Funding search · EIN 133794889 · New York, NY

The Simons Foundation

Name: The Simons Foundation grants, 2022–2024
Creator: PaperOrbit
License: https://www.irs.gov/charities-non-profits/exempt-organization-public-disclosure-and-availability-requirements

A private foundation (files IRS Form 990-PF). Most private foundations do not take unsolicited applications; the route in is usually a program officer.

5,303
grants reported: $846.7M
total given: 2022–2024
filing years: $72,495
median grant

Based on grants this organization reported to the IRS for tax years 2022–2024. This is what they filed, not a complete record of their giving, and recent years may be incomplete because filings lag.

What they fund

simons theory investigator autism research geometry brain collaboration

Funder website ↗Full IRS filings ↗How this is built Report an error

Funding pattern

What this funder pays for, at what size, and how to position adjacent work. Read from their filings, with every number checked against the record.

Where the money goes

Autism genetics, sex differences, and ASD mechanism research
Fundamental mathematics, theoretical physics, and theory of computing
Marine microbial ecology, plankton biogeography, ocean 'omics
Computational and quantitative biology centers, often NSF-Simons cofunded
STEM education pipelines, scholars programs, and science outreach
Institutional capital and matching gifts, heavily Stony Brook and NYC

Typical grant

Median grant is about $72,000, with the middle half running $8,400 to $160,804, so most of the file is small: fellowships, travel, individual investigator supplements, and pieces of larger collaborations. The big checks, $1M to $20M, go to institutional infrastructure and named centers (New York Genome Center, Stony Brook matching gifts, Simons Institute for the Theory of Computing, NSF-Simons centers) rather than to single projects. Giving repeats hard: the same universities and the same collaboration titles reappear year over year in multi-site, multi-project structures.

Their words

Phrases from their own grant descriptions, worth speaking back to them.

“SIMONS COLLABORATION ON”
“SIMONS JUNIOR FACULTY FELLOWS”
“NSF-SIMONS CENTER”
“PRINCIPLES OF MICROBIAL ECOSYSTEMS”
“AUTISM SEX DIFFERENCES”
“SIMONS INVESTIGATOR”

Positioning adjacent work

Frame work as one project or core within a multi-site collaboration, the structure they already fund repeatedly.
For autism-adjacent work, connect to sex differences, somatic variants, or SPARK/Simons VIP cohort data.
Ask in the $400K to $900K range for a single-lab project; that matches their per-site awards.
Emphasize theory, computation, and open data tools; they fund arXiv modernization and big-data pipelines.

Worth knowing: Money concentrates in NY, CA, and MA, with Stony Brook receiving repeated eight-figure institutional and matching support tied to the founders' history there. A large share flows to a stable set of elite institutions inside named Simons collaborations, so entry usually comes through joining an existing collaboration or being recruited as an investigator rather than arriving cold.

