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Type: Letters from the President

One Year Into My Role as President and CEO

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

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 …

Letter from the President and CEO — Spring 2023

The Greenland ice sheet extends more than 600,000 square miles, covering most of the country. It is about four times the size of California and it is melting. The loss from the ice sheet is responsible for a significant percentage of today’s sea level rise.

Letter from the President and CEO

It is not every day that a person gets to join such a thoughtful, talented network of strong leaders working on the country’s most pressing problems. But that is the great fortune I have been afforded, joining the Heising-Simons Foundation as its new President and CEO. 

A Big Thank You

As I emailed earlier this year, after 10 years at the Heising-Simons Foundation, I am now retiring. I wanted to reach out to you once more, to thank you and to wish you well. 

Introducing Our New Director of the Climate and Clean Energy Program

I’m delighted to announce that Roland Hwang will join the Heising-Simons Foundation as the new director of our Climate and Clean Energy program.

An Equity Framework: Our Commitment To Change

Today, I want to share with you the Equity Framework we have been developing at the Foundation over the past year. In this document you’ll find what we mean by equity, and how we seek to translate words into action, including employing a set of questions to guide and learn from our decisions.

Letter From the President: Yesterday, Today, and the Future

I can’t even begin with “On days like this,” because there has been no day like yesterday, no events like this in our Capitol, in our living memory. It is a time that stirs anger, sadness, and deep distress.

Letter from the President

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 …