YOU’VE DONATED MONEY OR AT LEAST CONSIDERED DONATING AT LEAST ONCE, WHETHER THROUGH A CHURCH OR SYNAGOGUE OR A MOSQUE OR DIRECTLY TO SOMETHING LIKE A FOOD BANK OR A SCHOOL OR A GO FUND ME PAGE. THAT MONEY CAN HELP PEOPLE GET AN EDUCATION OR PAY MEDICAL BILLS OR BUY FOOD FOR ALMOST A CENTURY. THE FORD FOUNDATION HAS BEEN DOING JUST THAT BY GIVING OUT GRANTS TOTALING SEVERAL HUNDRED OF MILLIONS OF DOLLARS EVERY YEAR. I CAUGHT UP WITH FORD FOUNDATION PRESIDENT DARREN WALKER TO TALK ABOUT LEADING ONE OF THE NATION’S BIGGEST PHILANTHROPIES AND THE CHANGES HE’S TRYING TO MAKE. THE IDEA IS TO TAKE THIS BUILDING AND MAKE IT TRULY A CENTER FOR SOCIAL JUSTICE. OVER THE PAST DECADE, THE FORD FOUNDATION HAS LITERALLY OPENED ITS DOORS TO HUNDREDS OF NEW YORK BASED NONPROFITS AND REMADE THE SPACE AROUND THEM INTO ONE THAT ITS PRESIDENT, DARREN WALKER SAYS IS MORE WELCOMING. WE PURCHASED ALL NEW CONTEMPORARY WORK THAT REPRESENTS THE CURRENT WORK OF THE FOUNDATION IN THIS CENTURY. THIS IS A FAMOUS PHOTOGRAPH OF A YOUNG GIRL AT THE GRADUATION OF A HISTORICALLY BLACK COLLEGE IN THE SOUTH. AND YOU CAN SEE IN HER FACE HER DREAMS, THOSE DREAMS, WALKER SAYS, ARE HIS INSPIRATION. THEY REVEAL A CALL TO PROMOTE OPPORTUNITY THAT GROWS OUT OF WALKER’S EARLY LIFE. GROWING UP IN SMALL TOWN RURAL AMERICA, BLACK, GAY, A SINGLE MOM, NOT MUCH MONEY I KNOW FROM LIVED EXPERIENCE. THE VERY ISSUES WE’RE WORKING ON, AND I BRING THAT WITH ME. FOUNDED IN 1936 BY HENRY FORD SON EDSEL, THE FOUNDATION WAS AT ONE POINT THE WORLD’S LARGEST PHILANTHROPY. TODAY, ITS ENDOWMENT SITS AT $16 BILLION. HOW DOES THE FORD FOUNDATION AS AN ORGANIZATION, SHOULD THINK ABOUT HOW TO DIG INTO SOME OF THESE EXTREMELY ENTRENCHED PROBLEMS IN AMERICA? FOR FORD, OUR LENS IS INEQUALITY. ADDRESSING THE SCOURGE OF INEQUALITY IN THE UNITED STATES AND AROUND THE WORLD IN ALL ITS FORMS. AND THAT ANALYSIS HAS LED US TO FOCUSING ON THE NEEDS AND RIGHTS FOR JUSTICE AND EQUALITY FOR PEOPLE WHO ARE MARGINALIZED, THE DISABLED PEOPLE WHO LIVE IN POORER AREAS AND COMMUNITIES THAT WORK HAS SOMETIMES BEEN AT ODDS WITH FORD, THE COMPANY. IN ORDER TO DO THAT, WE HAVE TO FUND AND SUPPORT SOME THINGS THAT MAY ACTUALLY IMPLICATE US. THE FORD FOUNDATION HELPED TO CREATE THE PUBLIC INTEREST LAW FIELD. SOME OF THOSE LAWYERS SUED THE FORD MOTOR COMPANY AND THE AUTOMOBILE INDUSTRY IN THE 1960S FOR POLLUTING THE AIR. ANNUALLY, THE FOUNDATION GIVES OUT HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS OF DOLLARS, PRIMARILY TO WOMEN LED INITIATIVES AND ORGANIZATIONS LED BY PEOPLE OF COLOR. THOSE GRANTS INCLUDE INITIATIVES THAT PROMOTE REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH AND ENVIRONMENTAL AND RACIAL JUSTICE. FORD FOUNDATION FUNDS BLACK LIVES MATTER AND OTHER ORGANIZATIONS THAT I THINK PEOPLE WOULD SAY, OH, THAT’S THOSE ARE POLITICAL ORGANIZATIONS. IS THE MOVE TO JUSTICE REALLY POLITICAL? WE’RE NOT A POLITICAL ORGANIZATION. THE WORDS IN OUR FOUNDING DOCUMENT, EQUALITY AND JUSTICE FOR ALL. THAT IS OUR HIGHEST, MOST NOBLE ASPIRATION AS A NATION. AND WE SEE OUR WORK AT FORD AS SUPPORTING THAT, EMPOWERING DRIVE. HOW DO YOU MEASURE SUCCESS IN AN ENVIRONMENT WHERE WE STILL HAVE POVERTY? WE STILL HAVE INEQUALITY? HOW DO YOU SAY, YES, WE’VE BEEN SUCCESSFUL ON THIS FRONT? NO, WE NEED TO WORK MORE ON THAT FRONT. I’LL GIVE ONE EXAMPLE. THE ACP LEGAL DEFENSE FUND WE HAVE SUPPORTED SINCE THE 1960S AND MANY STATES THEY HAVE ENSURED THAT ALL AMERICANS, ESPECIALLY BLACK AMERICANS, HAVE ACCESS TO THE BALLOT BECAUSE, AGAIN, NOTHING IS MORE PATRIOTIC AND A MARICON THAN THE IDEA OF VOTING. THERE WAS A MOMENT WHEN WE COULD DECLARE SUCCESS, BUT IN A DEMOCRACY WE JUSTICE AND WHO HAS IT AND WHO DOESN’T IS A CONTESTED IDEA AND WILL BE. TH