The Open Society Foundations work around the world to build strong and tolerant democracies. For nearly 30 years this work has focused on enabling lasting change. Sometimes a crisis is so acute, its impact on people’s lives and on a region’s stability so immediate, it requires an emergency intervention.

Europe, and before that the United States, have been hard hit by the global financial crisis. The Open Society Foundations responded to the suffering caused by the economic collapse by providing emergency funds to essential services and civil society organizations in Europe and the United States. It is not the first time Europeans and Americans have confronted such a situation and it is not the first time the Open Society Foundations have used emergency funds to ease the pain and turmoil that can accompany economic crisis.

This brochure offers highlights of the work of our emergency funds in Europe and the United States.