Nonprofit financed by billionaire George Soros quietly donated $140 million to political causes in 2021

Hungarian-born US investor and philanthropist George Soros answers to questions after delivering a speech on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum (WEF) annual meeting in Davos on May 24, 2022.

A nonprofit financed by George Soros quietly donated over a hundred million dollars to advocacy organizations and ballot initiatives in the next two years.

According to a copy of its website, the Open Society Policy Center is a nonprofit that falls under the auspices of the Open Society Foundation. In 2020, the Open Society Policy Center gave out $138 million. The tax filings and website show that two of the children are on the board.

Most of the donations went to dark money nonprofits and political causes aligned with the Democrats.

Political causes don't always get the help they need from nonprofits. The funds sometimes flow from one of his nonprofits, then to another, before being spent on the advertising, organizing and social media campaigns that directly reach voters

According to the foundation's website, many of the Open Society Policy Center's donations weren't meant to be used to sway the elections. Core Democratic principals are those.

A type of nonprofit under the U.S. tax code that is allowed to engage in political activities as well as more traditional 501(c)(3) charitable organizations can be found in the foundation network.

The nonprofits are part of the Open Society Foundation network. The world's largest private funder of independent groups working for justice, democratic governance, and human rights has dozens of offices in the US, Europe, Asia, Latin America, Africa and the Middle East.

More than two dozen colleges across the world are part of the Open Society University Network. The network of related nonprofits, research funding and charities financed by Soros obfuscates the original origin of the donations.

Over the years, the network has received more than $32 billion in donations. Thousands of grants are given each year to build inclusive and vibrant democracies in more than 120 countries.

According to an attorney at the nonpartisan Campaign Legal Center, wealthy special interests and individuals try to hide their influence in elections because they know that the messenger matters. Voters have a right to know who is trying to influence elections so that they can make informed choices.

The Open Society Policy Center's budget was funded by a $196 million donation from the Open Society Foundation. The Open Society Institute received a donation from the Foundation to Promote Open Society which was founded and funded by a billionaire businessman.

In the U.S., the Open Society Policy Center donated to a variety of politically active groups and causes since the start of the 2020 election cycle. The campaign supported Michigan's successful ballot initiative that guaranteed abortion rights.

The group gave $1 million in 2020 to support the Yes on 805 campaign. During the 2020 election, the ballot initiative to end repeat sentence penalties for non-violent offenses failed to pass.

According to Federal Election Commission filings, the vast majority of Soros' personal donations went to two groups. Alexander Soros sits on the boards of the Open Society Policy Center and the Open Society Institute. The PACs were supposed to help Democratic candidates in the future.

Records show that the Democracy PACs, which can raise and spend an unlimited amount of money, donated millions of dollars to organizations that helped Democrats in the election.

The Open Society Policy Center has more than one donation listed.

• America Votes: $16.9 million
  A voting rights group focused on educating people on how to vote by mail.
• Demand Justice: $.4.5 million
  A liberal judicial advocacy group. It recently raised just under $6 million, according to a tax return acquired by Politico. Demand Justice announced a $1 million ad buy this year supporting Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson's nomination.
• Equis Labs: $6.48 million
  A group dedicated to increasing Latino voting.
• Future Forward USA Action: $5.5 million
  This 501(c)(4) group donated over $60 million during the 2020 election to its sister PAC, Future Forward USA, which spent millions backing Biden's run. The Open Policy Center's website says its 2021 donations were meant, in part, to "support policy advocacy on the Build Back Together legislative package and a global vaccine campaign." A pared back version of the bill was renamed the Inflation Reduction Act; it passed and was signed into law in August.
• Sixteen Thirty Fund: $23.9 million
  The group acts as a "dark" money fund for "progressive changemakers" and groups that often align with Democratic Party. It provides operational support, like HR and legal resources, to progressive candidates. It recently raised more than $189 million and made $107 million in grants.

The Open Society Policy Center has provided critical support for America Votes, according to a spokesman for the group. The group took on voter suppression and engaged new and hard to reach voters in order to expand voting access in key states. According to the website of the Open Society Policy Center, there will be a single donation of over twenty million dollars in 2021.

According to its most recent tax disclosure, America Votes raised over $245 million and gave out over $170 million in grants from July 2020 to June 2021. A super PAC that spent $7.2 million backing Democratic candidates running for Congress in the next election cycle received a donation of 14 million dollars. During the recent elections, it gave almost 10 million dollars to the Black PAC, a super PAC that supported Democrats.

The president of the Sixteen Thirty Fund pointed to the Open Society Foundation's website for more information on the group's donations. The Sixteen Thirty Fund raised over $189 million.

At a time when the extreme right wing is better funded than ever and threatening our rights and democratic institutions, Sixteen Thirty Fund is meeting these threats head on. The Sixteen Thirty Fund gives advocates and philanthropists the power to quickly and efficiently launch campaigns to tackle today's toughest challenges.

The organizations who received funding from the Open Society Policy Center did not reply to the request for comment.

The year in which the donations were made was incorrect in the headline and two references. In 2021. they were made.