Ford Foundation President Darren Walker announced he will step down from the position by the end of 2025, ending a 12-year run at the helm of the $16.8 billion foundation.

Walker’s innovations include a first-ever $1 billion social bond by a foundation to bolster and strengthen nonprofits during the Covid-19 crisis. He also conceived of and organized a consortium of foundations to launch America’s Cultural Treasures, a $300-million fund to help sustain cultural institutions during the pandemic.

Walker has received 16 honorary degrees and university awards and was listed among TIME’s “100 Most Influential People” in 2016 and Rolling Stone’s “25 People Shaping the Future” in 2017, WSJ Philanthropy Innovator of the Year in 2020, and Inside Philanthropy’s Philanthropy Leader of the Year in 2023.

He has been among The NonProfit Times’ Power & Influence Top 50 executives every year since 2015. The reasoning for inclusion in 2024: “Walker and influencer are synonymous terms. Granted, $16 billion buys access and power, but the creativity he engenders at the organization to fix things and enlist others to do the same is unmatched. His speech as part of the Benjamin Menschel Distinguished Lecture series is brilliant and cements his legacy. Read it here. https://bit.ly/3VIOkog”

In 2022, he was awarded France’s highest cultural honor, Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres, for leadership in the arts. In 2023, he was also appointed by Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II to the Order of the British Empire for services to UK/US relations.

“Identifying a successor who can build on Darren’s legacy will be no small task, but it’s the most important responsibility of a governing board. We are confident that we will find the right leader who will work with our talented team as we look to this next chapter in our mission to fight inequality and advance social justice,” said Ford Foundation board chair Francisco Cigarroa via a statement. “The board is also confident that Darren will continue to work with vibrant energy until his last second as president of the Ford Foundation.”

Under his leadership, Ford established new programs like “Tech and Society” to build out the field of public interest technology and Ford’s first-ever program for disability rights. He spearheaded the strategy to provide sustained, multi-year grants and organizational support for grantees, influencing many peer foundations to adopt funding approaches through efforts like Ford’s $1 billion BUILD initiative and activated Ford’s endowment to invest for impact with its $1 billion Mission Investments program.

He also engaged leaders across the sector to create the President’s Council on Disability Inclusion in Philanthropy, the President’s Council on Impact Investing, the Arts Foundations Presidents Group, and the Indigenous People’s Land Tenure Fund, among others.

In 2014, he headed the philanthropy committee that helped resolve Detroit’s historic bankruptcy through Detroit’s Grand Bargain, a landmark deal that saved the Detroit Institute of Arts and ensured retired municipal employees would receive their pensions. He was also instrumental in bringing the Ford family back into the foundation with the election of Henry Ford III to the Board of Trustees, the first family member to serve since 1976.

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Source From Non Profit Times