Advancing Economic and Social Rights
Where We Work
The foundation's offices in the Middle East and North Africa, Southern Africa, West Africa, and India, Nepal and Sri Lanka work on economic and social rights issues. From New York, we also fund national activities in the United States and provide support to organizations whose work has global scope and/or influence.
What We Fund
We focus on using human rights law and strategy to secure key economic and social rights for those who are poor and otherwise marginalized or excluded.
Our work promotes and, where appropriate, creates effective institutions and mechanisms for people to successfully demand their economic and social rights and have remedies available to them where those rights are violated.
Our grants support the following:
- Legal Advocacy and Strategic Litigation. To advance the protection of economic and social rights in law at the national, regional and global levels
- Research and Documentation. To effectively monitor violations of economic and social rights and advance knowledge about how to integrate economic and social rights standards into national policymaking and practice
- Training, Networks and Alliances. To help those most affected by economic and social rights violations to articulate and demand their rights, and link them to communities of activists and litigators working on these issues
Additional Selection Criteria
We do not support direct service delivery or policy work that does not integrate human rights law and standards as a main organizing principle.
To Apply for a Grant
Follow these steps:
- Review the Initiative(s) most relevant to your work.
- Read our Grant Application Guide, which describes our grant-making process.
- If you determine that your work aligns with our priorities, submit a Grant Inquiry. (While we welcome submissions, please keep in mind that our funds are limited in relation to the large number of worthwhile inquiries we receive. In a typical year, less than 1 percent of unsolicited inquiries result in a grant.)
Please Note:
It is important that you use our grant inquiry form—and refrain from contacting program officers directly. Given the volume of inquiries we receive, this allows us to log, track and respond quickly to your application.
Fellowships
The vast majority of foundation grants go to organizations. We provide a very limited number of fellowship opportunities for individuals through the Ford Foundation Diversity Fellowships Program, which aims to diversify the faculties of American colleges and universities.
The foundation does not have any other active fellowship opportunities at this time.
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