Advice to Applicants

Thank you very much for your interest in The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation. We ask that all organizations interested in applying for a grant carefully read the information available on our Web site about the Foundation's programs and priority areas.

If, after review of our priorities, you believe your objectives fit within the guidelines of a particular program, we suggest that you read “Update on the Hewlett Foundation’s Approach to Philanthropy: The Importance of Strategy” to get a sense of our general grantmaking philosophy.

Grants are awarded on the basis of merit, educational importance, relevance to program goals, and cost-effectiveness. We have the following limitations:

  • The Foundation makes grants only to nonprofit charitable organizations classified as 501(c)(3) public charities by the Internal Revenue Service. 
  • The Foundation normally does not make grants intended to support basic research, capital construction funds, endowment, general fundraising drives, or fundraising events. It does not make grants intended to support candidates for political office, to influence legislation, or to support sectarian or religious purposes.

The following programs and initiatives are currently accepting unsolicited letters of inquiry for new grants. Click on a link to read program-specific guidelines and to submit a letter of inquiry for a new grant.

The following programs and initiatives currently are not accepting letters of inquiry: Global Development, Philanthropy, and Population.

After your letter of inquiry is received and reviewed, our program staff will contact you to let you know whether to submit a full proposal. Please note that a request to submit a proposal does not guarantee funding, but rather is a second step in the review process. Please do not submit a full proposal until you are invited to do so.

If invited, you will be asked to complete a proposal using our Common Format. If a significant aspect of your proposal involves holding one or more meetings, you may find it helpful to consider “Meetings as a Strategy for Change.”

Please note that a great many excellent organizations meet both our general and specific criteria for grantmaking; competition for the available funds is intense. Consequently, the Foundation can respond favorably to only a small proportion of the worthwhile proposals it receives.