William and Flora Hewlett Foundation

OVERVIEW: Hewlett makes grants for work on climate change and conservation, women’s empowerment and reproductive rights, democracy, and other issues that include K-12 education, effective philanthropy, and arts and community development in the Bay Area.

IP TAKE: One of the largest grantmakers in the United States, this funder tends to support larger NGOs with which it has longstanding commitments. Those commitments can make it difficult for newcomers to secure funding, but patience can pay off here. Grantseekers should note that Hewlett funds a lot projects that involve data collection and analysis. Hewlett strives for transparency, and though somewhat bureaucratic — understandably, due to the large scope of its work — likes to work closely with grantees. According to GrantAdvisor, program officers move around frequently within the foundation, so acquaint yourself with program officers who retain institutional memory even if they’ve moved on to another program. This is an excellent funder to know.

PROFILE: The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation was established in 1966 by Bill Hewlett, cofounder of Hewlett-Packard, with a “loose charter mandating perpetual existence… as a charitable, religious, scientific, literary or educational foundation for the purpose of promoting the wellbeing of mankind.” This nonpartisan organization prioritizes the advancement of education for all, the environment, developing countries, the health and economic wellbeing of women, performing arts, strengthening Bay Area communities, and making the philanthropy sector more effective. The foundation’s current grantmaking programs are Economy and Society, Education, Effective Philanthropy, Environment, Gender Equity and Governance, Performing Arts, Racial Justice and U.S. Democracy. It also maintains a Special Projects grantmaking area.

Grants for Climate Change and Environmental Conservation

The Hewlett Foundation’s Environment program works to “protect people and places threatened by a warming planet by addressing climate change globally, expanding clean energy, and conserving the North American West.” This has been the foundation’s largest area of giving over the past several years.

Its Climate and Energy strategy focuses on a crosscutting approach towards current multinational and multi-industry climate commitments in order to help meet current targets. This work seeks to ensure that “the global average temperature increase (remains) well below 2°C above preindustrial levels, facilitating a sustainable and equitable transition to a low-carbon economy” and address any bottlenecks. In July 2024, Hewlett refreshed the foundation’s Global Climate Initiative Strategy through 2029. Beyond the U.S., this work also works to hold China, India and the European Union to their climate commitments.
Its Western Conservation strategy works to “protect the extraordinary natural resources of the Western United States and Canada, and back efforts to build broad public support and empower citizens who care about the conservation of land, water and air in the West.” Its goal is to conserve at least 320 million acres of land by 2035. Past grantees include $1.5 million to Water Foundation, $200,000 to Wildlife Conservation Society Canada, and $300,000 to Yurok Tribe for The Yurok Tribal Fisheries Program.
Additionally, Hewlett, along with the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur, David and Lucile Packard and Rockefeller foundations, and Bill Gates’ Breakthrough Energy, heads a fund called Invest in Our Future that works to ensure that local groups and organizations benefit from the opportunities created by three recent federal bills: the Inflation Reduction Act, Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and the CHIPS and Science Act.
Back in 2008, Hewlett launched a $1 billion, joint climate-funding initiative, the ClimateWorks Foundation.
Major grantees in recent years have included the European climate Foundation, Climate Lead, the Climateworks Foundation and San Francisco’s Energy Foundation, each of which received several millions.
At the lower end of Hewlett’s giving, some smaller organizations have also received funding. Recipients include the C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group, the Evergreen Collaborative, Carbon180, the Clean Future Forum and the Our Common Home Association of Switzerland.

Grants for Racial Justice

Racial Justice is one of Hewlett’s newer grantmaking programs and addresses systemic inequalities that inhibit equal opportunity for all people. According to the program’s strategy, grantmaking here “begins internally” and is guided by Hewlett’s “Culture, Race, and Equity team. The program names two main priorities:

Hewlett makes broad strokes to “strengthen the field of racial and economic justice” and simultaneously incorporate its commitment to its other grantmaking programs.
The foundation works internally to promote practice that advance racial justice, including addressing its internal culture, “rooting out implicit bias,” and shifting grant awards to more supportive models and “multiyear flexible funding.”
In a recent year, the foundation made over $18 million in racial justice grants to 20 organizations. Grantees include the NAACP’s Empowerment Programs, the Lawyer’s Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, the Association of Black Foundation Executives and Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut, which received funding for its Smart Cities Research Lab’s project on building equitable cities across the U.S.

Grants for Women and Reproductive Rights

Hewlett makes grants for women and girls’ causes via its Gender Equity and Governance initiative. This program’s purpose is to “to foster inclusive societies so that all people, and especially women and girls, are able to fulfill their life aspirations.”

This program features a new Reproductive Equity strategy focused on the U.S. from 2024–2027. In the post-Dobbs era, the foundation’s new shift in strategy focuses on long-term reproductive equity, as well as on “abortion care and contraception among those facing the greatest barriers,” which include LGBTQ and BIPOC people.
The program also supports policy for reproductive equity relating to women’s health, well-being and economic opportunity.
The foundation’s ongoing geographic priorities for this funding area are sub-Saharan Africa, Mexico and the U.S.
Recent grantees include the African Population and Health Research Center, the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy and the Institute for Women’s Policy Research.

