The Heineman Foundation for Research, Education, Charitable, and Scientific Purposes is a charitable grantmaking organization based in New York City. The foundation was founded in 1948 by Belgian-American businessman Dannie Heineman and his wife, Hettie, to support scientific projects and education. In recent years, the foundation has expanded its grantmaking to encompass other issue areas. ¹

The foundation has a relatively narrow geographic focus, with grantmaking focused on nine states. Nonetheless, the foundation has been known to make grants outside of its focus area. ²

While most of its grants are for non-ideological projects, such as schools and medical research, the foundation has awarded grants to the Los Angeles Community Action Network, a left-of-center activist group that works in community organizing targeted at the Los Angeles homeless population. ³⁴⁵

Overview

The Heineman Foundation for Research, Education, Charitable, and Scientific Purposes is a nonprofit grantmaking foundation based in New York City. ⁶ The foundation was established in 1948 by Belgian-American businessman Dannie Heineman and his wife, Hettie. ⁷

Heineman was born in 1872 in Charlotte, North Carolina and moved to Europe at an early age after the death of his father. In his early career, Heineman constructed powerplants all over Europe. In 1905, he became the head of a Belgian investment trust called Sofina, where he remained in charge as the company became internationally known for its public utility engineering management. The company focused on building power plants and distributing electrical power. Heineman retired from Sofina in 1955 and returned to the United States. ⁸

His philanthropic interests began in the World War I when he coordinated relief efforts for war-torn Belgium. He created the foundation in 1947 and devoted his later life to charitable works. Heineman passed away in 1962. ⁹

In addition to charitable giving, the foundation has established and sponsors two prize: the Dannie Heineman Prize for Mathematical Physics and the Dannie Heineman Prize for Astrophysics. The first prize is administered by the American Physical Society and the American Institute of Physics. The second prize is administered by the American Astronomical Society and the American Institute of Physics. ¹⁰

Grantmaking Programs

The foundation provides seed money to start-ups and provides grants to existing organizations with terms of three to five years. The organization focuses its grantmaking on organizations that work with economically disadvantaged women, conduct environmental research, organize live music performances for education and outreach, research the treatment of childhood diseases, or operate youth programs. ¹¹

The foundation focuses its grantmaking in Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts, Montana, New Hampshire, New York, and North Carolina. ¹²

Leadership

The current president of the foundation is Alexander Bergendahl, a Swedish gaming executive. ¹³

David Bergendahl is a former president of the foundation. While with the foundation, Bergendahl founded Hugo Insurance, a car insurance company targeted towards low- and middle-income drivers. ¹⁴ In 2020, Bergendahl co-signed a letter that encouraged the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to extend deadlines and statuses for all visa holders until 90 days after the COVID-19 state of emergency ends. ¹⁵

Finances

According to the organization’s 2018 tax return, the foundation spent $741,470 and reported assets of over $16.6 million. ¹⁶

While the vast majority of the foundation’s grants went to noncontroversial organizations and programs, the foundation gave the Los Angeles Community Action Network, a left-of-center community organizing group, $120,000 in total grants between 2015 and 2017. ^{17 1819}

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11. “The Heineman Foundation- Grants For Seed Money For Start-Up Projects And New Projects”. 2021. Fundsforngos – Grants And Resources For Sustainability. Accessed August 2. https://www.fundsforngos.org/water-2/the-heineman-foundation-grants-seed-money-start-projects-new-projects/.
12. “The Heineman Foundation- Grants For Seed Money For Start-Up Projects And New Projects”. 2021. Fundsforngos – Grants And Resources For Sustainability. Accessed August 2. https://www.fundsforngos.org/water-2/the-heineman-foundation-grants-seed-money-start-projects-new-projects/.
13. “Heineman Foundation.” Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax, Form 990, 2018.
14. “David Bergendahl”. 2021. Crunchbase. Accessed August 2. https://www.crunchbase.com/person/david-bergendahl.
15. Non Immigrant Visa Holders. 2020. Ebook. USCIS. https://www.uscis.gov/sites/default/files/document/foia/Nonimmigrant_visa_holders_Esipov.pdf.
16. “Heineman Foundation.” Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax, Form 990, 2018.
17. “Heineman Foundation.” Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax, Form 990, 2018.
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19. “Heineman Foundation For Resrch Edu Ctnl Charitable & Sci Purposes Inc, Full Filing – Nonprofit Explorer”. 2021. Propublica. Accessed August 2. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/136082899/201822709349100002/full.