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My husband shared with me an article he read in the Wall Street Journal last Friday, an article about the Ford Foundation. It seems that in recent history, Ford has been more political and less charitable with its philanthropic arm. From the article:
"And the foundation's global activism in support of abortion rights has been nothing if not consistent. In the past four years, Ford has given Catholics for Choice $2.3 million -- an organization whose president once said: 'I spent 20 years looking for a government that I could overthrow without being thrown in jail. I finally found one in the Catholic Church.' "
I know that I don't have to say another word about Catholics for Choice, and so I won't. On the Ford Foundation website, I found the mission statement: "The Ford Foundation is a resource for innovative people and institutions around the world. We were founded to advance human welfare, and all of our work flows from this fundamental commitment."
I wonder how Henry Ford would feel about his company "advancing" a woman's right to kill her unborn child. It is said that Ford was devastated when his mother died. His father believed, at the time, that Ford would take over the family farm. Apparently Ford hated the farm and told his father, "I never had any particular love for the farm—it was the mother on the farm I loved."
Boycott Ford.
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I read this article too. Found that part especially interesting...
ReplyDeleteI already boycott Ford. Honda!
Thanks for posting this. I hadn't read Friday's WSJ yet (it's the one day I do read that paper.) We're looking into getting a new car this fall. I can safely say it won't be a Ford.
ReplyDeleteI came across that also. I wrote about it on my own blog that tries to expose Catholics for Choice for who they are. Thanks for your witness and for being a mother.
ReplyDeleteAll the best.
I owned a Ford, but we sold it before moving to HI. We won't be buying any more Fords.
ReplyDeleteFYI The Ford Foundation, although founded by Henry Ford, doesn't have any ties to the Ford Motor company. So boycotting Ford Motors won't affect the Foundation one bit.
ReplyDeleteMelanie,
ReplyDeleteLike all Foundations, the Ford Foundations is run as a separate entity, but it is still the Ford Foundation. Direction does still come from Ford Motor and I believe that if the direction was not willed by Ford Motor, the Foundation would not go there.
Profits from Ford Motor Company, the money they make from manufacturing and selling cars, goes into the Foundation. That's their charitable giving arm.
ReplyDeleteIn contrast, the Eli Lilly Foundation, the charitable arm of Eli Lilly and Co., gives much of their money to churches, organizations worldwide that promote organized faith. That money comes from their profit on prescription drugs.
Check out this page from a website of a group that is critiquing the Ford Foundation. It notes of the Foundation: "The Ford Foundation is often confused with the Ford Motor Company Fund. The two philanthropies are not related. They share no funds and no directors, officers or staff."
ReplyDeleteAlso, it give a list of the Ford Foundation's
officers, directors, trustees, foundation managers and explains: "Note that none of these people are members of the Ford family or affiliated in any way with the Ford Motor Company."
So you can say, without a shadow of a doubt, that Ford profits do not find their way into the Ford Foundation? I agree that the Ford Foundation is a separate legal entity (I said that above).
ReplyDeleteMy husband is the president of a foundation. I understand how foundations work.
Yikes, how horrible.
ReplyDelete