Open Society Foundation London
The Open Society Foundation London is the British grantmaking arm of the Open Society Foundations (OSF), the left-of-center international philanthropic network created by financier George Soros. The company was incorporated in England and Wales in 2016, and reported revenue of £46.16 million (approximately $59 million) and 113 employees for the year ending December 31, 2024. Its sole corporate member is the Open Society Institute, the OSF’s New York–based parent entity. Alexander Soros, George Soros’s son and the chairman of the OSF’s board, has been a director since October 2016 and is one of two individuals registered as having control over the company, along with Laura Silber, the OSF’s vice president for external affairs. 1 2 3 4 5
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The company drew scrutiny in February 2018 when the Daily Telegraph identified it as the vehicle through which the OSF financed British campaign groups opposing Brexit, the campaign to withdraw the United Kingdom from the European Union. The OSF confirmed the grants, stating that all had been made by a non-charitable organization within the network and that Open Society Foundation London is not a charity. 6 7
Background
The Open Society Foundation London was formed in 2016 as part of the Open Society Foundations (OSF), the left-of-center international funding network created by financier and Democratic megadonor George Soros. In 2017, the group began funding campaigns opposing Brexit, the campaign to withdraw the United Kingdom from the European Union. 6
Anti-Brexit Grants
The Telegraph article, co-written by Nick Timothy, a former chief of staff to former Conservative Party Prime Minister Theresa May, reported that Soros had directed £400,000 (approximately $560,000) to Best for Britain, a group campaigning against the implementation of the 2016 referendum result. 8 7 Best for Britain was chaired by Mark Malloch-Brown, a former Labour Party government minister and United Nations deputy secretary-general, who confirmed the sum but said smaller donors had collectively given more. 8 Malloch-Brown was named president of the OSF three years later, effective January 1, 2021. 9
After the disclosure, Soros pledged an additional £100,000 (approximately $135,000) to match a crowdfunding appeal, telling The Guardian that he was willing to fight what he characterized as a smear campaign in the right-wing press. 10
In an August 2019 update to its original statement, the OSF disclosed that it had given approximately £3,021,689 (approximately $3.9 million) over four years to four British organizations: Best for Britain received £400,000 ($542,000) in 2017, £1,087,000 ($1.47 million) in 2018, and £1,213,689 ($1.64 million) in 2019; the European Movement received £100,000 ($135,000) in each of 2017 and 2018; Scientists for EU received £35,000 ($47,000) in 2017; and Bright Blue, which the OSF described as a Conservative Party-associated think tank, received £86,000 ($116,000) in 2016. 11 Those figures differ from the accounting the OSF gave in February 2018, when it described two Best for Britain grants totaling under £400,000 ($542,000) and a pledge of £182,000 ($247,000) to the European Movement. 6
Patrick Gaspard, then the OSF’s president and a director of the London company from January 2018 through December 2020, 1 publicly defended the grants. 6
Funding and Grantmaking
Open Society Foundation London is funded through the Open Society Foundations network rather than through independent fundraising. 4 Its 2024 turnover of £46.16 million (approximately $62.54 million) represented a decline of roughly £23.89 million ($32.36 million), or 34 percent, from the prior year, and headcount fell from 145 to 113. Cash holdings dropped to £5.34 million ($7.24 million), total assets stood at £21.94 million ($29.72 million), and total liabilities stood at £17.54 million ($23.77 million), leaving net assets of £4.4 million ($5.96 million). 2
The company awards project grants and general operating support to organizations and individuals. The OSF states that it publishes information on most grants awarded since 2016, but that it omits certain grants and modifies descriptions in circumstances it does not itemize. 4
Restructuring
In July 2023, the director of the Open Society Foundations Berlin office told staff that the network’s newly approved strategic direction provided for the withdrawal and termination of large parts of its work within the European Union. 12 The Associated Press reported proposed cuts of 80 percent of Berlin staff, at least 60 percent in Brussels, and an unspecified number in London, as part of layoffs affecting as much as 40 percent of the OSF’s global workforce. 12 13
In a September 2025 filing, the Open Society Foundation London confirmed that a program of involuntary separations was carried out in 2024 and that further separations were expected in 2025. 4