When the Open Society Foundations were asked about the administration’s attacks on the Soros family, the answer was short. “We are continuing our work unabated. We will not be intimidated into silence,” said Laleh Ispahani, who runs the foundations’ US operations as managing director.
She was speaking on the day the foundations pledged $300 million (€259 million) over five years to defend democratic institutions and advance economic security in the United States. George Soros, the billionaire philanthropist who founded the group, is a longtime Democratic donor. By one count he has given away more than $32 billion of his own fortune.
Under pressure
The announcement lands at a tense time for charitable funders. President Donald Trump’s administration has accused the Soros family of supporting violence and fostering division, and since 2025 the president and his allies have tried to sway nonprofits through executive orders, withheld funding and threats of investigation.
Congressional allies have asked the Internal Revenue Service and the Department of Justice to examine groups they say back illegal immigration, climate programs they dislike or domestic terrorism. Then-Attorney General Pam Bondi told law enforcement in December to investigate nonprofits that support antifa. Whether Open Society itself was a subject of any inquiry, a Justice Department spokesperson would not say, noting that the department does not comment on investigations.
Two problems, one strategy
Ispahani said the foundations have spent the last year funding groups that defend the rule of law and fight policies designed to discourage some Americans from taking part in public life. The new plan treats economic hardship and civil rights as one fight, not two separate ones, in her telling.
“You can’t address the racial wealth gap without tackling core, working class economic issues like living wages, affordable child care and housing,” she said. The foundations will search for state-level policies that protect vulnerable groups and could be replicated in other states, as well as policies that produce a fair economy for working-class families.
Alex Soros, George Soros’ son and the chair, put it in a statement: “Guaranteed rights and freedoms are just as critical as broad economic prosperity and are the strongest defense we have against a closed society. Our new investments will tackle these twin challenges.”
It is the first new US-only program approved under his leadership, which has included a restructuring of the foundations that ran for years and brought major layoffs. Of the $300 million, $20 million is earmarked for this year. It will support strategic litigation, defense of the nonprofit sector and work tracking corruption in government.
The strategy replaces an earlier US democracy effort that poured at least $220 million into a multiracial, multifaith, pro-democracy alliance, including five-year grants to community groups led by people of color and women.
Sources
- 'We will not be intimidated into silence': George Soros foundation pledges $300 million toward democratic rights | Fortune
- George Soros’ foundation pledges $300m to bolster US democracy amid government pressure
