The Heising-Simons Foundation
Invitation OnlyLos Altos, California · EIN 26-0799587 · Private foundation · Website
Grants paid (2024)$149.6M
Organizations funded669
Typical grant$149,104
Total assets$810.5M
Half of its grants to organizations were between $100,000 and $250,000.
From the return
How to apply
On its return for tax year 2024 the foundation checked the box saying it only makes contributions to preselected charitable organizations and does not accept unsolicited requests for funds.
What it funds
Share of grant lines on the latest return, classified from the purpose each grant states.
Where it gives
57% of grants went outside California.
Grants paid in tax year 2024
| Recipient | Location | Purpose | Amount |
|---|---|---|---|
| Environmental Defense Fund Inc | San Francisco, CA | To advance climate and clean energy policies | $3,600,000 |
| Natural Resources Defense Council | San Francisco, CA | To advance climate and clean energy policies | $3,300,000 |
| Amalgamated Charitable Foundation | Washington, DC | For the democracy frontlines fund | $2,061,856 |
| Global Impact | Alexandria, VA | For the emerging bilingual collaborative | $2,000,000 |
| National Association for Family School and Community Engagement | Alexandria, VA | For the center for family math | $1,900,000 |
| California Education Partners | San Francisco, CA | For the preschool to third grade coherence collaboration (p3cc) | $1,500,000 |
| New Venture Fund | Washington, DC | For the emerging bilingual collaborative | $1,500,000 |
| Arizona State University Foundation for a New American University | Tempe, AZ | For the children's equity project | $1,313,000 |
| Climate and Clean Energy Equity Fund | Washington, DC | For general support | $1,200,000 |
| Regents of the University of California at Berkeley | Berkeley, CA | For the center for the study of child care employment | $1,155,000 |
| Tides Foundation | San Francisco, CA | For practitioners' voice ca 2.0 | $1,124,831 |
| Alliance for Early Success | Washington, DC | For general support | $1,000,000 |
| Center for Community Change | Washington, DC | For general support | $1,000,000 |
| Environmental Defense Fund Inc | San Francisco, CA | To validate methanesat measurements | $1,000,000 |
| International Council on Clean Transportation | Washington, DC | For general support | $1,000,000 |
| Neo Philanthropy Inc | New York, NY | For the four freedoms fund | $1,000,000 |
| Philanthropic Ventures Foundation | Oakland, CA | To support quality upk implementation in california | $1,000,000 |
| Powermylearning Inc | New York, NY | For family playlists and organizational effectiveness support | $1,000,000 |
| Rocky Mountain Institute | Boulder, CO | To advance u.s. power ($600,000) and transportation sector transformation ($400,000) | $1,000,000 |
| Third Sector New England Inc | Boston, MA | For the raising child care fund | $1,000,000 |
| Advanced Energy Institute | Washington, DC | To reform wholesale power markets, expand transmission, engage in utility planning in key states ($800,000), and defend clean energy tax… | $900,000 |
| Climate Power Education Fund | Washington, DC | For general support | $850,000 |
| Society for Research in Child Development | Washington, DC | For the srcd policy fellowship | $817,770 |
| Learning Policy Institute | Palo Alto, CA | For general support | $780,000 |
| The Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University | Redwood City, CA | For the stanford center on early childhood | $775,000 |
| American Indian College Fund | Denver, CO | To strengthen indigenous early childhood pedagogy and workforce pathways at tribal colleges | $750,000 |
| English Learners Success Forum | Albuquerque, NM | For general support | $750,000 |
| Teachers College Columbia University | New York, NY | For ecpihe phase III | $750,000 |
| United States Energy Foundation | San Francisco, CA | To advance clean vehicle standards and transportation electrification | $750,000 |
| Tntp Inc | New York, NY | To prototype a pipeline for tk educators ready to serve multilingual learners | $749,335 |
| Center for American Progress | Washington, DC | For the tackling climate and environmental injustice program | $700,000 |
| Climateworks Foundation | San Francisco, CA | To advance climate finance | $700,000 |
| Edsource Inc | Oakland, CA | For general support | $700,000 |
| Gridlab Inc | Berkeley, CA | For general support | $700,000 |
| University of Washington | Seattle, WA | To continue implementing the district innovation and leadership for early education (dial ee) | $700,000 |
| Arizona Board of Regents University of Arizona | Tucson, AZ | To support the second development phase of magaox | $626,580 |
| Tides Center | San Francisco, CA | For the starfish institute's STEM education work | $625,000 |
| James Bell Associates | Arlington, VA | For the national home visiting resource center | $611,983 |
| Arizona Board of Regents University of Arizona | Tucson, AZ | For the nautilus space observatory | $600,000 |
| Community Initiatives | Oakland, CA | For the just solutions | $600,000 |
