Building an Open Society

The Foundation was established on 8 April 1990, a year and a half before Ukraine gained independence. Its mission has remained unchanged ever since: to build an Open Society for a free Ukraine.

The Foundation was established by billionaire philanthropist George Soros. Having survived the Holocaust as a teenager, he later decided to dedicate most of his wealth to advancing the values of an open society and helping prevent such tragedies from happening again.

The idea of establishing the Foundation was developed by Ukrainian intellectuals and dissidents, including Bohdan Hawrylyshyn, Ivan Dziuba, Dmytro Pavlychko, Borys Oliinyk and others, who presented it to George Soros.

We pioneered many initiatives in Ukraine: bringing internet access to universities, launching election monitoring and free legal aid, helping establish Ukraine’s External Independent Testing system, and funding the country’s first administrative service centre. We were also among the first to support hundreds of other initiatives that have since become part of everyday life in Ukraine.

The International Renaissance Foundation is the Ukrainian member of the Open Society Foundations, a network established by George Soros that operates in 120 countries. At the same time, we develop our strategy independently, and the Foundation’s team consists entirely of Ukrainians.

Since the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion, we have not suspended our work for a single day. We have doubled the amount of funding allocated to supporting Ukrainian civil society and strengthening Ukraine’s resilience.

The International Renaissance Foundation is one of the largest Ukrainian charitable foundations, which has been active since 1990—