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The Heising-Simons Action Fund at a glanceAlso receives grants: funding profile →

· Public charity

The Heising-Simons Action Fund

The action fund engages primarily in legislative and other public policy activities, including but not limited to making contributions to ballot measure campaigns and to other policy and legislative advocacy efforts, to promote the common good and general welfare of the general public in california and elsewhere.

$16M
Granted FY2024still arriving
73
Grants FY2024still arriving
13
States reached
$645k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
01100% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2020 to 2024.

Environment$26MCivil Rights$23MPublic Benefit$12MCrime & Legal$5.9MEducation$3.9MCommunity Improvement$3.6MHuman Services$3.1MYouth Development$1.0MOther$0
02FY2024 · 73 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2024

  • $10k–50k4 grants · $95k
  • $50k–250k41 grants · $5.8M
  • $250k+28 grants · $10M
$200,000
Median grant
13
States reached
$2.7M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
ALLIANCE FOR SAFETY AND JUSTICE ACTION FUND$645,000
CHILDREN'S FUNDING ACCELERATOR INC$550,000
CLIMATE EQUITY ACTION FUND$500,000
FIRST FIVE ACTION FUND$400,000
ENVIRONMENTAL DEFENSE ACTION FUND$400,000
CLIMATE POWER$400,000
CENTER FOR COMMUNITY CHANGE ACTION$400,000
CARE IN ACTION INC$400,000
ENERGY ACTION FUND$400,000
PARENT VOICES ACTION$400,000
MOMSRISING TOGETHER$400,000
IMPACT FELLOWS ACTION FUND$400,000
LEAGUE OF CONSERVATION VOTERS INC$400,000
CAROLINA FEDERATION$400,000
CHILD CARE PROVIDERS UNITED CALIFORNIA$400,000
02The need
03

Does the money reach high-need areas?

Each grant placed by the hardship in its grantee’s ZIP, against the area’s typical level.

show:

Its human-services grants (FY21–24, $4.7M) land where the poverty rate runs at 9%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 26% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Its grants skew toward lower-need ZIPs.

area typical 10%LIVING UNITED FOR CHANGE IN ARIZONA: $100k → 11%PURE JUSTICE ACTION FUND: $150k → 16%IMPACT FELLOWS ACTION FUND: $400k → 5%NCAAT IN ACTION: $100k → 8%GEORGIA INVESTOR ACTION FUND INC: $25k → 14%MOMSRISING TOGETHER: $400k → 9%PURE JUSTICE ACTION FUND: $100k → 16%IMPACT FELLOWS ACTION FUND: $400k → 5%NORTH CAROLINA A PHILIP RANDOLPH EDUCATIONAL FUND: $150k → 8%MOMSRISING TOGETHER: $400k → 9%ALLIANCE FOR SAFETY AND JUSTICE ACTION FUND: $645k → 12%IMPACT FELLOWS ACTION FUND: $400k → 5%NCAAT IN ACTION: $100k → 8%MOMSRISING TOGETHER: $400k → 9%IMPACT FELLOWS ACTION FUND: $300k → 5%MOMSRISING TOGETHER: $400k → 9%NILC IMMIGRANT JUSTICE FUND: $200k → 14%0%20%40%50%more need →
grant to an above-average-need area below average· circle size = grant amount
How this is measured
Matched: human-services grants are those whose grantee’s IRS cause code is Human Services. Placed by people below the poverty line in the grantee’s ZIP, averaged from the tracts in that ZIP.

Which US states its grants reach

NH
WA
MN
IL
NY
MA
OR
CA
CO
AZ
NM
KS
NC
DC
LA
GA
TX
How this is measured
US grants placed by each grantee’s ZIP, which can differ from where services are delivered. Need from public data (U.S. Census/ACS, CDC PLACES, Eviction Lab, USDA), shown as context about the area, never attributed to the funder’s giving.
04

Where the work is directed

The same grants placed two ways: where each recipient sits, and where its stated purpose sends the money.

