William and Flora Hewlett Foundation
Encyclopedia
The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation is a private foundation
, established by Hewlett-Packard
cofounder William Reddington Hewlett
and his wife Flora Lamson Hewlett in 1967. The Hewlett Foundation awards grants to support educational and cultural institutions and to advance certain social and environmental issues. It is one of the largest grant-giving institutions in the United States
, with assets of over $7 billion.
The Foundation has grantmaking programs in education, the environment, global development, the performing arts, philanthropy, and population, and it also makes grants to aid disadvantaged communities in the San Francisco Bay Area
. Since its inception, the Hewlett Foundation has made grants of over $2.2 billion to thousands of organizations in the San Francisco Bay Area, across the United States, and around the world.
In 2007, The Hewlett Foundation awarded a total of $483,654,925 in grants and disbursed $426,384,396 in grant and gift payments. The Hewlett Foundation is based in Menlo Park, California
.
The Hewlett Foundation is wholly independent of the Hewlett Packard Company and its Hewlett Packard Company Foundation.
In 2001, the foundation gave $400 million to Stanford University
for humanities, sciences, and undergraduate education. At the time, the gift was the largest on record to a university.
In 2007, the Hewlett Foundation made a $113 million donation to the University of California at Berkeley to create 100 new endowed professorships and provide financial help for graduate students.
Other notable projects include:
The foundation also makes grants to support local low income communities and the field of philanthropy. With significant ties to the San Francisco Bay Area
, the Hewlett Foundation’s core programs support nonprofit organizations that serve disadvantaged populations in the Bay Area.
to support undergraduate programs in both the humanities and sciences.
In 2007, the Hewlett Foundation made a $113 million donation to the University of California at Berkeley to create 100 new endowed professorships and provide financial help for graduate students.
The Program’s K–12 education grantmaking in California focuses on improving student achievement and graduation rates. Their grantees conduct and disseminate high-quality research about California’s schools, assist policymakers, and build public support and political will for systemic reforms. The Program also supports research on improving the educational outcomes of community college
s.
The Education Program supports efforts to make high-quality academic content freely available on the Internet
and to share these Open Educational Resources
for teaching, learning, and research.
in the North American
West, reduce global warming
and conventional pollution
resulting from the use of fossil fuels, and promote environmental protection
efforts in California.
The Program supports domestic and international policies aimed at more efficient, lower-polluting cars and trucks, and by helping large developing nations reduce greenhouse gas emissions that lead to global warming. For example, the Foundation’s U.S. grantees have developed data to inform the United States Congress
’s consideration of a cap on greenhouse gas emissions, and in China
grantees have provided technical assistance to mayors and other officials on bus rapid transit
and urban planning
.
The Foundation’s New Constituencies for the Environment initiative works to strengthen environmental leadership among groups that have been historically underrepresented.
" growth in the developing world. The Program seeks to improve U.S. foreign assistance
policies and encourage the use of evaluations that measure the impact of these policies. Additionally, the Program supports organizations that monitor government budgets and expenditure and addresses issues including transparency and accountability in the use of public and private funds for development.
The Program backs reforms that help struggling farmers in developing countries gain better access to markets both by improving local conditions and by eliminating trade barriers and agricultural subsidie
s in industrialized countries.
and the American Conservatory Theater
and more experimental companies. In 2006, the Hewlett Foundation provided $10 million to the San Francisco Opera Association
and $5 million to the San Francisco Symphony
.
, and improve communications, technology, program evaluation, board development, and fundraising
.
The Foundation also advances research about philanthropy—both in universities and in organizations, including the Center for Effective Philanthropy, The Bridgespan Group and the Foundation Strategy Group, with the goal of promoting knowledge useful to nonprofits and foundations.
The foundation also supports Givewell
. http://www.givewell.net/about/story
and reproductive health
, particularly those living in the poorest regions of sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia—to allow them to make informed personal decisions about sexual and reproductive health and prevent sexually transmitted infections. The Program also works to strengthen the link between family planning and HIV/AIDS prevention programs. The Program also works to improve family planning services and protect reproductive rights in the United States and to reduce teen pregnancy in California.
, the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences
, Stanford University
’s School of Humanities and Sciences, and the University of California at Berkeley.
Private foundation
A private foundation is a legal entity set up by an individual, a family or a group of individuals, for a purpose such as philanthropy. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is the largest private foundation in the U.S. with over $38 billion in assets...
