A Foundation’s Real Legacy
May 29, 2008 | Read Time: 2 minutes
To the Editor:
In an article on the changing of the guard at Ford Foundation (“Building on Tradition,” April 17), critics urge the new president, Luis Ubiñas, to make big changes, painting Ford as a kind of dowager institution.
“Staid,” “cautious,” and “unresponsive to change” were among the labels applied in the opening paragraphs. One interviewee said the foundation was “on the whole, in areas of civic engagement, behind the curve.”
I have no doubt the new president will leave his mark on this important institution. In doing so, I hope he will see between these lines of criticism to the real hallmark of Ford: long-term commitment to complex problems that require institution building, and investment in social innovators with the patience and skill set to bring about systems-level change.
If you are hoping to plant seeds and harvest flowers next year — as some approaches to “outcome philanthropy” are looking for, you may not have the temperament for this kind of work, but I think the foundation’s legacy in areas like community development and civil rights speaks for itself. This difficult work continues.
One example of work that is vintage Ford: When other foundations would not even consider partnering with the private sector, Ford was already deeply committed to a brand of social investment and institution building that leveraged large-scale community partnerships with business.
Program-related investments were invented at Ford and now are common practice in many foundations — in part due to Ford’s investment in training and marketing this strategy to others.
Fifteen years ago the foundation launched the corporate-involvement initiative that acknowledged the important role that the private sector has to play in solving problems. This program helped nonprofit and trade groups grow and take on new program risks.
Ford may be liberal, but its problem-solving techniques are pragmatic and hard to label.
Judith Samuelson
Executive Director
Business and Society Program
Aspen Institute
New York