The first full-length history of the Hewlett and Packard foundations and how they were at the forefront of the emergence of a distinctive West Coast approach toward giving.

A new generation of mega-wealthy tech tycoons purported to upend the twenty-first-century practice of philanthropy, but pioneering tech entrepreneurs William Hewlett and David Packard, the co-founders of the Hewlett-Packard Company, had already begun the process four decades earlier. The Rise of West Coast Philanthropy follows Silicon Valley’s first generation of philanthropists and how their work helped establish West Coast philanthropy as a major global force. 

Drawing on unprecedented access to archival records and interviews with over 115 philanthropy leaders and insiders around the world, authors Asher Orkaby and Tim Mueller uncover the previously untold histories of the foundations established by William and Flora Hewlett and David and Lucile Packard, two of America’s most famous power couples. Through their foundations, these two families introduced philanthropic trends later echoed by philanthropies on both the West and East Coasts, demonstrating a successful adaptation of the management principles that first made HP a model company. Principles such as general operating support for grantees, innovative approaches to global climate action, and an institutional focus on effective and strategic forms of philanthropy have gradually been normalized in the US and overseas. 

In telling this story, Orkaby and Mueller offer a fresh perspective on the distinctive model of West Coast philanthropy, which has been crucial in shaping the twenty-first century global philanthropic landscape.