59 grants matching “plastics” · $15.1M

$750,000
Columbia University · New York, NY · 2024
Sex-specific differences in cognitive and brain aging; spi murphy: conserved regulatory pathways in age-related loss of plasticity and cognitive function
$618,619
MIT · Cambridge, MA · 2024
Glial mechanisms by which sleep preserves cognitive function and plasticity in aging
$468,750
University of Southern California · Los Angeles, CA · 2024
Sex-specific differences in cognitive and brain aging; spi murphy: conserved regulatory pathways in age-related loss of plasticity and cognitive function
$375,000
Stanford University · Stanford, CA · 2024
Conserved regulatory pathways in age-related loss of plasticity and cognitive function; glial mechanisms by which sleep preserves cognitive function and plasticity in aging
$375,000
Massachusetts General Hospital · Boston, MA · 2024
Linking molecules, circuits and behavior to promote plasticity and memory in the aging brain; glial mechanisms by which sleep preserves cognitive function and plasticity in aging
$375,000
Princeton University · Princeton, NJ · 2024
Sex-specific differences in cognitive and brain aging; conserved regulatory pathways in age-related loss of plasticity and cognitive function
$297,662
Brandeis University · Waltham, MA · 2024
Critical period plasticity underlying complex learning in asd rat models
$250,000
Harvard University · Cambridge, MA · 2024
Conserved regulatory pathways in age-related loss of plasticity and cognitive function
$250,000
Stanford University · Stanford, CA · 2024
Linking molecules, circuits and behavior to promote plasticity and memory in the aging brain
$249,974
University of Copenhagen · 2024
Glial mechanisms by which sleep preserves cognitive function and plasticity in aging
$249,644
University of Wisconsin-Madison · Madison, WI · 2024
Conserved regulatory pathways in age-related loss of plasticity and cognitive function
$249,380
University of Washington · Seattle, WA · 2024
Linking molecules, circuits and behavior to promote plasticity and memory in the aging brain
$218,200
Weill Cornell Medicine · New York, NY · 2024
Global firing and synaptic-weight dynamics underlying consolidation of neural integrator plasticity
$218,194
Stanford University · Stanford, CA · 2024
Deciphering the logic of episodic state computation across modalities and time; global firing and synaptic-weight dynamics underlying consolidation of neural integrator plasticity
$120,000
Uc Davis · Davis, CA · 2024
Global firing and synaptic-weight dynamics underlying consolidation of neural integrator plasticity; neural circuit dynamics underlying sequence and learning
$30,000
Iiser Pune · 2024
Computational approaches to memory and plasticity (camp)
$30,000
Iiser Pune · 2024
2023 and 2024 computational approaches to memory and plasticity
$375,000
Princeton University · Princeton, NJ · 2023
Sex-specific differences in cognitive and brain aging; spi murphy: conserved regulatory pathways in age-related loss of plasticity and cognitive function
$375,000
Massachusetts General Hospital · Boston, MA · 2023
Linking molecules, circuits and behavior to promote plasticity and memory in the aging brain; spi stevens: glial mechanisms by which sleep preserves cognitive function and plasticity in aging
$375,000
Boston Children'S Hospital · Boston, MA · 2023
Simons collaboration on plasticity and the aging brain research award
$375,000
University of Southern California · Los Angeles, CA · 2023
Sex-specific differences in cognitive and brain aging; conserved regulatory pathways in age-related loss of plasticity and cognitive function
$375,000
Leland Stanford Junior University · Redwood City, CA · 2023
Conserved regulatory pathways in age-related loss of plasticity and cognitive function; glial mechanisms by which sleep preserves cognitive function and plasticity in aging
$375,000
Uc San Francisco · San Francisco, CA · 2023
Simons collaboration on plasticity and the aging brain research award
$350,239
Kobenhavns Universitet · 2023
Glial mechanisms by which sleep preserves cognitive function and plasticity in aging
$298,874
Brandeis University · Waltham, MA · 2023
Critical period plasticity underlying complex learning in asd rat models
$250,000
Harvard College · Cambridge, MA · 2023
Conserved regulatory pathways in age-related loss of plasticity and cognitive function
$250,000
Leland Stanford Junior University · Redwood City, CA · 2023
Linking molecules, circuits and behavior to promote plasticity and memory in the aging brain
$250,000
Uc San Francisco · San Francisco, CA · 2023
Linking molecules, circuits and behavior to promote plasticity and memory in the aging brain
$250,000
University of Wisconsin-Madison · Madison, WI · 2023
