How to align with the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation

OVERVIEW: Hewlett is a prolific grantmaker working across a broad range of interest areas including education, environmental conservation and climate action, performing arts, gender equity and governance, U.S. democracy, effective philanthropy, economic policy and ideas, racial justice, and a range of special projects. Its grantmaking is both domestic and international, although geography varies significantly by program.

IP TAKE: The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation is one of the largest grantmakers in the United States. It is best understood as a predominantly proactive and relationship-driven funder, rather than either a broadly open funder or one that categorically refuses unsolicited approaches. The foundation’s direct opportunities vary by program. Grantseekers should pay close attention to program-specific guidance, occasional open opportunities, and Hewlett-backed intermediaries and collaborative funds. Hewlett tends to provide multi-year support, which makes it difficult for even the most promising of newcomers to secure funding. Given this funder’s largely proactive approach to funding, grant seekers will need to network with associates in their network who’ve either received Hewlett grants in the past or can make an introduction.

For organizations without an existing relationship, the strongest route onto Hewlett’s radar is usually through deep participation in the fields, coalitions and networks its program officers already support. Existing grantees, funder collaboratives and intermediary organizations can provide important points of connection. This is especially true in democracy, climate and clean energy, arts and culture, racial justice, and philanthropy infrastructure.

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.” It currently focuses on “invest[ing] in creative thinkers and problem solvers who are working to ensure everyone has a meaningful opportunity to thrive.” Grantmaking is wide-ranging.

Grants for Education

Education supports opportunities that prepare students for work, civic life and participation in their communities. For many years, Hewlett’s education giving has been associated particularly with deeper learning, K-12 teaching and learning, and open educational resources.

The program is currently undergoing a significant transition. Hewlett says it is refreshing its Education strategy in 2026, building on its longstanding K-12 work while broadening its attention to learning in schools, community organizations, libraries, museums and career-connected settings. Hewlett’s current Education recruitment materials describe the strategy refresh in detail.

Recent work also points to civic education as an important area of interest. Hewlett supports iCivics and its CivxNow coalition, for example, as part of efforts to expand students’ opportunities to develop civic knowledge, critical thinking and participation skills. Read Hewlett’s August 2026 feature on iCivics.

Grantseekers should therefore avoid assuming that Hewlett’s Education Program remains confined to its older K-12 Teaching and Learning and Open Educational Resources strategies. Organizations working at the intersections of public education, civic learning, career-connected learning, community institutions, educator development, research and responsible educational technology may be worth watching as the new strategy takes shape.

That said, recent education grantees have 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. Education grantees have also included the Black Teacher Collaborative, Trajectory of Hope, Education Reimagined and the Deep Center, which “utilizes writing, art, and culture to ignite the creative passions of Savannah’s young people,” among many other education grantees.

Grants for Environment and Climate

Hewlett’s Environment Program works to address climate change globally and conserve the U.S. West. Its environmental grantmaking has long supported policy development, research, advocacy, field infrastructure and organizations working on clean-energy transitions, emissions reduction, land conservation and stewardship.

Western conservation grantmaking centers on the lands, waters and communities of the North American West, while Hewlett’s climate work has a broader geographic reach.

Hewlett also uses collaborative funding vehicles to advance environmental goals. One important example is Invest in Our Future, launched in 2023 as a pooled philanthropic initiative and strategy hub focused on accelerating clean-energy deployment in the United States. It supports work involving clean-energy siting and permitting, commercial-scale deployment, workforce development, and organizing and communications capacity. Invest in Our Future is fiscally sponsored by RF Catalytic Capital, an affiliate of the Rockefeller Foundation.

For grantseekers working on clean-energy implementation, these intermediary networks may sometimes provide a more realistic point of entry into Hewlett’s funding ecosystem than a cold approach to the foundation.

Recent environmental grantees include $4,000,000 to the Resources Legacy Fund for the U.S. Nature Initiative; $500,000 to the Clean Economy Fund for the Global Clean Investment Monitor; and $500,000 to the European Climate Foundation for international climate diplomacy, among many other environmental grantees.

Grants for Arts and Culture

Hewlett is a major Bay Area arts funder. Its Performing Arts Program supports meaningful artistic experiences throughout the San Francisco Bay Area and currently organizes its work around three interconnected priorities: Communities, Artists and Youth.

Current foundation materials describe support for community access to arts and culture, the creative agency and economic well-being of artists and culture bearers, and equitable access to high-quality arts education for young people.

The program works with organizations throughout the Bay Area, but individual artists and very small organizations should also pay attention to Hewlett-supported regranting programs.

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 have included the Oakland Asian Cultural Center, the Queer Cultural Center, the Cazadero Music Camp and Destiny Arts Center, among others.

CA$H Dance, administered by Dancers’ Group, supports individual artists and organizations creating dance work in the Bay Area. The program is funded in part by Hewlett and has awarded $5,000 grants. CA$H Dance’s 2026 round offers approximately 20 $5,000 grants to eligible Bay Area artists, organizations and collectives with budgets under $75,000; registration closes September 2, followed by September 14 and September 21 application deadlines. Applicants do not need nonprofit status or a fiscal sponsor.

