Open Society Foundations Closing Offices, Laying Off Staff

Have they tried turning the heat down? Putting on sweaters? Maybe couponing?

It may be a little premature to celebrate, but the Open Society Foundations are closing offices in Africa and laying people off. In fact, 40% of the organization’s offices on the African continent will be hanging out “Sorry, We’re Closed” signs, and the employees will be hitting the want ads. This is in spite of the fact that the organization is worth an estimated $25 billion. Closures also hit offices in Barcelona and Baltimore.

Bloomberg reports that earlier in the month, it obtained emails sent out to staffers announcing that the organization would be scaling back. One of those emails from Binaifer Nowrojee, vice president of programs, read, “With the decision by the board in June to cut the staff by more than 40%, our staffing size and footprint by necessity needs to diminish. We no longer have the bandwidth to operate multiple small offices, and thus the decision to further reduce our locations.”

In another email, Africa Executive Director Muthoni Wanyeki stated, “I’m very sorry that it’s turned out this way. It’s obviously not what any of us expected and I’m also very sorry that I didn’t have the information on this earlier,” she added, saying the changes aren’t what leadership ‘committed to two years ago.’” Grantmaker positions will reportedly be the hardest hit. Only three African offices will remain open. Programming positions outside of the United States will be pared down from 450 to 150 people.

According to Bloomberg, OSF announced that the offices in Spain and Baltimore were slated to be shuttered earlier in the year. The African offices have been in “transition” since 2021.

Soros’ son Alex, officially took over the Open Society Foundations from his father in June of last year after a stint as its chairman. OSF president Mark Malloch-Brown said in September that the reorganization was an attempt to make the organization “more nimble” and includes focusing efforts on the impact that grants have, instead of doing due diligence prior to making the grants.

If that sounds a little hazy, it might be helpful to recall that Bloomberg noted in August that Alex Soros responded to a letter from OSF stating that it would “largely terminate” funding in Europe by stating that the OSF was merely “changing strategy.” The ousted employees in Africa can re-apply for jobs in the newly reorganized OSF, but they would have to move and be responsible for their relocation.

While all of this certainly seems indicative that the Soros empire may be experiencing lean times, it does not necessarily mean that it is in free fall. The language OSF is using may mask some concerns over potential financial difficulties; it is also helpful to look at the causes that OSF funds on its Awarded Grants page. It is easy to slide down a rabbit hole on the page, but one thing stands out: in many cases, the purposes of the grants are so vaguely worded that they could be used for any number of things. The overall nebulous nature of the announcements and the grants would indicate that Soros Jr. is just trying to find a more effective way to leverage his money and increase the returns.