Thank you for visiting The Philanthropy Workshop West website. TPW West concluded as an operating program of The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation on May 31, 2009 (see message below from the Hewlett Foundation’s President and Vice President). If you have questions about TPW West to date or an outstanding item, please contact Joan Garretson at jgarretson@hewlett.org. If you have questions about the new TPW West program being developed by the alumni, please email them at TPWWalumni@gmail.com. Thank you.

An Update on The Philanthropy Workshop West

April 2009

From: Paul Brest, President, and Susan Bell, Vice President, The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation

The Hewlett Foundation is extremely proud of its longtime investment in The Philanthropy Workshop West. TPW West has been successful in helping donors achieve impact with their philanthropy since the creation of the program in 2000.

Grantmakers are often incubators of ideas. We are frequently called upon to make significant start up investments in projects, with an understanding that at some point those projects will need to sustain themselves with broad financial support and constituents. That is the situation that TPW West finds itself in now.

With that background and after operating TPW West since the program’s inception, the Foundation has decided to conclude its commitment and the program at the end of May. The decision to stop operating this program was a painful one for the Foundation’s staff and board. It was driven by the confluence of several factors: a severe drop in the Foundation’s assets; the legal and practical limits of the Hewlett Foundation’s capacity, as a non-operating grantmaking foundation, to operate the program; and our informed pessimism about obtaining new commitments of large-scale support for TPW West in the current economic environment.

Our decision in no way diminishes the many extraordinary achievements of the program, which has helped donors develop the capacity to create lasting change in a wide variety of fields. We have had a wonderful partnership with Kate Greswold and the TOSA Foundation and other co-funders, alumni supporters, an array of accomplished speakers, and cohorts of participants deeply committed to solving social and environmental problems. We are confident that the great accomplishments that TPWW has achieved will have long lasting impact.

The program has been fortunate to have a highly talented and dedicated staff. They will be spending the next two months planning for the last session of the current cohort, closing the books, and cataloging the many years of excellent materials that the program produced. We are very grateful to Christine Sherry, who founded the program, and to Christy Chin, Kim Jorstad and Kelly McCormack and other staff before them, who provided TPW West with ongoing leadership, management, and administrative support.

If it turns out that other donors are able to pool the necessary resources to keep TPW West operating in its current form or some creative new form, we would be pleased to assist with the transition and share the curriculum and other materials owned by TPW West (while, of course, respecting the confidentiality of our participants and alumni). We would greatly prefer to see TPW West continue on than to go out of business.

It has been a distinct pleasure to work with such a committed and gifted group of staff, donors, and colleagues in the field, and we appreciate all the hard work and dedication that has carried this work forward over the years.