Conserved regulatory pathways in age-related loss of plasticity and cognitive function
$241,087
Uc San Diego · La Jolla, CA · 2023
Neural activity and plasticity dynamics for reinforcement learning in autism
$109,100
Weill Medical College of Cornell · New York, NY · 2023
Global firing and synaptic-weight dynamics underlying consolidation of neural integrator plasticity
$109,099
Stanford University · Stanford, CA · 2023
Deciphering the logic of episodic state computation across modalities and time; global firing and synaptic-weight dynamics underlying consolidation of neural integrator plasticity
$105,833
University of Pennsylvania · Philadelphia, PA · 2023
Defining asd-associated genes/variants in gabaergic structural plasticity
$94,000
Leland Stanford Junior University · Redwood City, CA · 2023
Dissecting navigation and the general logic of episodic state computation; plasticity of global brain dynamics: tunable neural integration
$80,000
Uc Davis · Davis, CA · 2023
Neural circuit dynamics underlying sequence and variability; plasticity of global brain dynamics: tunable neural integration
$75,000
Weill Medical College of Cornell · New York, NY · 2023
Plasticity of global brain dynamics: tunable neural integration
$60,000
Uc Davis · Davis, CA · 2023
Global firing and synaptic-weight dynamics underlying consolidation of neural integrator plasticity; neural circuit dynamics underlying sequence and learning
$30,000
Iiser Pune · 2023
2023 and 2024 computational approaches to memory and plasticity
$375,000
Univ of California San Francisco · San Francisco, CA · 2022
Simons collaboration on plasticity and the aging brain research awards
$375,000
Boston Children'S Hospital · Boston, MA · 2022
Simons collaboration on plasticity and the aging brain research awards
$375,000
Columbia University · New York, NY · 2022
Simons collaboration on plasticity and the aging brain research awards
$375,000
Leland Stanford Junior University · Redwood City, CA · 2022
Simons collaboration on plasticity and the aging brain research awards
$375,000
Massachusetts General Hospital · Boston, MA · 2022
Linking molecules, circuits and behavior to promote plasticity and memory in the aging brain; spi stevens: glial mechanisms by which sleep preserves cognitive function and plasticity in aging
$375,000
Princeton University · Princeton, NJ · 2022
Simons collaboration on plasticity and the aging brain research awards
$344,119
Univ of California San Francisco · San Francisco, CA · 2022
Intersection of autism genetics and homeostatic plasticity
$281,250
University of Southern California · Los Angeles, CA · 2022
Sex-specific differences in cognitive and brain aging; spi murphy: conserved regulatory pathways in age-related loss of plasticity and cognitive function
$250,000
Univ of California San Francisco · San Francisco, CA · 2022
Linking molecules, circuits and behavior to promote plasticity and memory in the aging brain
$250,000
Trustees of Boston University · Boston, MA · 2022
Glial mechanisms by which sleep preserves cognitive function and plasticity in aging
$250,000
Harvard College · Cambridge, MA · 2022
Conserved regulatory pathways in age-related loss of plasticity and cognitive function
$250,000
University of Wisconsin-Madison · Madison, WI · 2022
Conserved regulatory pathways in age-related loss of plasticity and cognitive function
$250,000
Leland Stanford Junior University · Redwood City, CA · 2022
Linking molecules, circuits and behavior to promote plasticity and memory in the aging brain
$206,000
Leland Stanford Junior University · Redwood City, CA · 2022
Dissecting navigation and the general logic of episodic state computation; spi goldman: plasticity of global brain dynamics: tunable neural integration
$165,000
University of Pennsylvania · Philadelphia, PA · 2022
Defining asd-associated genes/variants in gabaergic structural plasticity
$160,000
University of California Davis · Davis, CA · 2022
Neural circuit dynamics underlying sequence and variability; spi goldman: plasticity of global brain dynamics: tunable neural integration
$150,000
Weill Medical College of Cornell · New York, NY · 2022
Plasticity of global brain dynamics: tunable neural integration
$149,979
Brandeis University · Waltham, MA · 2022
Critical period plasticity underlying complex learning in asd rat models
$149,761
Kobenhavns Universitet · 2022
Glial mechanisms by which sleep preserves cognitive function and plasticity in aging
$75,000
Brandeis University · Waltham, MA · 2022
Network activity and homeostatic plasticity as endophenotypes for asd
$25,000
Nat'L Centre for Biological Science · 2022
2019 and 2020 computational approaches to memory and plasticity

