Stefan Batory Foundation

The Stefan Batory Foundation (Polish: Fundacja im. Stefana Batorego) is an independent Polish non-government organization established by American financier and philanthropist, George Soros and a group of Polish opposition leaders of 1980s, and registered in Poland since May 1988. It was named after Stephen Báthory, the 16th-century Polish king. The Foundation’s mission is to support the development of an open, democratic society in Poland along with other Central and East European countries.

Foundation’s activity is financed from income on endowment and grants from foreign institutions, from gifts of individual donors and 1% personal income tax designations.

The mission of the Batory Foundation is to build an open, democratic society - a society of people aware of their rights and responsibilities, who are actively involved in the life of their local community, country and international society.. In its activity, the Foundation is guided by principles of transparency and accountability. Up-to-date information on its activities and grant-seeking opportunities is posted on the website Its finances are audited by external experts and the financial statements are published in the Annual Report, together with the list of grants awarded and projects implemented during the year.

The Batory Foundation was founded in 1988 when the communist system in Central Europe was disintegrating. It was established by an American philanthropist of Hungarian extraction, George Soros, and Polish democratic opposition leaders of the 1980s. The mission of the Foundation was to contribute to the preparation of Polish society in the transition from communism to democracy, civil society and a market economy.

Early on, the Batory Foundation invested in the preparation of cadres for the market economy and democratic system taking roots in Poland by funding hundreds of scholarships and travel grants for economists, bankers, physicians, teachers, and local government activists. It also made a significant contribution to the various reforms being implemented in the country after the collapse of communism, supporting the reform of local government, public administration, and social welfare policy. These reform-related initiatives eventually gave rise to the Institute of Public Affairs, a major think-tank in Warsaw, which the Foundation helped to establish in 1995.

Based on the belief that democracy and open society cannot be realized without active involvement of the public, the Foundation disbursed hundreds of micro-grants to a variety of local civic initiatives, contributing to the establishment of numerous local organizations.

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Wikipedia