George Soros donates 220 million dollars for racial equity

American billionaire George Soros has donated 220 million dollars for racial equity and supporting black communities.

The Open Society Foundations (OSF) founded by Soros announced Monday (local time) its plans to provide support to civic groups for racial issues and black voter groups. It will invest 150 million dollars for liberal and racial equity groups for the next five years, and the remaining 70 million dollars will be spent as local subsidies for state governments’ police reform. Executive Director Tomas Perriello of the OSF said that the foundation had been leading racial equality issues and hoped the decision would set an example for other donors.

Soros, a Hungarian-American who survived Nazi holocaust, has maintained liberal views on racial issues and has donated to civic groups and immigrant communities. He donated 10 million dollars for groups fighting against hate crimes in the U.S. since President Donald Trump was elected in 2016. The OSF has donated more than 14 billion dollars to various charity works. The foundation is the second biggest private charitable foundation after the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

The donation was provided when protests against racial discrimination were spreading throughout the country after the death of George Floyd. Local press report that Soros’ latest donation would provide momentum to black voters’ movement before the presidential election in November.


Jae-Dong Yu jarrett@donga.com