When Darren Walker became president of the Ford Foundation in 2013, he identified a need to strategically realign the foundation’s work to focus more specifically on the fight against systemic inequality in the United States. The foundation’s original mission was to support scientific, educational and charitable purposes, all for the public welfare. This realignment stayed true to that mission while addressing the biggest problems facing today’s society.

This case outlines Ford Foundation’s strategic realignment, underscores the philanthropic strategies and initiatives it has undertaken to end systemic inequality and highlights the success of those initiatives thus far and the future of the foundation in this post-pandemic world.