The Ford Foundation: A Case Study in Chinese Cooperation and Money

The Ford Foundation is one of the biggest nonprofits in America. Its stated mission is “to reduce poverty and injustice, strengthen democratic values, promote international cooperation, and advance human achievement.” This is certainly an admirable goal, and much can be said for the Ford Foundation efforts in achieving this goal.

What is often overlooked are the connections that an international organization such as this one unavoidably create and maintainds. These connections are not necessarily good or bad, but specific case of the Ford Foundation shows how these connections are formed and manifest themselves.

CANGO

Chinese Association of Non-Governmental Organizations (CANGO) is a Chinese nonprofit that serves as an intermediary between many other nonprofits with the aim of accomplishing several goals within China. The projects it works on are typically developmental. As a nonprofit, CANGO must register with the Chinese Ministry of Civil Affairs, which handles domestic issues within China, including the regulation of nonprofits who operate in China. CANGO partners with other, usually international, nonprofits and other nongovernmental organizations to achieve its goals.

One such partner is the Ford Foundation. For the past few years CANGO and Ford Foundation have worked together on several projects. These projects have totaled $103,386 since they began. While this is not a significant amount compared to the Ford Foundation’s annual revenue, which runs in the hundreds of millions, the partnership has continued for years. What is much more significant is the flow of money from the Ford Foundation to a Chinese nonprofit.

GEI

The Global Environmental Institute (GEI) is an environmental advocacy group in Beijing. Which according to IRS forms filed by the Ford Foundation has received $1.85 million since 2018. Much like CANGO, GEI must register with the Chinese Ministry of Civil Affairs. GEI uses the money it receives to create environmentally sound and ethical developmental projects in areas around Asia. According to its 2021 annual report, GEI spent ¥4,632,660 (about $664,056).

Once again that is not a sizeable portion compared to the Ford Foundation’s annual revenue. However, the point being made is that these foundations that are based in China are connected with Ford financially and professionally in order to aid in their stated goals.

Gray Zone

These connections do not imply that CANGO, GEI, or Ford Foundation is doing anything nefarious or illegal. Rather, they make clear that as a foundation grows outside U.S. borders it makes connections that tie it financially to other nonprofits. These nonprofits by virtue of being outside of the United States can have vastly different methods of disclosure if the data are even government and the Chinese Communist Party For example, both CANGO and GEI are registered under the Ministry of Civil Affairs. In 2020 CANGO in its annual report claims to have decoupled from the ministry. What this means is unclear, and GEI makes no such claims in its own annual report. So the logical question is what is the relationship between the Chinese Ministry of Civil Affairs and the large nonprofits it oversees. And how much does this seep into or influence foreign nonprofits—such as the Ford Foundation—with which the Chinese nonprofit associates or collaborates? The Confucius Institutes, which at their zenith were present in nearly 100 colleges, were often criticized for acting as a “mouthpiece for the Chinese government and the Chinese Communist Party.

By engaging with these organizations and many more, the Ford Foundation and other nonprofits a inevitably drawn into this gray zone even if the programs it participates in are fully ethical and above board. An issue exacerbated by the lack of transparency that often accompanies large amounts of money in the nonprofit space.