Funding search · EIN 137029285 · New York, NY

Open Society Institute

A private foundation (files IRS Form 990-PF). Most private foundations do not take unsolicited applications; the route in is usually a program officer.

2,134
grants reported
$637.6M
total given
2022–2024
filing years
$20,000
median grant

Based on grants this organization reported to the IRS for tax years 20222024. This is what they filed, not a complete record of their giving, and recent years may be incomplete because filings lag.

What they fund

matchinggiftpubliceducateaboutjusticesocialsociety

Funder website ↗Full IRS filings ↗How this is builtReport an error

Funding pattern

What this funder pays for, at what size, and how to position adjacent work. Read from their filings, with every number checked against the record.

Where the money goes

  • General operating support for open society universities (CEU, Bard, OSUN)
  • Independent media, press freedom, and platform accountability
  • Democratic governance, anti-authoritarianism, and civil society in Global South
  • Global financial architecture, development finance, and economic justice research
  • Human rights defenders, refugee and migrant rights, racial justice
  • Individual fellowships for artists, filmmakers, and narrative producers

Typical grant

The median grant is $20,000 and half of everything sits between roughly $1,000 and $130,000, so the volume of the portfolio is small and mid-sized checks. The very large money is concentrated in a handful of institutional commitments: Central European University took roughly $70 million across two 2024 grants, Bard College over $16 million, and Media Development Investment Fund $5 million. Repeat giving is normal for core institutions and network partners, with Bard, Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors, and Institute of International Education each appearing multiple times in a single year.

Their words

Phrases from their own grant descriptions, worth speaking back to them.

  • TO PROVIDE GENERAL SUPPORT
  • OPEN SOCIETIES AND INCLUSIVE DEMOCRACIES
  • CIVIL SOCIETY GROUPS ADVANCING DEMOCRATIC GOVERNANCE
  • THE GLOBAL SOUTH
  • ELECTION INTEGRITY
  • FISCALLY-SPONSORED PROJECT OF THE GRANTEE

Positioning adjacent work

  • Connect research to global financial architecture reform, the theme funding PERI, ODI, UNDP, and Tax Justice Network at $250K-$350K.
  • Ask $150,000 to $350,000 for a research or policy project; above that requires institutional partnership history.
  • Frame platform and disinformation work around enforcement of the Digital Services Act and marginalized user protection.
  • If unaffiliated or foreign, use a fiscal sponsor like Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors, Tides, or Panorama Global.

Worth knowing: New York recipients dominate at 824 of 1,489, and a large share of overseas grants go to London, Berlin, Brussels, and Bangkok organizations rather than US universities. Two institutions, Central European University and Bard College, absorb a substantial fraction of total dollars, so the giving reads as core-network maintenance plus a long tail of general support to aligned advocacy groups, not open competition.

42 grants matching “harm · $3.0M

  • $105,000

    University of Exeter · 2024

    To support research into misinformation and harmful content within the mastodon ecosystem to protect users including marginalised communities, by evaluating the effectiveness of different approaches to content moderatio read all
  • $75,000

    M M Cole · New York, NY · 2024

    To create an advocacy toolkit for incorporating black histories in federal energy regulatory commission (ferc) environmental review processes to help demonstrate cumulative harm to black environmental justice communitie read all
  • $70,300

    E Kennedy · New York, NY · 2024

    To unite research, education and community outreach to inspect how and why deportees to el salvador and honduras are harmed and why this happens, with a focus on youth, indigenous and garifuna communities, the lgbtqi+ p read all
  • $70,300

    T Mwale · New York, NY · 2024

    To explore how technology can be used to advance new solutions to achieve community accountability, repair harm and manifest justice within the united states, brazil and the united kingdom

  • $65,000

    W Keith Young · New York, NY · 2024

    To create the reparations stakeholder authority of asheville as a community based intervention to educate the public about the harms of chattle slavery, the trans-atlantic slave trade, redlining and other manifestations read all
  • $64,000

    D Branson · New York, NY · 2024

    To educate, document and destabilize anti-black ideologies that legitimize pretrial dangerousness predictions and harm black communities

