The Simms/Mann Institute and Foundation was founded by real estate developer Ronald A. Simms and his wife Victoria Mann Simms, a veteran clinical psychologist and child development specialist. Based in Los Angeles, Simms/Mann Family Foundation gives primarily toward healthcare, education and the arts.
At UCLA, for example, the couple helped start the Simms Mann Center for Integrative Oncology, which provides patient care for individuals and families touched by cancer. The bulk of its programs, including support groups and psychosocial care, are offered to individuals for free.
“We’re not about making a ton of grants to a huge amount of organizations, but really diving deep. There are a lot of different examples over time of ways in which [Ronald and Victoria] have tried to use their investments in different organizations or different fields to really try to shift the paradigm in that area,” said Rachel Barchie, executive director of the Simms/Mann Institute and Foundation.
To that end, the foundation and institute recently launched Off the Chart: Rewarding Nursing Greatness, which supported 30 nurses from City of Hope, UCLA and USC health systems. Each nurse received gifts of $10,000 each. But beyond funding, the campaign hopes to raise awareness and put a spotlight on the vital work nurses do in their communities, in pandemic times or otherwise.
Nursing is a field that has been underfunded in the past, but we’ve seen increased philanthropic activity in recent years. IP has written before about Jonas Philanthropies, and its steady support for nurses. The field has drawn attention from a handful of funders including Bill and Joanne Conway, the Rita and Alex Hillman Foundation and the Moore Foundation. Ronald Simms and Victoria Mann Simms are also part of this cohort.
But why are they backing this campaign? Is it in line with some of the family’s other work in healthcare and beyond? And what should we expect from this wealthy L.A. couple down the line? I recently connected with Rachel Barchie and Victoria Mann Simms to find out more.
Philanthropic roots and getting hands on
Born in Minnesota, Victoria Mann Simms is a daughter of Ted Mann, the late film exhibitor, film producer, and head of Mann Theaters, who passed away in 2011. Anyone who has visited Tinseltown knows about Mann’s Chinese Theater (Grauman’s Chinese Theatre). Ted Mann was a philanthropist in his own right. His Ted Mann Foundation, established in 1984, contributed to organizations including the YMCA, Salvation Army, Boys & Girls Clubs, United Way, Wilshire Boulevard Temple, United Jewish Fund and Ted Mann Concert Hall at University of Minnesota.
“He always felt that he wanted to give back to the community that was so good to him,” Mann Simms explained. “For me, as a young person, it was always about getting back to the community you live in. And then of course, the greater community — the nation.”
The child of divorce, Mann Simms resolved early on that she wanted to be a psychologist and run a nonprofit. At 20, she got married and had children, and in her mid-20s, earned her masters in early childhood development and then her Ph.D. At 40, she started a nonprofit called the Mann Center for Education and Family Development. “It was holistic. We looked at the whole child — the psychological and neuropsychological. And then we gave services and remediation,” she said.
The Center worked with private schools, but also provided free services to underserved children throughout Los Angeles. Mann Simms says it gave her a strong understanding of the range of cultures and experiences among the people of Southern California. She describes this early work as super hands-on, which paved the way for how she wanted to do her philanthropy going forward. “We do in-depth research in figuring out what a mid-sized foundation like ours can do to make impact,” Mann Simms said.
After the Mann Center, she became even more interested in this sort of holistic medical care. She got involved with the Venice Family Clinic and launched the first integrative health and wellness center at a free clinic. Then she and Ronald and Victoria Mann Simms started the Simms/Mann-UCLA Center for Integrative Oncology, which, in early 2020, received another $18 million gift through the couple’s foundation to expand its work.
The couple’s work also involves the annual Simms/Mann Institute Think Tank, which convened early childhood development practitioners and professionals who shared their early childhood research. Mann Simms launched the think tank out of the family’s Santa Barbara home. Thirty people attended the initial event, and at its height, it drew in some 500 people. Notably, the think tank focused on early child education in community colleges and state schools. “I was very interested in vulnerable people that were more vulnerable to stress,” Mann Simms said.
Stepping up big for nurses
A common theme throughout all of her work, Mann Simms explained, is a focus on people’s health and wellness for their entire lifespan. Last year, the foundation started partnering with BabyLiveAdvice, which provides telehealth solutions through a nationwide network of maternal-infant health experts. Sigi Marmorstein, a pioneering nurse, educator and mother, founded the organization in 2018. The foundation also established a nursing chair at Cedars Sinai Hospital. In 2020, as the pandemic emerged, the couple decided to double down on this work, leading to its latest effort, Off the Chart.
“I think the idea was to do something that was going to be individually impactful for these nurses to kind of give them a boost, give them a shot in the arm, and really call out their amazing work, but then also help raise awareness among the public. Nurses are really the backbone of our health and wellness,” Mann Simms explained.
The family is driven by personal motivations. Ronald and Victoria Mann Simms experienced the challenges that patients face firsthand when Ted Mann was diagnosed with cancer and treated at UCLA.
Off the Chart has now benefited three major health institutions in Los Angeles, and 30 nurses so far. Mann Simms says this work and the other longstanding work of the foundation illustrates that small and mid-sized foundation can also make a big impact, not just the Ford Foundations of the world.
Iris Mayoral is one such nurse benefitting from Off the Chart. Born in Los Angeles and a first-generation college student, she received a bachelor’s in nursing from University of Pennsylvania and is working on her master’s degree in psychiatric and mental health nursing from Duke University. As a clinical nurse at UCLA Health, Mayoral’s passion for her job shined through quickly. Growing up in an immigrant family, she mentioned a family member who was hospitalized for an acute psychiatric issue. “I saw how nurses were able to gain family members’ trust, and advocate for her, and involve us,” she said.
One of the biggest challenges she notices in her field right now is one of staffing. When there aren’t enough nurses and staff, the quality of care goes down for patients and their families. Mayoral was nominated for her Off the Chart grant by her peers at UCLA. An emerging young leader, the hybrid psychiatric nurse practitioner program at Duke University allows her to keep doing her work at UCLA while completing her degree. Mayoral, who is bilingual, aims to deliver mental health services and care to her Spanish-speaking community.
“It was a big surprise,” Mayoral began, talking about the value of Off the Chart. “It just really felt validating in terms of how much time and effort I’ve dedicated to different initiatives on my unit. It’s also been helpful in kind of inspiring some of my colleagues, too. I’m one of many nurses that is involved on the unit and it just helps us build that momentum.”
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