• Message from the President
• Letter from the Chair
• 
  VALUES IN ACTION
• Economic Opportunity
• Strengthening Democracy
• Access to Education
• 
  Global Reach and Impact
• Our 2007 Grantees
• 
  Mission Statement
• Our Staff
• Our Leadership
• Our Governance
• Financial Review

It is my privilege to serve as president of the foundation he steered, to act as the steward of a great philanthropic legacy. I follow in the footsteps of some of the foundation’s greatest leaders, Frank Thomas and Susan Berresford. They, like their predecessors, dedicated the foundation to overcoming the glaring injustices of their times, including the fight for civil rights, the abolition of apartheid and the achievement of equal rights for women.

Our mission at Ford has been, and will continue to be, based on a simple moral principle: a commitment to achieve social change for the betterment of those who are politically, economically and educationally disenfranchised. This mandate remains at the center of our aspirations.

Yet today, many of the foundation’s signature accomplishments from the 1960s and 1970s are under threat. African-American enfranchisement was a battle waged, and won, with our help. Now we are witness to a subtle but steady erosion of those rights. A large proportion of African-American and Latino children attend schools that are majority African-American and Latino – and enormously underresourced. The Ford Foundation fought hard against segregation a generation ago, yet the hard truth is that we are living in a country that is silently, yet rapidly, resegregating.

The foundation has long strived to reduce inequities in income globally, but the gap between the richest and the poorest is growing at a staggering pace. Not for four generations has income disparity been as great as it is today. Added to these dispiriting trends is the reality and complexity of vast migrations of people within and among countries worldwide. The scale of the problems we face has grown.

The landscape in which we work has also changed substantially. The ability to work on a global basis has been transformed by technological innovation, which allows us to work seamlessly around the world. A whole new generation of foundations has emerged, creating a level of new philanthropic giving not seen since the early 1900s. These foundations have ignited new excitement and spirited dialogue about innovative approaches to philanthropy.

My arrival at the foundation is an opportunity to take stock. Given how much has changed in the last decade, how can the Ford Foundation have even greater impact? To answer this question, I believe that the rich history of the foundation is the most useful and worthy guide. Our task is not to reinvent but to renew. We will build on the great traditions of the foundation to inspire a new generation of accomplishments. The achievements of this new era at the foundation will require that we adapt how we work in order to bring greater scale to our efforts; achieving that scale will require that we work with greater focus and even greater intensity.

The work to advance human welfare that has defined our history is more important than ever. The founding documents of this institution are remarkably clear and persistently relevant. We do not exist merely to make grants. We strive to improve the lives of those in the United States and abroad who do not otherwise have access to the power and resources they need to produce large-scale change. While we recognize the long-term nature of our task, we must reinvigorate our purpose with a new sense of urgency. As Martin Luther King Jr. once demanded, we must act by confronting “the fierce urgency of now.”

With renewed focus tens of millions of people in the United States and around the world still struggle to find opportunity, to have their voices heard, to access justice and to be treated with dignity. These are the people and these are the struggles that the Ford Foundation was founded to address.

Our mission – to promote peace and justice, equality and opportunity, knowledge and achievement – has defined this institution since its inception. Yet today’s urgent challenges demand that we intensify our focus on how we pursue this mission.

Over the course of 2008, our outstanding staff will be working together with our board, grantees and other external thought leaders to sharpen the aims of our work. We are seeking to ensure that our objectives are clear, that our grant strategies are geared to a changing world and that the work we do has true and lasting effect on people’s lives.

It is my hope, and the collective hope of the foundation’s dedicated staff, that with renewed strategic clarity, we will achieve the greatest impact in each area of our work.

We seek to build on the core strengths and values of the Ford Foundation, enabling us to broaden the scope and deepen the impact – to do more – of what we do best. We will intensify our commitment to improving the lives of the most vulnerable and marginalized; to supporting social justice and the long-term efforts that are needed to overcome the viciously persistent discrimination and intolerance that undermine the humanity of us all; and to developing leaders, organizations and networks that advance the basic objectives of fairness that have always defined our work.

We look forward to engaging our partners in this endeavor. We will be calling upon you for input, advice, suggestions and support. Working together, we can make ever greater strides toward the free, just and peaceful world that we all believe is possible and essential. – L.A.U.