No. 48: George Soros

Amount donated in 2013: $40-million

Beneficiary: Open Society Foundations

Background: Mr. Soros is chairman of Soros Fund Management, a New York firm that manages hedge funds, and he founded the Open Society Foundations.

Mr. Soros, 83, gave $40-million to the Open Society Foundations, a nonprofit that includes the Open Society Institute and other grant makers that are primarily supported by Mr. Soros’s wealth.

He established the Open Society Institute in 1993 to support the development of democratic institutions throughout Central and Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union.

Open Society Foundations awarded a total of about $185-million in grants in 2013, including $11.3-million to Bard College to support collaborative liberal-arts programs at four universities: Al-Quds University, in Palestine; American University of Central Asia, in Kyrgyzstan; European Humanities University, in Lithuania; and St. Petersburg State University, in Russia.

Other 2013 grants include $10-million to American University of Central Asia for a new campus and $8.1-million to the European Council on Foreign Relations for operational costs. Open Society Foundations helped create the think tank in 2007.

The Philanthropy 50: Browse the full list of America’s most generous donors in 2013.

Learn more: See this donor’s listing in our database of major gifts, America’s Top Donors.