Paul and Daisy Soros Foundation

Background

The Paul and Daisy Soros Foundation was founded in 1996 by Paul Soros, a Hungarian-born engineer and brother of billionaire philanthropist George Soros, and his wife, Daisy Soros. The most notable public-facing project of the foundation is the Paul and Daisy Soros Fellowships for New Americans, which is the primary activity of the organization; however, the foundation does conduct grantmaking activity aside from the fellowship. ²

Activities

Fellowships

The Paul and Daisy Soros Fellowships for New Americans was founded by Paul and Daisy Soros in 1997 with a charitable trust of $50 million. In 2010, the couple added another $25 million to the trust to support future fellowships. Each year there are a reported 1,800 applicants for 30 available fellowships worth $90,000 each. ^{3 4 5}

Since its founding, the fellowship has provided fellowships to 740 immigrants and children of immigrants from 90 countries, with the most-represented countries being India, China, and Mexico. The fellowship has a particular focus on permanent residents, naturalized citizens, recipients of the Obama administration’s DACA program (which granted temporary legal status to illegal immigrants who came to the U.S. as children), refugees, and asylum seekers. ³

The Paul and Daisy Fellowships for New Americans offer scholarships to immigrants and children of immigrants who are 30 years old or younger and who are pursuing graduate degrees in the United States. For children of immigrants, only those whose parents were both born outside of the United States are eligible to apply. Those who win a fellowship receive a $90,000 scholarship toward their education. The fellowships require applicants to have a bachelor’s degree but have no restriction on the types of graduate degrees applicants may pursue. ^{3 2 6}

Notable fellows include Biden administration U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy; former California Surgeon General Nadine Burke-Harris; CEO of Modern Electric Tony Pan; Olympic gymnastics gold medalist Amy Chow; computational biologist and 2014 Time Person of the Year Pardis Sabeti; and former First Lady Jill Biden’s chief of staff, Julissa Reynoso. ⁷

In December 2025, a video was posted onto X (formerly Twitter) which showed Ramzi Kassem, a 2021 fellow of the Paul and Daisy Soros Foundation (under the “Fellowship for New Americans”) and a professor of Law at the CUNY School of Law in New York, New York. According to the video, Kassem was inspired to work in human rights law following the 9/11 terrorist attacks and had represented those imprisoned in Guantanamo Bay and other national detention facilities. ⁸

Grantmaking

In addition to the grants given to fellowship recipients, organizations funded by the Paul and Daisy Soros Foundation include International House, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Human Rights First, the New York Philharmonic, and the Nantucket Conservation Foundation. ²

Leadership

The co-founder of the Foundation, Paul Soros, is the brother of billionaire left-of-center political donor and philanthropist George Soros. Paul Soros was born in Hungary in 1926 and defected from the Soviet bloc in 1948. In 1956, he founded Soros Associates, an international engineering firm. He passed away on June 15, 2013, at age 87. ^{9 10}

Daisy Soros is the chair of the board of the Paul and Daisy Soros Foundation. She is also an advisory director of the Metropolitan Opera, secretary on the board of the New York Philharmonic, and a director emeritus of Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts. ¹¹