George Soros
Amount Given or Pledged 2002-2006: $2.1 billion
Causes: open and democratic societies
Investor George Soros, 76, can put a dollar figure on democracy: $5.9 billion. That’s how much the legendary hedge fund manager has spent so far to promote social reform and progressive government in some 60 countries. A native Hungarian who escaped to London during World War II, Soros went to work as an analyst and made his first billion dollars speculating on the British pound. Now with $8.5 billion in the bank and several foundations, he’s got plenty of resources to help build open and democratic societies.
By far, the most active of Soros’ foundations is the Open Society Institute, which distributes about $400 million annually. Last year, Soros gave an extra $200 million to Central European University, a graduate school he helped found in Budapest in 1991. Soros this year adopted 33 villages in 10 sub-Saharan countries, committing $50 million under the U.N.’s Millennium Promise initiative to eliminate extreme poverty in Africa and elsewhere.
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