Heising-Simons Foundation Awards $25.6M to Systems Change Efforts in Second Quarter of 2024 Share By Heising-Simons Foundation on 7/16/2024 on 7/16/2024 Heising-Simons Foundation awarded $25.6 million to systems change efforts across 57 grants during the second quarter of 2024. This latest round of funding supports advancing climate and clean energy policies, ensuring that AI does not disrupt the 2024 election, and developing a clearer understanding of the causes of underrepresentation of women in math and physical …
Heising-Simons Foundation Awards Over $3.1M to Technology and Society Organizations Ahead of Summit Share By Heising-Simons Foundation on 6/24/2024 on 6/24/2024 The Heising-Simons Foundation has awarded $3.19 million this year, to address the ongoing impact of technology on society in advance of Wednesday’s Technology and Society Summit at the Foundation. The Foundation has awarded $7.88 million to address issues in this space since Sushma Raman joined as the Foundation’s president and CEO in 2023. The Foundation’s …
One Year Into My Role as President and CEO Share By Heising-Simons Foundation on 2/21/2024 on 2/21/2024 Dear Colleagues and Friends, “My work as a journalist seeks to connect silenced histories to our present day,” says Dara T. Mathis, one of two recipients of the Heising-Simons Foundation’s 2024 American Mosaic Journalism Prize. The Prize is awarded to freelance journalists for excellence in long-form, narrative, or deep reporting about underrepresented communities in the …
President’s Year-End Letter Share By Heising-Simons Foundation on 12/18/2023 on 12/18/2023 Dear Grantees and Partners: When the Heising-Simons Foundation welcomed me as its new leader in February 2023, we as a staff and Board embarked on a shared journey to reflect on the many changes taking place within the Foundation and in the world. The nature of the problems we are tackling—whether the scale of climate …
Philanthropies Launch $200 Million Initiative to Support Responsible Use and Innovation of Artificial Intelligence Share By Heising-Simons Foundation on 11/1/2023 on 11/1/2023 As part of its grantmaking seeking to address the impact of technology on society, Heising-Simons Foundation has joined a new coalition of ten philanthropies to support public interest efforts that mitigate artificial intelligence’s (AI) harms and promote responsible use and innovation, as outlined by Vice President Kamala Harris earlier today. Other partners include the David …
Technology and Society Grantees Included in TIME Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People in Artificial Intelligence Share By Heising-Simons Foundation on 9/13/2023 on 9/13/2023 Two grantee partners of the Heising-Simons Foundation’s CEO Fund: Technology and Society initiative have been included in TIME Magazine’s inaugural list of the top 100 most influential people in Artificial Intelligence (AI).
President and CEO Sushma Raman Joins Heising-Simons Foundation Board Share By Heising-Simons Foundation on 9/12/2023 on 9/12/2023 Sushma Raman, President and CEO of Heising-Simons Foundation, has been elected to join the Foundation’s Board of Directors. Ms. Raman joined the Foundation as President and CEO in February 2023, following a national search, and joined the three other directors— Liz Simons, Chair of the Board; Mark Heising, Board Vice Chair; Caitlin Heising, Board Vice …
How Grantee WITNESS Builds Technological Capacity of Grassroots Groups to Increase Police Accountability Share By Heising-Simons Foundation on 8/1/2023 on 8/1/2023 Several years ago, while still a graduate student at MIT’s Media Lab, Joy Buolamwini began to notice a troubling pattern in facial recognition technology––an inability to detect a wide range of skin tones and facial structures, even in widely available systems employed by Big Tech, government agencies, and law enforcement.
How Dr. Joy Buolamwini is Working Towards Responsible Technology Share By Heising-Simons Foundation on 6/28/2023 on 6/28/2023 Several years ago, while still a graduate student at MIT’s Media Lab, Joy Buolamwini began to notice a troubling pattern in facial recognition technology––an inability to detect a wide range of skin tones and facial structures, even in widely available systems employed by Big Tech, government agencies, and law enforcement.