About 8% of The Heising-Simons Action Fund’s grant dollars are earmarked for a different county than the recipient’s own address. By recipient address, 25% of the giving stays in CA; by stated purpose, 30%.

The Heising-Simons Action Fundlessmore of its giving
Placed by recipient address
How this is measured
Recipient view: each grant at its grantee’s ZIP, mapped to a county. Directed view: each grant at the county its stated purpose names, falling back to the recipient’s county when the purpose names no place; US grants only. A county shows only if it carries the top 95% of that view’s dollars. Purposes are read from the funder’s own 990 grant descriptions.
03Its grantees
repeat funding

Who it funds again

Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.

88%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$65M · 70 repeat orgs$9.1M to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +29% since the first grant, against 0% for those funded once.

70 repeat relationships: 54 still active in FY2024, 16 since wound down; 8 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

70
30

Total granted

$65M
$7.7M

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+29%
0%

Still filing today

97%
63%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 91% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $1.4M went to new ones.

50%100%’20’21’22’23’24
RenewedFirst-time

Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant

’20’21’22’23’24
Civil RightsEnvironmentHuman ServicesCommunity ImprovementPublic BenefitEducationOther
How this is measured
First-time means a grantee’s first year in the filing window; renewed means funded in an earlier year too. The renewed share climbs naturally as a portfolio matures, so the signal is a year that bucks it (a wave of new grantees). The earliest year is left-censored: relationships that predate the data read as new. Theme is the grantee’s IRS cause.

Backed again, and grew

  • WF
    WORKING FAMILIES ORGANIZATION INC
    5× · 2020–2024 · $4.1M · revenue +57%
  • EA
    ENERGY ACTION FUND
    5× · 2020–2024 · $2.3M · revenue +98%
  • CF
    CHILDREN'S FUNDING ACCELERATOR INC
    5× · 2020–2024 · $2.1M · revenue +42% · 50% of their budget

Funded once

  • FF
    FUND FOR A BETTER FUTURE INC
    one grant, 2021 · $2.8M · revenue -89%
  • SU
    STATES UNITED ACTIONgraduated
    one grant, 2022 · $700k · revenue +335% · 60% of their budget
  • WT
    WAY TO WIN ACTION FUND INCgraduated
    one grant, 2021 · $500k · revenue +116%
How this is measured

Repeat means funded in two or more distinct years. Growth and survival are read from each grantee’s own subsequent IRS filings.

04Its field

Closest unfunded matches

The nonprofits that most resemble its grantees but are not funded by it, scored along the direction from the rest of the field toward the portfolio. A resemblance in what they say they do, not a recommendation.

1
Fund for Justice

Fund for Justice is a nationally connected social impact research and advocacy organization that works to achieve fundamental, systemic reform by addressing policies and practicies that prevent individuals from reaching their full…

Crime & Legal
2
Aclu California Action

See schedule oaclu california action advocates for the defense and advancement of civil liberties and civil rights in the california state capitol. we work to secure greater equality, equity, justice, and freedom for all californians. our…

Civil Rights
3
California Environmental Justice Alliance

Our mission is to fight against fossil fuel executives and industries that have turned our communities into dumping grounds for toxic waste, poisoning our air, water, lan, and bodies. We organize to oppose giant oil refineries, dirty…

Environment
4
Powerswitch Action

Powerswitch action is a national network forging collective democracy and economies in our cities and states, together with our 21 grassroots affiliates.

Community Improvement
5
California Forward

Ca fwd drives action to identify solutions that can be taken to scale to meet the challenges the state is facing. the organization is driven by the belief that regional solutions across the state will help ensure economic, environmental,…

Public Benefit
6
Six Action

Six action realizes a bold policy agenda that secures and sustains meaningful racial, gender, social and economic justice outcomes that center the people most impacted by systemic and structural oppression. we support values-aligned state…

Civil Rights
7
350ORG Action Fund

350.org action fund mobilizes progressive voters, gets climate champions elected, holds fossil-fueled politicians accountable, supports frontline partners, trains young movement leaders through creative campaigning to advocate for…

Environment
8
Electoral Collective Action

Electoral Collective Action coordinates a broad-based coalition of existing entities active in the climate justice and community organizing space to raise public awareness and educational opportunities.

