The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation has made grants since 1967 to support educational and cultural institutions and to help solve serious social and environmental problems. "Never stifle a generous impulse" was a favorite saying of entrepreneur William R. Hewlett, who established the Hewlett Foundation with his wife, Flora Lamson Hewlett, and their eldest son, Walter B. Hewlett. The Hewlett family's personal generosity has helped make the Foundation one of the nation's largest grantmaking institutions, with assets of approximately $9 billion. The Foundation has grantmaking programs in education, the environment, global development, performing arts, philanthropy, and population; and it also makes grants to aid disadvantaged communities in the Bay Area. Since its inception, the Hewlett Foundation has made grants of over $3 billion to thousands of organizations in the San Francisco Bay Area, across the United States, and around the world