Billionaire financier George Soros has announced that if the city of Baltimore can raise $20 million, he will chip in $10 million of his own to fund the Open Society Institute-Baltimore for another five years, the Baltimore Sun reports.

Soros, the institute's founder, has given away more than $5 billion to launch Open Society Institutes in countries across the globe, including in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. The OSI-Baltimore is unique because it's the only one in the network that focuses on a single city. When he opened it in 1998, Soros never intended for it to operate for more than five years. However, over the years, the institute has provided the behind-the-scenes impetus for dozens of initiatives, including a high school debate league as well as a community fellowships program, which has spawned dozens of arts and education projects.

"I think it has been a terrific success," said Soros. "It is exactly because there have been a number of successful programs that it seemed like such a shame to end it. I think the city has made a lot of progress. The idea is that if this can be kept alive, then perhaps other community foundations in other cities could look at Baltimore as a model."