  • $56,667

    M Sofia Gonalves De Miranda · New York, NY · 2024

    To produce a collaborative film, decolonized archive, and series of programs that document stories of migration and land ecologies, interrogate the harmful impact of racialized and environmental gentrification, and brin read all
  • $56,667

    J Weber · New York, NY · 2024

    To produce the detroit remediation forest, an environmental regeneration project with a frontline community in detroit that has experienced severe environmental trauma and devastation, which will revitalize a square acr read all
  • $25,000

    L Jo Reynolds · New York, NY · 2024

    To provide support to laurie jo reynolds to obtain needed leadership development and capacity building, to aid in her work to educate the public around the harmful effect of public conviction registries and housing bani read all
  • $25,000

    L Margaret · New York, NY · 2024

    To raise awareness around the harmful impact of incarceration on people with disabilities and help the social justice field understand the connections between the struggle for disability rights and the struggles for rac read all
  • $3,500

    C Watts · New York, NY · 2024

    To educate the public and create art pieces that will spur debate around police surveillance and the harm it has on our society

  • $1,756

    M Cosby · New York, NY · 2024

    To engage in arts-based public education efforts to address the harmful labeling of people as violent in our criminal legal system

  • $1,474

    R Reseda · New York, NY · 2024

    To create a film to educate the public about how this countrys notion of punishment as justice perpetuates cycles of harm

  • $407

    Z Siegel · New York, NY · 2024

    To educate the public and to produce a series of journalistic articles and narrative audio stories that highlight public health and harm reduction approaches to overdose deaths where punishment, incarceration, and racis read all
  • $350,000

    The Trustees of Princeton University · Princeton, NJ · 2023

    To improve monitoring of misinformation and harm on social media platforms and enhance accountability

  • $216,000

    Pulitzer Center On Crisis Reporting · Washington, DC · 2023

    To support the pulitzer center's algorithmic accountability fellowship program and machine learning grants, increasing public access to information on ai and for communities most affected by the harms of technology and read all
  • $105,000

    University of Exeter · 2023

    To support research into misinformation and harmful content within the mastodon ecosystem to protect users including marginalised communities, by evaluating the effectiveness of different approaches to content moderatio read all
  • $81,500

    Montina Cole · Washington, DC · 2023

    To create an advocacy toolkit for incorporating black histories in federal energy regulatory commission (ferc) environmental review processes to help demonstrate cumulative harm to black environmental justice communitie read all
  • $65,000

    Michelle Schenandoah · Syracuse, NY · 2023

    To create a talk show that will provide accessible yet thought-provoking content to audiences through an indigenous lens in order to mitigate harmful stereotypes while generating dialogue about native issues

  • $65,000

    William Young · Arden, NC · 2023

    To create the reparations stakeholder authority of asheville as a community based intervention to educate the public about the harms of chattle slavery, the trans-atlantic slave trade, redlining and other manifestations read all
  • $42,000

    Zachary Siegel · Chicago, IL · 2023

    To educate the public and to produce a series of journalistic articles and narrative audio stories that highlight public health and harm reduction approaches to overdose deaths where punishment, incarceration, and racis read all
  • $40,000

    Yihong Julie Mao · Washington, DC · 2023

    To support a project to research surveillance technologies used in migrant prosecutions, develop strategies to challenge the use of these technologies by federal and local police, and engage in storytelling that centers read all
  • $33,333

    Jordan Weber · New York, NY · 2023

    To produce the detroit remediation forest, an environmental regeneration project with a frontline community in detroit that has experienced severe environmental trauma and devastation, which will revitalize a square acr read all
  • $33,333

    Monica Sofia Gonalves De Miranda · 2023

    To produce a collaborative film, decolonized archive, and series of programs that document stories of migration and land ecologies, interrogate the harmful impact of racialized and environmental gentrification, and brin read all
  • $33,000

    Dominique Branson · Pittsburgh, PA · 2023

    To educate, document and destabilize anti-black ideologies that legitimize pretrial dangerousness predictions and harm black communities

  • $27,500

    Chris Watts · New York, NY · 2023

    To educate the public and create art pieces that will spur debate around police surveillance and the harm it has on our society

  • $20,000

    Dolores Canales · Norwalk, CA · 2023

    To convene impacted family members to focus on strategies for families to connect the harms of solitary confinement to the health and well-being of a loved one who is incarcerated or recently released

