The Heising-Simons Foundation is a family foundation based in Los Altos and San Francisco, California, with a three-person Board—all members of the same family—and a 56-person staff. The Foundation has a commitment to equity, diversity, inclusion, and to transparency. We believe it is important to collect, understand, and post the demographics of our staff on our website. We will continue to update and post these data as a best practice.
The following data were gathered by an anonymous survey, completed by members of our staff in 2022. The race and ethnicity, gender, and sexual orientation categories used in the survey were taken from those employed by Guidestar in its collection of nonprofit information. Staff also entered their own answers when the categories did not represent the way they self-identify. We recognize these categories are imperfect and portray a limited picture of our staff’s racial and ethnic identities and are also limited in that they fail to capture intersections of identity. We have much to learn about the ways in which we collect, categorize, and report these data, and we anticipate that our reporting will evolve over time. We also hope that the ongoing collection of these data will help us build and sustain a culture and workplace that recognizes these identities and experiences, and values voices from across the Foundation.
All Staff (n=53)
Note: Staff identifying as 2+ races/ ethnicities includes Asian/White (50%). Staff identifying as other includes Jewish (33.3%), Pakistani American (33.3%), and Southeast Asian (33.3%).
All Staff (n=52)
The Heising-Simons Foundation commissioned The Center for Effective Philanthropy to conduct a grantee demographic survey in October 2021. This survey was anonymous and voluntary, and received a 64% response rate from 605 grantees across the Foundation’s five program areas.
The purpose of the survey was to get an understanding of the aggregate demographics of the leadership of the organizations and projects we support, as part of our commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion. Individual responses are confidential, and the Foundation only sees aggregate data.
We asked non-university grantees about the demographics of their boards, head(s) of organizations, and senior staff. We asked university grantees about the demographics of their project lead(s) and other project team members.
Findings across the Foundation’s programs include the following:
These are average percentages for those that responded to the survey.
Due to rounding, the total percentages may add up to slightly above or below 100 percent. Hover over each pie chart to see the data.
White (35%) Black or African American (25%) Hispanic or Latina, Latino, or Latinx (16%) Asian or Asian American (10%) Individuals for whom grantee does not have self-reported data (9%) American Indian, Alaska Native, or Indigenous (2%) Multiracial or Multiethnic (1%) Middle Eastern or North African (1%) Individuals reporting two or more races and ethnicities (1%) Individuals reporting another race, ethnicity, or origin not on this list (1%)
White (40%) Black or African American (24%) Hispanic or Latina, Latino, or Latinx (15%) Asian or Asian American (12%) American Indian, Alaska Native, or Indigenous (3%) Individuals for whom grantee does not have self-reported data (3%) Multiracial or Multiethnic (2%) Middle Eastern or North African (1%) Individuals reporting two or more races and ethnicities (1%) Individuals reporting another race, ethnicity, or origin not on this list (1%)
White (41%) Black or African American (20%) Hispanic or Latina, Latino, or Latinx (19%) Asian or Asian American (10%) Individuals for whom grantee does not have self-reported data (4%) American Indian, Alaska Native, or Indigenous (3%) Multiracial or Multiethnic (2%) Middle Eastern or North African (1%) Individuals reporting another race, ethnicity, or origin not on this list (1%) Individuals reporting two or more races and ethnicities (1%)
White (72%) Asian or Asian American (10%) Hispanic or Latina, Latino, or Latinx (6%) Black or African American (4%) Individuals for whom grantee does not have self-reported data (4%) Middle Eastern or North African (2%) Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander (1%) Individuals reporting two or more races and ethnicities (1%) Individuals reporting that they prefer not to provide this information (1%)
White (56%) Asian or Asian American (15%) Black or African American (9%) Individuals for whom grantee does not have self-reported data (9%) Hispanic or Latina, Latino, or Latinx (7%) Multiracial and/or Multi-ethnic (2%) Middle Eastern or North African (1%) American Indian, Alaska Native, or Indigenous (1%)