Soros donates $100 Million to Human Rights Watch

Phokus

Lifer
Nov 20, 1999
22,994
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George Soros, the billionaire investor and philanthropist, plans to announce on Tuesday that he is giving $100 million to Human Rights Watch to expand the organization’s work globally.

It is the largest gift he has made, the largest gift by far that Human Rights Watch has ever received, and only the second gift of $100 million or more made by an individual this year, according to the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University. “We’re seeing noticeably fewer charitable gifts at the $100 million level from individuals reported than we did just a few years ago,” said Patrick Rooney, the center’s executive director. “Between 2006 and 2008, an average of about 13 gifts a year of that size by individuals was reported. In 2009, it dropped to six, and this year, we know of only one other.”

The largest known gift in 2010 was $200 million pledged by an anonymous Baylor University graduate, to be dispensed upon the donor’s death, for medical research at the university.

Uncertainty about the direction of the economy has made even the wealthiest individuals more cautious about making big philanthropic commitments, Mr. Rooney said.

Contrariness, however, is a hallmark of Mr. Soros, both as an investor and as a philanthropist. While others have held on to their money, he has made bigger gifts than ever. And he said in an interview that the gift to Human Rights Watch is the first of a series of large gifts that he plans to make.

“This is partly due to age,” said Mr. Soros, who celebrated his 80th birthday last month. “Originally I wanted to distribute all of the money during my lifetime, but I have abandoned that plan. My foundation should continue, but I still would like to do a lot of giving during my lifetime, and doing it this way, with such size, is a step in that direction.”

Last year, in the depths of the recession, Mr. Soros gave the Robin Hood Foundation, a charity that fights poverty in New York, a $50 million contribution that helped it raise significantly more than that amount. He also gave every family with children on welfare in New York State $200 to buy school supplies, a grant worth $35 million that enabled the state to gain access to some $175 million in federal money for which it would not otherwise have qualified.

So far this year, Mr. Soros has donated about $700 million to various causes, including the gift to Human Rights Watch. His hedge fund, Quantum Endowment, grew 29 percent in 2009, earning him $3.3 billion in fees and investment gains.

Human Rights Watch will use the gift to add about 120 staff members to its team of 300 around the world, expand translation of its reports and open new offices. The intent, said Kenneth Roth, the advocacy group’s executive director, is to increase its influence in emerging power centers. The group, which is based in New York, investigates and draws attention to human rights abuses around the world.

Mr. Roth said that South Africa had more sway in Zimbabwe than the United States and other Western powers. Similarly, India, China and Japan are more influential in Sri Lanka. “We need to try to generate pressure on those governments, those emerging powers, now, which means expanding our capacity to deploy our information,” Mr. Roth said.

Mr. Soros put it differently. “I’m afraid the United States has lost the moral high ground under the Bush administration, but the principles that Human Rights Watch promotes have not lost their universal applicability,” he said. “So to be more effective, I think the organization has to be seen as more international, less an American organization.”

He said the gift to the organization was “also from my heart,” an acknowledgment of the training in human rights issues and philanthropy that he received from the group when he was just starting to emerge as a major donor.

“Every Wednesday morning at 8 o’clock, a group at Human Rights Watch got together and discussed issues with the managers,” Mr. Soros recalled. “I was an active participant in that group, and human rights remains an important element of my foundation’s current activities.”

Mr. Roth said few people then knew who Mr. Soros was. “We were just trying to figure out what we were going to do that week and so on, and he was just a guy at the meeting,” he said.

The grant is structured as a challenge that asks the group to raise $10 million from new, primarily international sources, each year for the next decade, but Human Right Watch will receive the Soros grant regardless. Roughly 30 percent of its revenue comes from countries other than the United States, but less than 1 percent is from non-Western countries, where much of the organization’s work is focused.

Mr. Soros wants to see the organization raise more money in places like Brazil, Mexico, India and China, which will be challenging, Mr. Roth said. “This is a transformative grant in more than one way for sure,” he said.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/07/business/07gift.html

Unlike the Koch brothers, who stealthily donate to causes intended to destroy America, Soros is transparent to who he donates to and he donates to worthy causes

And just a reminder as to what HRW works on:

Issues and campaigns

* Traffic in small arms
* Land mines
* Legalisation of abortion on demand
* Pro-Matriarchy/Feminism
* Gay rights
* Rights of AIDS patients
* Safety of civilians in war; opposes use of cluster bombs
* Child labor
* Child soldiers
* Street children
* Genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity
* Torture
* Extrajudicial killings and abductions
* Extraordinary rendition by the United States
* Legal proceedings against human rights abusers
* Trafficking in women and girls
* Abolition of capital punishment worldwide

All worthy issues to fight against/for
 

Fear No Evil

Diamond Member
Nov 14, 2008
5,922
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LOL. How much of that $200 do you think those kids are going to see? My guess is it will average about $0
 

rudder

Lifer
Nov 9, 2000
19,441
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Good to see all that money he made from the housing bubble be put to good use.
 

senseamp

Lifer
Feb 5, 2006
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Ok let me rephrase. How much of that $200 do you think is going to ACTUALLY be spent on 'School Supplies'?