Top recipients

Repeat recipients are the strongest signal of whether a funder has an open door or quietly re-funds the same organizations.

New York Genome Center6 grants · $40.9M
University of California San Diego38 grants · $34.1M
MIT141 grants · $30.2M
Stony Brook Foundation19 grants · $28.4M
Columbia University142 grants · $22.5M
New York University89 grants · $20.9M
New York Genome Center3 grants · $20.5M
Uc San Diego43 grants · $20.4M
Princeton University111 grants · $19.5M
Math for America1 grant · $19.0M

Giving over time

$300.9M

2022

$283.8M

2023

$261.9M

2024

Grant history

The 100 largest of 5,303 grants.

$26.5M
University of California San Diego · La Jolla, CA · 2022
Simons observatory
$20.0M
New York Genome Center · New York, NY · 2024
New york genome center 2018 "new gift"
$20.0M
New York Genome Center · New York, NY · 2023
New york genome center 2018 "new gift"
$20.0M
New York Genome Center · New York, NY · 2022
New york genome center 2018 "new gift"
$19.0M
Math for America · New York, NY · 2022
Mfa new pledge
$12.8M
Uc San Diego · La Jolla, CA · 2023
Simons observatory
$7.9M
Stony Brook Foundation · Stony Brook, NY · 2022
Presidential innovation and excellence fund matching gift
$6.7M
Stony Brook Foundation · Stony Brook, NY · 2024
Simons infinity investment matching gift
$5.6M
University of Edinburgh · 2023
A major programme of fundamental and clinical autism research
$5.1M
University of Edinburgh · 2024
A major programme of fundamental and clinical autism research
$4.8M
University of Edinburgh · 2022
A major programme of fundamental and clinical autism research
$4.5M
Uc Berkeley · Berkeley, CA · 2023
Simons institute for the theory of computing
$4.4M
New York University · New York, NY · 2024
Simons center for computational physical chemistry
$4.4M
Stony Brook Foundation · Stony Brook, NY · 2023
Presidential innovation and excellence fund matching gift
$4.2M
Clinical Research Associates · New York, NY · 2024
Autism research
$4.1M
Northwestern University · Chicago, IL · 2024
National institute for theory and mathematics in biology
$4.0M
National Museum of Mathematics · New York, NY · 2023
Momath capital campaign matching pledge
$3.9M
University of California Berkeley · Berkeley, CA · 2022
Simons institute for the theory of computing
$3.8M
Uc Berkeley · Berkeley, CA · 2024
Simons institute for the theory of computing
$3.5M
Stony Brook Foundation · Stony Brook, NY · 2024
Simons math/physics operating fund
$3.4M
Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory · Cold Spring Harbor, NY · 2024
Applications of genomics to breast cancer detection, risk assessment and treatment response
$3.3M
Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory · Cold Spring Harbor, NY · 2023
Applications of genomics to breast cancer detection, risk assessment and treatment response
$3.2M
Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory · Cold Spring Harbor, NY · 2022
Applications of genomics to breast cancer detection, risk assessment and treatment response
$3.2M
Clinical Research Associates · New York, NY · 2022
Autism research
$3.1M
Clinical Research Associates · New York, NY · 2023
Autism research
$3.1M
Stony Brook Foundation · Stony Brook, NY · 2024
Presidential innovation and excellence fund matching gift
$3.0M
Institute for Advanced Study · Princeton, NJ · 2022
Institute for advanced study (ias) unrestricted gift
$2.9M
Stony Brook Foundation · Stony Brook, NY · 2023
Simons math/physics operating fund
$2.9M
Ucsf · San Francisco, CA · 2024
Anatomical, molecular, and systems approaches to elucidate the mechanism of sex bias in the asd
$2.6M
Stony Brook Foundation · Stony Brook, NY · 2022
Simons math/physics operating fund
$2.6M
University of California San Diego · La Jolla, CA · 2022
Array project 3
