The Ford Foundation is to close two overseas offices after losing nearly a third of its assets last year. Its offices in Moscow and Hanoi will close by the end of September, resulting in 30 job cuts. Ford saved around $22 million last year by measures such as restricting travel and attacking energy use, and it is hoped the closures will save a further $4 million. While cutting costs, Ford is also pushing to maintain grants and plans to pay out 6.5 per cent of its total assets this year and next, a boost from the 5 or 6 per cent it normally distributes. In an email message to staff at the end of last month, Ford president Luis Ubiñas said that, ‘given our obligation to our grantees worldwide, and the people they serve, we have been forced to make some very hard choices to bring about further savings.’

Source

Wall Street Journal, 29 April 2009