The Simons Foundation Inc
Invitation OnlyNew York, New York · EIN 13-3794889 · Private foundation · Website
Grants paid (2024)$272M
Organizations funded1,727
Typical grant$72,000
Total assets$4.5B
Half of its grants to organizations were between $8,400 and $192,000.
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
84% of grants went outside New York.
Grants paid in tax year 2024
| Recipient | Location | Purpose | Amount |
|---|---|---|---|
| New York Genome Center | New York, NY | New york genome center 2018 "new gift" | $20,000,000 |
| Stony Brook Foundation | Stony Brook, NY | Simons infinity investment matching gift | $6,666,667 |
| University of Edinburgh | Edinburgh, UK | A major programme of fundamental and clinical autism research | $5,146,400 |
| New York University | New York, NY | Simons center for computational physical chemistry | $4,434,919 |
| Clinical Research Associates | New York, NY | Autism research | $4,227,515 |
| Northwestern University | Chicago, IL | National institute for theory and mathematics in biology | $4,125,000 |
| UC Berkeley | Berkeley, CA | Simons institute for the theory of computing | $3,750,000 |
| Stony Brook Foundation | Stony Brook, NY | Simons math/physics operating fund | $3,498,868 |
| Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory | Cold Spring Harbor, NY | Applications of genomics to breast cancer detection, risk assessment and treatment response | $3,380,302 |
| Stony Brook Foundation | Stony Brook, NY | Presidential innovation and excellence fund matching gift | $3,072,666 |
| Ucsf | San Francisco, CA | Anatomical, molecular, and systems approaches to elucidate the mechanism of sex bias in the asd | $2,865,975 |
| Hautes Etudes Scientifiques | Buressuryvette, FR | Operating support | $2,187,500 |
| Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory | Cold Spring Harbor, NY | Genetic contribution to autism | $2,015,343 |
| Cornell University | Ithaca, NY | Support for arxiv mmodernization | $1,544,180 |
| Northwestern University | Chicago, IL | Nsf-Simons center for quantitative biology | $1,500,000 |
| Research Foundation of the Cuny | New York City, NY | Cuny masters in astrophysics bridge program | $1,451,183 |
| Eth Zurich | Schwerzenbach, SZ | Prime - principles of microbial ecosystems | $1,318,480 |
| Harvard University | Cambridge, MA | Nsf-Simons center for mathematical and statistical analysis of biology | $1,250,000 |
| Stony Brook Foundation | Stony Brook, NY | Scgp current use fund | $1,250,000 |
| Columbia University | New York, NY | Simons junior faculty fellows | $1,125,000 |
| Harvard University | Cambridge, MA | Ultra-Quantum matter | $1,119,152 |
| Washington University in St Louis | St Louis, MO | Analysis of mechanisms underlying sex epistasis in autism - core | $1,050,961 |
| University of Washington | Seattle, WA | Data and tools to define the biogeography of marine phytoplankton | $1,005,540 |
| Harvard University | Cambridge, MA | Nsf-Simons center for mathematical and statistical analysis of biology | $1,000,000 |
| Jet Propulsion Laboratory | Pasadena, CA | Planetary context of habitability and exobiology | $1,000,000 |
| Stony Brook Foundation | Stony Brook, NY | Nyce matching grant | $1,000,000 |
| UC Berkeley | Berkeley, CA | Collaboration on the theoretical foundations of deep learning | $1,000,000 |
| MIT | Cambridge, MA | Arithmetic geometry, number theory, and computation | $948,145 |
| Boston Children's Hospital | Boston, MA | Identification and impact of somatic mutations in regulatory regions in autism brain | $914,008 |
| MIT | Cambridge, MA | Computational biogeochemical modeling of marine ecosystems | $890,169 |
| Ucsd | LA Jolla, CA | Array project 3 | $880,262 |
| Geisinger Clinic | Danville, PA | Simons variation in individuals project (vip) recruitment core and phase 2 coordination site | $856,641 |
| University of Pennsylvania | Philadelphia, PA | Collaborative research: transferable, hierarchical, expressive, optimal, robust, interpretable networks (theorinet) | $825,000 |
| Stony Brook Foundation | Stony Brook, NY | Stony brook simons STEM scholars program | $794,685 |
| New York University | New York, NY | Simons-Nyu science explorations program | $770,284 |
| Columbia University | New York, NY | Sex-Specific differences in cognitive and brain aging; spi murphy: conserved regulatory pathways in age-related loss of plasticity and… | $750,000 |
| Smithsonian Institution | Washington, DC | The role of microbiomes in shaping the ecology and evolution of tropical forest ecosystems | $750,000 |
| Nyu School of Medicine | New York, NY | Simons junior faculty fellows | $749,759 |
| Columbia University | New York, NY | Triangulation of missense variant impact through multimodal modeling and functional assays | $748,492 |
