Promoting Reproductive Rights and the Right to Sexual Health
Where We Work
This initiative focuses on developing reproductive and sexual health policies and laws that protect the rights of the most marginalized. We make grants in the United States, Mexico and Central America and Indonesia.
What We Fund
In the United States, we focus on bringing new, visible constituencies into the field, with an emphasis on engaging women of color and progressive religious leaders, and creating alliances with targeted social justice movements.
We also support efforts to advance the legal basis for, and specific policies of, direct concern to low-income women and girls of color.
Our grant-making priorities include:
- Ensuring that reproductive health access is covered in the implementation of the healthcare reform process
- Expanding Medicaid coverage for family planning and over-the-counter contraceptives
- Advocating for access to comprehensible sexuality education
- Promoting efforts to link HIV and sexuality and reproductive health and rights to policies and government programs
In addition, we fund groups working on longer-term goals such as expanding public funding for critical reproductive health services and securing other reproductive health rights. We do this by engaging new constituencies of women of color and other social justice groups in this work.
Additional Selection Criteria
We do not provide support for the following:
- Provision of direct medical or social services
- Conferences
- Development of medical curriculums
- Efforts to respond to pregnancy crisis
- Counseling centers
- Underwriting tables at benefits
- Honoring leadership in the field
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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