The Flora Family Foundation was established in 1998 by the family of William R. Hewlett (co-founder of the Hewlett-Packard Company) and his wife Flora Lamson Hewlett.  The purpose of the Foundation is to promote the well-being of people everywhere by supporting selected activities of charitable organizations and institutions as determined by members of the Board and Family Council.  It is predicated on the belief that each individual has an obligation to go beyond the narrow confines of his or her personal interests and be mindful of the broader concerns of humanity.

Governance

The Foundation is organized around two groups.  The Family Council currently includes five children and eleven grandchildren of William and Flora Hewlett, along with the spouses of the children and grandchildren. This is a consultative body that meets roughly once a year to help determine the organization's policies and programmatic directions.  It also serves as a forum for discussion and instruction in matters related to the philanthropic interests of the family. 

The rotating board of directors consists of the children and grandchildren of Bill and Flora Hewlett, plus three non-family members.  Spouses of the children and the grandchildren also serve on the board.  At any given time, six or seven family members sit on the Board for one- or two-year terms.

Scope of Grantmaking

The Flora Family Foundation places no constraints on grantmaking so long as candidates fit the philanthropic interests of the Board and Family Council and meet IRS requirements. This provides unrestricted opportunities for both responsive and strategic grantmaking.  The Foundation's wide reach reflects a conscious rejection of all boundaries on grantmaking.  The Foundation’s open architecture encourages the initiative of each Family Council member, capitalizing on the wide-ranging talents and experiences of individuals who share equally in decision-making. The Foundation favors general operating support grants and assists work throughout the United States and around the world.  

Programs  

The Foundation also has two program areas. The Climate Protection Program focuses on ways to slow emissions of heat-trapping gases in the atmosphere and to accelerate the transition to a clean energy economy.

The Gap Program addresses the gulf in wealth between the world’s rich and poor.  The Gap Program supports community-based groups and nongovernmental organizations that seek to improve the lives of the poor in selected developing countries. 

Grants in both the Climate Protection Program and the Gap Program are by invitation.

In addition to the foundation’s two programs, FFF has a Marine Conservation Initiative focused on research and projects with global implications for ocean health and a Black Maternal Health Initiative directed at addressing the disparity in health outcomes for Black women in California.

Distinctive Aspect of FFF Grantmaking

Roughly half of the foundation’s budget is disbursed through individually-sponsored grants and the other half through the Climate Protection Program, the Gap Program, the Marine Conservation Initiative and the Black Maternal Health Initiative.  FFF’s balance of individual initiative and collective action is distinctive among family foundations. 

Beyond the provision of financial resources, FFF Family Council members and staff support the work of grantees by serving on boards of directors, brokering new funding relationships, and supporting collaborations of grantmakers.

Policy on Unsolicited Requests for Funding

All grants of the Foundation originate in the interests of Family Council members, and the Foundation is unable to consider unsolicited proposals.  Instead, the Foundation’s staff and Family Council circulate widely in the nonprofit sector, conferring with colleagues and assessing grant prospects in order to generate candidates for support. 

Annual Audit

A copy of the Foundation's most recent financial audit may be accessed here.

A Note of Appreciation

The Family Council and staff are honored to have been associated with so many exceptional organizations working to support communities and protect the environment around the world.

Flora Lamson Hewlett (1914-1977) was a member of a long-time California family.  She received her bachelor's degree in biochemistry from the University of California in 1935.  She married William R. Hewlett in 1939, with whom she had five children and twelve grandchildren.

In addition to close engagement with her family, Mrs. Hewlett devoted much of her time and energies to public service.  Her main philanthropic activities centered on the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, of which she was a co-founder with her husband. She was a member of the Board of Trustees of Stanford University; a trustee of the San Francisco Theological Seminary; the founder of the Flora Lamson Hewlett Library at the Graduate Theological Union; and an elder of the First Presbyterian Church in Palo Alto.  She served on the Executive Committee of the World Affairs Council of Northern California and as a director of California Tomorrow, a statewide environmental group. 

To Mrs. Hewlett's family and friends, she was known as a person interested in the life of the mind, matters of the spirit, and the beauty of the world.  Roger Heyns, the first president of the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, once said of Flora Hewlett, "She allowed neither her dedication to family and church nor the accession to wealth create a barrier between her and the world whose simple joys she savored.”  Flora Hewlett's life and work serve as an inspiration and fitting model for the Foundation that bears her name and honors her legacy.

The Blue Gentian, or Explorer’s Gentian (Gentiana calycosa), was one of Flora Hewlett’s favorite flowers.  The gentians are a diverse family of some nine hundred species, including several in the Sierra.  The flower is named after Gentius, an ancient king of Illyria who is credited with discovering its many medicinal qualities.  The flowers bloom in late summer and fall, in mountain meadows.  This photograph, taken by William R. Hewlett in the Sierra Nevada Range, was the emblem for FFF in the Foundation’s first years.