  • $1,000

    Contessa Gayles · San Francisco, CA · 2023

    To create a film to educate the public about how this countrys notion of punishment as justice perpetuates cycles of harm

  • $500

    Richie Reseda · Los Angeles, CA · 2023

    To create a film to educate the public about how this countrys notion of punishment as justice perpetuates cycles of harm

  • $500,000

    Code for Science and Society · Portland, OR · 2022

    To support the distributed artificial intelligence research institute for their work on the discriminatory impacts of artificial intelligence and how to mitigate harm, to benefit both the global technical research commu read all
  • $216,000

    Pulitzer Center On Crisis Reporting · Washington, DC · 2022

    To support the pulitzer center's algorithmic accountability fellowship program and machine learning grants, increasing public access to information on ai and for communities most affected by the harms of technology and read all
  • $105,000

    Africa Centre for Open Governance (Africog) · 2022

    To expose corrupt practices and increase accountability around the harmful proliferation of disproportionate and unnecessary data-driven technologies

  • $87,164

    A a · 2022

    To produce an international artistic cooperation project between theater workers and social actors to educate the public and document an alternative history of migration in the arab region, while dismantling harmful "cr read all
  • $65,000

    Michelle Schenandoah · Syracuse, NY · 2022

    To create a talk show that will provide accessible yet thought-provoking content to audiences through an indigenous lens in order to mitigate harmful stereotypes while generating dialogue about native issues

  • $60,500

    Contessa Gayles · San Francisco, CA · 2022

    To create a film to educate the public about how this country's notion of "punishment as justice" perpetuates cycles of harm

  • $56,500

    Monica Cosby · Reed City, MI · 2022

    To engage in arts-based public education efforts to address the harmful labeling of people as "violent" in our criminal legal system

  • $47,500

    Kilroy Watkins · Harvey, IL · 2022

    To establish an educational and support project that helps survivors of police torture and long-term incarceration in their quest to overcome the harms of their experiences and productively make their way in free society

  • $46,080

    The Royal Institution of Great Britain · 2022

    To help combat the proliferation of harmful pseudoscientific ideas and ideologies in academia, the media and online

  • $43,178

    Zachary Siegel · Chicago, IL · 2022

    To educate the public and to produce a series of journalistic articles and narrative audio stories that highlight public health and harm reduction approaches to overdose deaths where punishment, incarceration, and racis read all
  • $32,000

    Chris Watts · New York, NY · 2022

    To educate the public and create art pieces that will spur debate around police surveillance and the harm it has on our society

  • $1,500

    Waleisah Wilson · Columbus, GA · 2022

    To mobilize disabled and lgbtqia+ individuals in the u.s. South who have been directly impacted by arrest, conviction, incarceration, probation, or parole to create a framework for reducing harm and creating best practi read all
  • $1,299

    Richie Reseda · Los Angeles, CA · 2022

    To create a film to educate the public about how this country's notion of "punishment as justice" perpetuates cycles of harm

Top recipients

Repeat recipients are the strongest signal of whether a funder has an open door or quietly re-funds the same organizations.

  • Central European University10 grants · $218.0M
  • Bard College19 grants · $124.8M
  • Media Development Investment Fund3 grants · $14.7M
  • The Barack Obama Foundation3 grants · $9.0M
  • Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors5 grants · $8.7M
  • New Venture Fund9 grants · $8.5M
  • Tides Foundation6 grants · $5.3M
  • Asia Democracy Network4 grants · $5.2M
  • European Council On Foreign Relations2 grants · $5.0M
  • Natural Resource Governance Institute2 grants · $5.0M

Giving over time

$221.8M
2022
$269.2M
2023
$146.6M
2024

Grant history

The 100 largest of 2,134 grants.

