Taking a Long View: The Roots and Mission of the Ford Foundation
At regular intervals, I like to go back to the Ford Foundation's charter to recheck our settings and be sure we are on course, following both our founder's expectations as to the most effective and intelligent use of resources and citizens' expectations for public benefit. Then, having agreed with our trustees about course corrections, it is good to talk about this process with the public to increase understanding of how foundations fulfill their roles and responsibilities in society.
The Ford Foundation was established in 1936 by the legendary Henry Ford. The foundation's charter stated that it was to "receive and administer funds for scientific, educational and charitable purposes, all for the public welfare." After the death of Henry Ford and his son Edsel, and in anticipation of significant asset growth, those general goals were refined by a committee appointed by Henry Ford II and chaired by H. Rowan Gaither, a distinguished lawyer from San Francisco. The committee's conclusions, published on September 27, 1950, in what came to be known as the Gaither Report, wisely set out a broad framework for the foundation's mission. Defining five general areas of grant making to be pursued around the globe, the report noted that these categories were not meant to be a straitjacket: "the Trustees and officers of the Foundation must at all times remain alert, however, to the dynamic nature of the needs and problems of human welfare and must stand ready to reorient their programs as conditions and opportunities change."
The Gaither Report received the support of Ford family members and the foundation's board of trustees. It begins with a strong statement about the meaning of human welfare and links it directly to the advancement of democratic ideals:
Basic to human welfare is general acceptance of the dignity of man. This rests on the conviction that man is endowed with certain unalienable rights and must be regarded as an end in himself, not as a cog in the mechanisms of society or a means to some social end. At its heart, this is a belief in the inherent worth of the individual and in the intrinsic value of human life. Implicit in this concept is the conviction that society must accord all men equal rights and opportunity.
Human welfare requires tolerance and respect for individual social, religious, and cultural differences, and for the varying needs and aspirations to which differences give rise. It requires freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of worship, and freedom of association. Within wide limits, every person has a right to go his own way and to be free from interference or harassment because of nonconformity.
In its discussion of these principles, the report emphasizes that democratic values must constantly evolve and be translated into action if democracy itself is to be sustained through changing times. Moreover, it posits that the resulting vitality and stability of democracy are essential to national security:
In times of uncertainty, there is a tendency to resist change out of an illusion that free institutions are made more secure by an unchanging order. This, we believe, strikes at the very heart of democracy. Democracy must do more than declare its principles and ideals; it must constantly translate them into action. For its great strength lies in its ability to move steadily forward toward the greater achievement of its goals and the more complete fulfillment of human welfare—to meet the eternal challenge of change by giving, where necessary, fresh forms to its underlying principles. It is man's faith in this dynamic ability that assures the survival of democracy.
The report then described five areas of possible work. Although organized in somewhat different groupings today, Ford's current programs follow these guideposts with modest changes reflecting new knowledge or new perspectives.
The first area recommended for foundation action was "world peace and the establishment of a world order of law and justice." The report urged attention to the mitigation of tensions between nations, to research and education about lasting arrangements for peace, to strengthening the United Nations, and to improving the ways that the U.S. government and private groups in the United States participate in world affairs. In this view, Ford's grantees could play important theoretical and practical roles in peacemaking.
The second area for action was to strengthen "basic principles of freedom and democracy in the solution of the insistent problems of an ever-changing society." Here the report urged funding to eliminate restrictions on freedom of thought, inquiry and expression in the face of persistent international tension; support for efforts to maintain democratic control over concentrations of public and private power; and better processes for the conduct of governmental affairs as well as for the adjudication of private rights and the interpretation and enforcement of law.
The third area of funding aimed "to advance the economic well-being of people everywhere and to improve economic institutions for the better realization of democratic goals." The committee noted a need to spur a growing economy and high levels of employment, equality of economic opportunity for all individuals, and a proper balance between freedom and control in economic affairs to serve the well-being of the entire society. The report stressed that social order is secured by developing individuals' economic understanding and skill. And it urged improvement in the standard of living and economic status of peoples worldwide.
The fourth focus was to "strengthen, expand and improve educational facilities and methods to enable individuals more fully to realize their intellectual, civic, and spiritual potential; to promote greater equality of educational opportunity; and to conserve and increase knowledge and enrich our culture." Here the report encouraged teacher education, leadership and talent development, and the responsibility of education to develop in citizens a sense of values. The report went on to call for the reduction of economic, religious and racial barriers to equality of educational opportunity, the development of all types of media for non-academic education and the enrichment of leisure time.
The final area for attention was scientific work to "increase knowledge of factors which influence or determine human conduct." Activities the foundation might support included the study of human development and the interaction of biological, interpersonal and cultural influences on the range of human behavior; studies of values and the learning process; studies of communications and its effects on behavior; development of measures of effectiveness in human service professions; and increasing the use of this knowledge by professionals, administrators and policy makers.
Although aspects of the report's language today seem dated (for example, the use of "man" or "he" to represent all human beings) and a few subjects are overlooked entirely (environmental threats and the force of social movements), the wise recommendations in the report are a guide to the foundation's present support for activities in the United States and around the world.
What I particularly admire in the report is its blend of idealism and practicality. Its authors believed that societies can and should test new arrangements to produce greater equality of educational and economic opportunity; that the world's leaders can and should establish standards of justice and law that support democratic values; that free expression and nonconformity are worth our protection because they often contribute to innovation and progress in democracy. Moreover, the report expresses a concern about how human beings treat one another, and for the elimination of people's suffering. It challenges the foundation to aim for the fullest development of human intellectual, emotional, and spiritual capacities, with the conviction that conditions can change for the better if philanthropists get involved.
Fifty years later, at the start of the 21st century, we face no fewer problems than those Rowan Gaither, Henry Ford II and their colleagues considered. Progress has occurred over the last 50 years, but given the report's admirably idealistic goals, much remains to be done in each of the areas recommended for foundation action. That should neither surprise nor discourage us. It simply makes clear our responsibility to manage the foundation's resources so that its work can continue over many more 50-year spans.
Today, we pursue the work set out for us through three programs and 13 offices around the world. The first program aims to improve economic opportunity for disadvantaged communities and individuals by expanding employment and income generation options. It also works to strengthen communities and help them mobilize social, economic and natural resources to improve living conditions.
The second program works to strengthen educational and cultural institutions, communications and media systems to enhance public life, and to build knowledge about the role of religion in providing moral vision and guidance in the formation of values, identity and community. This program also contains our work on human behavior, currently focused on human sexuality and its relations to both healthy development and social problems.
The third program supports peacemaking, respect for human rights, and the improvement of democratic practice and governmental policy making. It fosters civil society organizations and policies that support positive action by the citizenry.
All three programs fund leadership development work among scholars, other professionals and community leaders, particularly for individuals from historically marginalized and disadvantaged groups. Finally, all three programs support work to advance reproductive health and responses to the HIV/AIDS pandemic.
In all these activities, Ford trustees and staff remain true to the innovative spirit that created Henry Ford's success in business and to the Gaither Report's vision of the foundation's mission. Today, as through the foundation's history, we seek people with promising ideas. We help them develop their visions and introduce their ideas into the public domain. Ultimately, formal and informal democratic processes either absorb or set aside these ideas. Consistent with the Gaither Report's road map, we do not shy away from courageous, nonconformist people who are protecting basic freedoms and democratic values, and we try to improve opportunity for strivers and provide assistance for people in need. In this sense, the Ford Foundation proudly joins the family of institutions dedicated to stewardship of humane values in the global community.
Susan V. Berresford
President
Ford Foundation
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