The David and Lucile Packard Foundation

What The David and Lucile Packard Foundation does

The David and Lucile Packard Foundation is a private family foundation established in 1964 by David and Lucile Packard and headquartered in Los Altos, California. The Foundation's primary activity is grantmaking across four program areas — Environment and Science, Families and Communities, Institutions, and Just Societies — with a particular emphasis on climate change, ocean conservation, reproductive health, democracy and civic engagement, racial justice, and early childhood development. It serves nonprofit organizations, academic and research institutions, and individual researchers, distributing support to approximately 400+ active grantees per year across at least 13 countries. Its flagship direct program is the Packard Fellowships for Science and Engineering, which funds exceptional early-career scientists and engineers.

The Foundation generates no commercial revenue; its operating model is endowment-funded grantmaking. The endowment originated primarily in Hewlett-Packard and later Agilent Technologies stock transferred after David Packard's death in 1996, and has been professionally diversified since the Board authorized portfolio diversification in 2003 and the hiring of the first Chief Investment Officer (John Moehling) in 2007. Kim Sargent has served as CIO since 2017, leading an institutional-quality investment program that includes public and private market exposure. The Foundation's audited consolidated financial statements include its wholly owned affiliate, the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI), an ocean research entity for which the Foundation is sole member and majority funder.

Beyond direct grantmaking, the Foundation is increasingly deploying capital through mission-related investments and strategic co-funding partnerships — most notably the April 2026 co-founding of the Prysm Initiative with the Gates and Hewlett Foundations to coordinate philanthropic capital in reproductive health, a January 2026 LP commitment to Blueprint Equity's $333M Fund III, and a December 2025 $5M investment in Community Vision, a California community loan fund. The Foundation employs 251-500 staff and operates with a Board of Trustees that was expanded in June 2026 with the addition of Steve Bullock.

Name

The David and Lucile Packard Foundation

Legal name

The David and Lucile Packard Foundation

Website

https://packard.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

1964

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

251–500 employees

Short description

The David and Lucile Packard Foundation is a private family foundation established in 1964 that makes grants and mission investments across Environment and Science, Families and Communities, Institutions, and Just Societies, serving roughly 400+ nonprofits, academic institutions, and researchers annually across 13+ countries.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Private Foundation Grantmaking

NAICS

Grantmaking Foundations (813211), Other Grantmaking and Giving Services (813219)

SIC

Investment Advice (6282), Services-Commercial Physical & Biological Research (8731)

akta.pro primary industry

Private Foundations (BPAGAKAA)

akta.pro secondary industries

Research & Science Grantmaking Foundations (BPAGAKAI), Health & Medical Research Grantmaking Foundations (BPAGAKAL), Environmental & Climate Grantmaking Foundations (BPAGAKAM), Corporate Foundations & CSR Grantmaking (BPAGAKAC)

Keywords

• Philanthropic grantmaking
• Private foundation
• Science fellowships
• Conservation funding
• Reproductive health grants

Headquarters

HQ city

Los Altos

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Operations, Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Others

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

The David and Lucile Packard Foundation is a private family foundation established in 1964 that makes grants to nonprofit organizations and institutions across four program areas: Environment and Science, Families and Communities, Institutions, and Just Societies. It also runs the Packard Fellowships for Science and Engineering program supporting early-career researchers, deploys mission-related investments, and supports affiliated ocean research through MBARI.

Product overview

The David and Lucile Packard Foundation is a private philanthropy organization focused on grantmaking and supporting innovative leaders and organizations. The Foundation operates various funding programs including the Packard Fellowships for Science and Engineering, grant programs across areas such as Environment and Science, Families and Communities, and Just Societies. The Foundation does not offer commercial technology products or software services.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Packard Fellowships for Science and Engineering: A fellowship program for science and engineering students

