OVERVIEW: The Open Society Foundations represent the collective philanthropies of the multi-billionaire George Soros. The organization comprises over 100 autonomous foundations and offices around the world. Current areas of grantmaking focus include democratic practice, early childhood and education, equality and antidiscrimination, health and rights, human rights, information and digital rights, journalism and justice reform.
IP TAKE: The Open Society Foundations comprise a large, decentralized philanthropic operation whose grantmaking touches every part of the world. Across all areas of giving, the foundations strive to support marginalized and underprivileged peoples, to create opportunity and to support justice and equality. In addition to grantmaking, the foundations run scholarship and fellowship programs and invest in for-profit enterprises with a social justice bent.
While the foundations collectively make over $1 billion in grants a year, it can be challenging to decipher which of its many programs accept proposals or applications. Importantly, OSF has indicated that it is in the midst of a major overhaul to both its structure and its grantmaking programs, but we have yet to see what this will look like for either new or current grantees. Grantseekers are advised to check the foundation’s How We Fund page and the pages of local operations for current information about funding opportunities.
This funder is a mixed bag. If they pick you to send a proposal, the process can often take a year to two years to hear back — or not at all. While its program officers are highly knowledgeable, they’re not always the most responsive. Often bureaucratic and unclear in its grantmaking guidelines, OSF may improve on this front in the future.
PROFILE: The Open Society Foundations (OSF) represent the collective philanthropic enterprises of George Soros. The former hedge fund manager began working to “establish open societies in place of authoritarian forms of government” in 1979. Since then the Open Society Foundations have become the second largest private philanthropy in the U.S., with an endowment of $18 billion. Headquartered in New York City, the foundations maintain offices in 26 locations around the world and operate in over 100 countries. In addition to the broad goal of enabling and supporting open societies around the world, the foundations “work to build vibrant and inclusive societies, grounded in respect for human rights and the rule of law, whose governments are accountable and open to the participation of all people.”
The funding initiatives of the Open Society Foundations change frequently. The foundations’ current thematic areas of interest are Democratic Practice, Early Childhood and Education, Economic Equity and Justice, Equality and Antidiscrimination, Health and Rights, Higher Education, Human Rights Movements and Institutions, Information and Digital Rights, Journalism and Justice Reform and the Rule of Law. Grantmaking is conducted through a large network of “autonomous national and regional foundations” that often name their own areas of interest in response to local and regional needs. In addition to grantmaking, the Open Society Foundations run robust scholarship and fellowship programs and make impact investments in for-profit enterprises that have the potential to effect positive change or promote social justice.
Grants for Global Security and Human Rights
The Open Society Foundations name Human Rights Movements and Institutions as one of their main thematic grantmaking areas and has supported a large range of human rights organizations in all parts of the world. In a recent year, the foundations collectively gave over $77 million to human rights movements, with the largest portion of funding going to large, global organizations and organizations operating in Africa. Specific priorities have included organizations that challenge authoritarianism, enforcement of accountability for human rights abuses and economic justice and social rights for underprivileged peoples. Recent grants have gone to Human Rights Watch, the Fund for Global Human Rights, the Center for Justice and International Law, the Ghana Center for Democratic Development, the Kenya Human Rights Commission and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.
Another area of focus for Open Society’s human rights grantmaking concerns Information and Digital Rights. This is a smaller area of giving, representing only about 1% of the foundations’ consolidated budgets. Grantmaking aims to “strengthen freedom of expression, privacy, access to information and antidiscrimination in the digital environment.” The main focus of recent funding has been the prevention of “broad and unaccountable surveillance.” Past grantees include Brazil’s Institute of Technology and Society, Pakistan’s Bolo Bhi, the Allied Media Project, the Internet Freedom Festival, Privacy International and the Civil Initiative on Internet Policy.
In response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, OSF created the Ukraine Democracy Fund, which it seeded with an initial commitment of $25 million. The fund works to advance three strategies: supporting civil society, advancing international efforts to defend freedom and independence, and protecting the human dignity of the displaced. Alex Soros, deputy chair of the Open Society Foundations, said, “As Putin tries to wipe the country off the map, we will do all we can for the people of Ukraine. We urge others to step forward and join us.”
Grants for Global Health
Health and Rights funding has recently focused on the COVID-19 pandemic and supporting regions and communities that suffer disproportionately due to substandard care and barriers to healthcare access. Other recent areas of interest have included mental health, prenatal care, end-of-life care and drug addiction services. A large proportion of grants have gone to large global organizations that support policy development, with direct health service providers receiving fewer grants in recent years. Past grantees include African Development Solutions, Methadone Family Against Drug Use, the Transnational Institute, the National Women’s Health Network and the Medical, Pharmacists and Dental Practitioners Network of Kenya.
