Open Society Foundations (OSF) has announced the planned closure of Open Society Institute-Baltimore (OSI) later this year, its only program office based in the United States. 

In partnership with Open Society-U.S. and OSF and with contributions from local donors, OSI committed $20 million to the transition, with $10 million allocated to legacy projects, including an evolution of its Baltimore Community Fellowship, which has supported more than 200 grassroots social entrepreneurs and social justice advocates since its founding in 1998, and the Maryland Black Futures Fund, which will be launched later this year. According to OSF, the wind-down of OSI is part of the foundations’ global shift toward greater consolidation and focus, with a goal of having a leaner organizational footprint that enables OSF to direct more funds to programmatic work for greater impact. 

“True to our Baltimore spirit, we’ve decided not to view this development as a defeat but rather embrace it as a rare and timely opportunity,” said OSI-Baltimore director Danielle Torain. “With the tremendous partnership of our national and global leadership, we have raised to date $20 million to facilitate a responsible closure of our office and seed an exciting evolution of this work.” 

(Photo credit: Getty Images/halbergman)