The David and Lucile Packard Foundation
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.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded1964
- HeadquartersLos Altos, United States
- Headcount251–500
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingServices
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.
The David and Lucile Packard Foundation firmographics
Firmographics- 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
The David and Lucile Packard Foundation industry classification
Industry- 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
Where The David and Lucile Packard Foundation is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Los Altos
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices1 record
Markets served
The David and Lucile Packard Foundation business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Services
- Cost components
- Operations, Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Others
Marketing channels6 records
The David and Lucile Packard Foundation product offering
Product offeringCore 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.
Companies that use The David and Lucile Packard Foundation
Customer profileSegments1 record
Ideal customer profiles3 records
The David and Lucile Packard Foundation technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed No
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
The David and Lucile Packard Foundation partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Two partnerships are on record, tiered flagship and core.
- Prysm Initiative (co-founded with Gates Foundation and Hewlett Foundation)flagshipThe 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)coreMBARI 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
The David and Lucile Packard Foundation competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect 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
The David and Lucile Packard Foundation social profiles
Digital presenceThe David and Lucile Packard Foundation financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
The David and Lucile Packard Foundation leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles3 records
The David and Lucile Packard Foundation subsidiaries and ownership
Company hierarchySubsidiaries1 record
The David and Lucile Packard Foundation funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
The David and Lucile Packard Foundation M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&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
What does The David and Lucile Packard Foundation do?
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.
Is The David and Lucile Packard Foundation a public or private company?
The David and Lucile Packard Foundation is a private company. It is classified as nonprofit foundation owned and is currently operating.
When was The David and Lucile Packard Foundation founded?
The David and Lucile Packard Foundation was founded in 1964. It employs 251 to 500 people.
Where is The David and Lucile Packard Foundation based?
The David and Lucile Packard Foundation is headquartered in Los Altos, United States, in the North America region.
Who are The David and Lucile Packard Foundation's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, Ford Foundation, The Pew Charitable Trusts, Rockefeller Foundation, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, Bloomberg Philanthropies, William and Flora Hewlett Foundation and Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. ClimateWorks Foundation is listed as an emerging player.
Does The David and Lucile Packard Foundation have an API?
No public API is recorded for The David and Lucile Packard Foundation.
What industry is The David and Lucile Packard Foundation in?
The David and Lucile Packard Foundation's product category is Private Foundation Grantmaking. Its primary akta.pro industry code is BPAGAKAA, Private Foundations, with a secondary code of BPAGAKAI, Research & Science Grantmaking Foundations. Its NAICS code is 813211 and its SIC code is 6282.