| Futuro Media Group | New York, NY | For general support | $600,000 |
| Hopewell Fund | Washington, DC | For the pipeline education fund | $600,000 |
| Oficina Legal Del Pueblo Unido Inc | Austin, TX | For coalition work around operation lone star | $600,000 |
| Rutgers the State University of New Jersey | New Brunswick, NJ | For 2023 and 2024 state of preschool yearbook | $600,000 |
| Windward Fund | Washington, DC | For the moving forward network | $600,000 |
| Regents of the University of California at Berkeley | Berkeley, CA | To test the quantum coherence of gravity | $582,899 |
| Regents of the University of California at San Diego | San Diego, CA | For the data reduction pipeline for the high-resolution infrared spectrograph for exoplanet characterization (hispec) instrument | $549,998 |
| Center for Applied Environmental Law & Policy | Boulder, CO | For general support | $525,000 |
| Union of Concerned Scientists | Cambridge, MA | To advance clean transportation and clean power | $505,000 |
| California Institute of Technology | Pasadena, CA | For the development of skipper technology | $500,288 |
| California Budget & Policy Center | Sacramento, CA | For general support | $500,000 |
| Center for Law and Social Policy | Washington, DC | For general support | $500,000 |
| Community Partners | Los Angeles, CA | For parent voices ca | $500,000 |
| Georgetown University | Washington, DC | For the georgetown center on poverty and inequality | $500,000 |
| Houston in Action Network | Houston, TX | For houston in action's youth justice transformation work and latinx/aapi organizing cohorts | $500,000 |
| Las Cumbres Observatory Global Telescope Network Inc | Goleta, CA | To provide community observing time access to the las cumbres observatory network | $500,000 |
| National Women's Law Center | Washington, DC | For general support | $500,000 |
| New York University | New York, NY | To advance climate and clean energy regulations | $500,000 |
| Parent Institute for Quality Education Inc | National City, CA | For general support | $500,000 |
| Partnership Project Inc | Washington, DC | For the climate action campaign | $500,000 |
Showing the 60 largest of 669 grants to organizations.
The return also lists 2 grants to individuals ($200,000). We do not publish the names of individual recipients.
Grants approved for future payment
| Recipient | Location | Purpose | Amount |
|---|---|---|---|
| Environmental Defense Fund Inc | San Francisco, CA | To support the edf legal team to protect and advance u.s. climate policies | $1,250,000 |
| Third Sector New England Inc | Boston, MA | For the early educator investment collaborative | $1,250,000 |
| Tides Center | San Francisco, CA | For the starfish institute's STEM education work | $1,250,000 |
| James Bell Associates | Arlington, VA | For national home visiting network and research center | $1,200,000 |
| Regents of the University of California at Berkeley | Berkeley, CA | For the center for the study of child care employment | $1,155,000 |
| Alliance for Early Success | Washington, DC | For general support | $1,000,000 |
| Berkeley Lab Foundation | Oakland, CA | For the design of a segmented 6-meter primary mirror | $1,000,000 |
| Neo Philanthropy Inc | New York, NY | For the four freedoms fund | $1,000,000 |
| Philanthropic Ventures Foundation | Oakland, CA | For capacity building support to education program grantees | $850,000 |
| Erikson Institute | Chicago, IL | For racial justice in early math | $800,000 |
| Proteus Fund | New York, NY | For embracerace | $800,000 |
| The Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University | Redwood City, CA | For the stanford center on early childhood | $775,000 |
| The Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University | Redwood City, CA | For the stanford center on early childhood | $775,000 |
| University of Nebraska Board of Regents | Lincoln, NE | For the native american early childhood agenda | $700,000 |
| Oregon State University | Corvallis, OR | To characterize ice/ocean interactions at melting glaciers | $691,625 |
| Proteus Fund | New York, NY | For the rise together fund | $600,000 |
| California Institute of Technology | Pasadena, CA | For research on the observational signatures of quantum gravity | $597,837 |
| California Institute of Technology | Pasadena, CA | For research on the observational signatures of quantum gravity | $580,428 |
| California Institute of Technology | Pasadena, CA | For research on the observational signatures of quantum gravity | $557,086 |
| Regents of the University of Colorado | Boulder, CO | For studying how amo physics can inform the development of gravity theories | $516,213 |
| Regents of the University of Colorado | Boulder, CO | For studying how amo physics can inform the development of gravity theories | $507,311 |
| Center for Law and Social Policy | Washington, DC | For general support | $500,000 |
| Georgetown University | Washington, DC | For the georgetown center on poverty and inequality | $500,000 |
| Las Cumbres Observatory Global Telescope Network Inc | Goleta, CA | To provide community observing time access to the las cumbres observatory network | $500,000 |
