The Ford Foundation reported on Mar. 26 that its employee and board member matching gift program awarded $2,613,162 in grants during 2024. The foundation matches annual charitable contributions from staff and board members at a rate of three-to-one for donations between $25 and $30,000.
The analysis of these matching gifts provides insight into the giving priorities of individuals within the foundation compared to its institutional grantmaking. While the total amount distributed through this program is significant, it represents only a small portion of the more than $840 million in total grants made by the Ford Foundation that year.
In 2024, there were 848 matching grants awarded through this initiative, with about half as many unique recipient organizations due to multiple gifts going to some groups. The top recipients by total amount included Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund ($330,466), Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program ($120,000), Friends of the High Line ($105,000), George Jackson Academy ($90,000), Jewish Federation Bay Area ($90,000), and The HistoryMakers ($90,000). Some organizations received both direct institutional funding from Ford and additional support via matching gifts; for example, Proteus Fund received seven matching grants totaling $1,399 alongside seventeen foundation grants exceeding $6.3 million.
When ranked by number of individual matching grants rather than dollar value, New York Road Runners led with 58 separate awards. Other frequently supported groups included Doctors Without Borders USA (22) and ACLU Foundation (20). The majority of larger individual gifts went to donor-advised fund providers or cultural institutions.
Geographically, about 38 percent of matched funds—and over half the number of grants—went to New York state-based organizations. In contrast, only two Michigan-based recipients benefited from this program in 2024 despite Detroit’s historical significance for Ford’s endowment.
The report also notes that while many grantees are non-ideological charities or cultural groups, several left-progressive activist organizations such as Institute for Policy Studies and National Domestic Workers Alliance also received support through both direct funding and employee-driven matches.
