For a long time, my view of George Soros and his Open Society Foundations was negative. I never really questioned the why behind my judgement of him and his organization. It was just “in the air,” repeated often enough across propagandist channels: messaging from politicians, media, and biased political commentary that it became an “unverified” truth to me.
It didn’t help that he was associated with the World Economic Forum in Davos, a place to gather intel and to create unofficial newspeak narratives and globalist agendas. Because of that, I never felt it necessary to fact-check my assumptions.
Davos is an exclusive, week-long strategy and networking forum that is far removed from the everyday realities of ordinary people and their interests. That in itself was cause enough for me to distrust and dislike Davos “men” in general, and anyone associated with it. Soros’s presence at global forums like the WEF reinforced this negative image, because it placed him among world leaders, billionaires, and power brokers, making it easier to cast him as part of a larger, non visible system of influence.
Recently, I took a step back to read more on philosopher, Karl Popper to understand the philosophy behind Soros’s philanthropy. What surprised me most was how much of Popper’s thinking—and the work Soros’s organization supports—aligns with my own values around democracy, accountability, and human rights.
Understanding George Soros
To understand Soros, you have to start with why he does what he does—not the headlines, not the myths, but the underlying philosophy that drives him.
Soros’s worldview was shaped early. As a Jewish teenager in Nazi-occupied Hungary, he experienced firsthand what happens when societies close—when fear, ideology, and unchecked power override institutions, truth, and human rights. Later, studying under Karl Popper in London, he absorbed the idea of the “open society”: a system where no single ideology dominates, where institutions are accountable, and where individuals are free to challenge power.
That idea became his life’s project.
After building enormous wealth in global finance, Soros didn’t just retire into private life. He deployed that wealth—more than $30 billion over time—into building a global network through the Open Society Foundations.
The mission has been consistent: support democracy, strengthen independent institutions, fund education, protect minority rights, and enable civil society to function, especially in places where governments fail or suppress it.
The beneficiaries of this model are not governments or political parties, at least not directly. They are:
• students who receive scholarships
• journalists and independent media outlets
• legal advocates and human rights organizations
• marginalized communities without political power
In many cases, these are rights-based work that many governments and/or billionaires, PACs either ignored or actively opposed. OSF’s grant-making has backed human rights litigation, Roma inclusion efforts, criminal justice reform, election protection, and harm-reduction approaches to drug policy.
You do not have to agree with every ideological frame to see that this work often filled gaps left by states and by more aggressive direct policy influencers, like lobbyist and billionaire funded PACs. OSF’s current public agenda centers on democracy, rights, equity, and justice, with more recent grant-making shifts to election integrity work in the United States, justice fellowships, and environmental-defender and green-development programs in the Global South.
One reason Soros became so influential is that Open Society frequently funded unfashionable or politically exposed work: prison reform, minority rights, migrant rights, anti-authoritarian organizing, and legal defense of civil liberties.
Even people wary of George Soros’s ideology often acknowledge that this kind of patient funding is rare. When the Open Society Foundations retrenched in recent years, many grantees reacted with alarm precisely because the foundation had become such a crucial backer in those spaces.
This is also where much of the criticism—and confusion—begins.
The Making of a “Boogeyman”
While Soros’s model is indirect and institutional, it is also undeniably political in effect. Funding civil society, legal challenges, and public discourse doesn’t control outcomes, but it shapes an environment that has the potential to challenge the status quo of hidden political and personal agendas and vendettas. Open society strengthens certain values: transparency, accountability, minority protections, and democratic norms. These “values” make a lot of top level politicians extremely uncomfortable, in particular, in the US, members of Congress, social media and tech moguls and pro-Israel billionaires.
To supporters however, those values are essential. It is the scaffolding of a functioning democracy.
At its core, Open Society philosophy is not about promising perfect outcomes. It is about building systems that allow:
• honest dialogue
• critical thinking
• long-term problem solving
• and the ability to correct mistakes over time
That process—evaluate, adjust, and improve—is central to the idea of an open society.
But none of this fully explains why Soros, specifically, became one of the world’s most recognizable and controversial figures amongst a well known horde of global elite predators.
There are many individuals and networks, across political ideologies, that deploy vast resources to heavily influence policy, elections, media, and public opinion. Figures like Elon Musk, Donald Trump, major donors such as Sheldon Adelson, and powerful lobbying networks all shape the political and economic landscape in profound ways—ways that have significantly altered the direction of American politics and, in my view, are the main cause of instability both at home and abroad.
Yet Soros occupies a uniquely outsized place in the public imagination.
Why?
Because he is unusually visible, ideological, and personifiable. He speaks openly about his beliefs. His foundation operates globally. His funding is tied to contentious issues like immigration, criminal justice reform, human rights, and democracy promotion. And over time, he has been repeatedly used as a scapegoat by nefarious actors looking to maintain wars and chaos globally.
And so, Soros became something larger than himself.