| University of Pennsylvania | Philadelphia, PA | Simons chair in probability and evolutionary theory | $728,748 |
| Woods Hole Oceanographic | Woods Hole, MA | Advancing big data solutions for high volume image data in marine plankton ecology | $722,309 |
| UC Berkeley | Berkeley, CA | A plasma haloscope for the post-inflation axion | $710,550 |
| Whitehead Institute | Cambridge, MA | Autism, sex differences, and microglia - core | $709,977 |
| University of Miami | Key Biscayne, FL | Institute of mathematical sciences of the americas | $700,000 |
| Stony Brook Foundation | Stony Brook, NY | Simons junior faculty fellows | $691,551 |
| Stanford University | Stanford, CA | Simons collaboration on extreme electrodynamics of compact sources | $636,202 |
| New York Hall of Science | Corona, NY | Building a stem-engagement partnership in corona | $629,369 |
| Stony Brook Foundation | Stony Brook, NY | Tbi research fund for ape and human origins. | $625,000 |
| Ucsf | San Francisco, CA | Understanding the cellular and circuit bases for behavioral impairments in the scn2a knock-out rat | $619,895 |
| MIT | Cambridge, MA | Glial mechanisms by which sleep preserves cognitive function and plasticity in aging | $618,619 |
| University of Texas | Dallas, TX | Cellular resolution multi-omics of white matter tracts in asd | $613,450 |
| Princeton University | Princeton, NJ | Hidden symmetries and fusion energy | $609,688 |
| Ucsd | LA Jolla, CA | Simons observatory | $597,150 |
| Princeton University | Princeton, NJ | A new laboratory search for dark matter with a small-scale experiment | $573,449 |
| Rutgers University Newark | Newark, NJ | Simons junior faculty fellows | $562,500 |
| UC Santa Barbara | Santa Barbara, CA | The simons fund for visiting scientists at the kavli institute of theoretical physics | $562,500 |
| Baylor College of Medicine | Houston, TX | Genetic and molecular dissection of autism sex differences - project 3 | $550,732 |
| Woods Hole Oceanographic | Woods Hole, MA | Exploring the biochemical functions of marine microbial communities through native and community proteomics | $522,030 |
| Brown University | Providence, RI | Astrophysical investigations of dynamical chern-simons theory | $520,558 |
| Northwestern University | Chicago, IL | Nsf-Simons center for quantitative biology | $500,000 |
Showing the 60 largest of 1,727 grants to organizations.
Grants approved for future payment
| Recipient | Location | Purpose | Amount |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Graduate Center Cuny | New York City, NY | Empire ai membership grant | $25,000,000 |
| Northwestern University | Chicago, IL | Ai for the sky - the skai institute | $9,761,885 |
| University of Texas Austin | Austin, TX | Nsf-Simons institute for artificial intelligence and cosmic origins | $9,634,584 |
| Columbia University | New York, NY | Laboratory characterization of aerosol emissivity | $1,126,944 |
| Princeton University | Princeton, NJ | Modelling the effects of variations in stratosophic aerosol reflectivity | $1,111,193 |
| MIT | Cambridge, MA | Ecosystem on the edge: how coastal marsh plants and microbes thrive in an oscillating environment | $1,003,700 |
| University of Georgia Res Fdn | Athens, GA | Ecosystem on the edge: how coastal marsh plants and microbes thrive in an oscillating environment | $868,539 |
| Stony Brook Foundation | Stony Brook, NY | Simons math/physics operating fund | $860,560 |
| University of Toledo | Toledo, OH | Ecosystem on the edge: how coastal marsh plants and microbes thrive in an oscillating environment | $714,626 |
| Carnegie Institution for Science | Washington, DC | Simons early career investigator in aquatic microbial ecology and evolution award | $675,000 |
| University of Washington | Seattle, WA | Flow cytometry data to unravel phytoplankton growth and turnover rates | $614,186 |
| Massachusetts General Hospital | Boston, MA | Identifying functionally convergent genetic factors associated with autism | $530,935 |
| New York University | New York, NY | Global distinguished professor gift | $518,947 |
| Lewis H Latimer Fund | Flushing, NY | Scale impact through culturally responsive steam engagement | $450,000 |
| California Institute of Technology | Pasadena, CA | Modelling the effects of changes in sulphuric content in shipping diesel fuel on atmospheric radiative transfer | $436,218 |
| Princeton University | Princeton, NJ | Spark sleep study, phenotype analysis, and pipeline benchmarking | $432,155 |
| National Academy of Sciences | Washington, DC | Nsf-Baltics-Nas grant program for ukraine | $375,000 |
| University of Puerto Rico | San Juan, PR | Probe: computational physics initiative at upr/brown | $361,126 |
