Executive Message

Thinking big is a core value of the Packard Foundation and is reflected not only in grants we have made over the years, but in the cornerstone organizations and programs created through David and Lucile's personal and Foundation giving: the Lucile Packard Children's Hospital, the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, and the Packard Fellowships for Science and Engineering.

In 1986, David and Lucile Packard donated personal funds for the construction of a new children's hospital in Palo Alto, an expression of their deep interest in seeing that youth in California and around the world received the highest quality health care. Designed as a nurturing, supportive place, the Lucile Packard Children's Hospital, working with the Stanford School of Medicine, brings together faculty, staff, and volunteers whose commitment to the care of babies, children, adolescents, and expectant mothers is unmatched. Over the past decade, the Foundation has provided core support for the Children's Health Initiative to solidify the hospital's reputation for innovation and excellence in pediatrics. In 2005, for the first time in its fourteen-year history, the hospital was named one of the ten best pediatric hospitals in the nation by U.S. News and World Report, making it the highest-ranking pediatric hospital on the West Coast.

Dave Packard considered the ocean to be one of the last unexplored frontiers. In the early Eighties, the Packard family donated funds to create the Monterey Bay Aquarium and, in 1987, working with an esteemed group of scientists, Dave led the Foundation to create the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI) to focus on the exploration of the deep ocean in the Monterey Canyon. Using a dynamic collaboration of science, engineering, and operations, MBARI executes its research agenda through the development of remotely operated underwater vehicles, advanced instrumentation for chemical analysis, and computer science and communication. Over the last 15 years, MBARI's expeditions have led to the discovery and published descriptions of at least 17 new species of marine animals, an average of about one new species discovery per year.

Because the endowment of the Foundation would not have been possible without the success of the Hewlett-Packard Company and the research performed by its university-educated engineers and scientists, Dave Packard had a long-standing interest in strengthening university-based research. In 1988, the Foundation established the Packard Fellowships for Science and Engineering to allow promising young professors to pursue their science and engineering research with few funding restrictions and limited paperwork requirements. To date, the program has awarded a total of 363 fellowships, and many Fellows have gone on to receive other honors, including the MacArthur Fellowship, the National Institute of Health Director's Pioneer Award, and the Nobel Prize in Physics.

With our other grantmaking areas, these organizations and programs constitute the core of our efforts to address the complex problems that face our communities. And as we observe the tenth anniversary of the passing of David Packard, we will continue to build upon the legacy that he and Lucile left with this organization—philanthropy dedicated to improving the lives of children, enabling the creative pursuit of science, advancing reproductive health, and conserving and restoring the earth's natural systems, while seeking to remain flexible and responsive in an ever-changing world.

Carol Larson
President and CEO Susan Packard Orr
Chairman