Funding search · EIN 260799587 · Los Altos, CA

The Heising-Simons Foundation

Name: The Heising-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.

2,038
grants reported: $442.6M
total given: 2022–2024
filing years: $149,014
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

fellowship justice california development early research pegasi work

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

Early childhood education, preschool-to-third-grade systems, child care workforce
Climate and clean energy policy: power markets, transportation electrification
Multilingual/emerging bilingual learners and family math engagement
Astronomy and fundamental physics instrumentation (exoplanets, quantum gravity)
Immigrant rights, democracy, and youth justice organizing
Science journalism and STEM education pipelines

Typical grant

Median grant is about $149,000, with the middle half between $77,500 and $250,000. The seven-figure checks go to national policy intermediaries and pooled funds (EDF, NRDC, Emerging Bilingual Collaborative, Alliance for Early Success), while university research awards cluster at $400,000 to $800,000, often multi-year phases. Giving repeats heavily: the same recipients appear year over year, and 2,038 grants across only 596 recipients means most grantees get multiple awards.

Their words

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

“FOR GENERAL SUPPORT”
“TO ADVANCE CLIMATE AND CLEAN ENERGY POLICIES”
“FOR CAPACITY BUILDING SUPPORT”
“TRANSPORTATION ELECTRIFICATION”
“MULTILINGUAL LEARNERS”

Positioning adjacent work

Name a specific phase of work, as in 'the second development phase of MAGAOX' or 'ECPIHE Phase III'.
For instrument or physics research, ask $430,000 to $630,000 and frame as staged development.
Connect early-childhood work to UPK/TK implementation, the child care workforce, or family math engagement.
Emphasize practitioner and family voice; they fund Parent Voices CA, Practitioners' Voice CA, PIQE.

Worth knowing: Heavily California-centered (894 of 2,038 grants) with a second cluster in DC for national policy shops and fiscal sponsors like New Venture Fund, Tides, and Windward. The portfolio is unusually barbelled: large policy and early-education intermediaries alongside a small, stable set of astronomy and fundamental physics grantees at Caltech, UC campuses, and Arizona, which reads as relationship-driven and hard to enter cold.

3 grants matching “refund” · $300,000

$100,000
Southern Vision Alliance · Durham, NC · 2024
For refund raleigh
$100,000
Southern Vision Alliance · Durham, NC · 2023
For refund raleigh
$100,000
Southern Vision Alliance · Raleigh, NC · 2022
For refund raleigh

Top recipients

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

Environmental Defense Fund6 grants · $13.0M
Natural Resources Defense Council6 grants · $10.6M
Regents of the University of California at Berkeley31 grants · $9.5M
New Venture Fund24 grants · $8.6M
California Institute of Technology37 grants · $8.6M
Tides Foundation29 grants · $6.9M
Tides Center25 grants · $6.8M
Regents of the University of California Santa Cruz37 grants · $6.0M
Partnership Project13 grants · $5.6M
Regents of the University of California at San Diego21 grants · $5.5M

Giving over time

$141.8M

2022

$151.4M

2023

$149.4M

2024

Grant history

The 100 largest of 2,038 grants.