Civil Rights
9
Justice Action Network

The mission of the Corporation is to promote the common good and general welfare of citizens of the United States by advocating in favor of reforms to criminal justice policy that will maximize the effective and fair use of limited public…

Crime & Legal
10
Jobs with Justice San Francisco

A long-term, strategic alliance of labor, community, faith-based, and student organizations working together to build greater economic power for workers and community members through employee rights at work and access to good jobs,…

Employment
11
Pico California Action Fund

The PICO Action Fund is a 501(c)(4) nonprofit organization that works with multi-racial faith-based community organizations to build power and impact systemic change. We work at the state and local level to build capacity for civic…

Civil Rights
12
La Voice Action

La voice action's mission is to build multi-racial, interfaith power to win policies that transforms los angeles into a county that reflects the human dignity of all people, with racial equity and abundance for all.

Civil Rights
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Economic Security Project Action Inc; the most unlike its peers is Care for Monterey County Kids. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.
05the grantee network

107 grantees tracked through their own filings, 2017–2026.

Each grant beside the grantee’s revenue from every source, year by year.

How this is measured

Counted here: distinct organizations funded across 2017 to 2026, not grant rows in a single year, so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 107 of the 112 grantees resolved in that span have returns of their own we could reconcile.

Each grantee is resolved to its own IRS returns. Association, dated; never a causal claim.

34
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
37
Early backer (in before they grew)
98/107
Grantees still filing
54/107
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

