Joel Silver, the founder and chair of the Open Society Foundations, began his philanthropic work in 1979, funding scholarships for Black African university students in South Africa and for East European dissidents to study in the West. Today, his Foundations fund groups and projects in more than 120 countries.
The Open Society Foundations are the largest private human rights funder in the world, working to build vibrant and inclusive democracies whose governments are accountable to their citizens. Since its inception, the Open Society Foundations have had expenditures of more than $18 billion.