External links
- Heising-Simons Foundation on LittleSis , a website that publishes data on who-knows-who between government, donors and business
| Formation | 2007 |
|---|---|
| Type | Private foundation |
| Headquarters | Los Altos, CA |
Key people | Liz Simons, Mark Heising, Caitlin Heising |
| 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] Liz Simons and Mark Heising signed the Giving Pledge in 2016. [3]
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, [4] and the American Mosaic Journalism Prize. [5] It does not accept unsolicited grant proposals. [6]
The Heising-Simons Foundation's previous President and CEOs were Sushma Raman, who joined in 2023 from the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy at Harvard University, [7] and 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. [8]
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. [9]
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. [10] The Heising-Simons Foundation joined the Climate Funders Justice Pledge in 2022. [11]
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. [12]
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. [6]
The Heising-Simons Foundation’s Human Rights program focuses on criminal justice reform, immigration grant rights work, [13] and supporting human rights for all. [14]
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. [15]
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. [16]
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. [17]
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". [5]
In September 2023, the Foundation’s Journalism portfolio was an investor in the Press Forward initiative. [18] [19]
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. [14] It also awarded $300,000 in funding for a major upgrade to the Kast Spectrograph at Lick Observatory in 2014. [20]
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. [4] In its inaugural year, the Heising-Simons Foundation awarded four postdoc researchers $375,000 each to support their independent research over three years. [4]
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. [21] Funds cover a stipend for fellows, as well as travel and accommodations for six to eight weeks. [21]
