The HP Company Foundation awards grants for humanitarian relief in communities hit by disaster, matches Employee giving, and supports projects to improve education.

The HP Company Foundation coordinates efforts with HP Sustainability and Social Innovation, which manages employee donations and product giving. The Foundation doesn't accept unsolicited grant requests.

HP made its first charitable contribution in 1940, the year after Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard started the company. It was a $5 donation to local Palo Alto charities, given by a business that had all of three employees on the payroll. But while the gift was simple, the gesture was not. That donation signaled what was important to HP's founders—and what type of impact the company would have in the future.

In 2010, the HP Company Foundation worked with the White House "Change the Equation" campaign and National Lab Network to promote U.S. students' interest in science, technology, engineering, and math. HP financed science lab upgrades, encouraged HP employees and retirees to be mentors, and provided project management expertise and financial aid.

The HP Company Foundation responded to numerous major disasters in 2010, including earthquakes in Haiti, Chile, China, and New Zealand; and floods in Eastern Europe, Pakistan, and northern India.

To support relief efforts, the Foundation worked with top nongovernmental organizations, including the American Red Cross, AmeriCares, Doctors Without Borders, International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent, Save the Children, UNICEF, and World Food Program—USA.

For the Haiti earthquake alone, the HP Company Foundation and our employees pledged $1 million USD to the American Red Cross and other aid organizations. HP employees volunteered on the ground, lending our considerable communications and information technology expertise to restore infrastructure vital to managing the massive international response.