WORKING FAMILIES ORGANIZATION INC: $4,120,000 · Civil RightsWORKING FAMILIES ORGANIZATI…Care in Action Inc: $1,600,000 · Civil RightsCare in Action IncSave the Children Action Network: $1,600,000 · Civil RightsSave the Children Action Ne…LEAGUE OF CONSERVATION VOTERS INC: $1,550,000 · Civil RightsLEAGUE OF CONSERVATION VOTE…NATIONAL WOMEN'S LAW CENTER ACTION FUND: $1,300,000 · Civil RightsNATIONAL WOMEN'S LAW CENTER…MILLION VOTERS PROJECT ACTION FUND FOR SCHOOLS AND COMMUNITIES FIRST: $875,000 · Civil RightsCAROLINA FEDERATION: $870,000 · Civil RightsSTATES UNITED ACTION: $700,000 · Civil RightsASIAN AMERICAN ADVOCACY FUND INC: $695,000 · Civil RightsWORKERS DEFENSE ACTION FUND: $650,000 · Civil Rights+19 more: $5,495,000 · Civil Rights+19 moreSIXTEEN THIRTY FUND: $3,375,000 · EnvironmentSIXTEEN THIRTY FUNDENVIRONMENTAL DEFENSE ACTION FUND: $3,100,000 · EnvironmentENVIRONMENTAL DEFENSE ACT…ENERGY ACTION FUND: $2,315,000 · EnvironmentENERGY ACTION FUNDThe Partnership Project Action Fund: $2,025,000 · EnvironmentThe Partnership Project A…CLIMATE JOBS NATIONAL RESOURCE CENTER ACTION FUND INC: $1,250,000 · EnvironmentCLIMATE JOBS NATIONAL RES…CLIMATE POWER: $1,200,000 · EnvironmentCLIMATE POWERCLIMATE EQUITY ACTION FUND: $1,000,000 · EnvironmentCLIMATE EQUITY ACTION FUN…Counterspark Inc: $850,000 · EnvironmentBlueGreen Alliance Inc: $775,000 · Environment+5 more: $1,700,000 · Environment+5 moreTIDES ADVOCACY: $3,770,000 · OtherTIDES ADVOCACYNRDC ACTION FUND INC: $1,850,000 · OtherNRDC ACTION FUND INCCOLOROFCHANGEORG: $1,250,000 · OtherCOLOROFCHANGEORGTEXAS ORGANIZING PROJECT: $900,000 · OtherNEW GEORGIA PROJECT ACTION FUND: $700,000 · OtherCHILDREN NOW ACTION FUND: $650,000 · OtherEquity Action: $600,000 · OtherSTAND FOR CHILDREN INC: $1,000,000 · OtherSTAND FOR CHILDREN INC+31 more: $7,239,999 · Other+31 moreFUND FOR A BETTER FUTURE INC: $2,800,000 · Community ImprovementFUND FOR A …CHILDREN'S FUNDING ACCELERATOR INC: $2,100,000 · Community ImprovementCHILDREN'S …BIPARTISAN POLICY CENTER ACTION INC: $900,000 · Community ImprovementBIPARTISAN …MIJENTE: $820,000 · Community ImprovementMIJENTEWE ACT 4 CHANGE INC: $650,000 · Community ImprovementWE ACT 4 CH…ORGANIZERS IN THE LAND OF ENCHANTMENT: $400,000 · Community Improvement+2 more: $250,000 · Community ImprovementCENTER FOR COMMUNITY CHANGE ACTION: $2,950,000 · Public BenefitCENTER FOR…CENTER FOR AMERICAN PROGRESS ACTION FUND: $1,950,000 · Public BenefitCENTER FOR…NEW LEFT ACCELERATOR: $1,425,000 · Public BenefitNEW LEFT A…NORTH FUND: $450,000 · Public BenefitNORTH FUNDCommunities for A New California: $300,000 · Public Benefit+3 more: $250,000 · Public BenefitIMPACT FELLOWS ACTION FUND: $1,750,000 · Human ServicesMOMSRISING TOGETHER: $1,600,000 · Human ServicesAlliance for Safety and Justice Action Fund dba Action for Safety and Justice: $645,000 · Human ServicesFORWARD JUSTICE ACTION NETWORK: $500,000 · Human ServicesDOWN HOME NC: $300,000 · Human ServicesPURE JUSTICE ACTION FUND: $250,000 · Human ServicesEVERGREEN ACTION: $250,000 · Human ServicesNILC IMMIGRANT JUSTICE FUND: $200,000 · Human ServicesNCAAT IN ACTION: $200,000 · Human Services+3 more: $275,000 · Human ServicesFIRST FIVE ACTION FUND: $1,800,000 · EducationParent Voices Action: $730,000 · Education
Civil Rights$19,455,000Environment$17,590,000Other$17,959,999Community Improvement$7,920,000Public Benefit$7,325,000Human Services$5,970,000Education$2,530,000

