Foundations: Cutting Back at Ford

For years the Ford Foundation has lived beyond its means: total grants have exceeded income by more than $1 billion, and foundation officials have had to dip into capital assets—consisting mostly of Ford Motor Co. stock—to make up the difference. Now Ford has decided to retrench.

In his first annual report since moving to Ford from the White House, President McGeorge Bundy last week served notice that the foundation was cutting back its grants from the current annual rate of $362 million to around $200 million, which would still be about $40 million...