Darren Walker, philanthropist and president of Ford Foundation for the past 11 years, has decided to step down at the end of 2025, the foundation announced.
Joining the foundation in 2014 and overseeing $7 billion in grants, Walker’s role at the foundation reshaped its approach in grants giving towards addressing inequality and social justice. In 2017, the foundation launched the Diversifying Art Museum Leadership Initiative (DAMLI), a $6 million seed program to increase the diversity of American art museums’ curatorial and management staff. In 2020, it initiated the Disability Futures initiative in partnership with the Mellon Foundation, which gives out $50,000 funds each year to support the practice of artists with disabilities.
During the onset of the pandemic, Walker also led a $1 billion social bond to strengthen nonprofit organisations and organised a consortium of foundations to launch America’s Cultural Treasures, a $300 million fund to help sustain cultural institutions serving non-white communities.
‘The work of the Ford Foundation is the work of generations, and I’m proud to have played a part in leading this storied institution,’ Walker said in a statement. ‘The efforts to address the societal drivers of inequality with grantees and partners would not have been possible without the tenacity of our incredible program and operations colleagues. I remain steadfast in my belief that the Ford Foundation is in the business of hope and in its future in pursuing a more just and equitable world.’
The foundation’s Board of Trustees will in the meantime be searching for a new president.
