Development Co‑operation Profiles: Open Society Foundations
Table of contents
The Open Society Foundations, as the world’s largest private funder of independent groups working for justice, equity, human rights and democratic practice, and was founded by George Soros in 1979.
Open Society advances its mission by funding projects in four key areas: Rights and Dignity, Democratic Practice, Equity in Governance, and Future Worlds. It also engages in advocacy activities, impact investing, and legal actions globally.
This profile integrates 2022 and 2023 data reported to the OECD. See the Development Co-operation Profiles.
Open Society Foundations provided USD 590.3 million for development in 2023 through its grantmaking activities. Compared to 2022, this amount represents an increase of 42.5% in real terms. Grants represented 100% of the Open Society Foundations’ gross disbursements.
In 2023, the Open Society Foundations channelled its bilateral development finance mainly through non-governmental organisations (NGOs) (USD 441.4 million) and university, research institutes or think-tanks (USD 111.2 million).
In 2023, Open Society Foundations provided USD 11 million to the multilateral system, representing 1.9% of its total development finance. All multilateral contributions were earmarked for specific countries, regions, themes or purposes. Almost all (98.6%) of these contributions were channelled through United Nations (UN) organisations.
The UN system received USD 10.8 million from Open Society Foundations in 2023. The most significant UN recipients were UNFCCC (USD 3 million) and OHCHR (USD 1.5 million).
See the section on Geographic and thematic focus of ODA for the breakdown of bilateral allocations, including ODA earmarked through the multilateral development system.
In 2023, civil society organisations (CSOs) received USD 441.4 million of the Open Society Foundations’ gross bilateral finance, of which 3.7% was directed to developing country-based CSOs. Over a third (35.4 %) was allocated to CSOs as core support, while 39.4% was earmarked to specific projects or programmes. From 2022 to 2023, the combined core and earmarked contributions for CSOs increased as a share of bilateral ODA, from 72.5% to 74.8%.
Learn more about the DAC Recommendation on Enabling Civil Society in Development Co-operation and Humanitarian Aid.
In 2023, Open Society Foundations’ development finance was primarily focused on Latin America, the Caribbean and Africa. USD 87.6 million was allocated to Latin America and the Caribbean, and USD 69.5 million to Africa, accounting for 14.8% and 11.8% of gross bilateral development finance respectively. A sum of USD 337.5 million (57.2%) was unspecified by region in 2023, mainly including multi-regional programmes, core support and research grants. In this context, USD 9.4 million was provided in support of refugees and asylum-seekers in donor countries.
In 2023, 8.5% of gross development finance went to the top 10 recipients, most notably Brazil, Colombia, and Afghanistan.
Least developed countries (LDCs) and other low-income countries (LICs) received respectively USD 12.9 million (2.2%) and USD 300 thousand (0.1%) of Open Society Foundations’ gross disbursements in 2023. Open Society Foundations allocated the highest share (7%) of its bilateral development finance to upper middle-income countries in 2023, followed by lower middle-income countries (2.3%), noting that USD 522.1 million (88.4%) was unallocated by income group.
Furthermore, the Open Society Foundations allocated USD 10.2 million of its development finance to landlocked developing countries in 2023, and USD 1.1 million to small island developing states (SIDS) in 2023. The main SIDS recipients are Saint Lucia, Guyana and Jamaica.
In 2023, the Open Society Foundations provided USD 2.7 million of gross development finance to Ukraine to respond to the impacts of Russia’s full-scale invasion.
Support to contexts with high and extreme fragility reached USD 20.8 million in 2023, representing 3.5% of Open Society Foundations’ bilateral development finance. Of this, contexts with extreme fragility received a sum of USD 8.4 million.
Learn more about the OECD States of Fragility platform.
In 2023, Open Society Foundations’ largest allocations went to social infrastructure and services. Investments in this area accounted for 86.8% of bilateral commitments (USD 512.1 million). Bilateral contributions allocated to multi-sector amounted to USD 50.5 million, with a strong focus on general environmental protection. Economic infrastructure sectors totalled USD 5.7 million.
In 2023, Open Society Foundations committed the largest shares of its contributions to SDG 16 (peace, justice and strong institutions), SDG 10 (reduced inequalities) and SDG 4 (quality education) of the United Nations 2030 Agenda. Support to SDG 5 (gender equality) amounted to USD 45.5 million. Contributions to SDG 13 (climate action) totalled USD 41.5 million.
Access the full list of providers at this link: Development Co-operation Profiles.
Official website: https://www.opensocietyfoundations.org
The methodological notes provide further details on the definitions and statistical methodologies applied, including the grant-equivalent methodology, core and earmarked contributions to multilateral organisations, country programmable aid, channels of delivery, bilateral ODA unspecified/unallocated, bilateral allocable ODA, the gender equality policy marker, and the environment markers.
This work is published under the responsibility of the Secretary-General of the OECD. The opinions expressed and arguments employed herein do not necessarily reflect the official views of the Member countries of the OECD.
This document, as well as any data and map included herein, are without prejudice to the status of or sovereignty over any territory, to the delimitation of international frontiers and boundaries and to the name of any territory, city or area.
© OECD 2025
Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
This work is made available under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International licence. By using this work, you accept to be bound by the terms of this licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
Attribution – you must cite the work.
Translations – you must cite the original work, identify changes to the original and add the following text: In the event of any discrepancy between the original work and the translation, only the text of original work should be considered valid.
Adaptations – you must cite the original work and add the following text: This is an adaptation of an original work by the OECD. The opinions expressed and arguments employed in this adaptation should not be reported as representing the official views of the OECD or of its Member countries.
Third-party material – the licence does not apply to third-party material in the work. If using such material, you are responsible for obtaining permission from the third party and for any claims of infringement.
You must not use the OECD logo, visual identity or cover image without express permission or suggest the OECD endorses your use of the work.
Any dispute arising under this licence shall be settled by arbitration in accordance with the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) Arbitration Rules 2012. The seat of arbitration shall be Paris (France). The number of arbitrators shall be one.
