Letter from the President Share By Heising-Simons Foundation on 11/23/2020 on 11/23/2020 In this holiday week, I wanted to write a note of reflection and thanks to you, our colleagues and friends. We are nearing the end of a tumultuous year. It has been a hard year – a year marked by anger, grief, illness, and loss. It has been a year filled with events that have …
COVID-19 Response: Letter from the President, April 2020 Share By Heising-Simons Foundation on 4/22/2020 on 4/22/2020 I am thinking of you, your families, your colleagues, and the communities you serve and call home. You and we know that there is more that needs to be done to respond to the COVID-19 crisis than any one of us can do alone. This pandemic has shown all of us the fragility of life and of so many aspects of our society. But I am heartened because, even in the midst of fear, sadness, and want, you, our grantee partners, are making a difference.
Firearm Violence is Not Inevitable Share By Heising-Simons Foundation on 8/21/2019 on 8/21/2019 The last few weeks have brought us Gilroy, El Paso, and Dayton––more mass shootings, more deaths by firearms. We grieve with the victims, their families, and their communities.
Letter from the President: June 2019 Share By Heising-Simons Foundation on 6/6/2019 on 6/6/2019 In 2018, the Foundation, for the first time in its history, awarded $100 million in grants in a single year. That we were able to do this is due to a generous Board, a dedicated staff, and, above all, an overwhelmingly thoughtful, creative, and committed set of grantees. We are immensely grateful to you, our …
Letter from the President: November 2018 Share By Heising-Simons Foundation on 11/16/2018 on 11/16/2018 I look out my office window at a patch of green park, where a flag hangs mournfully at half-mast. I think it’s for Thousand Oaks. Or Pittsburgh. Or maybe the one before that. How sad that we are becoming inured to massacres.
Letter from the President: May 2018 Share By Heising-Simons Foundation on 5/14/2018 on 5/14/2018 For a Foundation with as many interests as ours—science, early childhood education, human rights, climate and clean energy—there are few times when a single event reaches across to touch almost all of our issue areas. But in 2020, that rare moment will come in the form of the next U.S. Census.
Letter from the President: December 2017 Share By Heising-Simons Foundation on 12/20/2017 on 12/20/2017 There is something quite wondrous about cycles in nature. Nature’s patterns always instill me with hope and remind me of renewal and restoration. Each year at this time, as the year closes and a nation finds itself reflecting, I too try and take a moment to think about the past year before it resets. To …
Letter from the President: September 2017 Share By Heising-Simons Foundation on 9/12/2017 on 9/12/2017 When we describe the Foundation, we often use the phrase, “Unlocking knowledge, opportunity, and possibilities.” It reflects our fundamentally optimistic view of the world, and our belief in the potential for improvement in the human condition.
Letter from the President: April 2017 Share By Heising-Simons Foundation on 4/4/2017 on 4/4/2017 Dear Colleagues: As we begin the second quarter of the year, I wanted to thank you, our friends and partners, for your good work and to share with you some of the connections we see across your efforts and ours. In the past quarter, we awarded more than $12.8 million through 67 new grants. In …