CA$H Theatre, administered by Theatre Bay Area and supported by Hewlett and other funders, makes grants to individual theatre artists and small Bay Area theatre companies for artistic projects and organizational needs. Its spring 2026 round has closed, but Theatre Bay Area says another round will open in fall 2026.

Another Hewlett-backed opportunity is CALI Futures, administered by the Center for Cultural Innovation. Launched in 2026, CALI Futures awards $5,000 project grants to California artists and cultural workers experimenting with alternative approaches to income, ownership, care, sustainability and mutual support. The 2026 application round closed August 28, 2026.

These intermediary programs are particularly important for smaller arts organizations and individual artists that may be unlikely to secure a direct Hewlett grant.

Grants for Gender Equity and Governance

Hewlett’s Gender Equity and Governance Program promotes gender equity and responsive governance, with current work spanning East and West Africa, Mexico and the United States. In 2024, the program awarded $148.5M through 278 grants.

The program has five interconnected areas of work: Global Reproductive Equity, U.S. Reproductive Equity, Women’s Economic Empowerment, Inclusive Governance, Evidence-Informed Policymaking.

Current Global Reproductive Equity work particularly supports women and girls facing barriers to comprehensive reproductive healthcare in East Africa and Francophone West Africa. The strategy includes access to reproductive health services and safe and legal abortion care. Hewlett’s broader Gender Equity and Governance work also supports civil society, advocacy networks, research and policy organizations.

The program itself is undergoing strategic review in 2026, so grantseekers should confirm current priorities before making an approach.

Grants for Civic Engagement and Democracy

Hewlett’s nonpartisan U.S. Democracy Program seeks to strengthen democratic institutions and public trust. Current foundation materials identify three areas of work: National Governing Institutions, Trustworthy Elections and Political Culture. 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.

National Governing Institutions supports efforts to improve the capacity, legitimacy and adaptability of federal institutions, including Congress, the executive branch and civil service. Relevant work includes evidence-informed policymaking, institutional performance and better connections between government and the public.

Trustworthy Elections supports secure, accessible and credible elections and efforts to strengthen election administration while reducing threats such as political extremism and violence.

A significant current area of emphasis is Political Culture — work aimed at strengthening civic norms, public trust, participation and constructive engagement across ideological divides. In May 2026, Hewlett announced $19 million in grants to Be The People, GivingTuesday and Shared America for civic participation, reduced polarization and shared civic purpose. Read Hewlett’s announcement.

Hewlett is also a founding funder of the Election Trust Initiative, a nonpartisan grantmaker that supports election administrators, researchers and organizations working to improve election systems. ETI is a subsidiary of The Pew Charitable Trusts and was established with support from Hewlett, Pew, the Klarman Family Foundation and the Peter G. Peterson Foundation. Each founding partner made an initial five-year, $25 million commitment.

Another current collaborative is Trust for Civic Life, which supports rural “civic hubs” that bring residents together around community priorities. Hewlett says the collaborative focuses particularly on the Black Belt, Central Appalachia, Tribal Lands and the Southwest Border. By mid-2026 it had invested in 46 civic hubs and announced another $8 million for additional hubs. Read Hewlett’s profile of the collaborative.

These collaboratives are worth tracking closely for organizations whose work aligns with election administration, rural civic participation, democratic institutions or civic culture.

Note that the foundation also collaborated with the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, the Rockefeller Foundations, and Bill Gates’ Breakthrough Energy, in Invest in Our Future, an initiative 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.

Grants for Economic Development

Hewlett launched its Economy and Society initiative in 2020 to support new thinking about economic systems and the future of capitalism in the United States and other democratic societies.

The initiative deliberately works across ideological perspectives and supports scholars, think tanks, nonprofit organizations and other institutions developing and spreading economic ideas. Hewlett currently describes the goal as identifying and disseminating ideas “from across the ideological spectrum” that can inform what comes next for capitalism.

This is an intellectual and field-building portfolio rather than a conventional economic-mobility or direct-service program. Organizations involved in political economy, economic research, policy development, field-building and translating ideas into public debate are more obvious fits than organizations seeking support solely for direct economic services.

Grants have supported Vanderbilt University’s Policy Accelerator for Political Economy and Regulation, American Compass and the Sagamore Institutes Choke Point Project, which aims to identify “bottlenecks that are inhibiting U.S. and allied production of strategic products, supply chains, and innovation chains.”

Grants for Racial Justice

Hewlett’s Racial Justice Initiative is a limited-time initiative that works across the foundation’s other funding areas rather than operating as an entirely separate issue silo.

Its current strategy has three objectives:
- Collaborating with other Hewlett programs on jointly funded work.
- Making multi-issue grants to organizations working across two or more Hewlett funding areas.
- Supporting field-building efforts that strengthen the broader racial justice ecosystem.

