The Open Society Foundations announced on Monday that it is pledging €100 million to the empowerment and development of Europe’s Roma communities.
The Open Society Foundations has been the leading private supporter of Europe’s Roma, the continent’s largest ethnic minority, since the early 1990s, when their cause was first embraced by Open Society’s founder, the American financier and philanthropist George Soros.
George Soros, a Holocaust survivor from Hungary, who made a huge fortune as investor, has donated a large part of his wealth to different philanthropic causes and to supporting civil society and education in post-Soviet countries through his Open Society Foundations.
“With a new generation of exceptional Roma leaders determining strategy and funding priorities, I am confident the new foundation will be a dynamic force--dedicated to realizing the full potential of the Roma people, and overcoming the deep-rooted barriers they face,” said his son Alexander Soros, chair of the Open Society Foundations.
He promised to do everything possible to “support the foundation and its leadership in a mission that will benefit not only the Roma, but Europe as whole.”
The funding commitment, running until 2030, will be delivered through a new independent foundation, headquartered in Brussels, that will be the first institution of its scale and scope to be managed by Roma leaders when it launches next year.
In addition to becoming the new channel for Open Society support for Roma causes, the new foundation will also seek to develop additional funding sources to advance its mission.
The new Roma Foundation for Europe will work with the EU institutions and Roma groups in among others the Western Balkans, Eastern Europe, Spain, Italy, and Germany, where significant Roma minority groups are living. It will be headed by Zeljko Jovanovic, who has overseen Open Society’s Roma Initiatives Office since 2010.
“We will work with all those who can advance our mission—to combine the electoral and economic potential of the biggest minority in Europe with the voice of its most credible advocates, supportive allies, and influential friends,” he explained.
“Our goal will be to build a foundation that not only delivers positive change for Roma, but that also contributes to a European future grounded in justice and fairness.”
The foundation will inherit and develop Open Society’s founding partnerships with four leading Roma-led initiatives: the European Roma Institute for Arts and Culture; the Roma Entrepreneurship Development Initiative, Roma for Democracy; and the Roma Education Fund. It will also continue Open Society’s work with a range of national Roma movements.
The Brussels Times