You tell me. You have accused a charity of stealing money intended for the kids, now YOU have to prove it, otherwise it's called LIBEL.
 

spidey07

No Lifer
Aug 4, 2000
65,469
5
76
You tell me. You have accused a charity of stealing money intended for the kids, now YOU have to prove it, otherwise it's called LIBEL.

Wow, you're dense.

The point is giving welfare mommas cash, the money will go for lottery tickets and booze and most assuredly NOT towards the kids or school supplies. Remember what happened when you give poor people cash like the katrina cards to be used for food and supplies?
 

Infohawk

Lifer
Jan 12, 2002
17,844
1
0
Most of our western capitalists make their money within the letters of the law. (I don't the the same can be said for Russian capitalists or so-called capitalists in third-world countries where there is no rule of law.) Good for them. When they donate some of their returns to worthy causes, it's good for us and for them.
 

Fear No Evil

Diamond Member
Nov 14, 2008
5,922
0
0
You tell me. You have accused a charity of stealing money intended for the kids, now YOU have to prove it, otherwise it's called LIBEL.

Holy SHIT.. wipe the fucking spittle of the side of your mouth.. take a few deep breaths and calm down. I've made the accusation that the PARENTS will steal the month.. nothing to do with the charity. But since it hasn't happened yet (The donation) its impossible for me to prove one way or another.. besides, expressing my opinion on a prediction is not libel.

Sorry I made the mistake of criticizing something your hero is doing! :rolleyes:
 

senseamp

Lifer
Feb 5, 2006
35,787
6,197
126
Holy SHIT.. wipe the fucking spittle of the side of your mouth.. take a few deep breaths and calm down. I've made the accusation that the PARENTS will steal the month.. nothing to do with the charity. But since it hasn't happened yet (The donation) its impossible for me to prove one way or another.. besides, expressing my opinion on a prediction is not libel.

Sorry I made the mistake of criticizing something your hero is doing! :rolleyes:

OK, you have made the accusation that parents will steal it, what is your basis for calling them thieves?
 
Nov 30, 2006
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Kudos to Mr. Soros for his humanitarian efforts. Funny though that you can't bring yourself to recognize the hundreds of millions the Koch brothers have given to charities...you know, those guys "who stealthily donate to causes intended to destroy America" such as the arts and sciences, hospitals, cancer research, etc.

Your world is so damn black and white...some say that color is a good thing.
 

Amused

Elite Member
Apr 14, 2001
56,857
17,730
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http://www.kochfamilyfoundations.org/FoundationsDHK.asp

Over 200 million to research for Cancer.

Tens of millions to education.

100 million to the arts alone.

And that's just one of four of the Koch Family charitible Orgs...

Shall I go on???

There are three other charitiable orgs by the Koch family that have donated hundreds of millions.

In terms of charitable giving, the Koch family blows Soros out of the water.

Thread backfire...

And to paint the Koch's as "stealthily donate to causes intended to destroy America" only serves to show your bias. The Koch's donate and serve on policy boards that are very much above ground and serve to SAVE what THEY think America stands for. They proudly put their name on their projects. Can't say the same for Soros.
 
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nonlnear

Platinum Member
Jan 31, 2008
2,497
0
76
http://www.kochfamilyfoundations.org/FoundationsDHK.asp

Over 200 million to research for Cancer.

Tens of millions to education.

100 million to the arts alone.

And that's just one of four of the Koch Family charitible Orgs...

Shall I go on???

There are three other charitiable orgs by the Koch family that have donated hundreds of millions.

In terms of charitable giving, the Koch family blows Soros out of the water.

Thread backfire...

Those evil sons of bitches.
 

BoberFett

Lifer
Oct 9, 1999
37,562
9
81
Kudos to Mr. Soros for his humanitarian efforts. Funny though that you can't bring yourself to recognize the hundreds of millions the Koch brothers have given to charities...you know, those guys "who stealthily donate to causes intended to destroy America" such as the arts and sciences, hospitals, cancer research, etc.

Your world is so damn black and white...some say that color is a good thing.

http://www.kochfamilyfoundations.org/FoundationsDHK.asp

Over 200 million to research for Cancer.

Tens of millions to education.

100 million to the arts alone.

And that's just one of four of the Koch Family charitible Orgs...

Shall I go on???

There are three other charitiable orgs by the Koch family that have donated hundreds of millions.

In terms of charitable giving, the Koch family blows Soros out of the water.

Thread backfire...

But, but, but, they're evil!

The loony left in this forum is a joke. They do more to damage their own cause by being complete tools than they convince anybody of the value of their message.
 

Phokus

Lifer
Nov 20, 1999
22,994
779
126
http://www.kochfamilyfoundations.org/FoundationsDHK.asp

Over 200 million to research for Cancer.

