Connecting People to Opportunity
Where We Work
We work in select metropolitan areas in the United States.
What We Fund
Our grant making focuses on problems like the scarcity of jobs in low-income communities, the lack of affordable housing in high-opportunity areas, inadequate and unaffordable transportation access, and the need to train workers for employment in regional industry sectors. To address these issues, we fund the following:
- Efforts to link transit-oriented development with affordable housing
- Initiatives that improve public transportation access between low-income communities and employment centers
- Activities that will help produce or preserve affordable housing in or easily accessible to high-opportunity areas
- Targeted strategies that will build economic activity in distressed neighborhoods
- Work that will identify job creation potential as a key consideration in the development of accessible and sustainable communities
We also support:
- National efforts to add value to the field through federal policy work, national media outreach, shaping industry standards and practices, and partnerships among nationwide networks
- Efforts in select metropolitan areas by diverse and innovative coalitions that can effectively combine the power of community and regional organizing with sophisticated work on policy, research, communications, and best practices to accomplish structural reforms
Additional Selection Criteria
We do not fund social services. We also do not support individual development projects unless the effort is a demonstration of a new strategy that has national significance; development of technical tools unless they are being applied to support a metropolitan initiative that meets our grant making guidelines; and initiatives that will not result in significant and direct benefits in terms of poverty reduction, regional equity, or sustainable development.
Status of Grant Making
The budget for fiscal year 2012 (October 2011 to September 2012) has already been committed, and we are not accepting unsolicited proposals at this time.
To Apply for a Grant
Follow these steps:
- Review the Initiatives 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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