Ford Foundation's Darren Walker: ‘We Have to Get Uncomfortable'

DARREN WALKER, 62, disrupted his Wall Street life more than 25 years ago when he left what is now UBS Group AG to volunteer at a school and eventually pursue a career in community development and philanthropy. Since 2013 he’s been at the pinnacle of the philanthropic world as president of the Ford Foundation, created by the family of automaker Henry Ford during the Great Depression to advance human welfare.

- KAREN TOULON

The past year and a half has featured a challenging set of social disruptions: the Covid-19 pandemic and the resulting economic damage, a racial reckoning in the U.S., and climate-related destruction. Walker has tackled these in inventive ways, including issuing $1 billion of 30-year and 50-year “social bonds” that enabled the foundation to boost its giving to meet needs created by the pandemic. Since then, rising markets have lifted the foundation’s endowment to more than $17 billion. Walker spoke with Bloomberg Markets in July. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

KAREN TOULON: Explain, for those who do not know, how does the Ford Foundation disburse some of those funds?

DARREN WALKER: The Ford Foundation works in the U.S. and 10 regions around the world. We disburse about $650 million a year, and our primary areas of focus are racial and gender justice; technology and the public interest; the arts, creativity, and free expression. And we work on labor policy and the future of workers. Those are our primary areas, along with civic engagement in the U.S. We support through investing in individuals, ideas, and institutions.

KT: Front and center on the website is the phrase “Justice Begins Where Inequality Ends.” What does that mean?

DW: When I became president, as I looked for words that inspired me, I turned to the words of [Thomas] Jefferson, of [Dr. Martin Luther] King [Jr.], of [James] Baldwin—and of course the 1968 speech that Dr. King gave to philanthropists. He said the following: “Philanthropy is commendable, but it should not allow the philanthropist to overlook the economic injustice which makes philanthropy necessary.”