We are partnering with The Kavli Foundation to invite Letters of Interest for projects that explore and expand ideas about the social compact for science. If you have a project that helps reimagine science's social compact, please submit it by July 22 at 5pm PST. 🔗 https://ow.ly/PSRc50ZjRiq

Reimagining Science’s Social Compact: A Call for Letters of Interest

A funding opportunity for projects that will expand marketplace of ideas to identify and explore terms by which science operates in society.

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250 years ago, the founders of the United States gave us an aspiration, not a finished product. Today our democracy faces real strain — but also a real opportunity for renewal. 🔗 https://ow.ly/GvL050ZjqxK

The Most Powerful Innovation Isn’t Technology—It’s Community

Nancy Lindborg

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Packard Fellow Wyatt Shields and his team at University of Colorado Boulder (CU Boulder) are developing microscopic robots that could deliver treatments (like chemotherapy) to targeted sites in our bodies, making them more effective and lowering the risks of side effects. 🔗 https://ow.ly/nbxj50ZhFkB

These Tiny Medical Robots Could Travel Through Your Body

The Packard Fellowship for Science and Engineering gave Wyatt Shields the freedom to pursue tiny medical robots that could that could one day deliver treatments.

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Organizations like the Center for Internet Security and Election Security Exchange are helping election officials prepare for and respond to physical, cyber, and operational threats. 🔗 https://ow.ly/Fzhf50Zhgv3

Supporting Election Integrity in 2026 • The David and Lucile Packard Foundation

We invested $7.5M to support election integrity in 2026, helping officials defend against cyber, physical, and operational threats.

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Four years after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, the landscape for reproductive health care looks different — and the need for innovation is much greater. 🔗 https://ow.ly/tru650Zgis4

Innovation In Times of Uncertainty—The Seeds We Need to Plant Now • The David and Lucile Packard Foundation

In periods of political uncertainty, innovation remains one of the few strategies that gets stronger, not weaker. New care models, tools, products, and technologies can continue moving forward—and build durable pathways that can outlast a particular policy environment. The reproductive health field confronted this reality in 2022 when the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the federal … Continued

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In her latest perspective, our VP of Environment and Science, J.R. Littlejohn, makes the case for treating ocean science, stewardship, and long-term investment as essential infrastructure. 🔗 https://ow.ly/UXOP50Zcm3m

The Ocean Is a National Asset. Treat It Like One.

The ocean is a national asset. The US must treat ocean science investment as essential infrastructure, not a discretionary cost.

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We are thrilled to welcome Steve Bullock to our Board of Trustees! https://ow.ly/Z4zz50Z6Ur2

The Packard Foundation Welcomes Steve Bullock to Its Board of Trustees • The David and Lucile Packard Foundation

The David and Lucile Packard Foundation is pleased to announce the appointment of Steve Bullock to its Board of Trustees.

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As the U.S. approaches it's 250th Anniversary, Ruth Levine reflects on why this moment calls for us to shift our perspective from nostalgia to imagination — and how philanthropy can help create the conditions for collaboration, experimentation, and long-term thinking. 🔗 https://ow.ly/ISj050Z1JYw

In 2025, our grantmaking reached leaders and organizations across the United States and around the world working on some of our most complex and urgent challenges. 🔗 Read our full 2025 Impact Report: https://www.packard.org/2025-impact-report/

This Free the Pill Day, we’re celebrating Opill—the first over-the-counter birth control pill in the U.S— and what it represents for expanding access to reproductive health care. 🔗 https://ow.ly/SQCF50YWMCU

From preventing homelessness in California, to a global partnership working to stop tropical deforestation, and more — our grantees show us that even when the path is unclear, people continue to innovate, collaborate, and find solutions to our most complex challenges. https://ow.ly/JP3u50YWCCW

2025 Impact Report • The David and Lucile Packard Foundation

Read The David and Lucile Packard Foundation’s impact report featuring key updates, data, takeaways, and stories from 2025.

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What started as a bold idea to address rising birth control costs in the early 2000s quickly expanded into a new kind of pharmaceutical company—one that prioritizes the needs of health clinics and their patients. 🔗 https://ow.ly/xC7o50YCU82

We are pleased to announce the recipients of the Packard Fellows Emergency Relief Fund, a $3.3M rapid-response initiative created to preserve the postdoctoral workforce by providing short-term support for Fellows that faced federal funding disruptions or cancellations. https://ow.ly/O1Iv50YBZvC

New Emergency Relief Fund Helps Packard Fellows Continue Research • The David and Lucile Packard Foundation

The David and Lucile Packard Foundation is pleased to announce the recipients of the Packard Fellows Emergency Relief Fund, a $3.3 million rapid-response initiative created to support Packard Fellows affected by recent shifts in federal research funding.  Administered by the Science Philanthropy Alliance, the fund was created to preserve the postdoctoral workforce by providing short-term … Continued

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Roots Community Health and BANANAS are combining health care and child care services into a single, coordinated home-visiting program for families. 🔗 https://ow.ly/PNmN50YznOJ

New Partnership Connects Health Care and Child Care for Oakland’s Expecting Families • The David and Lucile Packard Foundation

The weeks before a baby arrives can be filled with one long checklist of questions for mothers and caregivers.  What doctors do I need to meet with?  When do those appointments need to be scheduled?   How do I find child care once the baby arrives? And how will I afford it?  What will I do if my housing becomes an issue? Or if my baby … Continued

