William and Flora Hewlett Foundation
The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation is a US-based private foundation established in 1966 whose approach is informed by the ethos and values of its founders, William R. Hewlett and Flora Lamson Hewlett and their family. The foundation provides grants to a broad range of institutions – from research institutes and multilateral actors to grassroots organisations working on development.
The foundation’s programmes focus on domestic and international issues. Programmes with an international scope include global development and population, education, environment, cyber, and effective philanthropy.
This profile is based on data up to 2020 due to a data gap on activities by the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation in 2021.
The Hewlett Foundation provided USD 160.4 million for development in 2020 through its grantmaking activities. Compared to 2019, this amount represents an increase of 29% in real terms.
In 2020, the Hewlett Foundation provided USD 1.3 million to the multilateral system, notably United Nations (UN) entities and other multilateral organisations, such as the Commonwealth of Learning and the African Tax Administration Forum. The UN system received USD 0.8 million from the Hewlett Foundation, notably for activities of the UNDP, UNESCO and UNOPS.
See the section on geographic and thematic focus for the geographical and thematic breakdown of bilateral allocations earmarked through the multilateral development system.
In 2020, the Hewlett Foundation channelled its grants mostly through non-governmental organisations and universities, research institutes and think tanks.
In 2020, the Hewlett Foundation’s development finance was primarily focused on Africa (USD 39.3 million) and Asia (USD 29.4 million), accounting respectively for 25% and 18% of gross bilateral contributions. Fifty-two per cent of gross development finance was unspecified by region in 2020, mainly including multi-regional programmes and core support.
Least developed countries received USD 5.8 million (4%) of the Hewlett Foundation’s gross disbursements in 2020. Still, the Hewlett Foundation allocated the highest share of its development finance (27%) to middle-income countries in 2020, noting that 70% was unallocated by income group.
In 2020, the top recipients of the Hewlett Foundation’s grants included the People’s Republic of China, India and Kenya.
Sectors
In 2020, 55% of the Hewlett Foundation’s contributions were allocated to social infrastructure and services, 29% to economic infrastructure and services, 4% to production sectors, and 11% to multi-sector and cross-cutting issues such as general environmental protection. In terms of sector, the Hewlett Foundation’s largest allocations went to government and civil society, energy, health and population policies, and general environmental protection.
Official website: http://www.hewlett.org
The methodological notes provide further details on the definitions and statistical methodologies applied, including core and earmarked contributions to multilateral organisations, the Sustainable Development Goal focus of private development finance, channels of delivery, unspecified/unallocated allocations, the gender equality policy marker, and the environment markers.