$4.0M
Environmental Defense Fund · San Francisco, CA · 2023
To advance climate and clean energy policies
$4.0M
Environmental Defense Fund · San Francisco, CA · 2022
For general support
$3.6M
Environmental Defense Fund · San Francisco, CA · 2024
To advance climate and clean energy policies
$3.3M
Natural Resources Defense Council · San Francisco, CA · 2024
To advance climate and clean energy policies
$3.1M
Natural Resources Defense Council · San Francisco, CA · 2023
To advance climate and clean energy policies
$3.0M
Natural Resources Defense Council · San Francisco, CA · 2022
To advance climate and clean energy policies
$2.6M
Alliance for Early Success · Leawood, KS · 2022
For general support
$2.1M
Amalgamated Charitable Foundation · Washington, DC · 2024
For the democracy frontlines fund
$2.0M
Global Impact · Alexandria, VA · 2024
For the emerging bilingual collaborative
$2.0M
California Education Partners · San Francisco, CA · 2022
For a multi-district, early grades continuous improvement collaboration
$1.9M
National Association for Family School and Community Engagement · Alexandria, VA · 2024
For the center for family math
$1.6M
Las Cumbres Observatory Global Telescope Network · Goleta, CA · 2022
To fabricate, install, and commission the muscat4 imager on the faulkes south telescope
$1.6M
Regents of the University of California at Berkeley · Berkeley, CA · 2023
To test the quantum coherence of gravity
$1.6M
Third Sector New England · Boston, MA · 2023
For the early childhood investment collaborative
$1.5M
California Education Partners · San Francisco, CA · 2024
For the preschool to third grade coherence collaboration (p3cc)
$1.5M
New Venture Fund · Washington, DC · 2024
For the emerging bilingual collaborative
$1.5M
California Education Partners · San Francisco, CA · 2023
For a multi-district early grades continuous improvement collaboration
$1.5M
Edvance · Modesto, CA · 2023
For general support
$1.5M
Regents of the University of California at San Diego · San Diego, CA · 2023
For the completion of the simons observatory
$1.5M
San Francisco State University · San Francisco, CA · 2023
For upgrading the planetarium at san francisco state university
$1.3M
The Regents of the University of California Los Angeles · Los Angeles, CA · 2022
For instrumentation and its application to carbonate clumped isotope analysis
$1.3M
Arizona State University Foundation for a New American University · Tempe, AZ · 2024
For the children's equity project
$1.3M
Tides Foundation · San Francisco, CA · 2023
For the heising-simons foundation organizational capacity responsive fund
$1.2M
Climate and Clean Energy Equity Fund · Washington, DC · 2024
For general support
$1.2M
California Association for Research in Astronomy · Kamuela, HI · 2023
To support development of the scales instrument
$1.2M
Powermylearning · New York, NY · 2022
For family playlists in the early grades
$1.2M
Regents of the University of California at Berkeley · Berkeley, CA · 2024
For the center for the study of child care employment
$1.2M
Regents of the University of California at Berkeley · Berkeley, CA · 2023
For the center for the study of child care employment
$1.2M
Regents of the University of California at Berkeley · Berkeley, CA · 2022
For the center for the study of child care employment
$1.1M
Tides Foundation · San Francisco, CA · 2024
For practitioners' voice ca 2.0
$1.1M
Climate and Clean Energy Equity Fund · Washington, DC · 2023
For general support
$1.1M
Climateworks Foundation · San Francisco, CA · 2023
To advance climate finance, decarbonize global shipping, and support the mission of climateworks foundation
$1.0M
Amalgamated Charitable Foundation · Washington, DC · 2023
For the democracy frontlines fund
$1.0M
Family Values at Work a Multi-State Consortium · Milwaukee, WI · 2023
For general support
$1.0M
Alliance for Early Success · Washington, DC · 2024
For general support
$1.0M
Center for Community Change · Washington, DC · 2024
For general support
$1.0M
Environmental Defense Fund · San Francisco, CA · 2024
To validate methanesat measurements
$1.0M
International Council On Clean Transportation · Washington, DC · 2024
For general support
$1.0M
Neo Philanthropy · New York, NY · 2024
For the four freedoms fund
$1.0M
Philanthropic Ventures Foundation · Oakland, CA · 2024
To support quality upk implementation in california
$1.0M
Powermylearning · New York, NY · 2024
For family playlists and organizational effectiveness support
$1.0M
Rocky Mountain Institute · Boulder, CO · 2024
To advance u.s. Power ($600,000) and transportation sector transformation ($400,000)
$1.0M
Third Sector New England · Boston, MA · 2024
For the raising child care fund
$1.0M
Neo Philanthropy · New York, NY · 2023
For the four freedoms fund
$1.0M
New Venture Fund · Washington, DC · 2023
For child care for every family network
$1.0M
Powermylearning · New York, NY · 2023
For family playlists in the early grades
$1.0M
Regents of the University of California Davis · Davis, CA · 2023
For the center for violence prevention research in honor of deanna gomby
$1.0M
Climateworks Foundation · San Francisco, CA · 2022
To advance climate finance ($700,000), decarbonize global shipping ($300,000), and support the mission of climateworks foundation ($100,000)
$1.0M
International Council On Clean Transportation · Washington, DC · 2022
For general support
$1.0M
National Association for Family School and Community Engagement · Alexandria, VA · 2022
For general support
$1.0M
Neo Philanthropy · New York, NY · 2022
For the four freedoms fund
$1.0M
New Venture Fund · Washington, DC · 2022
For the emerging bilingual collaborative
$1.0M
The Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University · Redwood City, CA · 2022
For rapid 2022 and the early learning initiative
$950,000
United States Energy Foundation · San Francisco, CA · 2023