$2.5M
Stony Brook Foundation · Stony Brook, NY · 2023
Scgp current use fund
$2.5M
Stony Brook Foundation · Stony Brook, NY · 2022
Scgp current use fund
$2.2M
Hautes Etudes Scientifiques · 2024
Operating support
$2.1M
Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory · Cold Spring Harbor, NY · 2022
Genetic contribution to autism
$2.1M
University of Washington · Seattle, WA · 2023
Scope-uw operations support
$2.0M
University of Cambridge · 2022
The autism prenatal sex differences (apex) program
$2.0M
Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory · Cold Spring Harbor, NY · 2024
Genetic contribution to autism
$2.0M
Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory · Cold Spring Harbor, NY · 2023
Genetic contribution to autism
$1.9M
Northwestern University · Chicago, IL · 2023
National institute for theory and mathematics in biology
$1.8M
Uc San Diego · La Jolla, CA · 2023
Array project 3
$1.7M
New York University · New York, NY · 2022
Simons center for computational physical chemistry
$1.5M
Cornell University · Ithaca, NY · 2024
Support for arxiv mmodernization
$1.5M
Northwestern University · Chicago, IL · 2024
Nsf-simons center for quantitative biology
$1.5M
Univ of California San Francisco · San Francisco, CA · 2022
Anatomical, molecular, and systems approaches to elucidate the mechanism of sex bias in the asd
$1.5M
Research Foundation of the Cuny · New York City, NY · 2024
Cuny masters in astrophysics bridge program
$1.4M
MIT · Cambridge, MA · 2022
The new simons center for the social brain
$1.3M
MIT · Cambridge, MA · 2023
Computational biogeochemical modeling of marine ecosystems
$1.3M
Eth Zurich · 2024
Prime - principles of microbial ecosystems
$1.3M
Esther & Joseph Klingenstein Fund · New York, NY · 2023
Klingenstein-simons fellowship awards in the neurosciences
$1.3M
Esther & Joseph Klingenstein Fund · New York, NY · 2022
Klingenstein-simons fellowship awards in the neurosciences
$1.3M
Harvard University · Cambridge, MA · 2024
Nsf-simons center for mathematical and statistical analysis of biology
$1.3M
Stony Brook Foundation · Stony Brook, NY · 2024
Scgp current use fund
$1.3M
California Institute of Technology · Pasadena, CA · 2023
Planetary context of habitability and exobiology
$1.3M
Institut Des Hautes Etudes Scient · 2022
Operating support
$1.2M
University of Hawaii · Honolulu, HI · 2022
Scope-uh operations support
$1.2M
Boston Children'S Hospital · Boston, MA · 2023
Identification and impact of somatic mutations in regulatory regions in autism brain
$1.2M
University of Hawaii · Honolulu, HI · 2023
Scope-uh operations support
$1.1M
Columbia University · New York, NY · 2024
Simons junior faculty fellows
$1.1M
Harvard University · Cambridge, MA · 2024
Ultra-quantum matter
$1.1M
Stony Brook Foundation · Stony Brook, NY · 2023
Stony brook simons stem scholars program
$1.1M
MIT · Cambridge, MA · 2023
Arithmetic geometry, number theory, and computation
$1.1M
Washington University in St Louis · St Louis, MO · 2024
Analysis of mechanisms underlying sex epistasis in autism - core
$1.0M
University of Washington · Seattle, WA · 2024
Data and tools to define the biogeography of marine phytoplankton
$1.0M
Georgia Tech Research Corporation · Atlanta, GA · 2023
Nsf-simons southeast center for mathematics and biology
$1.0M
Harvard University · Cambridge, MA · 2024
Nsf-simons center for mathematical and statistical analysis of biology
$1.0M
Jet Propulsion Laboratory · Pasadena, CA · 2024
Planetary context of habitability and exobiology
$1.0M
Stony Brook Foundation · Stony Brook, NY · 2024
Nyce matching grant
$1.0M
Uc Berkeley · Berkeley, CA · 2024
Collaboration on the theoretical foundations of deep learning
$1.0M
Stony Brook Foundation · Stony Brook, NY · 2023
New york climate exchange fund matching pledge
