Over the Packard Foundation’s nearly 60-year history, we have worked with thousands of organizations and leaders in the U.S. and worldwide to advance progress in the critical areas of science, ocean and land conservation, climate change, women’s reproductive health and rights, and the well-being of children, families, and communities.
At a time of multiple, intertwined crises globally and here in the U.S., we recognize the need to take stock and ensure we are charting the strongest course forward in the face of continual changes in the world. Since the beginning of 2021, the Packard Foundation has engaged in a long-planned review of our grantmaking strategies. This process seeks to make us an ever more effective and responsive partner. It includes the board of trustees and Foundation team asking how we can continue to evolve who we are and how we can be most effective in a more interconnected, complex, and fast-changing world.
This last year has deeply underscored the importance of understanding the growing fragility of the U.S., with its history of racism, inequity, and injustice, and a democracy increasingly under threat. This fragility undermines our ability to surmount together the enormous challenges of the coming decade, from climate change to pandemics to the growing inequity and injustice here in the U.S. and globally. We believe, however, that it is exactly in these times of great turmoil and change that we have the greatest opportunities for transformational, positive change.
The first step of our process was to rearticulate our vision and mission, reexamine our organizational values, and create a strategic framework that builds on and honors the Packard Foundation’s past while advancing justice and equity in all that we do. We are in the middle of this review, but we want to share our progress, including our new vision, mission, and updated values and what’s next.
Our Vision: A just and equitable world where both people and nature flourish.
Our new vision embraces a future where both people and nature flourish in a more just and equitable world. We explicitly acknowledge that the fate of people and the natural environment are inextricably linked. Solutions to the complex challenges we face must account for this interconnectedness.
Our Mission: We work with people and communities to create enduring solutions for just societies and a healthy, resilient natural world.
Our new mission takes on the critical work of addressing root causes of the challenges we face and mobilizing people for collective action. In addition to building on approaches that have guided our philanthropy for decades — working in partnership, committing to issues over the long-term, and grounding our work in science, knowledge, and data – we focus on understanding the systems that either accelerate or impede progress. It is only through just and equitable systems that we can find and sustain solutions to some of the biggest challenges we face today.
Our Values: Equity, Integrity, Belief in Individual Leadership, Thinking Big, Respect, and Effectiveness.
In addition to clarifying our long-held values, we added equity. We will champion equity by treating people with dignity, honoring a range of ideas and perspectives from those closest to the issues, creating inclusive processes, and funding people who have been historically excluded to spur progress for all.
Before we updated our values, our staff and trustees worked together to define key concepts to reach a shared understanding. These definitions influenced subsequent discussions about our core beliefs, how we must hold ourselves accountable, and what we strive to be as an organization.
Our values deeply reflect the history and philosophy of the Packard family’s approach to philanthropy, guiding how we do our work. This is only the second time in our history that we have refreshed our values. We used this opportunity to ensure that how we work with one another continues to be relevant in today’s world.
What’s Next
Our vision, mission, and values are foundational elements that will frame our new strategic plan. The plan will identify new approaches to how we do our work, examine stronger connections across the issues we fund, and explore new areas of grantmaking that may bring faster, positive change for a more just and equitable world. This process is inspiring and animating all of us at the Packard Foundation. As we move forward to reimagine our future, we are embracing this once-in-a-generation opportunity for transformational, positive change while building on the important work of our partners. We look forward to sharing our progress as it unfolds.
