The Heising-Simons Action Fund is the advocacy arm of the Heising-Simons Foundation, a left-of-center foundation founded by Mark Heising and his wife Liz Simons, the daughter of billionaire retired hedge fund manager James Simons.

Established in 2020, the Heising-Simons Action Fund is the advocacy arm of the Heising-Simons family’s foundation. The Fund focuses on causes including civic engagement, environmentalism, education, and human rights. ¹ The Heising-Simons Action Fund supports “substantially increasing public financing of the early childhood education field,” especially in California, in addition to supporting left-of-center redistricting legislation. The organization also supports the advancement of government regulations to reduce pollution and carbon emissions, in addition to left-of-center criminal justice policy. ²

Activism

During the 2020 elections, the Heising-Simons Action Fund contributed $100,000 in support of Proposition 17 in California, a successful ballot measure that allows California parolees to register to vote before their parole has ended. Fellow supporters included the ACLU of California, the California Democratic Party, and California Governor Gavin Newsom (D). ³

The Fund opposed California’s Proposition 20, which would have reclassified some misdemeanors as felonies and limited access for allegedly nonviolent crimes. The Heising-Simons Action Fund spent $375,000 opposing Proposition 20. Other left-of-center organizations also opposed Proposition 20, including the California League of Conservation Voters and the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, the grantmaking entity of Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan. ⁴

Leadership

Deanna Gomby, the president and CEO of the Heising-Simons Foundation, also leads the Heising-Simons Action Fund as its president and CEO. ⁵  Before joining the Heising-Simons network, she previously worked at the left-of-center David and Lucile Packard Foundation. ⁶

Three members of the Heising-Simons family sit on the organization’s board. Liz Simons is a board member of the Heising-Simons Action Fund. Simons is the founder of Stretch to Kindergarten, an early childhood education program. She also sits on the boards of the Learning Policy Institute; the Marshall Project; Math for America; Smart Justice California; and the Foundation for a Just Society, a grantmaking organization that supports LGBT interests. ⁷

Mark Heising also sits as a board member of the Heising-Simons Action Fund. Heising founded private market investment firm Medley Partners, in addition to holding a number of U.S. patents in cryptography and data communications. Heising studied at the University of California, Berkeley, earning a bachelor’s degree in physics and a master’s in electrical engineering and computer sciences. ⁸

Caitlin Heising, the daughter of Simons and Heising, is a member of the board of the Heising-Simons Action Fund as well. Heising is a founding member of the Maverick Collective, a philanthropic group working to improve the health and rights of women and girls. ⁹

1. “Homepage.” Heising-Simons Action Fund. Accessed March 24, 2021. https://www.hsaction.org.
2. “Homepage.” Heising-Simons Action Fund. Accessed March 24, 2021. https://www.hsaction.org.
3. “Election 2020 California Proposition 17.” KQED. Accessed March 24, 2021. https://www.kqed.org/voterguide/california-propositions.
4. Tour, Jesse La. “Criminal Justice on the Ballot: A Closer Look at Propositions 17, 20, and 25.” Fullerton Observer, October 9, 2020. https://fullertonobserver.com/2020/10/09/criminal-justice-on-the-ballot-a-closer-look-at-propositions-17-20-and-25/.
5. “Homepage.” Heising-Simons Action Fund. Accessed March 24, 2021. https://www.hsaction.org.
6. “Deanna Gomby.” Heising-Simons Foundation, December 6, 2016. https://www.hsfoundation.org/person/deanna-gomby/.
7. “Homepage.” Heising-Simons Action Fund. Accessed March 24, 2021. https://www.hsaction.org.
8. “Homepage.” Heising-Simons Action Fund. Accessed March 24, 2021. https://www.hsaction.org.
9. “Homepage.” Heising-Simons Action Fund. Accessed March 24, 2021. https://www.hsaction.org.