When the Ford Foundation gathered its worldwide program staff together, November 16-21 in NYC, PhilanthroMedia was part of the team implementing new media tools to enhance the gathering.

PhilanthroMedia’s Scott Riehs helped Ford Communications staff videotape more than 20 interviews in which program officers were asked to describe the work of their “most courageous grantees.”  The interviews were then edited and immediately made available, via an interactive Google Map platform that Ford developed, on computer kiosks placed throughout the building. 

Ford’s Director of Communications, Alfred Ironside, noted, “We want to acclimate our staff to using video more and, I have to say, we found them quite energized by the chance to tell stories about the courage of their grantees. ” 

According to PhilanthroMedia’s President, Susan Herr, “Ford is breaking new ground on several levels.  First, they are experimenting with the potential of web video, as well as augmenting it with tools like Google Maps.  Second, they are mining the incredibly rich perspectives of program officers whose insights are often limited to write-ups in foundation board books.  Third, they recognize the imperative to get content out quickly, while also cognizant of how staff might repurpose it for a variety of uses.”