The Ford Foundation is the second-largest private foundation in the United States, with an endowment of $16 billion. Its primary focus is on funding organizations that focus on social justice and equality.
Previously, we analyzed the Ford Foundation’s funding in the global south from two pots — its main grantmaking and additional cash raised via a social bond, which together were worth $1.4 billion over the past five years. However, the foundation’s grantmaking is not limited to these two options.
The foundation recognizes that organizations need core support to keep operations running. Thus, the Ford Foundation created the Building Institutions and Networks, or BUILD, initiative in 2016, which involves providing general operating support to social justice organizations. It has, so far, given out $1.4 billion toward this initiative since its inception.