Top Qs
Timeline
Chat
Perspective
Heising-Simons Foundation
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Remove ads
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]
Remove ads
Areas of Funding
Summarize
Perspective
CEO Fund: Technology and Society
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]
Climate and Clean Energy
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]
Education
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]
Human Rights
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]
Journalism
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]
Science
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]
Remove ads
See also
References
External links
Wikiwand - on
Seamless Wikipedia browsing. On steroids.
Remove ads