Hewlett Foundation Open Licensing Toolkit for Staff

As part of our commitment to openness and transparency, the Hewlett Foundation has long supported open licensing—an alternative for traditional copyright that allows and encourages sharing of intellectual property. Open licenses, such as those developed by our longtime grantee Creative Commons, protect authors’ rights while giving explicit permission to others to freely use, distribute, and build upon their work. The benefits of open licensing are clear: open licensing increases the chances that good ideas will get a hearing, that others will be able to do something with them, and ultimately that they will have their greatest impact.