| National Inst for Nuclear Physics | Frascati Rome, | Simons visiting program at ggi | $338,592 |
| Ucsd | LA Jolla, CA | Autism, sex differences, and microglia - project 2 | $309,486 |
| Columbia University | New York, NY | Simons investigator in astrophysics | $300,000 |
| Princeton University | Princeton, NJ | Hidden symmetries and fusion energy | $289,993 |
| University of Minnesota | Minneapolis, MN | Localization of waves | $269,840 |
| MIT | Cambridge, MA | Glial mechanisms by which sleep preserves cognitive function and plasticity in aging | $250,000 |
| UCLA | Los Angeles, CA | Modelling radiative transfer effects of variations in properties of stratospheric aerosols | $248,271 |
| Ucsd | LA Jolla, CA | Autism, sex differences, and microglia - project 3 | $237,803 |
| Hebrew University of Jerusalem | Jerusalem, | Thalamo-Cortico-Amygdala network dysfunctions underlying impaired sensory integration dysfunction in asd | $225,300 |
| Columbia University | New York, NY | Neural mechanisms of context dependent cognitive behavior | $218,200 |
| Harvard University | Cambridge, MA | Discovering repeating neural motifs representing sequenced behavior | $218,200 |
| Princeton University | Princeton, NJ | Characterizing latent states and neural dynamics governing cognitive behavior; international brain laboratory | $218,200 |
| Princeton University | Princeton, NJ | Neuromodulatory interactions and the control of long-time scale behaviors | $218,200 |
| University of Vienna | Vienna, | Neuromodulatory interactions and the control of long-time scale behaviors | $218,200 |
| Rochester Museum & Science Center | Rochester, NY | Rmsc STEM ambassadors program- engaging new audiences in STEM learning | $213,318 |
| Whitehead Institute | Cambridge, MA | Autism, sex differences, and microglia - core | $206,921 |
| University of Tbingen | Tbingen, | Neural tracking of acoustic-prosodic content in speech in adults with high-functioning asd | $204,509 |
| Art of Problem Solving Foundation | New York, NY | Beam capacity-building for scale and expansion | $200,000 |
| STEM From Dance | Brooklyn, NY | Empowering girls in STEM | $200,000 |
| Techbridge Girls | Oakland, CA | CEO transition gift | $200,000 |
| Massachusetts General Hospital | Boston, MA | Identifying translational sleep biomarkers in autism | $199,996 |
| Brandeis University | Waltham, MA | Identifying translational sleep biomarkers in autism | $199,974 |
| University of Washington | Seattle, WA | Using brain-machine interfaces to identify & manipulate computational principles of learning | $185,000 |
| Princeton University | Princeton, NJ | Brain-Wide dynamics of a social interaction | $184,999 |
| Columbia University | New York, NY | Learning the universe | $179,814 |
| Stanford University | Stanford, CA | Simons collaboration on extreme electrodynamics of compact sources | $178,164 |
| Transforming Lives Community Org | Baltimore, MD | Stemcx summer practicum experience | $175,800 |
| Museum of the Moving Image | Astoria, NY | Science at open worlds | $169,625 |
| Scripps Research | LA Jolla, CA | Outer brain and inner brain: computational principles and interactions | $165,748 |
| New York University | New York, NY | Wave turbulence | $156,854 |
| National Association of Maths | Atlanta, GA | Nam mathfest conference grant | $154,000 |
| University of Wisconsin-Madison | Madison, WI | Hidden symmetries and fusion energy | $150,000 |
| MIT | Cambridge, MA | Arithmetic geometry, number theory, and computation | $133,028 |
| Espci | Paris, | Localization of waves | $132,000 |
| Boston University | Boston, MA | Arithmetic geometry, number theory, and computation | $116,863 |
| Eth Zrich Foundation | Zurich, | Simons collaboration on confinement and qcd strings | $110,000 |
| The Gaskins Foundation | Cincinnati, OH | Epicc stemulation (empowering parents in churches in creating stemulation) | $110,000 |
| Duke University | Durham, NC | Multi-Regional analysis of neural dynamics underlying memory-guided behavior | $109,100 |
| Harvard University | Cambridge, MA | Ccb experimental sub projects | $105,000 |
| Whitehead Institute | Cambridge, MA | Autism, sex differences, and microglia - project 1 | $101,206 |
| Researchamerica | Arlington, VA | Science and technology action committee | $100,000 |
| Nas of Ukraine | Kyiv, | Research during the war at the biggest ukrainian mathematical institution | $90,002 |
Giving by year
| Tax year | Grants paid | Grant lines |
|---|---|---|
| 2024 | $271,958,633 | 1,973 |
| 2023 | $291,357,755 | 2,630 |
Sources
- IRS Form 990-PF, tax year 2024, filed Nov 14, 2025 - IRS e-file batch, object ID 202503179349103885
- IRS Tax Exempt Organization Search for EIN 13-3794889
- 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.