The Hewlett Foundation updates our grantmaking strategies every five years to facilitate ongoing learning and adaptation, consistent with our commitment to outcome-focused philanthropy. The foundation’s transparency, participation, and accountability (TPA) strategy reached the five-year mark in 2020 and we kicked off the strategy refresh in late 2020. We are now at the stage of making…
Re-granting or intermediary organizations—frequently used in philanthropy—are “mission-driven organizations that aim to more effectively link donors (individuals, foundations, and corporations) with organizations and individuals delivering charitable services.” (That’s a definition from the experts at PEAK, the association for grantmaking professionals.) Such organizations play valuable, wide-ranging roles including campaign leadership, coalition-builder, policy expert, and capacity-builder for small and…
Last week, the Center for Cultural Innovation (CCI) released a new report called Arts Workers in California, authored by scholars at the Urban Institute and funded by the Hewlett Foundation Performing Arts Program. Like our colleagues at CCI, we have long been concerned with how we can best support not only art that matters to…
Our International Reproductive Health (IRH) team kicked off a strategy refresh process back in March 2020. We began with a retrospective evaluation of Hewlett’s contributions to the IRH field over the past five years and a landscape analysis of global and regional trends in sexual reproductive health and rights (SRHR) and related fields. Though we…
The Listening Post is a monthly email by Hewlett Foundation Vice President Fay Twersky dedicated to lifting up exceptional ideas, voices, and questions that can help all of us become more effective in our philanthropy. In each issue, Fay weighs in on a new topic, curates the latest sector resources and news, and shares what…
Two years ago, the Hewlett Foundation’s U.S. Democracy Program (then, the Madison Initiative) launched a grantmaking strategy to combat digital disinformation. The premise was that disinformation posed a unique challenge to U.S. democracy, and we should move quickly to learn more about the impact of this problem and to assess solutions to counter it. Because…
The importance of human connection has come into abrupt focus with the coronavirus pandemic’s stay-at-home orders over the last month. People are finding ways to overcome their physical isolation — singing together from their balconies, participating in video calls with extended family, and checking in on their neighbors. Members of Congress are no exception. Congress…
Open Educational Resources (OER) can be a valuable tool in creating greater equity among diverse populations at historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs). Although current OER implementation at HBCUs is limited, there is a significant opportunity for growth and impact. Many of the challenges that HBCUs face regarding OER implementation may be mitigated by the …
For the past two years, the Hewlett Foundation has been supporting efforts to examine the threat of digital disinformation in order to develop solutions to this vexing problem — one part of our broader Madison Initiative to strengthen the institutions of democracy in a polarized age. These grants have gone to think tanks, universities, and…
How can nonprofits build stronger muscles around diversity, equity and inclusion? This is a challenging question that many peer funders and the nonprofits that we support are currently grappling with. While there are no easy answers, a new assessment following two years of capacity-building grants offers some lessons. First, a bit of background: Since 2004,…