  • $45.0M

    Bard College · Annandaleonhudson, NY · 2023

    To provide general support

  • $40.9M

    Central European University · New York, NY · 2023

    To provide general support

  • $38.0M

    Central European University · New York, NY · 2024

    To provide general support

  • $37.5M

    Bard College · Annandaleonhudson, NY · 2022

    To provide general support

  • $37.0M

    Central European University · New York, NY · 2022

    To provide general support

  • $32.0M

    Central European University · New York, NY · 2024

    To provide general support

  • $30.1M

    Central European University · New York, NY · 2023

    To provide general support

  • $27.9M

    Central European University · New York, NY · 2022

    To provide general support

  • $12.5M

    Bard College · Annandaleonhudson, NY · 2024

    To provide general support

  • $10.0M

    Bard College · Annandaleonhudson, NY · 2022

    To support bard college's center for civic engagement as the new administrative hub for the open society university network's operations

  • $9.3M

    Central European University · New York, NY · 2023

    To support the launch of the osun research excellence hub at central european university's budapest campus

  • $7.5M

    Bard College · Annandaleonhudson, NY · 2023

    To support bard college's center for civic engagement as the new administrative hub for the open society university network's operations

  • $5.0M

    Media Development Investment Fund · New York, NY · 2024

    To provide general support

  • $5.0M

    Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors · New York, NY · 2024

    To advance open societies and inclusive democracies in politics and governance by hosting and supporting the establishment of the women's political leadership fund, a fiscally-sponsored project of the grantee

  • $5.0M

    Media Development Investment Fund · New York, NY · 2023

    To provide general support

  • $4.7M

    Media Development Investment Fund · New York, NY · 2022

    To provide general support

  • $3.2M

    Kurawal Foundation · 2023

    To provide general support

  • $3.2M

    New Venture Fund · Washington, DC · 2023

    To contribute to the pooled fund on spyware accountability that supports civil society organizations to investigate and expose mercenary spyware and help bring accountability to the global cyber arms trade

  • $3.0M

    The Barack Obama Foundation · Chicago, IL · 2024

    To support the foundations efforts to scale up their international programs and in particular, obama foundation leaders, scholars and fellows programs

  • $3.0M

    International Consortium of Investigative Journali · Washington, DC · 2023

    To provide general support

  • $3.0M

    The Barack Obama Foundation · Chicago, IL · 2023

    To support the foundations efforts to scale up their international programs and in particular, obama foundation leaders, scholars and fellows programs

  • $3.0M

    Natural Resource Governance Institute · New York, NY · 2022

    To provide general support

  • $3.0M

    The Barack Obama Foundation · Chicago, IL · 2022

    To support the foundation's efforts to scale up their international programs and in particular, obama foundation leaders, scholars and fellows programs

  • $2.8M

    Bard College · Annandaleonhudson, NY · 2024

    To support bard college's center for civic engagement as the new administrative hub for the open society university network's operations

  • $2.6M

    Journalism Development Network · Washington, DC · 2023

    To provide general support

  • $2.5M

    European Council On Foreign Relations · 2023

    To provide general support

  • $2.5M

    New Venture Fund · Washington, DC · 2023

    To support the joint skills building and strategizing of activists working nationally and across borders to renew democracy and resist backsliding

  • $2.5M

    European Council On Foreign Relations · 2022

    To provide general support

  • $2.5M

    Swiss Philanthropy Foundation · 2022

    To support the early childhood regional networks fund in sustaining and strengthening the early childhood field's civil society architecture and advance the rights of young children to develop to their fullest potential read all
  • $2.1M

    Center for Global Development · Washington, DC · 2023

    To develop partnerships and support research that will build consensus on the revised scope and focus of the multilateral development banks

  • $2.1M

    Asia Democracy Network · 2022

    To provide general support

  • $2.0M

    Aspiration · San Francisco, CA · 2024

    To ensure effective enforcement of social media accountability rules during the 2024 eu elections in order to reduce and mitigate the spread of disinformation

  • $2.0M

    Reset Tech · Washington Dc, DC · 2024

    To support the grantees work in protecting public safety, fundamental rights and election integrity by encouraging effective enforcement of the digital services act

  • $2.0M

    Asian University for Women Support Foundation · Cambridge, MA · 2023

    To provide general support

  • $2.0M

    International Budget Partnership · Washington, DC · 2023

    To provide general support

  • $2.0M

    Natural Resource Governance Institute · New York, NY · 2023

    To provide general support

  • $2.0M

    Asia Democracy Network · 2023

    To provide general support

  • $1.8M

    Central European University · New York, NY · 2022

    To support the threatened scholars integration initiative

  • $1.8M

    Bard College · Annandaleonhudson, NY · 2023

    To develop an integrated curriculum, and a set of public programs, research opportunities, and collaborative activities across the open society university network

