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George Soros transfers nearly $18B to his foundation

By Allen Cone
George Soros attends a private sector summit on refugees at the United Nations on Sept. 20, 2016. Soros has transferred nearly $18 billion to Open Society Foundations. Pool photo by Peter Foley/UPI
George Soros attends a private sector summit on refugees at the United Nations on Sept. 20, 2016. Soros has transferred nearly $18 billion to Open Society Foundations. Pool photo by Peter Foley/UPI | License Photo

Oct. 17 (UPI) -- George Soros, the multi-billionaire hedge-fund manager, has transferred nearly $18 billion to his Open Society Foundations, making it one of the world's largest philanthropic organizations.

Soros, a major contributor to liberal and Democratic causes, founded Open Society Foundations in the United States in 1993.

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It is the second-largest private charity in the United States behind the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation with an endowment of $40.3 billion, including grants of $4.6 billion in 2016.

"It's an ongoing process of migration from a hedge fund toward a pool of capital deployed to support a foundation over the long term," committee member Bill Ford told The Wall Street Journal.

Laura Silber, a spokeswoman for the foundation, told the Los Angeles Times the money comes from Soros' personal wealth.

Forbes listed Soros' personal net worth at $23 billion.

Soros, 87, who lived through the Nazi occupation in his native Hungary, has given away $14 billion since 1979 and founded his first foundation in 1984 in Hungary.

Open Society's 2017 budget of $941 million includes funding for early childhood and other education programs, human rights movements and institutions and justice reform.

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Some, including many conservatives, have criticized his funding in recent years.

He supports Planned Parenthood and criminal justice issues advocated by the Black Lives Matter movement. In 2014, the foundation gave $1.4 million for efforts to pass California's Proposition 47, which reduced drug possession and minor theft charges to misdemeanors.

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