As it enters its seventh decade, the Hewlett Foundation remains committed to the same purpose that inspired Bill and Flora Hewlett: to promote the well-being of humanity. For leaders and staff in this new era, that means staying true to the foundation’s guiding principles and longtime practices — long-term focus, partnership, and collaboration — while grappling with massive, intersecting changes that touch every one of the foundation’s programs and the communities they serve: The emergence of AI. The arrival of severe climate impacts. A breakdown in geopolitical order. Rising extremism. Widening disparities. Plummeting trust.
“The world is changing fast, and in ways that can make people less hopeful about what is possible. But our purpose remains: To be a reliable and strategic partner to the creative problem solvers working toward a future where people, communities, and the planet can thrive,” says Amber Miller, Hewlett’s president since late 2024. “Making good on that promise requires us to build on what we’ve learned in six decades of effective philanthropy, while adapting and experimenting with new ways of working. We have to treat this moment of crisis as a catalyst and reimagine what’s possible.”
Because many of the biggest problems society is facing today live between and across the foundation’s programs, reimagining what’s possible also means looking beyond the foundation’s silos, Miller says. “We have to build on the deep expertise and longtime relationships we have within our existing program areas — and we also have to connect the dots between them to seize new opportunities for impact.”
We have to treat this moment of crisis as a catalyst and reimagine what’s possible.
Amber Miller, President
This includes staff and partners within a program engaging in new and more expansive ways. The Gender Equity and Governance Program, for example, has had five distinct grantmaking strategies for years, spanning topics from global reproductive equity to evidence-informed policymaking. Amid sweeping changes in international cooperation, program staff have been canvassing partners across four continents to unlock synergies across separate lines of work. Collaboration with external partners — government, private foundation, industry — has been a hallmark of Hewlett’s approach in individual areas of giving. Now, programs are also finding areas of overlap for cross-program collaboration: Hewlett’s Environment Program has collaborated with the Gender Equity and Governance Program on climate and development finance, and with the Economy and Society Initiative on industrial policy that supports jobs, affordability, and clean energy.
The foundation has also begun to experiment with identifying and addressing “horizontal” challenges that cut across the “verticals” of existing programs. This year, as the foundation marked its 60th anniversary, three cross-cutting themes came into focus and led to new grant awards.
Building a responsible technological future
Hewlett’s programs are weighing how rapid technological transformation is reshaping societies and economies, and where the foundation’s giving can make a meaningful contribution toward progress. The Education Program has focused on the needs of youth — supporting grantees this year to invest in AI safety for youth, as well as AI-powered tools for teachers and learners that can deepen learning. The Economy and Society Initiative is supporting work that analyzes the economic implications of the AI revolution, while the Gender Equity and Governance Program is supporting civil society in low- and middle-income countries to engage on AI governance. The Environment Program has been working to ensure communities can decide their own futures when it comes to proposed new data centers as well as exploring how AI can improve energy efficiency to reduce energy costs and be powered with clean energy.
In 2026, the foundation launched a new Emerging Technology and Security Initiative to help ensure that consequential technologies of the current era — artificial intelligence, biotechnology, and quantum computing — develop in ways that keep people safe and foster innovation. After an initial set of exploratory grants in 2026, the foundation aims to provide $100 million over the initiative’s formal term that will begin in 2027. The initiative builds on the foundation’s expertise in technology and security and tradition of practical, evidence-based problem solving to address critical challenges, like keeping power grids, water systems, and hospitals safe from AI-driven threats. The effort also prioritizes collaboration — partnering, for example, with civil society and industry organizations in the Anti-Scams Philanthropy Collaborative to protect people from AI-driven consumer fraud.
Building a shared civic future
Building and sustaining institutions that help people work together across differences has been a throughline in the foundation’s work, from its first annual report, which named an effective democracy as an underlying goal, to a 20-year Conflict Resolution Program, decades of support for the charitable sector itself, and the Madison Initiative, launched in 2014 to address the corrosive effect of polarization.
“The breakdown we’re seeing today in civic trust is one of the biggest issues facing our country and the world today,” Miller says. “But what unites us is greater than what divides us. We have an opportunity to find common ground and build on shared values, goals, and aspirations.”
Several of the foundation’s programs are focusing on aspects of this cross-cutting theme, with more than $40 million in special 60th anniversary grants awarded this year to organizations working to secure and renew the foundations of a shared civic life: communities with trusted institutions at their center, local leadership, and opportunities for people — often across ideological divisions — to work together toward shared goals. In addition, Hewlett’s U.S. Democracy Program, which has worked on a nonpartisan and cross-ideological basis since its inception, has deepened its focus on democratic resilience: keeping elections legitimate and peaceful; strengthening the capacity of national governing institutions; and supporting a political culture that upholds these institutions through effective leadership and constructive dialogue. The Education Program is pursuing ways to expand civic education, while the Performing Arts Program is exploring the role of culture and creativity in forging civic connections. A barrage of threats facing American nonprofits and charities, from the abrupt ending of government contracts and attacks on free speech to broader challenges to civic participation, laid bare fragilities of a charitable sector that has faced even longer-standing gaps in how it is funded, supported, and equipped to adapt. The Effective Philanthropy Program is reimagining what’s possible with a new strategy focused on “The Future of Giving” that works toward a long-term vision of a strong, adaptive charitable sector that can meet the needs of American communities today and in the future.
Fostering a thriving economic future
Affordability pressures, changing labor markets, and the various economic consequences of technological disruption exemplify another common cross-cutting theme: the need to foster a thriving economic future for all. Anchored by its Economy and Society Initiative, which was renewed in 2025, the foundation is exploring how to address economic discontent and inequality that lie at the root of deep disillusionment with institutions of democracy and civil society in the U.S. and globally. This includes supporting analysis of drivers of and solutions for rising costs such as housing, health, and child care, and collaborations with civil society, utilities, and business partners on efforts to cut household energy costs. At the same time, solutions in longstanding program areas also hinge on the need to identify new durable economic models for public goods such as public education and performing arts; racial justice efforts that remove barriers and advance economic opportunity for all; and climate solutions that help support good jobs.
Looking ahead
As the foundation looks ahead, it plans to experiment with additional new ways to build connective tissue across themes like this — across its own programs; with partners from different program areas; and beyond the traditional silos of institutional philanthropy through collaboration.
“When we bring together the expertise of our programs and the wisdom of our partners, we can unlock creativity, identify opportunities for making a difference, and take risks on new ideas that can serve the public good,” Miller says. “The world will keep changing. Making long-term durable progress requires us to keep asking, honestly, what this moment demands of us — and then to make the necessary changes, just as we have, for sixty years.”