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United States

In the United States, the Open Society Foundations work with organizations and individuals who seek to address profound racial, economic, and political inequalities, while funding efforts to prepare for the policy challenges of the future.


Offices

New York, United States

The New York office is Open Society’s main grant-giving center, as well as the base for many global initiatives and thematic and regional programs.

Washington, United States

The Washington, D.C., office engages in advocacy aimed at influencing U.S. government policy on domestic and international issues such as civil liberties, criminal justice reform, human rights, transparency, and accountability.

By the Numbers

$401.3M 2023 expenditures for the United States
23.0% Percentage of global expenditures
18.2% Average annual change in expenditures since 2016

Expenditures by Year

Explore our full expenditures by region

Our Work

A crowd of protestors holding signs
Supporters of looser rent control laws attend a rally in San Francisco, California, on October 2, 2018. © Brian L. Frank/NYTimes/Redux

Coordinated by Open Society-U.S., we support a wide array of groups that are demanding an end to broad-based structural racism and continuing work on issues including immigration reform, democratic participation, media and technology policy, and the climate emergency.

Responding to COVID-19

Communities across the United States, and in New York City in particular, have been hard hit by the COVID-19 pandemic. We responded with an initial emergency funding package—aimed at providing over $80 million in support for essential workers as well as for undocumented workers and others who were being overlooked by federal and most state relief efforts.

A woman wring a mop into a bucket
An undocumented essential worker who received pandemic related support from Catholic Charities in New York City on March 19, 2021. © Ed Kashi/VII for the Open Society Foundations

We also stepped up support for groups working to protect the right to vote through the introduction of vote by mail, in places where the risk of infection is likely to discourage people from going to the polls. We are also supporting efforts to ensure that essential workers are protected and fairly paid, and we are backing the search for new public policy initiatives that will address the deep economic and racial inequalities laid bare by the pandemic.

Immigration

Two women holding young children in their arms
Families worship during a prayer service at a church shelter for migrants who are seeking asylum in El Paso, Texas, on May 18, 2019. © Mario Tama/Getty

We support a range of groups that work on immigration issues, from local and state organizations that provide frontline legal advice, to individuals seeking asylum or facing deportation, to national groups such as the National Immigration Law Center, United We Dream, and the Black Alliance for Just Immigration that advocate for fundamental reform.

Criminal Justice Reform

A group of protestors marching in the street
Andrea James speaks at a rally for The National Council for Incarcerated Women and Girls in Washington, DC., on March 12, 2021. © Brian Stukes/WireImage/Getty

The Open Society Foundations act as a global advocate for justice systems and policing that treat everyone equally, and which reduce unnecessary and punitive use of incarceration. In the United States, this mission is particularly vital. We support groups such as the ACLU and the Equal Justice Initiative that challenge a system that is overly reliant on prisons and which disproportionately prosecutes and punishes people of color—often because of the unequal application of anti-drug laws. We also advocate for an approach to policing that emphasizes community engagement and accountability, particularly for the use of force.

Democratic Participation

A group of protestors marching in the street
People rally for voting rights in Washington, D.C., on August 4, 2021. © Michael A. McCoy/Redux

Despite the country’s democratic tradition, politics in the United States have been marked by partisan assaults on voting rights, particularly of African Americans, and a focus on campaign spending that has increased the role of money in determining political outcomes. The Open Society Foundations support groups that contest efforts to constrain voter participation and to bolster civic engagement. We have also funded groups that use new technology to explore ways to engage people on issues that concern them.

Information and Media

Two men seated and speaking in microphones
Representatives from Human Rights Watch and the Committee to Protect Journalists hold a news conference on the disappearance of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in New York on October 18, 2018. © Shannon Stapleton/Reuters/Redux

From efforts to preserve net neutrality to exploring the impact of internet algorithms on social and political life, the Open Society Foundations support efforts to understand the implications of information technology on the way we live. The Foundations also continue to support efforts to protect journalistic freedoms, through groups such as the Committee to Protect Journalists, and to ensure that market forces do not curtail independent investigative reporting, by helping to fund newsrooms such as ProPublica and the Center for Investigative Reporting.

Our History

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People hold hands as a sign of unity during a rally in front of Baltimore City Hall in Baltimore, Maryland, on May 3, 2015. © Andrew Burton/Getty

George Soros’s giving in the United States began in the 1980s with a focus on just two issues—improving the quality of palliative care and reforming punitive drug policies that largely targeted Black Americans. During the 1990s, our racial justice work broadened to fight bias in schools, in policing, in voting, and in the justice system, while we expanded support for those advocating for greater levels of government accountability and the protection of civil and political rights for all. We have offices in New York and Washington, D.C.

Highlights of Our Work in the United States

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