, established by Hewlett-Packard
Hewlett-Packard
Hewlett-Packard Company or HP is an American multinational information technology corporation headquartered in Palo Alto, California, USA that provides products, technologies, softwares, solutions and services to consumers, small- and medium-sized businesses and large enterprises, including...
cofounder William Reddington Hewlett
William Reddington Hewlett
William Redington Hewlett was an engineer and the co-founder, with David Packard, of the Hewlett-Packard Company . He was born in Ann Arbor, Michigan where is father taught at the Univerisy of Michigan Medical School...
and his wife Flora Lamson Hewlett in 1967. The Hewlett Foundation awards grants to support educational and cultural institutions and to advance certain social and environmental issues. It is one of the largest grant-giving institutions in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, with assets of over $7 billion.
The Foundation has grantmaking programs in education, the environment, global development, the performing arts, philanthropy, and population, and it also makes grants to aid disadvantaged communities in the San Francisco Bay Area
San Francisco Bay Area
The San Francisco Bay Area, commonly known as the Bay Area, is a populated region that surrounds the San Francisco and San Pablo estuaries in Northern California. The region encompasses metropolitan areas of San Francisco, Oakland, and San Jose, along with smaller urban and rural areas...
. Since its inception, the Hewlett Foundation has made grants of over $2.2 billion to thousands of organizations in the San Francisco Bay Area, across the United States, and around the world.
In 2007, The Hewlett Foundation awarded a total of $483,654,925 in grants and disbursed $426,384,396 in grant and gift payments. The Hewlett Foundation is based in Menlo Park, California
Menlo Park, California
Menlo Park, California is a city at the eastern edge of San Mateo County, in the San Francisco Bay Area of California, in the United States. It is bordered by San Francisco Bay on the north and east; East Palo Alto, Palo Alto, and Stanford to the south; Atherton, North Fair Oaks, and Redwood City...
.
The Hewlett Foundation is wholly independent of the Hewlett Packard Company and its Hewlett Packard Company Foundation.
Grants and major donations
The foundation plays a key leadership role in the nonprofit sector. Although most grants tend to be less than $1 million, the Hewlett Foundation has made several notable gifts and grants.In 2001, the foundation gave $400 million to Stanford University
Stanford University
The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...
for humanities, sciences, and undergraduate education. At the time, the gift was the largest on record to a university.
In 2007, the Hewlett Foundation made a $113 million donation to the University of California at Berkeley to create 100 new endowed professorships and provide financial help for graduate students.
Other notable projects include:
- Collaboration with the nonprofit Center for Investigative ReportingCenter for Investigative ReportingThe Center for Investigative Reporting is a non-profit journalism organization located in Berkeley, California. It was founded in 1977 by Lowell Bergman, , and David Weir to reveal injustice and abuse of power through the tools of journalism....
to create California WatchCalifornia WatchCalifornia Watch is a nonprofit and nonpartisan investigative reporting group operated by the Center for Investigative Reporting. Writers and editors at the news organization track a variety of issues, including money and politics, the environment, health and welfare, public safety and...
, the state's largest investigative reporting team dedicated solely to news within California. - Collaboration with the Mellon Foundation to develop the field of OpenCourseWareOpenCourseWareOpenCourseWare, or OCW, is a term applied to course materials created by universities and shared freely with the world via the internet. The movement started in 1999 when the University of Tübingen in Germany published videos of lectures online in the context of its timms initiative...
. Through these efforts, MIT and many other educational institutions have made their curricular materials available to the public. - Restoration of the Bay Area Salt Ponds and conservation of the Great Bear RainforestGreat Bear RainforestThe Great Bear Rainforest is the name coined by environmental groups in the mid-1990s to refer to a region of temperate rain forest in Canada, on the British Columbia Coast between Vancouver Island and Southeast Alaska...
in Canada. - Seeding the Creative CommonsCreative CommonsCreative Commons is a non-profit organization headquartered in Mountain View, California, United States devoted to expanding the range of creative works available for others to build upon legally and to share. The organization has released several copyright-licenses known as Creative Commons...
project with $1,000,000.
Programs
The foundation focuses its resources on several key issues where it believes that it can have significant impact. About half of the foundation's work is focused on international issues.The foundation also makes grants to support local low income communities and the field of philanthropy. With significant ties to the San Francisco Bay Area
San Francisco Bay Area
The San Francisco Bay Area, commonly known as the Bay Area, is a populated region that surrounds the San Francisco and San Pablo estuaries in Northern California. The region encompasses metropolitan areas of San Francisco, Oakland, and San Jose, along with smaller urban and rural areas...