Grants for Civic Engagement and Democracy
The Open Society Foundations name Democratic Practice as one of their main giving areas. Democracy grantmaking supports civic engagement initiatives as well as organizations that work to ensure that governments “respond to the challenges of the day and the needs of all their people.” This program accounts for about 10% of the Open Society Foundation’s giving, with a significant portion of this funding remaining in the U.S. Specific areas of interest include election support, transparency of information, community engagement and voting rights, with several grants supporting efforts to support voters ability to cast ballots during the COVID-19 pandemic. U.S. grantees include Organize Florida, the Center for Popular Democracy and the Protect Democracy Project. Global democracy grantees include the Ghana Center for Democratic Development, the Asia Democracy Network, U.K. Citizens Online Democracy, Colombia’s Corporacion Manos Visibles and Afghanistan Human Rights and Democracy.
Grants for Work and Opportunity
The Open Society Foundations support work and opportunity in accordance with their Economic Equity and Justice focus area, which prioritizes “reform of fiscal systems, corporate governance, and labor rights protections” that bring opportunity to underprivileged people around the world. This program funds nonprofit organizations, labor organizations, policymakers and governments, with recent funding focusing on large international organizations. One grantee, the International Domestic Workers Federation, aims to protect and promote the rights of domestic workers around the world regardless of their citizenship status. Another recent recipient is the African Center for Economic Transformation, which used funding to promote just and inclusive agriculture policy in several African nations. Other economic justice grantees include the Africa Platform for Social Protection, the Global Alliance for Tax Justice, the Roma Entrepreneurship Development Initiative and the Institute for the Future of Work.
Grants for Housing and Homelessness
Funding for housing and homelessness stems from the foundations’ Economic Equity and Justice and Equality and Antidiscrimination programs and has been directed largely at organizations operating in the U.S. Priorities include the development of affordable housing and equitable access to housing for marginalized groups. Grantees include the Greater New Orleans Fair Housing Action Center, the National Fair Housing Alliance, the Texas Low Income Housing Information Service and Fair Share Housing Center. In New York, the foundations have supported the Corporation for Supportive Housing, which helps individuals detained at the Rikers Island prison and who have significant medical needs find appropriate housing.
Grants for Racial Justice and Equity
The Open Society Foundations’ Equality and Antidiscrimination funding area maintains that all people, regardless of race, ethnicity, faith, gender, gender identity or disability, should have equal rights and treatment in “healthy democracies.” Recent priorities of this funding area include the Roma people of Europe, racial justice issues in the U.S., LGBTI rights and the millions of people around the world who are officially stateless. Funding in Europe has supported fair housing initiatives for the Roma people, as well as conferences and symposia that aim to improve economic and educational opportunities for Roma and other ethnic minorities throughout Europe. In the U.S., the program focuses “removing barriers to full participation in economic, social and civic life” that affect minority, disabled and other marginalized groups. The program announced $220 million commitment to Black-led justice initiatives in 2020 and made grants to organizations including Black Voters Matter, the Circle for Justice Innovations, Repairers of the Breach and the Equal Justice Initiative.
Grants for Women and Girls
The Open Society Foundations do not currently name women and girls as funding priorities, but have done so in the past. Several of the organization's autonomous foundations continue to support women’s and girls’ causes via the Economic Justice and Equity, Equality and Antidiscrimination, Higher Education and Human Rights Movements and Institutions initiatives. Grantmaking generally focuses on women’s and reproductive health and education and work opportunities for women in developing nations. Past grantees include the international organization Reproductive Health Matters, the International Planned Parenthood Federation European Network, graduate programs of study in reproductive rights at the University of Pretoria and the Brazilian feminist advocacy organization Centro Feminista de Estudos e Assessoria.
Grants for Early Childhood Education
Early childhood funding stems from the Open Society Foundation’s Early Childhood and Education initiative, which aims to support high quality for all children, especially those “who face profound disruption, or systemic discrimination—including refugees and migrants, children with disabilities and developmental delays, and those from the Roma community.” In addition to educational programs, grants have gone to teacher and parent education programs and organizations that advocate for high quality early childhood education for all. The foundations run an in-house Educational Support Program that provides grants and advocacy for marginalized students, including Roma children, who are often excluded from public early childhood programs in Eastern Europe. Other early childhood grantees include the African Early Childhood Network, Childfund International USA, the Association of Roma Parents and Gondolkodj Egeszsegesen Alapitvany, which used funding to expand the use of Blum methodology in kindergartens throughout Hungary.
