MENLO PARK, Calif. -- Philanthropists would benefit from the development of an online “marketplace” of information to help them make more informed decisions about which organizations to support, the president of The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation said in an essay accompanying the Foundation’s 2006 annual report, which was released this week.

Likening such a marketplace to the robust financial information available to private investors, Hewlett President Paul Brest said the creation of such online sites to provide accurate information about nonprofit organizations’ finances, strategies and accomplishments ultimately would help the best of them get the most support, increasing the effectiveness of philanthropy in solving problems.

“Whether or not you are attracted to the metaphor of social returns on investments,” Brest said in his essay, “...it is disquieting that philanthropists have access to so little of the kinds of information that private investors rely on.”

The Hewlett Foundation works to develop exactly these types of resources as a part of its Philanthropy Program, which makes grants to improve the practice of philanthropy. In 2006, the Philanthropy Program made a total of more than $5.9 million to advance this work.

Overall, the Foundation’s annual dispersal of grants to support hundreds of nonprofit organizations worldwide reflects a steady growth in the Hewlett Foundation’s assets in recent years. By the end of 2006, the Foundation’s assets stood at $8,520,765,000 compared with $7,336,131,000 a year earlier.

In addition to its program in philanthropy, the Foundation makes grants in the areas of education, the environment, global development, performing arts, and population, and it makes grants to support disadvantaged communities in the San Francisco Bay Area.

This year, for the first time, the Hewlett Foundation is making its annual report available in a Web-based version. The report is also available as a downloadable PDF file and in a print-on-demand version through Connexions, an online learning project at Rice University funded by the Foundation’s Education Program. Additionally, there is now an online archive of past annual reports.

Visit http://annualreport.hewlett.org to read, download or order the Hewlett Foundation annual report.

About The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation
The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation has been making grants since 1967 to help solve social and environmental problems at home and around the world. The Foundation concentrates its resources on activities in education, the environment, global development, performing arts, philanthropy and population, and makes grants to support disadvantaged communities in the San Francisco Bay Area. A full list of the Hewlett Foundation’s grants can be found here.