$1.0M
Uc Berkeley · Berkeley, CA · 2023
Collaboration on the theoretical foundations of deep learning
$1.0M
Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory · Cold Spring Harbor, NY · 2022
Cshl cancer research gift
$1.0M
Ecole Nationale Des Ponts Et Chaus · New York, NY · 2022
Computational oncology program
$999,342
Georgia Tech Research Corporation · Atlanta, GA · 2023
Nsf-simons southeast center for mathematics and biology
$998,293
MIT · Cambridge, MA · 2022
Arithmetic geometry, number theory, and computation
$988,360
Cornell University · Ithaca, NY · 2022
Arxiv operating grant
$976,985
Uc San Francisco · San Francisco, CA · 2023
Anatomical, molecular, and systems approaches to elucidate the mechanism of sex bias in the asd
$958,610
Research Foundation of Cuny · New York, NY · 2023
Cuny masters in astrophysics bridge program
$953,149
University of Washington · Seattle, WA · 2023
Data and tools to define the biogeography of marine phytoplankton
$948,145
MIT · Cambridge, MA · 2024
Arithmetic geometry, number theory, and computation
$937,500
Rutgers State University of Nj · Piscataway, NJ · 2023
Simons junior faculty fellows
$914,085
University of Kwazulu-Natal Durban · 2023
The hydrogen intensity and real-time analysis experiment (hirax)
$914,008
Boston Children'S Hospital · Boston, MA · 2024
Identification and impact of somatic mutations in regulatory regions in autism brain
$900,675
Institute for Advanced Study · Princeton, NJ · 2022
Simons bridge for postdoctoral fellowships at ias
$890,169
MIT · Cambridge, MA · 2024
Computational biogeochemical modeling of marine ecosystems
$884,750
Life Sciences Research Foundation · Charlotte, NC · 2022
Life sciences research foundation fellowships
$880,262
Ucsd · La Jolla, CA · 2024
Array project 3
$856,641
Geisinger Clinic · Danville, PA · 2024
Simons variation in individuals project (vip) recruitment core and phase 2 coordination site
$846,293
Washington University in Stlouis · St Louis, MO · 2023
Analysis of mechanisms underlying sex epistasis in autism - core
$830,226
Uc Los Angeles · Los Angeles, CA · 2023
Topology of cortical and thalamic gene expression in asd
$825,000
University of Pennsylvania · Philadelphia, PA · 2024
Collaborative research: transferable, hierarchical, expressive, optimal, robust, interpretable networks (theorinet)
$810,000
MIT · Cambridge, MA · 2023
The new simons center for the social brain
$808,494
University of Texas Southwestern · Dallas, TX · 2023
Cellular resolution multi-omics of white matter tracts in asd
$794,685
Stony Brook Foundation · Stony Brook, NY · 2024
Stony brook simons stem scholars program
$772,090
Cornell University · Ithaca, NY · 2023
Support for arxiv mmodernization
$770,284
New York University · New York, NY · 2024
Simons-nyu science explorations program
$750,146
Stony Brook Foundation · Stony Brook, NY · 2023
Simons junior faculty fellows
$750,000
Columbia University · New York, NY · 2024
Sex-specific differences in cognitive and brain aging; spi murphy: conserved regulatory pathways in age-related loss of plasticity and cognitive function
$750,000
Smithsonian Institution · Washington, DC · 2024
The role of microbiomes in shaping the ecology and evolution of tropical forest ecosystems
$750,000
Uc Santa Barbara · Santa Barbara, CA · 2023
The simons fund for visiting scientists at the kavli institute of theoretical physics

View all 5,303 grants →

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Grants already paid are the record; PaperOrbit reads your paper and finds the funders whose record matches it — then explains why.

Search funders like this one

Source: IRS Form 990-PF, Part XV, as filed by the foundation. These are grants already paid — a record of what this funder backs, not an open call.