To advance clean vehicle standards, transportation electrification, and equitable transportation policy
$950,000
Lowell Observatory · Flagstaff, AZ · 2022
To support observing time for the expres 100 earths survey
$950,000
United States Energy Foundation · San Francisco, CA · 2022
To advance clean vehicle standards ($700,000), transportation electrification ($150,000), and equitable transportation policy ($100,000)
$940,911
California Institute of Technology · Pasadena, CA · 2022
To repurpose the caltech submillimeter observatory telescope
$925,000
New Venture Fund · Washington, DC · 2023
For the early childhood governance and financing project
$922,413
Trustees of Purdue University · W Lafayette, IN · 2023
To develop and evaluate math language resources for emerging bilinguals
$900,000
Advanced Energy Institute · Washington, DC · 2024
To reform wholesale power markets, expand transmission, engage in utility planning in key states ($800,000), and defend clean energy tax credits ($100,000).
$900,000
Society for Research in Child Development · Washington, DC · 2022
For the srcd policy fellowship
$850,000
Climate Power Education Fund · Washington, DC · 2024
For general support
$850,000
Climate Power Education Fund · Washington, DC · 2023
For climate power education fund
$850,000
Climate Power Education Fund · Sacramento, CA · 2022
For climate power education fund
$828,100
Tides Foundation · San Francisco, CA · 2022
For the heising simons capacity building fund
$817,770
Society for Research in Child Development · Washington, DC · 2024
For the srcd policy fellowship
$810,113
Education Development Center · Waltham, MA · 2022
For young mathematicians in worcester
$800,000
Advanced Energy Works · Washington, DC · 2023
To reform wholesale power markets, expand transmission, and engage in utility planning in key states
$800,000
Greenlining Institute · Oakland, CA · 2023
For general support
$800,000
Partnership Project · Washington, DC · 2023
For the clean vehicles campaign
$800,000
Advanced Energy Economy Institute · Washington, DC · 2022
To advance wholesale power market reform, transmission expansion, and utility regulatory reform
$783,000
Partnership Project · Washington, DC · 2023
For the charge campaign
$780,000
Learning Policy Institute · Palo Alto, CA · 2024
For general support
$780,000
Learning Policy Institute · Palo Alto, CA · 2022
For general support
$775,000
The Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University · Redwood City, CA · 2024
For the stanford center on early childhood
$775,000
The Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University · Redwood City, CA · 2023
For the stanford center on early childhood
$770,000
Public Media Group of Southern California · Burbank, CA · 2023
For the family math initiative
$750,000
American Indian College Fund · Denver, CO · 2024
To strengthen indigenous early childhood pedagogy and workforce pathways at tribal colleges
$750,000
English Learners Success Forum · Albuquerque, NM · 2024
For general support
$750,000
Teachers College Columbia University · New York, NY · 2024
For ecpihe phase iii
$750,000
United States Energy Foundation · San Francisco, CA · 2024
To advance clean vehicle standards and transportation electrification
$750,000
Mathtalk Pbc · Cambridge, MA · 2023
For the math!everywhere! Project
$749,335
Tntp · New York, NY · 2024
To prototype a pipeline for tk educators ready to serve multilingual learners
$746,000
Georgetown University · Washington, DC · 2023
For the center on poverty and inequality
$725,345
Carnegie Institution of Washington · Washington, DC · 2022
For technology development and proof-of-concept demonstrations in support of the magellan infrared multi-object spectrograph
$722,650
El Education · New York, NY · 2022
To build out a k-2 english language development curriculum for multilingual learners
$721,735
Oregon State University · Corvallis, OR · 2022
To develop and test technologies for u/th radioisotope dating
$717,770
Society for Research in Child Development · Washington, DC · 2023
For the srcd policy fellowship
$700,000
Center for American Progress · Washington, DC · 2024
For the tackling climate and environmental injustice program
$700,000
Climateworks Foundation · San Francisco, CA · 2024
To advance climate finance
$700,000
Edsource · Oakland, CA · 2024
For general support
$700,000
Gridlab · Berkeley, CA · 2024
For general support
$700,000
University of Washington · Seattle, WA · 2024
To continue implementing the district innovation and leadership for early education (dial ee)
$700,000
Bipartisan Policy Center · Washington, DC · 2022
For the tribal communities initiative
$700,000
Californians Dedicated To Education Foundation · Seattle, WA · 2022
To continue implementing the district innovation and leadership for early education (dial ee)
$700,000
Center for Applied Environmental Law & Policy · Boulder, CO · 2022
For general support
$700,000
Edsource · Oakland, CA · 2022
For general support
$700,000
Edvance · Modesto, CA · 2022
For general support
$700,000
Gridlab · Berkeley, CA · 2022
For general support
$700,000
Sierra Health Foundation Center for Health Program Management · Sacramento, CA · 2022
To build community capacity in the central valley

View all 2,038 grants →

Who else funds this kind of work

Same state

Silicon Valley Community Foundation10,471 grants · $10.10B
Tides Foundation9,402 grants · $1.86B
UCLA Foundation276 grants · $1.75B

Similar purposes

The New York Community Trust5,101 grants · $381.3M
Northwestern University1,000 grants · $331.9M
George Mason University Foundation46 grants · $399.9M

Similar grant size

The Ford Foundation10,731 grants · $2.35B
John D and Catherine T MacArthur Foundation (Consolidated)7,100 grants · $1.67B
Wk Kellogg Foundation7,234 grants · $1.30B

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.