Special Projects

Program Overview

Special Projects responds to opportunities that advance our philanthropic values, incubate new ideas, strengthen our field, and support the Bay Area.

Grants

Priorities

Explore new areas of work.
Enable collaboration with other foundations.
Facilitate cross-pollinating work across our programs.
Support efforts to improve the lives of communities in the San Francisco Bay Area, where the foundation began.

Special Projects

The majority of the Hewlett Foundation’s philanthropy is aligned with grantmaking strategies in our permanent programs. But sometimes unanticipated opportunities arise that require flexibility. We reserve funding each year to support special projects.

Unlike other aspects of the Hewlett Foundation’s philanthropy, these grants are not concentrated in a specific area with an overarching programmatic strategy or an outcome-focused theory of change. Special projects have included exploring potential initiatives, enabling collaboration with other foundations, and facilitating cross-pollinating work across our programs. They are one-time grants to help support catalytic projects. We also support pressing challenges facing the San Francisco Bay Area. The Hewlett Foundation began in the Bay Area and maintains a deep commitment to the region by making grants that seek to improve the lives of local communities.