, the Hewlett Foundation’s core programs support nonprofit organizations that serve disadvantaged populations in the Bay Area.
Education Program
The Education Program makes grants to stimulate reforms and improve instruction in public schools and community colleges, and to create and distribute free online academic materials. In 2001, the Hewlett Foundation made a $400 million donation to Stanford UniversityStanford University
The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...
to support undergraduate programs in both the humanities and sciences.
In 2007, the Hewlett Foundation made a $113 million donation to the University of California at Berkeley to create 100 new endowed professorships and provide financial help for graduate students.
The Program’s K–12 education grantmaking in California focuses on improving student achievement and graduation rates. Their grantees conduct and disseminate high-quality research about California’s schools, assist policymakers, and build public support and political will for systemic reforms. The Program also supports research on improving the educational outcomes of community college
Community college
A community college is a type of educational institution. The term can have different meanings in different countries.-Australia:Community colleges carry on the tradition of adult education, which was established in Australia around mid 19th century when evening classes were held to help adults...
s.
The Education Program supports efforts to make high-quality academic content freely available on the Internet
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
and to share these Open Educational Resources
Open educational resources
Open educational resources are digital materials that can be re-used for teaching, learning, research and more, made available for free through open licenses, which allow uses of the materials that would not be easily permitted under copyright alone...
for teaching, learning, and research.
Environment Program
The Environment Program makes grants to support conservationConservation ethic
Conservation is an ethic of resource use, allocation, and protection. Its primary focus is upon maintaining the health of the natural world: its, fisheries, habitats, and biological diversity. Secondary focus is on materials conservation and energy conservation, which are seen as important to...
in the North American
North American
North American generally refers to an entity, people, group, or attribute of North America, especially of the United States and Canada together.-Culture:*North American English, a collective term used to describe American English and Canadian English...
West, reduce global warming
Global warming
Global warming refers to the rising average temperature of Earth's atmosphere and oceans and its projected continuation. In the last 100 years, Earth's average surface temperature increased by about with about two thirds of the increase occurring over just the last three decades...
and conventional pollution
Pollution
Pollution is the introduction of contaminants into a natural environment that causes instability, disorder, harm or discomfort to the ecosystem i.e. physical systems or living organisms. Pollution can take the form of chemical substances or energy, such as noise, heat or light...
resulting from the use of fossil fuels, and promote environmental protection
Environmental protection
Environmental protection is a practice of protecting the environment, on individual, organizational or governmental level, for the benefit of the natural environment and humans. Due to the pressures of population and our technology the biophysical environment is being degraded, sometimes permanently...
efforts in California.
The Program supports domestic and international policies aimed at more efficient, lower-polluting cars and trucks, and by helping large developing nations reduce greenhouse gas emissions that lead to global warming. For example, the Foundation’s U.S. grantees have developed data to inform the United States Congress
United States Congress
The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....
’s consideration of a cap on greenhouse gas emissions, and in China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
grantees have provided technical assistance to mayors and other officials on bus rapid transit
Bus rapid transit
Bus rapid transit is a term applied to a variety of public transportation systems using buses to provide faster, more efficient service than an ordinary bus line. Often this is achieved by making improvements to existing infrastructure, vehicles and scheduling...
and urban planning
Urban planning
Urban planning incorporates areas such as economics, design, ecology, sociology, geography, law, political science, and statistics to guide and ensure the orderly development of settlements and communities....
.
The Foundation’s New Constituencies for the Environment initiative works to strengthen environmental leadership among groups that have been historically underrepresented.
Global Development Program
The Global Development Program makes grants to promote "equitableEquitable
-Companies:*Scottish Equitable, is an investment company located in Edinburgh*Equitable PCI Bank*The Equitable Life Assurance Society, life insurance company in the United Kingdom...
" growth in the developing world. The Program seeks to improve U.S. foreign assistance
Aid
In international relations, aid is a voluntary transfer of resources from one country to another, given at least partly with the objective of benefiting the recipient country....
policies and encourage the use of evaluations that measure the impact of these policies. Additionally, the Program supports organizations that monitor government budgets and expenditure and addresses issues including transparency and accountability in the use of public and private funds for development.