Grants for Education

Education funding at the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation aims to “help educators, schools and communities turn schools into places that empower and equip every student for a lifetime of learning, and to expand access to open educational resources.” It is organized around two strategies: K-12 teaching and learning and open educational resources.

Grants for K-12 Education

Hewlett’s K-12 teaching and learning program focuses on “the promise of public education” and invests in research, teacher development, advocacy and capacity building to support “the adoption of high-quality educational experiences in public schools.”

Recent giving has been heavily geared toward research and policy, with grants going to organizations including Big Picture Learning, the National Center for Learning Disabilities, the Philanthropic Collaborative for Education, Unbound Learning and the Learning Policy Institute.
Additional K-12 funding stems from the open educational resources program, which supports the development and accessibility of materials and curricula that are “free for educators and students to use, adapt, and share.” Grantees of this program include Open Education Global and Digital Promise Global.

Grants for Higher Education

Hewlett supports higher education mainly through its open educational resources subprogram and, to a lesser extent, through its environmental program.

The open educational resources focuses on the sharing of resources, information and curricula across schools, geographies and cultures. At the postsecondary level, this involves working with large university systems, education providers and governments to bring programs to “a diverse array of postsecondary institutions,” especially those that “teach historically underserved students.” Grantees include Spelman College, the University of Maryland, the Institute for the Study of Knowledge Management in Education and Tennessee State University, among others.
Hewlett’s environmental program has supported environmental and conservation science programs at colleges and universities. Stanford University received funding for a study on carbon dioxide removal in the state of California. Other grants have supported research at the University of California at Berkeley and the New School in New York City.

Grants for Arts and Culture

The Hewlett Foundation’s Performing Arts program prioritizes the San Francisco Bay area, supporting “meaningful artistic experiences for communities.” Priorities include equitable access and participatory programs for young people.

Grants for communities support programs that “bring meaning, inspiration and joy” to community audiences.”
Grants for artists provide individual artists and collectives with support and services to enhance their “creative agency and economic well-being.”
Grants for youth support equitable opportunities for high-quality arts education throughout the Bay Area.
The foundation supported Bay Area arts organizations with over $40 million in grants in a recent year, although these grants tend to be smaller than those stemming from some of Hewlett’s other programs. Grantees include Silicon Valley Creates, the Berkeley Repertory Theatre, San Francisco’s Community Arts Stabilization Trust and the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts.

Grants for Civic Engagement and Democracy

The overarching goal of the Hewlett Foundation’s U.S. Democracy grantmaking is “to build public trust in a durable democracy where all Americans have a meaningful opportunity to thrive.” IP’s interview with U.S. Democracy Program Director Ali Noorani sheds further light on this giving area through 2024 and beyond. This program focuses mainly on national organizations and initiatives.

The program’s current sub-initiative for Trustworthy Elections makes grants to improve the accessibility and security of elections nationwide.
National Governing Institutions funds initiatives to improve the flexibility and responsiveness of the legislative and executive branches of U.S. government in light of increasing polarization.
Grantees of the democracy program include the Election Trust Initiative, Project Democracy, the Defending Democracy Together Institute and the Third Way Institute, which works to protect “liberal democracy from the threat of rising extremism.”

Grants for Nonprofits

The foundation’s Effective Philanthropy program seeks to “strengthen the capacity” of Hewlett grantees, as well as philanthropy in general. This program also works collaboratively to advance best practices at Hewlett and among other philanthropic organizations in the U.S.

Knowledge for Better Philanthropy, a substrategy, supports organizations that “produce independent, high-quality knowledge about practical matters facing foundations.” Hewlett’s grantees in this space range from academic centers to investigative journalism — so long as work encourages “a spirit of inquiry that promotes dialogue and debate.” This work reports on nearly every focus area and subject that the foundation funds.
The focus area for Organizational Effectiveness provides “targeted support” to existing Hewlett grantees aiming to “strengthen their organizations so they can better adapt and thrive to enhance their impact.
Adaptive and Strategic Philanthropy refers to Hewlett’s internal program to “learn from evaluations, research, and feedback.” This subprogram consists of collaborative work among the Effective Philanthropy Group, the foundation’s president and each of its grantmaking programs.
Listening and Feedback strives to incorporate feedback “from the people and communities impacted by our work” into the foundation’s practice, communications and culture.
Grants stemming from the Effective Philanthropy program have supported Asian Americans/Pacific Islanders in Philanthropy, the Council on Foundations, Hispanics in Philanthropy and Funders for LGBTQ Issues, among many others.

Important Grant Details:

Hewlett Foundation awards thousands of grants annually that range anywhere from around $10,000 up to nearly $20 million. Most grants, however, fall in the $50,000 to $750,000 range. Hewlett supports organizations across the United States and internationally.

Hewlett’s largest grants go to well-known national and global nonprofits, but there is room for smaller organizations here, especially in the areas of education, the arts and local outfits in the Bay Area.
Climate and environment are the foundation’s largest areas of giving, but giving for democracy and racial justice have been gaining importance recently.
To get a broader sense of the types of organizations Hewlett supports and at what level, explore its grants database.
The foundation is proactive about selecting its grantees, but it sometimes issues RFPs. Sign up for email updates to keep up with the latest opportunities. This funder does accept letters of inquiry, but rarely funds funds projects in response to them.
Submit questions to the foundation via the contact page. The foundation’s phone number is (650) 234-4500.

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