Morale has hit rock bottom at OSF amid reorganization, staff say

Staff at Open Society Foundations say morale has plummeted and they have been left in the dark as leadership imposes a series of changes, including massive layoffs and funding cuts to Europe, as it seeks to streamline its sprawling operations. OSF has entered a new phase of the reorganization first launched in 2021 with the aim of concentrating global operations and providing bigger and more focused grants. In December, Alexander Soros, son of founder George Soros, succeeded his father as chair of the $25 billion New York-based foundation. And in June, the board approved layoffs of at least 40% of the 800 staff worldwide. Since then, senior leaders have proposed slashing at least 80% of the roughly 180 employees in Berlin and downsizing the Brussels office. The roughly 60 jobs in the United States program will be safe until at least March 2025, after the presidential election, according to an OSF spokesperson. “A detailed proposal has been shared with employees and their representatives in Berlin, which outlines a significant headcount reduction of nearly 80%,” an OSF spokesperson told Devex via email. “That is painful news for all concerned. We are deeply proud of everything Open Society and its network have achieved in the past years.” The reasoning behind such decisions has not been clearly explained to staff who, so far, only know that many will be forced to compete for new positions under the new structure before the end of the year, they told Devex. Morale has sunk as frustration grows, they said. “People are very worried. People are very confused. They don’t have good information,” an OSF staffer based in the U.S. said. Those whose positions are eliminated can compete for posts under the new structure after top jobs are filled, staff said. “You could look at it as musical chairs where you have 1,000 people going to sit on 600 chairs,” according to a second U.S. staffer. “I've never seen morale lower.” OSF has provided few details on which offices will be affected by the layoffs or how staff will be shifted to new positions. However, the organization acknowledged that it will cut funding for initiatives within the European Union. OSF recently informed grantees in a letter that it would scale back most of its operations in the EU from 2024. “Open Society’s recalibration of our work in the European Union is part of a broader change in the organization, as we introduce a new operating model that includes a global review of how we work to support democracy, human rights, and climate justice,” an OSF spokesperson said in an email to Devex. OSF will continue to fund civil society groups across Europe and finance human rights, democracy, and accountable governments “most notably in Ukraine, Moldova, Kyrgyzstan, and the Western Balkans through the work of our national foundations,” the spokesperson added. OSF spent more than $209.4 million in Europe and Central Asia in 2021. The region, especially its former communist countries, has long been a priority for George Soros, who is a Hungarian Jew and Holocaust survivor. Radio Free Europe was first to report that OSF planned to slash EU funding. The decision was made by Alex Soros. “The Open Society Foundations is changing the way we work, but my family and OSF have long supported, and remain steadfastly committed to the European project,” he said in a statement to Devex. Others don’t share his optimism. The impending retreat from the EU is worrying as authoritarianism rises throughout Europe, a Berlin-based staffer said. It’s a potentially dangerous pivot, added Merrill Sovner, assistant director at the City University of New York’s European Union Studies Center. “In general, civil society organizations in Central and Eastern Europe still need the flexible support that OSF and other U.S. foundations provided,” she said. Such funding allows groups to conduct ongoing monitoring and advocacy of regional governments, which lean populist and authoritarian to varying degrees, said Sovner, who previously worked on civil society programs for OSF. While there are some other funding sources in Central and Eastern Europe, most are not as consistent as OSF, she said, adding that the U.S. Agency for International Development only recently started reengaging in the region, and support from European funders had been “restricted and inconsistent.” “My personal opinion is that Central and Eastern European populism continues to be a model for other countries, including the United States,” Sovner said. “This is why supporting civil society in the region is so important.” Staff who spoke to Devex say it is just the first phase of changes expected in European offices. Leadership has notified employees that the Berlin office could be gutted to as few as 20, they said. The decision to slash funding and staff not only endangers OSF’s human rights work in Europe over the past three decades but could leave some current employees vulnerable to persecution, the Berlin staffer said. Some Berlin colleagues had relocated from Central Asia, the Middle East and North Africa, and other parts of Europe, including the Budapest office that OSF shuttered in 2018 after intense pressure from Hungarian laws — the so-called “Stop Soros” legislation — that targeted NGOs serving refugees and migrants, this person noted. “They’re basically being sent back to the countries where they were persecuted,” the staffer said. What’s next OSF has said before that it will abide by local labor requirements. In Germany, OSF is required to consult with a council of employees elected to collaborate with management on labor issues before moving forward with its layoff plan. Sometimes employers' decisions can be legally invalidated, if they cannot secure the approval of the council. Given that, some employees in Berlin are optimistic that the layoffs won’t be as drastic as proposed. “We are hoping for some adjustments, at least, to what is on the table,” the Berlin staffer said. Meanwhile, other cuts have already happened. The Barcelona office will close at the end of the year, according to the OSF spokesperson, while the Puerto Rico program was already closed, staffers said. A field office in Baltimore was closed earlier this year as part of an earlier phase of the restructuring. OSF’s response? Aside from Europe, staffers said OSF leaders have only laid out clear plans for the U.S. program, which will be exempt from cuts. The move aligns with Alex Soros' publicly declared goal of becoming more involved in domestic affairs. He recently told The Wall Street Journal that he was “more political” than his father in regard to U.S. politics. He also has been credited with increasing funding to Latin America where OSF spent more than $111 million in 2021. Staff expect funding for that region to be prioritized given Soros' interest in the region and the inclusion of OSF vice president for programming and former Latin America program director Pedro Abramovay on the executive leadership team leading the restructure. Other members of the team include OSF President Mark Malloch-Brown, OSF Vice President of Programs Binaifer Nowrojee, and Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Sandra Breka. A small group of senior directors also will be selected to work with the vice presidents, OSF has said. These leaders have not presented staff with many options to provide feedback or ask questions, staffers said. OSF used to have town hall meetings where staff could pose questions directly to senior leadership, but those were significantly reduced after Malloch-Brown became president in 2021, a U.S.-based staffer said. The global meetings held now tend to be limited and heavily moderated, they said. The staff also pointed out that 37-year-old Alex Soros was perceived as inexperienced and highlighted the heavy reliance on outside consultants throughout the process. Malloch-Brown has publicly spoken about working with The Bridgespan Group, a philanthropic and nonprofit advisory firm. A Bridgespan spokesperson confirmed the relationship. The most recent changes were carried out in consultation with Deloitte, according to staff members. Deloitte declined to comment for this story. “I’d say this whole process has been marked by this startling lack of awareness about how grantmaking impacts our grantees and the fields that they’re working in,” one U.S. staffer said. “Right now the internal processes have ground to almost a halt, and grants that had been submitted months ago are languishing,” they added. “Things are breaking down, and it doesn’t seem like management is even aware of the implications of this.” OSF grantmaking will temporarily “limit” between October and the end of February, Malloch-Brown said recently. He did not fully explain what that means but said that existing commitments would be honored and some might not be renewed. He urged grantees to reach out to their “points of contact” at Open Society for further information “as soon as they have it available to share.” “Our objective is to end the years of uncertainty and move into the future with confidence,” he said. However, staff say that in recent weeks they fielded numerous calls from grantees desperate for answers that they cannot provide. Devex reached out to several OSF grantees for this story. None agreed to speak on the record, even under the condition of anonymity. Right now, there is a lot of fear, the Berlin staffer said. There is no clear communication yet on which specific lines of work will be cut, “which is why I think a lot of grantees, despite their concern, remain relatively silent,” they said. “They don’t want to scare OSF or a future OSF off.” Update, Aug. 21, 2023: This article has been updated to include additional comments from OSF.