SOROS MAKES RACIAL EQUALITY PUSH

Foundation invests $220 million to support U.S. effort

The Open Society Foundations, the philanthropic group founded by business magnate George Soros, announced Monday that it was investing $220 million in efforts to achieve racial equality in America, a huge financial undertaking that will support several Black-led racial justice groups for years to come.

The initiative, which comes amid national protests for racial equality and calls for police reform ignited by the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, will immediately reshape the landscape of Black political and civil rights organizations, and signals the extent to which race and identity have become the explicit focal point of U.S. politics in recent years, with no sign of receding. Soros, who has at times faced smears and antisemitism over his role as a liberal megadonor, is also positioning his foundation near the forefront of the protest movement.

Of the $220 million, the foundation will invest $150 million in five-year grants for selected groups, including progressive and emerging organizations like the Black Voters Matter Fund and Repairers of the Breach, a group founded by the Rev. William Barber of the Poor People’s Campaign. The money will also support more established Black civil rights organizations like the Equal Justice Initiative, founded by civil rights lawyer Bryan Stevenson and depicted in the 2019 movie “Just Mercy.”

The Open Society Foundations will invest an additional $70 million in local grants supporting changes to policing and criminal justice. This money will also be used to pay for opportunities for civic engagement and to organize internships and political training for young people.

Patrick Gaspard, president of the Open Society Foundations, said the group believed the investment was about harnessing the momentum toward racial justice but also giving organizations room to think longterm. Now, he said, is “the moment we’ve been investing in for the last 25 years.”

“There is this call for justice in Black and brown communities, an explosion of not just sympathy but solidarity across the board,” Gaspard said. “So it’s time to double down. And we understood we can place a bet on these activists — Black and White — who see this as a moment of not just incrementalism but whole-scale reform.”