Each grantee by its size and the funder’s share of it; top left is load-bearing

25%50%75%100%$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetWORKING FAMILIES ORGANIZATION INC: $4,120,000 over 5y, 8.2% of budgetTIDES ADVOCACY: $3,770,000 over 5y, 1.3% of budgetSIXTEEN THIRTY FUND: $3,375,000 over 4y, 0.5% of budgetENVIRONMENTAL DEFENSE ACTION FUND: $3,100,000 over 5y, 7.1% of budgetCENTER FOR COMMUNITY CHANGE ACTION: $2,950,000 over 5y, 8.1% of budgetFUND FOR A BETTER FUTURE INC: $2,800,000 over 1y, 4.0% of budgetENERGY ACTION FUND: $2,315,000 over 5y, 3.9% of budgetCHILDREN'S FUNDING ACCELERATOR INC: $2,100,000 over 5y, 50% of budgetThe Partnership Project Action Fund: $2,025,000 over 5y, 10% of budgetCENTER FOR AMERICAN PROGRESS ACTION FUND: $1,950,000 over 5y, 2.9% of budgetNRDC ACTION FUND INC: $1,850,000 over 5y, 2.9% of budgetFIRST FIVE ACTION FUND: $1,800,000 over 4y, 79% of budgetIMPACT FELLOWS ACTION FUND: $1,750,000 over 5y, 99% of budgetMOMSRISING TOGETHER: $1,600,000 over 4y, 10% of budgetCare in Action Inc: $1,600,000 over 4y, 5.1% of budgetSave the Children Action Network: $1,600,000 over 4y, 9.9% of budgetLEAGUE OF CONSERVATION VOTERS INC: $1,550,000 over 5y, 0.6% of budgetNEW LEFT ACCELERATOR: $1,425,000 over 4y, 40% of budgetNATIONAL WOMEN'S LAW CENTER ACTION FUND: $1,300,000 over 5y, 26% of budgetCOLOROFCHANGEORG: $1,250,000 over 4y, 9.9% of budgetCLIMATE JOBS NATIONAL RESOURCE CENTER ACTION FUND INC: $1,250,000 over 4y, 18% of budgetCLIMATE POWER: $1,200,000 over 3y, 1.1% of budgetSTAND FOR CHILDREN INC: $1,000,000 over 3y, 4.2% of budgetCLIMATE EQUITY ACTION FUND: $1,000,000 over 2y, 4.3% of budgetTEXAS ORGANIZING PROJECT: $900,000 over 4y, 11% of budgetBIPARTISAN POLICY CENTER ACTION INC: $900,000 over 4y, 7.0% of budgetMILLION VOTERS PROJECT ACTION FUND FOR SCHOOLS AND COMMUNITIES FIRST: $875,000 over 4y, 80% of budgetCAROLINA FEDERATION: $870,000 over 5y, 11% of budgetCounterspark Inc: $850,000 over 5y, 8.2% of budgetMIJENTE: $820,000 over 4y, 20% of budgetBlueGreen Alliance Inc: $775,000 over 2y, 11% of budgetParent Voices Action: $730,000 over 4y, 91% of budgetSTATES UNITED ACTION: $700,000 over 1y, 60% of budgetNEW GEORGIA PROJECT ACTION FUND: $700,000 over 2y, 14% of budgetASIAN AMERICAN ADVOCACY FUND INC: $695,000 over 5y, 8.0% of budgetWORKERS DEFENSE ACTION FUND: $650,000 over 4y, 21% of budgetWE ACT 4 CHANGE INC: $650,000 over 4y, 57% of budgetCHILDREN NOW ACTION FUND: $650,000 over 4y, 100% of budgetEquity Action: $600,000 over 3y, 47% of budgetNEO Philanthropy Action Fund Inc: $600,000 over 3y, 2.2% of budgetMOVE TEXAS ACTION FUND: $550,000 over 3y, 7.6% of budgetDignity and Power in Action: $550,000 over 3y, 100% of budgetOur Kids Our Future: $550,000 over 2y, 65% of budgetNATIONAL WILDLIFE FEDERATION ACTION FUND: $500,000 over 3y, 11% of budgetFIGHT FOR THE FUTURE INC: $500,000 over 2y, 36% of budgetWAY TO WIN ACTION FUND INC: $500,000 over 1y, 3.8% of budgetFORWARD JUSTICE ACTION NETWORK: $500,000 over 5y, 46% of budgetCITIZENS FOR RESPONSIBLE ENERGY SOLUTIONS INC: $500,000 over 2y, 8.7% of budget
Grantee by grantee: a decade per organization, before and after funding

A decade per grantee: revenue shaded, grants as bars, all rows on one timeline.

Co-funders

Grantmakers whose grantees overlap with this funder’s far more than size alone predicts. Closer means stronger alignment; arcs show where they also fund each other. Here they form a tightly interlocked group: most of these funders back each other's grantees too.

