International Crisis Group

Background

International Crisis Group was conceived in 1993 by Mort Abramowitz, then the president of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, and Mark Malloch-Brown, then World Bank vice president for external affairs. The group serves as an intelligence resource regarding global conflicts as well as an impassioned advocate for “immediate action.” Fred Cuny, an American engineer, was recruited to help form the organization. ²

George Soros’s Open Society Institute provided $200,000 in seed money in 1994. Former U.S. Rep. Stephen Solarz (D-NY) traveled to more than twenty different countries to raise awareness and funds for the burgeoning group. In 1995, after the group announced its budget and initial staffing hires, Soros pledged more support money. It was launched that year. ²

Activities

International Crisis Group calls itself the “go-to organization for ideas on how to prevent or end deadly conflicts.” It boasts that it serves as a source of information, analysis, and solutions for policymakers in high level institutions such as the UN Security Council and the African Union. ³

The group cites “renewed rivalry among major powers,” “an increasingly complex geopolitical landscape,” “climate change” which “is increasing food insecurity, water scarcity and resource competition,” and “technological change” as factors that are changing the nature of war since its founding and “straining the mechanisms of multilateral diplomacy.” ³ It also highlights an emergence of “non-state actors” contributing to global conflict such as religious militants and criminal gangs. ¹

International Crisis Group breaks down its activities to three main categories: “Field Research,” “Sharp Analysis,” and “High-level Advocacy.” Its scholars and employees are dispatched to crisis-riven countries or put in communications with parties involved in conflicts to acquire information, share and compare perspectives, and give immediate “practical policy” advice. After garnering information, the group publishes both lengthy reports and newsworthy commentaries to help policymakers, journalists, and the public make sense of and respond responsibly to conflicts. Finally, it advocates for specific policies and responses to world leaders, governments, and “conflict actors” to raise awareness about potential dangers and allegedly help avert conflicts or end them as quickly as possible. ⁴

In a publication entitled “Strategic Framework, 2019-2025,” International Crisis Group outlined its goals for that period and highlighted methods and tactics it would adopt to better deal with the changing geopolitical situation. ⁵

Funding

According to International Crisis Group’s 2019 tax filings, it had a total revenue of $30,040,575, total expenses of $19,787,227, and total assets of $48,131,397. ⁶

In 2019, Princeton University, Claudia Gazzini, Phillip Gunson, Heiko Wimmen, and Richard Horsey were all listed on its tax filings as consulting analysts for the group. ⁷

On April 25, 2022, the International Crisis Group announced that it received a $20 million grant from Open Society Foundations (OSF) to support its “conflict prevention mandate.” The group said it would use the money to give “pragmatic recommendations and local insights” on the issues fomenting violence globally. It specified it would use the funds to “launch an Innovation Hub within its Future of Conflicts Program,” consisting of post-doctoral fellows who specialize in emerging geopolitical risks to help the group “anticipate threats” and “generate new funding ideas” so the organization can receive more financial support. It also stated its intention to use the funds to enhance its network of local advocates in countries embroiled in conflict, “particularly in the Global South.” Alex Soros, the son of George Soros, and OSF president Mark Malloch-Brown praised the International Crisis Group in a statement regarding the grant announcement. ³

In January 2021, it was announced that the Charles Koch Institute was giving a $2.4 million grant to International Crisis Group along with a $4.5 million grant to the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in an effort to expand “the marketplace of ideas around U.S. foreign policy.” The grant to the International Crisis Group was earmarked to expand its U.S. program and related activities to influence the debate on foreign policy and “encourage non-military solutions” to global conflicts. ⁸

Between 2001 and 2021, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation has given $10,565,000 to International Crisis Group in the form of grants regarding issues from nuclear challenges to human rights. ⁹

It counts among its other supporters Frank Giustra, Neil Woodyer, Carnegie Corporation of New York, Robert Bosch Stiftung, Rockefeller Brothers Fund, BP, Chevron, and the Foreign Affairs Ministries of roughly a dozen nations. ¹

Leadership

As of May 2022, Comfort Ero was the president and CEO of International Crisis Group. Ero was appointed to lead the group in December 2021, after having spent 20 years with the organization in various roles. Ero has also worked in numerous stints with other organizations during this time such as the International Centre for Transitional Justice and the United Nations. She is from Nairobi, Kenya. ¹⁰

Richard Atwood, a longtime International Crisis Group employee and a former UN employee, is the vice president of the Group. ¹¹

International Crisis Group’s Board of Trustees has 47 members from 31 countries. It is co-chaired by Susana Malcorra, former foreign minister of Argentina under centrist-liberal former President Mauricio Macri and former chef de cabinet of the UN Secretary General, and Frank Giustra, founder of the Giustra Foundation and the president and CEO of the private investment firm the Fiore Group. Billionaire financier and philanthropist George Soros and his son Alex Soros are board members. ¹²