The initiative currently supports about 50 nonprofit partners, most of which work across at least two issues aligned with Hewlett’s other priorities. Its approach emphasizes flexible funding and work with organizations of varying sizes. Hewlett expects the initiative to operate through the end of 2031, after which important elements of the work are expected to become incorporated into ongoing programs.

For prospect researchers, the multi-issue emphasis is especially important. Organizations working at the intersection of racial justice and multiple Hewlett priorities — such as democracy, climate, economic policy or education — may be stronger prospects than organizations whose work falls entirely outside the foundation’s existing program architecture.

Grants for Effective Philanthropy

Hewlett’s Effective Philanthropy work seeks both to strengthen its own grantees and to improve the broader nonprofit and philanthropic sectors.

The foundation’s Organizational Effectiveness work supports the capacity of existing Hewlett grantees. Grantseekers should not treat this as an independent entry point for organizations that do not already have a Hewlett relationship.

Its broader sector-facing work has supported philanthropic infrastructure, nonprofit effectiveness, funder practice, listening and feedback, and collaborative philanthropy.

Hewlett was also a founding and core supporter of Fund for Shared Insight, a national collaborative focused on strengthening philanthropic listening and feedback practices. Shared Insight concluded in 2026 after 12 years, so it should no longer be described as an active Hewlett funding mechanism. Some of that work continues through the separately launched Listen to Community initiative.

Organizations working to improve philanthropy, nonprofit effectiveness, collaborative funding structures or funder-grantee relationships may fit Hewlett’s broader Effective Philanthropy interests, but direct access appears to be largely proactive or opportunity-specific.

Grants for Special Projects and Emerging Technology

Hewlett’s Special Projects work allows the foundation to respond to opportunities, incubate new ideas, strengthen fields and support the Bay Area.

An increasingly visible area of Special Projects grantmaking involves emerging technology and national security. In July 2026, Hewlett announced that it is launching the five-year, $100 million Emerging Technology and Security Initiative under Special Projects. The initiative supports civil society organizations, universities, think tanks and other independent institutions working at the intersection of emerging technology, security and governance. Its grantmaking is organized around protecting critical physical, digital and information infrastructure from AI-enabled threats; reducing security vulnerabilities associated with technologies including biotechnology and quantum computing; and strengthening governance of emerging technologies in the U.S. and internationally. The initiative builds on exploratory grants made earlier in 2026 to institutions including Stanford’s Hoover Institution and Vanderbilt University’s Institute of National Security.

In April 2026, Hewlett President Amber D. Miller publicly described new grantmaking related to artificial intelligence, biotechnology and biosynthesis, quantum computing, critical infrastructure, cybersecurity, digital identity and the national-security implications of rapidly developing technologies. Read Miller’s April 2026 discussion of this work.

This remains an emerging and apparently proactive area of grantmaking. Universities, think tanks, technical research centers and civil society organizations with substantial expertise in technology governance, security and related policy questions appear better positioned than general technology nonprofits.

In an interview with IP’s Martha Ramirez, the foundation’s director of special programs, Eli Sugarman discussed $10 million in grants to institutes and programs conducting exploratory research on “the potential ways that malicious actors can use AI to attack the nation’s critical infrastructure.”

Important Grant Details:

The foundation has approximately $14 billion in assets and works in the United States and internationally.

Hewlett is a large funder with significant variation in grant size and structure. In 2024, the foundation says it awarded $631 million, with nearly three-fourths awarded as flexible funding. It maintains around 3,000 active grants at any given time.

The foundation’s grantmaking includes general operating support, project support, research, advocacy, field-building, capacity building and large grants to intermediary organizations. Hewlett itself emphasizes flexible and long-term support, and recent grants demonstrate substantial use of unrestricted or general operating support.
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 calls for LOIs or issues RFPs. Sign up for email updates to keep up with the latest opportunities.
Submit questions to the foundation via the contact page. The foundation’s phone number is (650) 234-4500.

How to Get on Hewlett’s Radar

Hewlett does not appear to maintain a foundation-wide open application process. At the same time, the latest Form 990-PF does not classify it as a foundation that makes grants only to preselected organizations. Grantmakers.io therefore labels it only “possibly open to applications,” directing prospective applicants to program-specific information. In practice, grantseekers should treat Hewlett as a predominantly proactive funder.

A strong cold proposal is unlikely to be enough. A more realistic approach is to:

Identify the exact current Hewlett strategy that aligns with the organization’s work.
Study recent grants in that strategy through Hewlett’s searchable grants database.
Participate in relevant field networks, coalitions, convenings and research or policy communities.
Develop relationships with Hewlett grantees, intermediary organizations and peer funders working in that ecosystem.
Watch for occasional open RFPs and, especially, grant opportunities offered through Hewlett-backed intermediaries.
Approach program staff only when there is a specific, well-researched fit rather than with a generic request for support.

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