Our Approach

How We Work

Working directly with communities to design and fund programs for communities, we create mobility solutions to solve today’s most pressing social and economic challenges. We invest in organizations and partnerships that build equity and create economic opportunity, working to meet the basic needs of communities while opening pathways to education and high-quality jobs.

Leveraging the full strength of the Ford Motor Company network, we apply our mobility expertise and harness the dedication of our employees throughout our programs and community investments.

About our grantmaking process

We award grants to organizations and initiatives that support our key areas of focus. Learn more about what we support and do not support here.

Who We Reach

In cities and regions around the world where Ford does business, we work side by side with grassroots groups and local communities to advance equity and create economic opportunity. We prioritize working with historically disenfranchised communities experiencing limited or no access to educational and economic opportunities, critical services and care.

Expanding Economic and Educational Opportunities in the Black Community

Ford and Ford Fund are longtime supporters of civil rights organizations such as the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), National Urban League and Rainbow PUSH Coalition, as well as institutions that celebrate and preserve African American history and culture.  

 

Over the past 20 years, we have invested more than $60 million in education programs and scholarships for Black students, including mentoring first-generation Black college students and providing support to Historically Black Colleges and Universities. We also provide access to capital, technical assistance and advisory services for Black-owned businesses and entrepreneurs.

Partnering with Latino and Hispanic Communities

For more than 40 years Ford and Ford Fund have invested in programs and partnerships that strengthen financial security and advance educational opportunities in Latino and Hispanic communities across the U.S. and Latin America.

We have provided more than $2 million in disaster relief efforts in Latino and Hispanic communities following earthquakes, hurricanes and other natural disasters – supplying essential goods, transportation, mental health services, hunger and educational resources.

Detroit, Our Hometown

Ford has been investing in Detroit since the company’s founding in 1903. Every year, Ford invests more than $20 million in education, arts and cultural institutions, social service organizations, food banks and children’s charities across Metro Detroit. Ford and Ford Fund are longtime supporters of local community events such as the Detroit Fireworks and America’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.

Our History

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

For more than 70 years, we’ve stayed true to that mission and expanded our reach – growing our partnerships around the world and engaging many more people through the unique programs we offer and the community investments we make.

Ford Foundation

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

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.