As part of our commitment to openness and transparency, the Hewlett Foundation shares data about the demographics of our staff and board, as well as our grantees.
Staff Demographics
The data below are drawn from surveys of the Hewlett Foundation staff, who number approximately 120 people, all based in the San Francisco Bay Area, across program, administrative, and investment teams.
Categories with respect to gender and race reflect how individuals self-identify. In recent years, the foundation has expanded its survey to additional aspects of identity so that staff can participate more fully. This includes, for example, options to choose multiple categories and new questions related to race and ethnicity, and expanded categories and questions for gender identity, orientation, and ability.
In keeping with the changes in research best practices, the foundation in 2021 added a question to specifically ask if staff self-identify as a person of color. As of May 2022, 57% of the foundation’s staff self-identified as a person of color and 41% did not, continuing a trend of racial diversification among both staff and senior staff. For example, in 2016, 39% of staff identified as non-white and 59% as white, and four years earlier, 31% of staff identified as non-white and 69% as white. And as of May 2022, 60% of senior staff identified as a person of color, whereas in 2021, 43% of senior staff identified as a person of color. More specifically, among senior staff: 47% identified as white, 27% as Asian/Asian American, 20% as Black/African-American, 13% multi-racial or multi-ethnic, 7% as Hispanic/Latino/Latina/Latinx, and 7% other.
Trends related to gender have changed slightly among the staff overall. As of May 2022, the foundation’s staff is 72% female, 28% male, and 2% non-binary or gender non-conforming; in 2016, the staff was 73% female, and 27% male. And in 2008 — when we began collecting this data — it was 75% female, 25% male. The senior staff is 60% female and 40% male, roughly unchanged from the year before.
In 2022, 9% of overall staff identified as a member of the LGBTQ+ community, 4% identified as a person with a disability, and no member of the staff identified as transgender. On senior staff, 13% identified as a person with a disability and no senior staff member identified as a member of the LGBTQ+ community.
Board Demographics
The Hewlett Foundation board comprises 12 members, excluding the president. As of May 2022, 36% of board members self-identified as a person of color and 64% did not; five years earlier, the board was 31% non-white and 69% white. As of May 2022, the foundation’s board is 45% male and 55% female; whereas in 2017, the board was 69% male and 31% female. In the 2022 survey, 9% of the board identified as a person with a disability and no board member identified as a member of the LGBTQ+ community or as transgender.
In 2011, the foundation adopted new policies related to board membership. Four board members must be linear descendants of William and Flora Hewlett; there must be at least five but no more than 11 additional, independent board members. All but one of these board members serve three-year terms, with a limit of four terms. One of the family slots is for a “special director,” typically from the next generation of Hewletts, who serves a single two-year term.
