Non-profit organizations funded by George Soros’ Open Society Foundations network gave more than $35 million to several far-left groups that back de-funding the police and to far-left prosecutor candidates in 2021, U.S. news outlet Fox News Digital reported upon a review of the organization’s tax forms.
According to Fox News, the controversial Hungarian-American billionaire authorized a plethora of individual donations through his grant-making network to support campaign groups and candidates intent on overhauling the U.S. criminal justice system and delivering full-scale reform, and in some cases, the abolition of local police departments.
In one example of such funding, the U.S. media outlet highlights a six-figure donation by Soros’ non-profits to a failed 2021 campaign to “dismantle” and replace the Minneapolis Police Department.
“His policy center pushed a $500,000 donation to Vote Yes 4 Minneapolis, a coalition of at least 33 activist organizations that championed a ballot initiative to amend the city charter to replace the police department with a public safety agency.”
Fox News
A sum of $1.75 million was reportedly transferred from Soros’ Foundation to Promote Open Society to the Washington D.C.-based New Venture Fund for the Community Resource Hub for Safety and Accountability, which Fox News describes as a “clearinghouse of resources for local progressive activists on how to best deal with police reform efforts, which includes materials on abolishing and de-funding the police.”
The Open Society Policy Center non-profit, a branch of Soros’ Open Society network is also understood to have transferred a $500,000 grant to the Equity PAC, which opposes the “hiring of new police officers” in Austin, Texas.
Furthermore, the Foundation to Promote Open Society granted $200,000 to the Austin Justice Coalition, which aims to “educate the public about policing, the influence of police unions, and ways to keep communities safe without relying on the police.”
A non-exhaustive list of the grants provided by Soros-linked non-profit organizations to far-left anti-police groups unearthed by Fox News Digital can be found here.
In response to the reporting of such funding, Laleh Ispahani, the co-director of Open Society-U.S., defended the position of the grantmaking network, telling Fox News:
“The Open Society Foundations is proud to have been one of the earliest and most robust supporters of efforts to address the issues of crime and public safety while protecting freedoms that Americans hold dear.
“We have supported reforms to our criminal justice system that enjoy broad support across the political spectrum. We believe that our freedoms are threatened when state actors are above the law, and that accountability is even more essential when they are given the right to use force on behalf of the government.”
Ispahani claimed “the level of police violence, particularly impacting communities of color, has spurred reform efforts across the country,” and admitted that “Open Society supports the exploration and development of policies that actually work to reduce crime and defers to communities regarding what alternatives make sense to them. Whether that includes shifting funding currently allocated to policing into services that actually work to address crime and improve public safety is up to them.
“Since the murder of George Floyd, many communities have increased spending on policing, while deaths at the hands of police has continued to rise to new heights. We continue to believe that reforms are needed and that communities should continue to lead those efforts,” Ispahani added.
