The Program Management Cost Files span from 1952 to 1984 and are organized into three series: the Ford Foundation Refugee Fund (1952-1957), Travel and Study Award Policy (1957-1964), and Program Management Costs (1961-1984). The earliest files in the collection pertain to the administration of the Foundation's fund to assist Western and Central European communities with the integration of post-war refugees. At the time the fund was set up in 1952, between 11 and 12 million refugees and displaced persons had left their homes in Eastern Europe because of political changes or were expelled, as was the case for ethnic minorities and ethnic Germans in communist countries. The fund was intended not for direct relief but for finding permanent solutions to the social and economic problems refugees faced in integrating into their new communities. The fund supported grantee programs included vocational training in Germany and Trieste, small farm loans in Austria, building programs in Austria and Germany, and financial aid for refugee students in Greece and the German Federal Republic. Grant recipients included the World Council of Churches, American Friends Service Committee, Lutheran World Federation, and the National Catholic Welfare Conference.

The files for the Foundation's travel and study award policy document the development of a policy regarding the benefits to be extended to foreign national award recipients and their dependents who accompany them to the United States. Explored in memoranda are considerations such as length of grant, cultural expectations and policies of other institutions making similar grants.

The bulk of the collection comprises Program Management cost files. These span fiscal years 1961 to 1982 and contain a basic program action or management cost action form, or other budget document or modification. The action form indicates the appropriation approved for a specific division, program or office for a given fiscal year.

Some Program Management cost files differentiate between budget categories such as program advisory staff, training associates, logistic support, small program actions, office (operating) expenses, representational and administrative staff, consultants, field office support, and travel and study awards. An appropriation for travel and study awards provided some discretionary funding to support projects that contributed to the personal and professional development of people working in program areas. Another appropriation for small program actions enabled exploration of a small grant approach so that a variety of study and developmental projects could be supported.

Program management cost files on the Office for Latin America and the Caribbean, Asia and the Pacific, Population, and Public Broadcasting, South and Southeast Asia and the Division of Administration tend to contain other materials in addition to program action and modification forms.

For the fiscal year 1967 field office support budgets provided funds for offices and office services for overseas administrative personnel and project specialists. In addition, the Foundation paid for medical expenses, education allowances, local and international travel, and conference and meeting expenses.

The program management cost files for the Division of Administration include appropriations for the Special Retrenchment Fund (SRF). The economic downturn of 1973 and 1974 and the resulting risk to Foundation's assets brought to the forefront the need to reassess and determine sustainable levels of expenditure. At its December 1974 meeting, the Board of Trustees determined that further retrenchment was necessary to stabilize and preserve the longevity of the Foundation. An annual spending target of $100 million requiring a 50 percent budget reduction across the Foundation was set for fiscal year 1975. To help programs to cover the costs incurred by implementing the required retrenchment measures, then Vice President of Administration Arthur D. Trottenberg recommended creation of a Special Retrenchment Fund through a special appropriation from General Funds. Initiated in March 1975 and intended to last until September 1979, SRF covered substantial non-recurring costs, including separation payments to terminated staff members, consulting fees and associated expenses for studies related to the retrenchment process, the closing or reduction in the size of overseas field offices, and expenses resulting from interior building alterations required to consolidate space and prepare vacancies for new tenants.