| Formation | 2007 |
|---|---|
| Type | Private foundation |
| Headquarters | Los Altos, CA |
President and CEO | Sushma Raman |
Key people | Liz Simons, Mark Heising, Caitlin Heising, Sushma Raman |
| Disbursements | $947.7 million (2007-2023) |
| Website | https://www.hsfoundation.org/ |
The Heising-Simons Foundation is a private foundation established by philanthropists Elizabeth (Liz) Simons and Mark Heising in Los Altos, California in 2007.[1][2] The Heising-Simons Foundation's board consists of Liz Simons, Mark Heising, their daughter Caitlin Heising, and Sushma Raman.[3] Liz Simons and Mark Heising signed the Giving Pledge in 2016.[4]
The Heising-Simons Foundation's main areas of work include early childhood education, science, climate and clean energy, community and opportunity, and human rights.[1] It also funds a science fellowship known as the 51 Pegasi b Fellowship,[5] and the American Mosaic Journalism Prize.[6] It does not accept unsolicited grant proposals.[7]
The Heising-Simons Foundation's President and CEO is Sushma Raman, who joined in 2023 from the Carr Center for Human Rights PolicyatHarvard University.[8] The previous President and CEO was Deanna Gomby, who joined from the David and Lucile Packard Foundation.[1]
The Heising-Simons Foundation’s CEO Fund addresses the impact of technology on society.[9]
In 2023, the Heising-Simons Foundation partnered with other philanthropies to contribute more than $200 million in funding toward public interest efforts to mitigate artificial intelligence (AI) harms and promote responsible use and innovation.[10]
The Heising-Simons Foundation's Climate and Clean Energy program funds work around energy policy analysis, public utility commissions, energy efficiency standards, and climate communications.[2] The Climate and Clean Energy program was named one of 25 mid-sized environmental grantmakers by Inside Philanthropy.[11] The Heising-Simons Foundation joined the Climate Funders Justice Pledge in 2022.[12]
In 2021, the Heising-Simons Foundation was one of the founding members of the Equitable Building Electrification Fund, a fund that seeks to advance an equitable transition to building electrification for communities most impacted by fossil fuels.[13]
The Community and Opportunity program focuses on two areas: local community and organizational effectiveness for Foundation grantees.[14]
In 2022, the Local Community portfolio provided funding for the community-based nonprofit group Amigos de Guadalupe Center for Justice and Empowerment to purchase the childhood home of Cesar ChavezinSan Jose, California.[15] The property is intended to become a community-centered space with a learning center, where residents can learn more about Chavez's mission of non-violent resistance and community organizing.[15]
In 2021, the Heising-Simons Foundation supported MIT Technology Review’s COVID-19 Inequality Fellows reporting on the systematic technological challenges COVID-19 brought to under-covered communities.[16]
As of 2024, the Community and Opportunity portfolio is no longer listed on the Foundation’s website.
The Heising-Simons Foundation’s Education program awards grants in early childhood education, including supporting early math education and dual language learners.[2]
In 2019, the Education program co-created the Early Educator Investment Collaborative, a group of early childhood funders that also includes the Ballmer Group, the Bezos Family Foundation, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Buffett Early Childhood Fund, the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, the Foundation for Child Development, and the Stranahan Foundation.[7]
The Heising-Simons Foundation’s Human Rights program focuses on criminal justice reform, immigration grant rights work,[17] and supporting human rights for all.[18]
Caitlin Heising serves on the board of directors of Human Rights Watch (HRW) and is the vice chair of HRW’s U.S. Program Advisory Committee.[19]
In 2023, the Heising-Simons Foundation signed the California Black Freedom Fund’s Philanthropic Sign on Letter in response to police violence in the wake of Tyre Nichols’ death.[20]
The Heising-Simons Foundation’s Journalism portfolio recognizes and supports journalism as a critical element of a healthy and multicultural democracy, focusing in underrepresented groups and voices in media and investigative journalism.[21]
The Foundation's Journalism portfolio awards the American Mosaic Journalism Prize, which annually awards two freelance journalists with $100,000 each in unrestricted funds for "excellence in long-form, narrative or deep reporting about underrepresented and/or misrepresented groups in the American landscape".[6]
In September 2023, the Foundation’s Journalism portfolio was an investor in the Press Forward initiative.[22] [23]
The Heising-Simons Foundation's Science program awards research grants in astronomy and cosmology, fundamental physics, paleoclimatology, climate science, and the search for axion dark matter.[2]
The Heising-Simons Foundation partnered with the Simons Foundation to fund the $40 million Simons Observatory, an astronomy facility in the Chilean desert.[18] It also awarded $300,000 in funding for a major upgrade to the Kast Spectrograph at Lick Observatory in 2014.[24]
In 2017, the Science program launched the 51 Pegasi b Fellowship, intended to allow post-doctorate researchers the opportunity to conduct theoretical, observational, and experimental research in planetary astronomy.[5] In its inaugural year, the Heising-Simons Foundation awarded four postdoc researchers $375,000 each to support their independent research over three years.[5]
In 2022, the Heising-Simons Foundation awarded a three-year grant to the Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics (KITP) at UC Santa Barbara for the launch of a fellowship that aims to address the underrepresentation of minorities in physics, including theoretical physics.[25] Funds cover a stipend for fellows, as well as travel and accommodations for six to eight weeks.[25]
