The Ford Foundation, one of the world's largest private grantmakers, will overhaul its spending to counter what new leadership views as the mutually reinforcing rise of both autocracy and inequality.

The New York-based philanthropy committed Thursday to driving more funds toward the basic building blocks of democracy.

The new strategic direction comes less than one year into Ford Foundation President Heather Gerken's tenure at the helm of the social justice funder's $18 billion endowment.