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When birth control prices became inaccessible, a group of leaders founded their own new kind of pharma company — that prioritized the needs of public health clinics and their patients. ➡️ https://www.packard.org/insights/grantee-story/how-one-bold-idea-for-birth-control-became-a-national-lifeline/

How One Bold Idea for Birth Control Became a National Lifeline • The David and Lucile Packard Foundation

In the late 1990s and early 2000s, leaders across local Planned Parenthood health clinics saw a crisis coming and needed a solution if they were to continue providing birth control to their patients. Contraceptives were getting more expensive every year, and they saw a future when Planned Parenthood clinics wouldn’t be able to afford to purchase them at a reasonable cost so they could provide them … Continued

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MBARI scientists have set out to map how warming temperatures are affecting the groundwater and gases moving beneath the seafloor. These hidden systems help shape the sea floor and support the stability of marine life. 🔗Learn more: https://ow.ly/fQEa50YxMq8

This MBARI Expedition Reveals Impacts of Climate Change on the Antarctic Seafloor • The David and Lucile Packard Foundation

MBARI scientists recently returned from a seven-day expedition in Antarctica exploring how groundwater and gases like methane are moving under the seafloor are impacted by a rapidly warming polar environment. Working aboard the Spanish polar research vessel Hespérides, the team focused on the Bransfield Basin in the northern Western Antarctic Peninsula, a region that is experiencing some of the fastest warming in the Southern Hemisphere. Their work was … Continued

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eDNA is changing the way we see the ocean by allowing scientist to track species without ever needing to see or catch them. 🐠

Join us in welcoming Courtney Chandler as our new Chief Operating Officer! 🎉 Courtney's leadership will be instrumental as we work together to build a just and equitable world where people and nature flourish. 🔗 Learn more: https://ow.ly/bg8f50YsoOc

The Packard Foundation Names Courtney Chandler as Chief Operating Officer • The David and Lucile Packard Foundation

Courtney Chandler joins the Packard Foundation as Chief Operating Officer, bringing deep operational expertise and a collaborative leadership style to advance the Foundation’s mission.

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eDNA allows scientist to track what lives in our oceans faster and more comprehensively than ever before. 🌊 🐠 🔗 Learn more: https://www.packard.org/insights/grantee-story/edna-is-changing-the-way-we-see-the-ocean/

eDNA is Changing the Way We See the Ocean • The David and Lucile Packard Foundation

When Dr. Ryan Kelly says he can see whales in a bottle of water, he means it. At least, he can tell which whales and other species have passed through that water sample by sequencing the DNA inside. All living things shed tiny traces of DNA in their environments. Water, soil, and even air hold clues about which species have been present. Over the past decade, Kelly and his colleagues have helped bring these genetic traces … Continued

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Whales in a bottle of water? Yes… through eDNA. 🌊🐋 Nice feature on our research and the UW eDNA Collaborative by the Packard Foundation. @ednacollab.bsky.social Learn more here: www.packard.org/insights/gra... www.youtube.com/watch?v=C0H8... #eDNA #scicom #science #outreach

eDNA is Changing the Way We See the Ocean

YouTube video by The Packard Foundation

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eDNA is changing the way we see the ocean 🌊 🐳 Learn more about Dr. Ryan Kelly and the eDNA Collaborative's research: https://www.packard.org/insights/grantee-story/edna-is-changing-the-way-we-see-the-ocean/

We’re partnering with Monterey Bay Economic Partnership as they work to expand housing options, reduce barriers that slow development, and help move thousands of affordable homes through local approvals so families can put down roots in the communities they call home. ➡️ https://ow.ly/BcCx50YcrRu

Making Way for Much-Needed Housing in the Monterey Bay Region • The David and Lucile Packard Foundation

Stable, affordable housing helps families put down roots in their communities. It also supports a strong local economy across Monterey, Santa Cruz, and San Benito counties. To help California families find high-quality homes they can afford, the Packard Foundation is supporting the Monterey Bay Economic Partnership (MBEP) with a $450,000 grant to expand housing options … Continued

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To help families across Monterey, Santa Cruz, and San Benito counties find high-quality homes they can afford, we are supporting the Monterey Bay Economic Partnership with a grant to expand housing options and remove barriers that slow development of new homes. Learn more: https://ow.ly/imKS50Y7LV6

Our President & CEO Nancy Lindborg reflects on recent events in Minnesota and why protecting civic space matters. ➡️ Read her full reflections: https://www.packard.org/insights/perspective/why-democracy-depends-on-all-of-us/

The dreaded strep throat test could soon be a thing of past thanks to Packard Fellow Ashleigh Theberge and her team at University of Washington. 🍭

Stay connected with us! Our newsletter brings you closer to the leaders, communities, and bold ideas creating enduring solutions for people and nature. Delivered straight to your inbox, it’s a window into the change we can make—together. 💌 Sign up today: https://www.packard.org/stay-connected/

Children and Families Program Officer Katie Harkin reflects on what we’re learning from parents and why listening to families and collaborating across child care, health services, and community programs is essential to creating care that works in real life. ➡️ Learn more: https://ow.ly/295L50XWh1z

As we start off 2026, we’re inspired by the leaders and organizations around the world who are committed to advancing a future where people and nature thrive.

Together we can create a just and equitable world where both people and nature flourish 🌟

As we close out the year, we’re grateful for our community who comes together to build a more just and equitable world where people and nature flourish. From all of us at the Packard Foundation, we wish you a holiday season and New Year filled with light and peace. 💛