurs with access to capital, mentorship and training to diversify the pipeline of entrepreneurs and create mobile businesses that expand access to essential goods and services

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How We Deliver Impact

We work across Ford, leveraging the company's scale, resources and mobility expertise to support local communities through our Ford Resource and Engagement Centers, employee volunteerism and grantmaking. Our success is based on three key factors–developing strong community relationships, working together with our local partners, and finding ways to serve people that only Ford can uniquely offer.

Whether we have worked together for decades or are embarking on a new partnership, having strong relationships is foundational for us. Our funding and partnership approach is driven by a local-first mindset. We start by listening and collaborating with our on-the-ground community partners to understand local needs and how we can best provide support. Then with our partners’ input, we think about the ways to apply Ford’s resources, expertise, and cutting-edge mobility innovations to drive progress.

About our grantmaking process

We award grants to organizations and initiatives that support our key impact areas and drive impact in communities around the world. Learn more about what we support here.

Who We Reach

We partner with communities where Ford has roots–spanning more than 40 countries around the globe. Within each community, we work at the local level with nonprofits and organizations to build new pathways to education, create work opportunities, and make essential services more accessible for under-resourced and underrepresented groups.

Where We Deliver Impact

Our hometown is Detroit, and Ford has been investing in Detroit since the company’s founding in 1903. At Ford Fund, we have been working shoulder-to-shoulder with nonprofits and community organizations in the city for more than seven decades, and our contributions to education, food security, child and family advocacy and arts and culture are evident across Metro Detroit. Ford has a strong presence on-the-ground and will continue to support Detroit for the long haul.

We also invest in strategic programming and coordinated initiatives with Ford dealers, employees and community organizations in our plant cities and in other strategic locations across the U.S. and around the world. Our partnerships and programming are designed to be responsive to unique community needs and help ensure people have equitable opportunities to move forward.

Our History

Ford Motor Company Fund was founded in 1949 as the corporate foundation for Ford Motor Company.

As the philanthropic arm, we are at the heart of Ford’s commitment to building a better world, where every person is free to move and pursue their dreams. We’ve worked to expand on that mission and our reach by growing our partnerships around the world and engaging more people through the unique programs we offer and the community investments we make.

Ford Foundation

The Ford family founded Ford Foundation in 1936. When Henry and Edsel died in the mid-1940s, their bequests made the foundation one of the largest in the world. Henry Ford II resigned from the Ford Foundation board in 1977 and the family remained uninvolved until Henry Ford III joined the board in 2019.

Ford Fund and Ford Foundation are separate entities with no relationship to each other. Each operates independently.