Products and services

• Packard Fellowships for Science and Engineering A fellowship program supporting exceptional early-career scientists and engineers (typically within five years of their first faculty appointment) at U.S. universities with multi-year unrestricted research funding, designed to allow innovative and high-risk research.
• Environment and Science Grants Grants to nonprofit organizations, academic institutions, and research institutions working on climate change mitigation, ocean conservation, and science-and-engineering research, including support for the affiliated MBARI ocean research institute.
• Families and Communities Grants Grants to nonprofits supporting children, families, and communities, including early childhood development and community-based service organizations.
• Just Societies Grants Grants to nonprofits working on reproductive health and rights, democracy and civic engagement, and racial justice, including the co-founded Prysm Initiative addressing chronic underfunding in reproductive health.
• Institutions Grants Grants supporting institutional capacity and infrastructure across the Foundation's program areas, including general operating support to build grantee organizational capacity.
• Mission-Related Investments Below-market and impact investments made to advance the Foundation's mission, including limited-partner investments in venture and growth-equity funds (e.g., Blueprint Equity Fund III) and direct investments in community loan funds (e.g., Community Vision) supporting affordable housing, healthcare facilities, and small businesses in underserved California communities.

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Two partnerships are on record, tiered flagship and core.

• Prysm Initiative (co-founded with Gates Foundation and Hewlett Foundation)flagshipStrategic or Co-development Partner · 29 April 2026The Packard Foundation co-founded Prysm Initiative as an independent entity with the Gates Foundation and William and Flora Hewlett Foundation. The initiative addresses chronic underfunding in reproductive health, particularly following the US decision to slash its support by more than $600 million. Prysm has identified over $450 million in funding opportunities and aims to direct 100% of donor funding to impact.
• Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerMBARI is an affiliate of the Foundation because the Foundation is its sole member, appoints its board of directors, and provides a substantial majority of its financial support. The Foundation's audited consolidated financial statements include MBARI's financial activities.

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation: Large private foundation with programmatic focus including climate, equity, and journalism. Comparable in size and multi-issue grantmaking model, with emphasis on bold, long-term bets similar to Packard's patient-capital framing.
• Ford Foundation: One of the largest US private foundations, focused on inequality reduction, civic engagement, and democracy. Comparable as a multi-issue, large-scale grantmaking foundation with global reach and program-related investment activity.
• The Pew Charitable Trusts: Large US private foundation funding nonpartisan research and policy across environment, ocean, and health — directly comparable thematic overlap (ocean, civic engagement) and similar scale of grantmaking operations.
• Rockefeller Foundation: Legacy US foundation focused on climate, health, and equity through global grantmaking and program-related investments. Comparable scale and long-duration grantmaking strategy with focus on system-level change.
• Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation: One of the largest private foundations in the world, also making grants across global health, climate, and equity. Directly comparable to Packard as a large, multi-issue private foundation and active co-founding partner in the Prysm Initiative.
• Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation: Bay Area-based foundation founded by Intel co-founder Gordon Moore, with deep focus on science, environmental conservation, and patient capital. Directly comparable given shared Silicon Valley origin and overlapping environment-and-science priority areas.
• Bloomberg Philanthropies: Large private foundation with strong emphasis on climate, public health, and civic-engagement programs. Comparable as a multi-issue large-scale grantmaker with overlapping climate-and-civic priority areas.
• William and Flora Hewlett Foundation: Bay Area-based family foundation created by the HP co-founder that funds environment, education, and other program areas. Closely comparable in origin (HP co-founder), geography, scale, and grantmaking focus, and a direct co-founder of the Prysm Initiative.
• Robert Wood Johnson Foundation: Large US private foundation focused on health, equity, and family-community well-being. Comparable given Packard's reproductive-health and Families-and-Communities focus, and similar scale of operation.

Emerging players

• ClimateWorks Foundation: Climate-focused grantmaking intermediary with related foundation partners. Comparable as a peer grantmaker in Packard's Environment-and-Science priority area, though more narrowly focused on climate than the broader Packard portfolio.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• YouTubeyoutube.com/user/ThePackardFoundation
• Facebookfacebook.com/packardfoundation
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/packardfoundation
• Instagraminstagram.com/packardfdn
• Xx.com/packardfdn

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles3 records

Subsidiaries1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments6 records

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about The David and Lucile Packard Foundation