The Program backs reforms that help struggling farmers in developing countries gain better access to markets both by improving local conditions and by eliminating trade barriers and agricultural subsidie
Agricultural subsidy
An agricultural subsidy is a governmental subsidy paid to farmers and agribusinesses to supplement their income, manage the supply of agricultural commodities, and influence the cost and supply of such commodities...
s in industrialized countries.
Performing Arts Program
The Performing Arts Program provides multiyear operating support to hundreds of area organizations in dance, music, theater, and arts education, as well as in film, video, and emerging media. Grants are designed to foster participation in the arts, broaden appreciation of diverse cultural expressions and promote the long-term vitality of arts organizations. Grantees include both large, well-established organizations such as the San Francisco SymphonySan Francisco Symphony
The San Francisco Symphony is an orchestra based in San Francisco, California. Since 1980, the orchestra has performed at the Louise M. Davies Symphony Hall. The San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra and the San Francisco Symphony Chorus are part of the organization...
and the American Conservatory Theater
American Conservatory Theater
American Conservatory Theater is a large non-profit theater company in San Francisco, California, that offers both classical and contemporary theater productions. A.C.T. was founded in 1965 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in conjunction with the Pittsburgh Playhouse and Carnegie Tech by theatre and...
and more experimental companies. In 2006, the Hewlett Foundation provided $10 million to the San Francisco Opera Association
San Francisco Opera
San Francisco Opera is an American opera company, based in San Francisco, California.It was founded in 1923 by Gaetano Merola and is the second largest opera company in North America...
and $5 million to the San Francisco Symphony
San Francisco Symphony
The San Francisco Symphony is an orchestra based in San Francisco, California. Since 1980, the orchestra has performed at the Louise M. Davies Symphony Hall. The San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra and the San Francisco Symphony Chorus are part of the organization...
.
Philanthropy Program
The Philanthropy Program is designed to work with other nonprofit organizations to increase organizational effectiveness. The program provides tools to enable organizations to engage in strategic planningStrategic planning
Strategic planning is an organization's process of defining its strategy, or direction, and making decisions on allocating its resources to pursue this strategy. In order to determine the direction of the organization, it is necessary to understand its current position and the possible avenues...
, and improve communications, technology, program evaluation, board development, and fundraising
Fundraising
Fundraising or fund raising is the process of soliciting and gathering voluntary contributions as money or other resources, by requesting donations from individuals, businesses, charitable foundations, or governmental agencies...
.
The Foundation also advances research about philanthropy—both in universities and in organizations, including the Center for Effective Philanthropy, The Bridgespan Group and the Foundation Strategy Group, with the goal of promoting knowledge useful to nonprofits and foundations.
The foundation also supports Givewell
Givewell
GiveWell is an American non-profit charity evaluator created in 2006 by two former finance industry workers, Holden Karnofsky and Elie Hassenfeld. GiveWell's goal is to use an evidence based approach by examining results empirically and avoiding anecdotes and appeals to stories. They investigate...
. http://www.givewell.net/about/story
Population Program
The Population Program makes grants to promote family planningFamily planning
Family planning is the planning of when to have children, and the use of birth control and other techniques to implement such plans. Other techniques commonly used include sexuality education, prevention and management of sexually transmitted infections, pre-conception counseling and...
and reproductive health
Reproductive health
Within the framework of the World Health Organization's definition of health as a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being, and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity, reproductive health, or sexual health/hygiene, addresses the reproductive processes, functions and system...
, particularly those living in the poorest regions of sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia—to allow them to make informed personal decisions about sexual and reproductive health and prevent sexually transmitted infections. The Program also works to strengthen the link between family planning and HIV/AIDS prevention programs. The Program also works to improve family planning services and protect reproductive rights in the United States and to reduce teen pregnancy in California.
Special opportunities
Although most grantmaking takes place within the Programs, Special Projects provides support to academic, research, and cultural institutions that do not fall within the guidelines of particular programs—for example, the Carnegie Endowment for International PeaceCarnegie Endowment for International Peace
The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace is a foreign-policy think tank based in Washington, D.C. The organization describes itself as being dedicated to advancing cooperation between nations and promoting active international engagement by the United States...
, the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences
Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences
The Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences is an American interdisciplinary research body in Stanford, California focusing on the social sciences and humanities . Fellows are elected in a closed process, to spend a period of residence at the Center, released from other duties...
, Stanford University
Stanford University
The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...
’s School of Humanities and Sciences, and the University of California at Berkeley.