Open Society Foundations history

George Soros makes a separate pledge in 1995 of $50 million to help the government build housing for people living in makeshift shacks and overcrowded city dwellings.

The Open Society Foundations takes direct responsibility for managing the Soros Economic Development Fund (SEDF). The fund, founded by George Soros in 1997, invests in high-risk business initiatives that will have a positive social impact.

In 1998, the Open Society Foundations open a field office in Baltimore to better understand and address education, justice, and addiction issues in the city and create solutions that can serve as a model for other urban areas.

In 2000, the center becomes part of the Drug Policy Alliance, which continues today as a leading advocate for drug policy reform.

Additionally, he helped fund the launch of the first Global Plan to Stop tuberculosis in 2001, an effort backed today by some 1,700 organizations in more than 100 countries around the world.

The Open Society Foundations support many efforts, including the creation of the European Council on Foreign Relations in 2006, to leverage this foundational promise into EU policies and practices that respect open society values inside and outside its borders.

In August 2010, it started using the name Open Society Foundations (OSF) to better reflect its role as a benefactor for civil society groups in countries around the world.

In a major victory in early 2011, a mobile court finds a colonel, three junior officers, and five soldiers guilty and gives them sentences ranging from 10 to 20 years.

In 2012, Christopher Stone joined the OSF as the second president.

The Open Society Foundations help organizations win the 2015 Supreme Court case that makes marriage equality legal in all 50 states.

In 2016, once Myanmar formalizes a transition toward a more open government, the Open Society Foundations open a foundation to support civil society and groups representing marginalized people to encourage a representative democracy to take root.

Stone announced in September 2017 that he was stepping down as president.

A second prosecution ended with Montt’s death in 2018.

He announced in December 2020 that he was stepping down as president.