  • $1.7M

    Tides Foundation · San Francisco, CA · 2023

    To support the asia advancement fund to enhance participatory and good governance in south asia

  • $1.7M

    Foxglove Legal Community Interest Company · 2023

    To provide general support

  • $1.6M

    European Network On Debt and Development · 2023

    To provide general support

  • $1.6M

    Bard College · Annandaleonhudson, NY · 2022

    To support a network of initiatives for osun institutions emphasizing skills-based learning with a range of technologies, critical reflection, and social justice components

  • $1.6M

    Bard College · Annandaleonhudson, NY · 2022

    To integrate curricular, co-curricular, teaching, and research across osun partner institutions through civic engagement activities that build upon and enhance existing initiatives

  • $1.5M

    Institute of International Education · New York, NY · 2024

    To allow the grantee to manage a travel and learning fund for individuals and organizations to participate in convenings, exchanges, education, global learning, conducting research, and travel

  • $1.5M

    Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors · New York, NY · 2024

    To support the international fund for public interest media to seed new revenue streams for public interest media in the global south

  • $1.5M

    Center for Civilians in Conflict · Washington, DC · 2023

    To support grantee's charitable operations

  • $1.5M

    Human Rights Watch · New York, NY · 2023

    To provide general support

  • $1.5M

    Open Society Foundation for Albania · 2023

    To provide general support

  • $1.5M

    Human Rights Watch · New York, NY · 2022

    To provide general support

  • $1.4M

    Tides Foundation · San Francisco, CA · 2024

    To support the asia empowerment fund for civil society groups advancing democratic governance

  • $1.3M

    The Fund for Global Human Rights · Washington, DC · 2023

    To provide general support

  • $1.3M

    The Fund for Global Human Rights · Washington, DC · 2022

    To provide general support

  • $1.3M

    Lapis Middle East and Africa Fz Llc · 2023

    To improve access to basic education for unserved and underserved children in afghanistan

  • $1.3M

    International Development Economics Associates · 2024

    To provide general support

  • $1.3M

    Global Citizen · New York, NY · 2023

    To support global citizens programmatic work to increase development finance and improve global governance for the global south

  • $1.3M

    International Development Economics Associates · 2023

    To provide general support

  • $1.2M

    Access Now · New York City, NY · 2024

    To provide general support

  • $1.1M

    Tides Foundation · San Francisco, CA · 2022

    To support the asia advancement fund to enhance participatory and good governance in south asia

  • $1.0M

    Central European University · New York, NY · 2023

    To support central european university's budapest campus operations and programs

  • $1.0M

    Brac USA · New York, NY · 2024

    To support brac usa's ultra poor graduation initiative, which aims to mobilize governments globally to scale graduation and economic inclusion programs through government social protection systems

  • $1.0M

    Climate Vulnerable Forum · 2024

    To provide general support

  • $1.0M

    Dignity Alliance International · 2024

    To provide general support

  • $1.0M

    Global Citizen · New York, NY · 2024

    To support global citizens programmatic work to increase development finance and improve global governance for the global south

  • $1.0M

    Transparentem · New York, NY · 2024

    To provide general support

  • $1.0M

    Brac USA · New York, NY · 2023

    To support brac usa's ultra poor graduation initiative, which aims to mobilize governments globally to scale graduation and economic inclusion programs through government social protection systems

  • $1.0M

    Crisis Action Limited · 2023

    To provide general support

  • $1.0M

    Global Citizen · New York, NY · 2023

    To provide general support

  • $1.0M

    Privacy International · 2023

    To provide general support

  • $1.0M

    Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors · New York, NY · 2023

    To support the climate emergency collaboration group, a fiscally sponsored project, to build and test a strategy toward delivering substantive changes in the development finance system

  • $1.0M

    Transparentem · New York, NY · 2023

    To provide general support

  • $1.0M

    Brac USA · New York, NY · 2022

    To support brac usa's ultra poor graduation initiative, which aims to mobilize governments globally to scale graduation and economic inclusion programs through government social protection systems

