OSF will temporarily slow grantmaking as part of restructure

Open Society Foundations will “limit” grantmaking from October until the end of February as it sorts through a reorganization that will include changing its operating model and laying off at least 40% of its staff, OSF President Mark Malloch-Brown said on Wednesday. “We are now moving to shift our work and spending as quickly as possible onto a new model, a transition which, I am sure you understand, needs to be conducted in a thorough and joined-up way over the second half of this year,” he wrote in an email to grantees. OSF staff will provide more details to grantees “as soon as they have it available to share,” he added. This latest news comes after OSF announced in June that its board had approved cuts to its 800 global workforce of at least 40% in addition to other changes to its operating model. The latest cuts are in addition to the nearly 20% reduction in staff since it launched the reorganization in 2021. OSF has said the restructuring is aimed at becoming a more nimble and less sprawling organization, better able to respond quickly to a tense political environment and issues such as climate change. But the goal is not to centralize its activities or cut costs, Malloch-Brown said. “Open Society is fortunate to be in a strong financial position, but we need new ways of working to realize our mission,” Malloch-Brown said in the email Wednesday. Under the new operating model, OSF will disperse teams worldwide to work more closely with groups on the ground, he said. It also will make changes to its grantmaking process, according to Malloch-Brown. OSF will honor existing commitments, but will not renew all of them. And others will likely be added to the organization’s new portfolio, he said. OSF will be more focused on “specific opportunities for impact” and multiyear pledges that would allow grantees to pursue “ambitious, long-term action,” Malloch-Brown said. Taking this approach will “free us from annual strategy and budget cycles, allow us to pursue campaign arcs of different durations, and make us more responsive to a rapidly changing world.” Some new commitments will cover multiple geographies. However, OSF will continue to employ a global staff network and also rely on “local knowledge,” he said. Malloch-Brown is part of a new executive leadership team created to oversee the restructuring. Other members include OSF vice presidents Pedro Abramovay and Binaifer Nowrojee, and vice president and chief operating officer Sandra Breka. Further details about OSF’s new leadership structure will be published on its website “in due course,” Malloch-Brown said. OSF has designed its new operating model in consultation with staff labor groups, he said. The impending staff cuts are “painful news for all concerned,” he said. “We are deeply proud of everything Open Society and its network have achieved in the past years,” the email reads. “The cuts are not a reflection of that, but of a world in which we no longer enjoy the more favorable environment of the recent past and thus must change how we operate.”