Development Co‑operation Profiles: William and Flora Hewlett Foundation
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The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation is a United States-based private philanthropic foundation established in 1966 by William R. Hewlett, co-founder of Hewlett-Packard information technology company, and his wife Flora Lamson Hewlett.
It provides grants in the United States and globally. Programmes with an international scope include education, environment, gender equity and governance, as well as philanthropy. The foundation provides grants to a broad range of institutions, from research institutes and multilateral actors to grassroots organisations working on development.
This profile presents verified data on development assistance allocations. See the Development Co-operation Profiles.
William and Flora Hewlett Foundation provided USD 152.8 million for development in 2024 through its cross-border funding. Compared to 2023, this amount represents a decrease of 17.8% in real terms. Grants represented 100% of William and Flora Hewlett Foundation’s gross disbursements.
William and Flora Hewlett Foundation provided all of its development finance bilaterally in 2024, while 1.3% was channelled through multilateral organisations (earmarked contributions).
In 2024, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation channelled its bilateral development finance mostly through non-governmental organisations (NGOs) (USD 126.5 million), universities, research institutes or think tanks (USD 19.3 million) and public-private partnerships (PPPs) and private sector (USD 5.1 million).
In 2024, William and Flora Hewlett Foundation provided USD 1.9 million to the multilateral system. Of this, USD 1.9 million was non-core contributions earmarked for a specific country, region, theme or purpose. 55% of total development finance was channelled through the World Bank Group, United Nations (UN) organisations, and UN funds and programmes.
The UN system received USD 600 thousand from William and Flora Hewlett Foundation in 2024. The most significant UN recipients were the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) (USD 400 thousand) and the UN Development Programme (UNDP) (USD 200 thousand).
In 2024, civil society organisations (CSOs) received USD 126.5 million of the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation’s gross bilateral finance, of which 31% was directed to developing country-based CSOs. Overall, 40.9% of total bilateral development finance was allocated to CSOs as core support, while 41.9% was earmarked to specific projects or programmes. From 2023 to 2024, the combined core and earmarked contributions for CSOs increased as a share of bilateral philanthropic development finance, from 82.2% to 82.8%.
Learn more about the DAC Recommendation on Enabling Civil Society in Development Co-operation and Humanitarian Aid.
In 2024, William and Flora Hewlett Foundation’s development finance was primarily focused on Africa and Asia (excluding the Middle East). USD 60.3 million was allocated to Africa and USD 24.2 million to Asia (excluding the Middle East), accounting respectively for 39.4% and 15.8% of gross bilateral development finance. A sum of USD 53 million (34.7%) was unallocated by region, mainly including multi-regional programmes and research grants.
In 2024, 32.6% of gross development finance went to the top 10 recipients, most notably China (People’s Republic of) (9%), India (4.6%), and Kenya (4.3%).
Least developed countries (LDCs) received USD 17.7 million (11.6%) of William and Flora Hewlett Foundation’s gross disbursements in 2024. William and Flora Hewlett Foundation allocated the highest share (12.5%) of its bilateral development finance to upper middle-income countries in 2024, followed by LDCs (11.6%), noting that USD 99.2 million (64.9%) was unallocated by income group.
William and Flora Hewlett Foundation allocated USD 11 million of its development finance to land-locked developing countries in 2024, and USD 300 thousand to small island developing states (SIDS) in 2024.
Support to contexts with high and extreme fragility reached USD 20.8 million in 2024, representing 13.6% of William and Flora Hewlett Foundation’s bilateral development finance. Of this, contexts with extremely fragility received a sum of USD 100 thousand.
Learn more about the OECD States of Fragility platform.
In 2024, the largest allocations (55% of bilateral contributions) by William and Flora Hewlett Foundation went to social infrastructure and services, with a strong focus on support to government and civil society (USD 73.6 million). The second largest allocation was multi-sector (USD 55.1 million), focusing on general environment protection (USD 40.4 million). This was followed by economic infrastructure and services (USD 35.6 million).
In the period 2023-2024, William and Flora Hewlett Foundation committed 39.3% of screened bilateral allocable development finance to gender equality and women’s empowerment, compared to 32.1% in 2021-2022 and a private philanthropic average of 33.2% in 2023-2024. This is equal to USD 81.7 million of screened bilateral allocable contributions in support of gender equality on average per year. In addition:
The share of screened bilateral allocable contributions committed to gender equality and women’s empowerment as a principal objective was 25.1% in 2023-2024, compared with the private philanthropic average of 11.9%.
William and Flora Hewlett Foundation includes gender equality objectives in 100% of contributions for humanitarian aid, above the 2023-2024 private philanthropic average of 11.5%.
William and Flora Hewlett Foundation screens all bilateral allocable contributions activities against the DAC gender equality policy marker (100% in 2023-2024).
William and Flora Hewlett Foundation committed USD 100 thousand of contributions to end violence against women and girls and USD 24.4 million to support women’s rights organisations and movements, and government institutions on average per year in 2023-2024.
Learn more about the DAC Recommendation on Gender Equality and the Empowerment of All Women and Girls in Development Co-operation and Humanitarian Assistance and the DAC Recommendation on Ending Sexual Exploitation in Development Co-operation.
In 2023-2024, William and Flora Hewlett Foundation committed 37% of its total bilateral allocable contributions (USD 77 million) in support of the environment, down from 46.5% in 2021-2022. The private philanthropic average was 12.4%. In addition:
36.9% of total bilateral allocable contributions (USD 76.7 million) focused on climate change overall (the private philanthropic average was 12.9%), down from 46.5% in 2021-2022. William and Flora Hewlett Foundation had a greater focus on mitigation (36.2%) than on adaptation (8.3%) in 2023-2024.
0.9% of screened bilateral allocable contributions (USD 1.8 million) focused on biodiversity overall (the private philanthropic average was 4.3%), up from 0.8% in 2021-2022.
Learn more about the DAC Declaration on Aligning Development Co-operation with the Goals of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change.
In 2024, William and Flora Hewlett Foundation committed the largest shares of its contributions to SDG 3 (good health and well-being), SDG 5 (gender equality) and SDG 13 (climate action) of the United Nations 2030 Agenda.
Access the full list of providers at this link: Development Co-operation Profiles.
Official website: https://hewlett.org.
The methodological notes provide further details on the definitions and statistical methodologies applied, including core and earmarked contributions to multilateral organisations, channels of delivery, bilateral unspecified/unallocated/allocable development finance, the gender equality policy marker, and the environment markers.
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