  • $1.0M

    Center for Civilians in Conflict · Washington, DC · 2022

    To support grantee's charitable operations

  • $1.0M

    Committee To Protect Journalists · New York, NY · 2022

    To support committee to protect journalists' campaign for its press freedom center

  • $1.0M

    Geneva Science and Diplomacy Anticipator · 2022

    To provide general support

  • $1.0M

    Human Rights Watch · New York, NY · 2022

    To provide general support

  • $1.0M

    Ifex · 2022

    To provide general support

  • $999,500

    Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors · New York, NY · 2024

    To support the climate emergency collaboration group, a project of the grantee, and its work on global financial architecture reform through building an effective global ecosystem of civil society, political and technic read all
  • $945,000

    Kurawal Foundation · 2022

    To provide general support

  • $938,692

    Bard College · Annandaleonhudson, NY · 2023

    To support the second and third year of a masters program curriculum in transnationalism that will prepare students to shape the transnational public debate about urgent contemporary global problems

  • $930,000

    Freedom Voices Network · 2024

    To provide general support

  • $915,000

    Proteus Fund · Amherst, MA · 2023

    To support the transparency and accountability initiative donor collaborative, a fiscally-sponsored project of the grantee, to assist its members to strengthen the impact and effectiveness of their transparency and acco read all
  • $910,136

    The Carter Center · Atlanta, GA · 2023

    To promote and protect human rights through research and knowledge exchange

  • $900,000

    Pulitzer Center On Crisis Reporting · Washington, DC · 2023

    To provide general support.

  • $900,000

    The Governing Council of the University of Toronto · 2023

    To support the citizens labs work on researching issues around human rights and the digital space

  • $900,000

    The Jain Family Institute · New York, NY · 2023

    To support the grantee's research on green industrial policy, central banking, and fiscal justice across latin america

  • $880,000

    Open Society Foundation for Albania · 2022

    To support humanitarian relief efforts for displaced afghans evacuated to albania

  • $871,069

    Bard College · Annandaleonhudson, NY · 2022

    To provide funding for training osun faculty in best practices for liberal arts & sciences instruction

  • $850,000

    Norwegian Human Rights Fund · 2023

    To provide general support

  • $800,000

    New Venture Fund · Washington, DC · 2023

    To contribute to the funding initiative on mercenary spyware accountability, hosted by new venture funds dignity & justice fund, to support civil society organizations working to investigate, expose, and prevent mercena read all
  • $800,000

    Tides Foundation · San Francisco, CA · 2023

    To support the asia advancement fund to enhance participatory and good governance in south asia

  • $750,000

    Black Equity Organisation · 2024

    To provide general support

  • $750,000

    Asociacion Tecnologia Educacion Desarrollo Inve · 2023

    To support the grantee's work in safeguarding privacy, freedom of expression, and open access to information online, to enhance the capacity of actors in the region to defend and promote these rights in the digital sphe read all
  • $750,000

    Black Equity Organisation · 2023

    To provide general support

  • $750,000

    New Venture Fund · Washington, DC · 2023

    To increase available funding for research and analytical work on how multilateral development banks (mdbs) can scale up lending in low- and middle-income countries, in line with the new g20 capital adequacy review comm read all
  • $750,000

    Project Everyone · 2023

    To support the grantees work on achieving the sustainable development goals (sdgs) by launching a campaign for global leaders and key institutions to mobilize financial support for developing and emerging economies to a read all
  • $750,000

    Uplift Afghanistan Fund · Westlake Village, CA · 2023

    To provide general support

  • $750,000

    Black Equity Organisation · 2022

    To provide general support

  • $750,000

    Institute for Strategic Initiatives · 2022

    To provide general support

  • $750,000

    Uplift Afghanistan Fund · Westlake Village, CA · 2022

    To pilot electronic direct aid mechanisms in support of afghan women

View all 2,134 grants →

Grants already paid are the record; PaperOrbit reads your paper and finds the funders whose record matches it — then explains why.

Search funders like this one

Source: IRS Form 990-PF, Part XV, as filed by the foundation. These are grants already paid — a record of what this funder backs, not an open call.