George Soros Gives $100 Million to Human Rights Watch

The Hungarian-American philanthropist and investor, George Soros, announced today that he will give $100 million to Human Rights Watch over the next 10 years. His hope is to expand the reach of an already global organization that holds offices in every continent but Antarctica.

The grant from his Open Society Foundations is the largest that Soros has ever made to a nongovernmental organization. It's also the largest donation that Human Rights Watch has ever received. If you look at all charitable donations for 2010, it is only the second gift of $100 million or more made by an individual, according to the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University. An anonymous graduate donated the largest — $200 million for medical research to Baylor University. In short, this is a BFD!

And Soros isn't stopping yet; the 80-year-old hasn't let the recession discourage him from giving back. The billionaire has already donated about $700 million to various causes this year and said that this Human Rights Watch donation is the first of a series of large gifts that he plans to make.

“Originally I wanted to distribute all of the money during my lifetime, but I have abandoned that plan," Soros said. "My foundation should continue, but I still would like to do a lot of giving during my lifetime, and doing it this way, with such size, is a step in that direction.”

The grant also challenges the nonprofit to raise an additional $100 million in private contributions to match his gift. Whether the Human Rights Watch raises the money or not, they will still receive the $100 million from Soros.

“We hope that George Soros’s example will help the human rights movement worldwide by encouraging philanthropists to invest in the ideals of human rights,” said Kenneth Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch.

Photo by Jeff Ooi via Wikimedia Commons.