Equals Change Blog

In our “post-truth” world, we are all overwhelmed by information. In-person interactions struggle to compete with the ceaseless barrage of push notifications popping up on our mobile devices. Attention, trust, and full presence are now among our scarcest resources.

A growing number of foundations around the world are experimenting with new approaches to philanthropy. Our new paper explores what we can learn from them.

Kevin Ryan joined the Ford Foundation’s Equitable Development team earlier this year, leading our grant making in Detroit. Here, the Detroit native talks about his family’s history in the city and region, the changes he’s seen in Detroit over the years, and the shape and scope of the foundation’s grant making there.

Around the world, corporations are using Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (SLAPPs) to silence environmental activists. 

The Ford Foundation is committing up to $1 billion from its $12 billion endowment over the next 10 years to the nascent investment field known as mission-related investing.

The Ford Foundation is looking for technologists to join our grant-making teams and help them advance social justice and challenge inequality.

According to a new research report from the Center for Effective Philanthropy, 67 percent of foundations say they should listen more to grantees.

The Culture Lab and Race Forward offer five questions and a tool kit to help social change and media makers become better storytellers. 

Darren Walker on how ignorance can fuel inequality, and learning from our oversights can forge a way towards justice.

Foundation presidents acknowledge the courageous organizations working every day to push past despair and create change. #reasonsforhope

The Movement for Black Lives has created an opportunity for philanthropy to see and learn from new and dynamic forms of social justice leadership and infrastructure.

The Ford Foundation's new strategy to support institutions and networks, and to strengthen civil society, ensuring that the courageous people within it have what they need to fight for a more just and equitable world.

an excerpt from The Shrinking Space for Civil Society: Philanthropic Perspectives From Across the Globe, a new report from the European Foundation Centre (EFC)

Unlike traditional scholarships based primarily on academic achievement, social justice fellowships use non-traditional ways to recruit talented individuals and extend higher education opportunities to leaders from marginalized communities.

The Ford Foundation is looking for technologists to join our grant making teams and help them advance social justice and challenge inequality.

Darren Walker announces the launch of #InequalityIs, a conversation about inequality in all its forms.

The New Yorker profiles Darren Walker and his leadership in rethinking philanthropy and defining a new strategy to combat inequality.

We're transforming our landmark building into a center for philanthropy and civil society.

Ford Foundation awarded the Kumquat Prize by Chinese NGOs.

With the announcement of our new programs, we know many of you have questions. We answer some of them here.

Today, the Ford Foundation’s two-year transition is over. Darren Walker explains the details of FordForward.

Ford's president takes question on a live facebook chat.

A new tool from the Foundation Center—"Foundations Funding US Democracy”—allows funders and civil society organizations to align, collaborate, and coordinate better.

In his annual message, Darren Walker explains why now is the time for philanthropy to reimagine the "gospel of giving."

Supporting institutions at their core, through critical general support, is the key to building durable, resilient institutions that can take on inequality and advance justice.

As we celebrate Independence Day, we reflect on the lessons about working for freedom and justice over the past months.

We are making some big changes—but what will never change is our commitment to supporting those closest to the problems, engaging collaboratively with every sector, and pursuing the cause of justice and dignity for all people.

Peer-review grant making provides philanthropy with an innovative way to challenge the donor-grantee power dynamic.

Learn about Ford's commitment to Detroit.

Learn more about the four social justice leaders who received the 2014 MacArthur Fellowship.

Fund for Shared Insight is a collaborative effort to make grants to improve philanthropy.

Darren Walker reflects on his first twelve months as president of the Ford Foundation, and provides his thoughts for the future of the organization.

President Darren Walker shares his 2014 summer reading list.

Read one program officer's process of trying to articulate his work's theory of change.

Learn how and why Ford used crowdsourcing to help frame its new website.

Read Darren Walker's response to a series of articles found in the Standford Social Innovation Review where the authors argue that foundations can employ a more nuanced model of strategic giving that better suits the complexities of making change in the real world.