| Las Cumbres Observatory Global Telescope Network Inc | Goleta, CA | To provide community observing time access to the las cumbres observatory network | $500,000 |
| Las Cumbres Observatory Global Telescope Network Inc | Goleta, CA | To provide community observing time access to the las cumbres observatory network | $500,000 |
| Neo Philanthropy Inc | New York, NY | For the black migrant power fund (bmpf) of the four freedoms fund | $500,000 |
| The Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University | Redwood City, CA | For getting down to facts 3 | $500,000 |
| The Children's Funding Project | Washington, DC | For funding the next generation | $500,000 |
| Trustees of Boston College | Chestnut Hill, MA | For community math ecosystems | $500,000 |
| Oregon State University | Corvallis, OR | To characterize ice/ocean interactions at melting glaciers | $455,254 |
| Arizona Board of Regents University of Arizona | Tucson, AZ | For the development of the science case for the nautilus observatory | $450,000 |
| Arizona Board of Regents University of Arizona | Tucson, AZ | For the development of the science case for the nautilus observatory | $450,000 |
| Regents of the University of California at San Diego | San Diego, CA | For the data reduction pipeline for the high-resolution infrared spectrograph for exoplanet characterization (hispec) instrument | $442,283 |
| Education Development Center Inc | Waltham, MA | For integration of math into community education programs | $425,000 |
| American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy | Washington, DC | To support the utility ev working group and advance alternative fuel corridors for heavy-duty trucks | $400,000 |
| Drug Policy Alliance | New York, NY | For general support | $400,000 |
| Forward Justice | Morrisville, NC | For the second chance alliance | $400,000 |
| National Immigration Project of the National Lawyers Guild Inc | Washington, DC | For general support | $400,000 |
| Project South the Institution for the Elimination Poverty & Genocide | Atlanta, GA | For general support | $400,000 |
| Start Early | Chicago, IL | For general support | $400,000 |
| American Physical Society | College Park, MD | For the aps gender inclusive physics community | $394,387 |
| American Physical Society | College Park, MD | For the aps gender inclusive physics community | $390,749 |
| Regents of the University of California at San Diego | San Diego, CA | For the data reduction pipeline for the high-resolution infrared spectrograph for exoplanet characterization (hispec) instrument | $369,836 |
| Tides Foundation | San Francisco, CA | For the smart justice california education fund | $350,000 |
| Regents of the University of California at San Diego | San Diego, CA | To develop and pilot a transfer academy program in astronomy in san diego | $345,932 |
| Regents of the University of California at Berkeley | Berkeley, CA | For the california prospective faculty gender equity initiative | $333,334 |
| Regents of the University of California at Berkeley | Berkeley, CA | For the california prospective faculty gender equity initiative | $333,333 |
| Starting Over Inc | Riverside, CA | For general support | $332,920 |
| Oregon State University | Corvallis, OR | To characterize ice/ocean interactions at melting glaciers | $320,133 |
| The Regents of the University of California Los Angeles | Los Angeles, CA | For clumped isotope paleo-hydroclimate analysis | $302,405 |
| American Public Human Services Association | Arlington, VA | To support state child care administrator capacity | $300,000 |
| Arizona Board of Regents University of Arizona | Tucson, AZ | For the development of the science case for the nautilus observatory | $300,000 |
| Californians Together | Long Beach, CA | For general support | $300,000 |
| Carolina Federation Fund | Durham, NC | For durham for all chapter development and organizing in other nc counties | $300,000 |
| Center for Democracy and Technology | Washington, DC | For general support | $300,000 |
| Common Counsel Foundation | Oakland, CA | For fund for an inclusive california (f4ica) | $300,000 |
| Credible Messenger Mentoring Movement | Washington, DC | For general support | $300,000 |
| Formerly Incarcerated Convicted People and Families Movement | Windermere, FL | For general support | $300,000 |
| Inland Congregation United for Change Sponsoring Committee Inc | San Bernardino, CA | For general support | $300,000 |
Giving by year
| Tax year | Grants paid | Grant lines |
|---|---|---|
| 2024 | $149,587,063 | 935 |
| 2023 | $152,123,392 | 987 |
Sources
- IRS Form 990-PF, tax year 2024, filed Nov 17, 2025 - IRS e-file batch, object ID 202543219349106499
- IRS Tax Exempt Organization Search for EIN 26-0799587
- Profile updated Nov 4, 2026
Facts on this page come from the foundation's own IRS Form 990-PF filings as published by the IRS. Grantvello does not know whether a foundation is accepting proposals right now: a past grant is not an open opportunity. Always confirm current guidelines with the funder before applying.