Sixteen Thirty FundTides AdvocacyOpen Society Action F…NEO Philanthropy Acti…All Hands on Deck Net…Way to Win Action Fun…Women Donors Network …America VotesDemocracy Fund Voice …Center for Community …Instructional Telecom…League of Conservatio…
Sixteen Thirty FundDC112.7× affinity61 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Sixteen Thirty Fund · Tides Advocacy · Open Society Action Fund Inc · NEO Philanthropy Action Fund Inc · All Hands on Deck Network Inc · Way to Win Action Fund Inc · Women Donors Network Action · America Votes · Democracy Fund Voice Inc · Center for Community Change Action · Instructional Telecommunications Foundation Inc · League of Conservation Voters Inc

How this is measured
Affinity is a Gamma-Poisson posterior co-funding rate, re-centered on the typical rate, so thin evidence shrinks toward no signal. Overlap is association, not proof of shared intent.

How much its grantees rely on government

Each dot is one organization The Heising-Simons Action Fund funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The Heising-Simons Action Fund. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 30%6%25%56%100%funder's share of their income ↑0%1%3%4%5%share of the org’s income from government →median 0%
  • Ceres Inc: 0% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
3get no government money at all
0rely on government for over half their income
⤢ axis zoomed · 0–5%
typical government reliance, FY20–25
How this is measured
Government income is each org’s traced federal awards (USASpending grants and contracts) plus state payments (open checkbooks) as a share of its total revenue (IRS Form 990); the self-reported government-grant line (990 line 1e) is carried for cross-check: a grantee that reports government grants we could not trace to a source is left off the chart rather than shown as receiving none. An association, not a claim that a grant caused the public funding. Coverage is precision-first, a floor rather than a census; state records exist for 9 states, so a grantee outside them shows no state figure (dimmed) rather than a false zero. Federal award amounts are obligations, which can span years, so a single-year share is indicative. 990 filings lag 12 to 24 months.
05Through Plinth

Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus

How do I get to The Heising-Simons Action Fund?

Find your warmest path to The Heising-Simons Action Fund through trustees and officers whose names appear on both boards. Search for your organization and Plinth traces the shortest route it can evidence.

Each link is a name appearing on two organizations’ public IRS 990 filings, matched on that name and, where the filings support it, on location. A same-state match has geographic support, which is a second matching feature rather than confirmation that the two are one person; a cross-state one is the likeliest to be two people who share a name. Every hop shows its tier, low-confidence and distant paths are held back rather than guessed, and it is worth confirming the person before you use the introduction.

On method. Every financial figure here is read from IRS e-file XML, the funder’s own 990/990-PF, and from the multi-year returns of the 112 grantees we resolved, each linked to its source. Grantee outcomes are each organization’s own program-service reporting (Form 990, Part III), read as association with funding, never as caused by it. Low-confidence name matches are suppressed rather than guessed. How we build these →

How this is measured
Each figure carries one of six labels. Filed is what the funder reported on its return. Official is another government record about an organization, such as a federal award or a charity register, joined by name where no shared identifier exists. Resolved is an identity we worked out where the filing named a recipient without an EIN, kept only above a measured confidence threshold. Computed is arithmetic over those, like themes, portfolio clusters and co-funder strength. Context is a statistic about a place rather than about an organization, which is what the need overlay is: it describes the area a grantee’s address sits in, not where its work lands. Inferred is drawn by a model from text, like the partnerships read out of public news and organization websites. Each is labeled where it appears.

Generated from the IRS Form 990 e-file return for fiscal year 2024, released 2024. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

Source object · view filing

Play a game based on Heising-Simons Action’s filings →

More from the funding graph

The unnamed billions
grants reported with no recipient in the public record
The regranting layer
51% of grant dollars land in the regranting layer
The DAF merry-go-round
$9.7B circulates between donor-advised funds
The endowment market
who holds foundation money, and what just moved
The camps
funders cluster by geography, not ideology
By state
where grant money is based, and what stays home