Foundations and Donors Step Up Grants to Help Workers Hurt by the Pandemic
The Chronicle of Philanthropy profiles the Families and Workers Fund, launched by Ford and seven other grant makers to support low-wage workers hardest hit by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Published in the chronicle of philanthropy | APRIL 14, 2020
Foundations and Donors Step Up Grants to Help Workers Hurt by the Pandemic
By Alex Daniels
In the coronavirus era, the heroes drive delivery trucks, bag groceries, and clean hospital floors. As those employees have stayed on the job, risking their lives to ensure others can stay comfortable in seclusion, a new movement is underway to help those workers.
Foundations that have long supported labor groups are stepping up their funding and recruiting others to join a movement that some experts think could lead to sweeping policy changes.
On Tuesday, a group of eight grant makers and individual donors committed $7.1 million to the Families and Workers Fund, which will make grants for emergencies and for advocacy efforts to push for long-term policy efforts to reshape labor regulation.
Donors to the fund include the Amalgamated, Annie E. Casey, Ford, JPG, and W.K. Kellogg foundations, and Open Society foundations as well as Schmidt Futures and the philanthropist Abigail Disney.
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The Ford Foundation is an independent organization working to address inequality and build a future grounded in justice. For more than 85 years, it has supported visionaries on the frontlines of social change worldwide, guided by its mission to strengthen democratic values, reduce poverty and injustice, promote international cooperation, and advance human achievement. Today, with an endowment of $16 billion, the foundation has headquarters in New York and 10 regional offices across Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East.