The Dignity and Justice Fund is a fiscally sponsored project of the New Venture Fund, a nonprofit organization managed by philanthropic consulting firm Arabella Advisors. The left-of-center Ford Foundation claims it established the fund to align funding resources external to the foundation with its own strategic grantmaking goals. ¹

The Spyware Accountability Initiative is a project of the Dignity and Justice Fund. The initiative claims that it was established to counteract the spyware industry. The project has received $10 million in funding from Apple.  ^{2  3}

Background

The Dignity and Justice Fund was established by the Ford Foundation and is a fiscally sponsored project of the New Venture Fund, a nonprofit organization managed by philanthropic consulting firm Arabella Advisors. The Ford Foundation claims the purpose of the Dignity and Justice Fund was to be a pooled grantmaking fund to align funding from non-Ford Foundation sources to the Ford Foundation’s strategic goals.  ¹

The Dignity and Justice Fund advocates for the critical race theory-influenced concept of equity, stating it seeks to increase “social justice and equity through targeted grantmaking.”  ¹

Spyware Accountability Initiative

The Spyware Accountability Initiative is a project of the Dignity and Justice Fund that claims to research and report on spyware firms and local governments which employ them. Recipients of funding are reportedly initiatives created to counteract “state-sponsored mercenary spyware” through litigation and investigation.  ²

In March 2024, the Ford Foundation announced a $4 million grantmaking plan through the Spyware Accountability Initiative.  ⁴

The Spyware Accountability Initiative’s grantees include Access Now, Amnesty Tech (a project of Amnesty International), the Business and Human Rights Resource Centre, The Citizen Lab, Media Defence, the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, the International Justice Clinic at the University of California Irvine School of Law, the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University, Freedom House, the Media Diversity Institute, Unwanted Witness, SocialTIC, Spaces for Change, the Center for Democracy and Technology, DigitalReach, Lighthouse Reports, Red Line for Gulf, FIND, the Atlantic Council’s Strategic Litigation Project and Cyber Statecraft Initiative, Epicenter.works, AWO, Gesellschaft für Freiheitsrechte (GFF), and Red en Defensa de los Derechos Digitales (R3D).  ²

Advisory Council

The Spyware Accountability Initiative’s advisory council is made up of Rasha Abdul Rahim, the director of Amnesty Tech; Daniel Bedoya Arroyo, a digital security analyst at SocialTIC; Ron Deibert, a professor of political science and director of The Citizen Lab at the Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy at the University of Toronto; Ivan Krstic, head of Apple Security Engineering and Architecture; Paola Mosso, the executive director of The Engine Room, and Johanna Prüssing.  ^{5  3}

Funding

The Dignity and Justice Fund is a fiscally sponsored project of the New Venture Fund, a nonprofit organization managed by philanthropic consulting firm Arabella Advisors.  ¹

In 2024, the Ford Foundation provided two grants to the New Venture Fund for the purpose of supporting the Dignity and Justice Fund, a $400,000 grant and a $450,000 grant.  ⁶

In 2024, the Alliance for Open Society International, part of the Open Society Foundations’ grantmaking network, gave a 23-month, $890,929 grant to the New Venture Fund in support of the Dignity and Justice Fund; the group likewise gave a 23-month grant in 2023 of $10,956,633.  ⁷

In 2024, the Rockefeller Brothers Fund gave $250,144 to the New Venture Fund, in support of the Dignity and Justice Fund.  ⁸

Other funders of the Dignity and Justice Fund include Apple, which gave $10 million to the fund in support of its Spyware Accountability Initiative, Okta for Good, and Craig Newmark Philanthropies.  ^{3  4}

1. “About the Dignity and Justice Fund.” Ford Foundation, May 2, 2024. https://www.fordfoundation.org/work/our-grants/about-the-dignity-and-justice-fund/. 
2. “About.” Spyware Accountability Initiative. Accessed October 6, 2025. https://stopspyware.fund/about. 
3. “Apple Expands Commitment to Protect Users from Mercenary Spyware.” Apple Newsroom, August 28, 2025. https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2022/07/apple-expands-commitment-to-protect-users-from-mercenary-spyware/. 
4. Ford Foundation announces $4 million for spyware accountability | philanthropy news | PND. Accessed October 6, 2025. https://philanthropynewsdigest.org/news/ford-foundation-announces-4-million-for-spyware-accountability. 
5. “Spyware Accountability Initiative.” Spyware Accountability Initiative. Accessed October 6, 2025. https://stopspyware.fund/. 
6. “Grants Database.” Ford Foundation. Accessed October 6, 2025. https://www.fordfoundation.org/work/our-grants/awarded-grants/grants-database/?search=%22Dignity%2Band%2BJustice%2BFund%22. 
7. “Open Society Foundations – Awarded Grants, Scholarships, and Fellowships.” Open Society Foundations – Awarded Grants, Scholarships, and Fellowships – Open Society Foundations. Accessed October 6, 2025. https://www.opensocietyfoundations.org/grants/past?filter_keyword=dignity%2Band%2Bjustice%2Bfund. 
8. “Rockefeller Brothers Fund,” Return of Private Foundation Exempt From Income Tax (Form 990PF) 2022. Page 11 Part XIV.