Grants for K-12 Education
The Open Society Foundations do not name K-12 education as an area of grantmaking focus, but grants from regional offices, as well as the foundations’ Equality and Antidiscrimination and Educational Support Program have supported initiatives for school-aged children, teacher education and educational research. In the U.S., the foundations have given to Strong Schools Maryland, which used funding to create a network of parents, teachers and educational advocates in support of increasing education funding in the state. In Nigeria, the Education Partnership Centre received funding for a study of teacher best practices aimed at improving academic outcomes for students, and in Palestine, the Teacher Creativity Center received a grant to support its mission of maintaining peace and nonviolence in schools. Other grantees working in the area of K-12 education include the Queen Rania Foundation for Education and Development, the Roma Education Fund, the Enabling Education Network and the New Venture Fund.
Grants for Higher Education
Higher education is one of the Open Society Foundations’ largest areas of giving, accounting for about $60 million in grants annually. The initiative operates globally and awards scholarships, fellowships and internships and to support institutions of higher education that “are well-governed, inclusive and responsive, and which promote academic freedom.” The foundations run over twenty separate scholarship and fellowship programs serving students and scholars in specific regions and/or fields of study, with most programs accepting applications via the foundations’ website. Programs include the Disability Rights Scholarship Program, the Puerto Rico Youth Fellowship, Soros Equality Fellowships and Civil Society Scholar Awards, among others. The foundation also awards scholarships for graduate study at the Central European University, which Soros founded in 1991.
Grantmaking for institutions of higher education has focused on creating educational opportunities for underrepresented groups and academic integrity. The foundations have provided ongoing support to Al Quds Bard College in East Jerusalem and helped to establish the American University of Central Asia in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. The in-house Higher Education Support program provides advocacy and education to marginalized groups that lack access to education, including the Roma people in Europe and refugees in Kenya’s Dadaab and Kakuma camps. In Ukraine, a recent project helped universities develop a fair and objective admissions testing system. Other recent higher education grantees include Columbia University, the University of Dar Es Salaam’s Center for Climate Change Studies, the Asian University for Women, the American University of Beirut, the Université de Geneve and the Norwegian Students’ International Assistance Fund.
Grants for Journalism
The Open Society Foundations’ journalism funding supports “independent journalism that seeks to innovate and remain relevant, effective, and sustainable in a rapidly changing environment where information is abundant, but attention and meaningful engagement are scarce.” Specific areas of focus include investigative reporting, independent media in developing countries and outlets and programs that “give voice” to marginalized groups. The foundations also run a signature Program on Independent Journalism, which supports freedom of expression and journalists and reporters who are at risk of harassment or harm. In Uganda, the foundations have supported the Journalism and Media Lab, which develops low-cost radio programs that give poor people in rural areas access to critical information about weather, services, health and government. The foundations have also made grants to A Culture of Safety Media Alliance, the organization that authored the Freelance Journalist Safety Practices, a document that outlines responsible practices and safety standards for freelancers and news organizations around the world. Other recent journalism grantees include Lithuania’s Laisves TV, the Media Legal Defense Initiative, Sound Africa Publishing, Chile’s Fundación Centro de Investigación Periodística and the Network for Reporting on Eastern Europe.
Grants for Arts and Culture
The Open Society Foundations do not currently name arts and culture as an area of focus but support a broad range of arts and culture programs and arts education programs through their regional foundations and educational funding programs. In nations around the world, the foundations have also funded fellowships for artists and groups that engage citizens and engender meaningful public conversations about pressing social and political issues. In the Democratic Republic of Congo, fellowships have supported artist-led public workshops and film projects that tell the stories of poor and underprivileged citizens. Another fellowship supported an urban poetry project in Haiti that aimed to raise awareness of violence toward children. Other recent arts grantees include the International Center for Artistic Activism, Artists for Recognition and Acceptance of Kenya, the Red Sea Online Cultural Foundation and No Borders Orchestra. In the U.S., the foundations have given to the Bronx Documentary Center, the Pop Culture Collaborative and New York University’s Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics.
Important Grant Details:
The Open Society Foundations together make about $1 billion a year in grants ranging anywhere from a few thousand to $1.5 million. The foundations’ average grant size is about $75,000, and recipients range from small grassroots organizations in developing areas of the world to large global entities and leading universities. The foundations maintain a searchable grants database that dates back to 2016.
The decentralized organization of the Open Society Foundations and their frequently changing priorities make it difficult to locate specific information about applying for grants. Some of the foundations’ dozens of programs, including scholarship and fellowship programs, accept applications, but most grants are awarded to organizations that the foundations “approach directly.” For information about programs that are accepting applications or other opportunities for funding, see the foundations’ How We Fund page. General inquiries may be made via the foundations’ contact page.
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