Tens of millions to education.

100 million to the arts alone.

And that's just one of four of the Koch Family charitible Orgs...

Shall I go on???

There are three other charitiable orgs by the Koch family that have donated hundreds of millions.

In terms of charitable giving, the Koch family blows Soros out of the water.

Thread backfire...

And to paint the Koch's as "stealthily donate to causes intended to destroy America" only serves to show your bias. The Koch's donate and serve on policy boards that are very much above ground and serve to SAVE what THEY think America stands for. They proudly put their name on their projects. Can't say the same for Soros.

I don't even know how you tally that up, but that doesn't change the fact that

a) his companies are responsible for destroying the environment and doing other reprehensible things like stealing oil from native americans:

Fines

In March 1999, Koch Petroleum Group, a Koch Industries subsidiary, pled guilty to charges that it had negligently allowed aviation fuel to leak into waters near the Mississippi River from its refinery in Rosemount, Minnesota, and that it had illegally dumped a million gallons of high-ammonia wastewater onto the ground and into the Mississippi River. Koch Petroleum paid the Dakota County Park System a $6 million fine and $2 million in remediation costs, and was ordered to serve three years of probation.[25]

In 1999, a federal jury found that Koch Industries had stolen oil from government and American Indian lands, had lied about its purchases more than 24,000 times, and was fined $553,504.[26]

In January 2000, Koch Industries subsidiary, Koch Pipeline, agreed to a $35 million settlement with the U.S. Justice Department and the State of Texas. This settlement, including a $30 million civil fine, was incurred for the firm's multiple oil spills in Texas and five other states going back to 1990.[27] The spills resulted in more than three million gallons of crude oil leaking into ponds, lakes, streams and coastal waters.[28]

In 2001, the company reached two settlements with the government. In April, the company reached a $20 million settlement in exchange for admitting to covering up environmental violations at its refinery in Corpus Christi, Texas.[29][30] That May, Koch Industries paid $25 million to the federal government to settle a federal lawsuit that found the company had improperly taken more oil than it had paid for from federal and Indian land.[31][32]

In June 2003, the US Commerce Department fined Koch Industries subsidiary Flint Hill Resources a $200,000 civil penalty. The fine settled charges that the company exported crude petroleum from the US to Canada without proper US government authorization. The Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security said from July 1997 to March 1999, Koch Petroleum (later called Flint Hill Resources) committed 40 violations of Export Administration Regulations.[33]

In 2006, Koch Industries’ subsidiary Flint Hill Resources was fined nearly $16,000 by the EPA for 10 separate violations of the Clean Air Act at its Alaska oil refinery facilities, and required to spend another $60,000 on safety equipment needed to help prevent future violations.[34]

In 2009, Koch subsidiary Invista agreed to pay a $1.7 million civil penalty and spend up to $500 million to correct self-reported environmental violations at its facilities in seven states.[35][36] Prior to the settlement, the company had disclosed to the EPA more than 680 violations after auditing 12 facilities acquired from DuPont in 2004.[37][38]
[edit] Lively Texas accident

On August 24, 1996, a pipeline carrying butane gas operated by Koch Industries subsidiary Koch Pipeline Group ruptured near Lively, Texas, a small rural town about 40 miles southwest of Wichita Falls. The highly flammable butane vapor ignited as a pickup truck carrying two men drove into it in their residential area, and the resulting fire killed them. The National Transportation Safety Board determined that the “probable cause of the accident was the failure of Koch to adequately protect its pipeline from corrosion.” As a result of NTSB’s investigation, it required Koch Pipeline to make a number of safety improvements and to conduct public education.[39]

and b) he donates to libertarian/rightwing causes that DO intend to destroy America. In fact, one of the reasons why he does so is so that he doesn't have to face too many fines when he's raping our country with his pollution.

Oh wow, a billionare donates to charity, big fucking deal.
 

Amused

Elite Member
Apr 14, 2001
56,857
17,730
146
I don't even know how you tally that up, but that doesn't change the fact that

a) his companies are responsible for destroying the environment and doing other reprehensible things like stealing oil from native americans:



and b) he donates to libertarian/rightwing causes that DO intend to destroy America. In fact, one of the reasons why he does so is so that he doesn't have to face too many fines when he's raping our country with his pollution.

Oh wow, a billionare donates to charity, big fucking deal.

1. You started a thread about Soros donating, making the ignorant claim that the Koch's do not. Thread backfire.

2. This country was founded on the ideology of individual liberty and limited government. No one can read the writtings of our founders and come to any other conclusion, unless they're deluded.

Any shift away from the authoritarian now would be a good one. The idea of individual liberty and responsibility is NOT destructive to America. Quite the contrary, it's what made us the last remaining superpower.

The socialist authoritarian ideal the left follows is what will destroy us, not liberty.

3. Nice attempt at diversion. But your OP seeks to compare charitable contributions. You lose. Thread backfire. Fail.