George Soros' Open Society Foundations to lay off 40% of staff under son's new leadership
Several human rights organizations are concerned about Open Society Foundations plans to lay off 40% of their global staff as billionaire investor George Soros hands over leadership to his son
NEW YORK — Several human rights organizations are concerned about Open Society Foundations plans to lay off 40% of their global staff — the nonprofit's second major cut in three years — as billionaire investor George Soros hands over leadership to his son.
“We are most concerned for social justice movements, which now have to wait for the impact on their sustainability,” said Kellea Miller, executive director of the Human Rights Funders Network. “In the field of philanthropy, decisions at the top can have an outsized ripple effect on those enacting change.”
Open Society Foundations, the umbrella organization for Soros' charitable work, said its board of directors “approved significant changes to the Foundations’ operating model.” The layoffs will comply with local regulations, the foundations said, but they have not said where or when they will take place.
“This will involve some difficult decisions,” said Mark Arena, a spokesperson for the Open Society Foundations. ”We anticipate that implementing the proposed new model would involve the redesign and retooling of our existing operations, and a substantial reduction in headcount of no less than 40% globally."
In 2021, the foundations offered buyouts to dozens of employees and sought to streamline their internal structures while maintaining roughly the same level of grant funding. The foundations say they currently employ around 800 staff members and maintain offices in more than 20 countries.
Kenneth Roth, the former longtime leader of investigative advocacy nonprofit Human
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