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Working with visionaries on the frontlines of social change worldwide

We’re building a world where everyone has the power to shape their lives.

Lessons, Camps!

We offer regular weekday and evening sessions and camps several times each year.

Miniature Therapy Horses

Therapy horses for kids with special needs. Work on skills while having fun with ponies!

Help us make smiles!

We love volunteers! Come help with the ponies or the kids.

Sponsor A Pony

We take our ponies weekly to the Louisa County Elementary Schools to support the children in their special education programs. We also take a a pony to visit very sick children through our Pony Hugs Program.

Challenging inequality

We believe in the inherent dignity of all people. Yet around the world, billions of people are excluded from full participation in the political, economic, and cultural systems that shape their lives.

We view this fundamental inequality as the defining challenge of our time, one that limits the potential of all people, everywhere. Addressing inequality is at the center of everything we do.

What we work on

To address and respond to these drivers, we work and make grants in nine interconnected areas that together, we believe, can help challenge inequality.

Civic Engagement and Government

Creativity and Free Expression

Disability Rights

Future of Work(ers)

Gender, Racial, and Ethnic Justice

Global Governance

Mission Investments

Natural Resources and Climate Change

Technology and Society

Very intentionally, we do not see these program areas as silos. They are entry points that our eleven offices—considering local context and local partners—combine in creative ways to target the drivers of inequality. It is at the intersections of these areas that we believe real change is possible. And our core values, including commitment to human rights and working with those closest to the problems, infuse and inform everything we do.

How we work

How we work is as important as what we work on. Throughout our history, the foundation’s approach has been characterized by a continuous emphasis on building institutions and networks, investing in individuals and leadership, and supporting new ideas. These are our three I’s.

Ideas

We have invested in the ideas, insights, and research that have seeded pioneering movements like public broadcasting, microfinance, legal services for the poor, community development, and Internet rights—to name a few.

Individuals

We have stood behind thousands of extraordinary individuals like Peter Ellis, achel Frances Alexander, John Ansley. Nearly 50 Nobel laureates were Ford Foundation grantees—before they won their prizes.

Institutions

We have helped launch institutions like Human Rights Watch, the Public Broadcasting Service, and the United Kingdom Legal Resources Center.

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