The International Renaissance Foundation (IRF) was founded by the famous philanthropist George Soros in 1990. IRF is one of the largest charitable foundations in Ukraine, a national fund that is part of the Open Society Foundations global network.
The IRF mission is to promote the development of an open society in Ukraine on the basis of democratic values through the support of significant public initiatives.
Over the years, the International Renaissance Foundation has contributed to important changes in the country. Thanks to their efforts, an external independent assessment was introduced in Ukraine, which allowed to overcome corruption when entering higher education institutions. The Foundation contributed to the first professional association of journalists in Ukraine, the movement against censorship in the media and the development of journalistic investigations. The Foundation supported the establishment of an independent exit poll, which became an effective means of public control over the results of the elections.
Also, the Foundation's support was important in conducting public campaigns for free and fair elections, providing access to information and developing legislative acts regulating the activities of NGOs. With the support of the Fund in Ukraine, the system of free legal aid has begun. Substitution maintenance therapy (PIT) and palliative care have become possible. With the support of the Fund, the Ukrainian language was translated and about 800 works of the world classics of humanities were published.
The events in Ukraine over the past two years have created new challenges and opportunities that demanded from the civil society and the Fund for prompt reaction, the search for new methods and tools, the construction of new communication platforms and the expansion of the partners. Therefore, the Foundation focused its efforts on strengthening civil society participation in the development, implementation and monitoring of key reforms, respect for human rights, the fight against discrimination and the strengthening of international support for the changes that make New Ukraine.
The fund receives financial support from the Open Society Foundations, as well as from international donors and individual Ukrainian and foreign organizations and citizens. During its activity, the International Renaissance Foundation has supported 18,032 projects, to which more than 55,000 activists and organizations of Ukraine accounted for more than $ 200 million.
IRF governing bodies
The Board is the IRF's governing body that defines the IRF's strategy, policies and programs, oversees and controls its administrative and financial activities, program execution, and IRF grant distribution. Members of the Board are elected on the criteria of commitment to the principles of an open society, support of the goals and objectives of the IRF, and the presence of recognized achievements in strengthening the civil society of Ukraine.
Board members: Olga Ayvazovska (Chairman), Svyatoslav Pavlyuk, Larisa Denisenko, Tamila Tasheva, Yaroslav Yurchyshyn, Natalia Ligacheva-Chernolutskaya, Igor Gout.
Expert Councils are permanent bodies of public oversight, management and expertise that are created with a view to broadly engage the public in identifying and implementing the strategic objectives and priorities of the IRF Program Initiatives and ensuring a qualified independent expertise of project proposals and decision-making on grants within the competence of the Program Initiatives. The members of the Expert Councils are specialists in different fields that share the mission, values and purpose of the IRF and are competent in the respective areas of the IRF's program activities.
IRF Board members and Expert Councils may not have any material interest in IRF programs, projects and other activities.
