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The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation is a private foundation, established by William R. Hewlett and his wife Flora Lamson Hewlett in 1967, makes grants to support educational and cultural institutions and to advance certain social and environmental issues. The Hewlett Foundation is one of the largest grantmaking institutions in the United States, with assets of over $8 billion.1
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.2 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.
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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 for humanities, sciences, and undergraduate education. At the time, the gift was the largest on record to a university.3
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.4
Other notable projects include:
- Collaboration with the Mellon Foundation to develop the field of open courseware. 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 Rainforest in Canada.
- Seeding the Creative Commons project with $1,000,000.5
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, 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 University to support undergraduate programs in both the humanities and sciences.3
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..4
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 colleges.
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.
Environment Program
The Environment Program makes grants to support conservation 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.
Global Development Program
The Global Development Program makes grants to promote "equitable" 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 subsidies 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 Symphony 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.6
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 planning, 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.
Population Program
The Population Program makes grants to promote family planning 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.
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 Peace, the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University’s School of Humanities and Sciences, and the University of California at Berkeley.
See also
References
- ^ "Top 100 U.S. Foundations by Asset Size". Foundation Center. Retrieved on 2008-03-04.
- ^ About The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation (The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation website)
- ^ a b Hewlett Foundation gives unprecedented gift (The Stanford Daily, May 3, 2001)
- ^ a b Hewlett Foundation Gives $113-Million to U. of California's Berkeley Campus (The Chronicle of Philanthropy, September 10, 2007)
- ^ Lawrence Lessig on the History of Creative Commons (A video of Lessig's speech at the iCommons Summit, July 30, 2008, in Sapporo, Japan.)
- ^ William and Flora Hewlett Foundation 2006 Annual Report
External links
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- This page was last modified on 20 September 2008, at 06:11.
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