Freedom House
Freedom House is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that promotes global democracy, human rights, free markets, the rule of law, independent media, and U.S. engagement in international affairs through an array of domestic and overseas research and publishing activities and training and exchange programs.
Soon after its founding in 1941, Freedom House was led by Eleanor Roosevelt, wife of the Democratic president, Wendell L. Willkie, Roosevelt's Republican presidential opponent, and other prominent Americans concerned with the growing threats to peace and democracy. Freedom House is led by a Board of Trustees that includes prominent Democrats and Republicans, business and labor leaders, foreign policy experts, former senior government officials, and journalists.
In 1997, Freedom House merged with the National Forum Foundation (NFF), which for thirteen years had worked to support democratic transition in the former Soviet Union and Eastern European. Freedom House now operates NFF's full range of democratization programs, including grant-making, professional exchanges and internships, counterpart training for NGO staff, and on-site technical support.
Freedom House publications assess the state of political rights, civil liberties, and the rule of law worldwide. Freedom In The World, published since 1978, provides an annual comparative assessment of human rights in every country of the world. The annual Survey of Press Freedom examines the effect of laws, political and economic constraints, and repression on news reporting in 186 countries. Nations In Transit is a comprehensive annual progress report on the status of democratic transition in 27 emerging democracies in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. Other publications include NGO News, a newsletter for nongovernmental organizations in the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, the Think Tanks in Central and Eastern Europe directory, and the forthcoming Survey of Religious Freedom.
Freedom House is currently headquartered in Washington, D.C., with offices in New York, Budapest, Bucharest, Kiev, Riga, Belgrade, and Sarajevo.
Stefan Batory Foundation
The Stefan Batory Foundation was founded by George Soros, a Hungarian-American financier and philanthropist, in 1988 in Warsaw, Poland. The Batory Foundation is an independent, non-profit organization dedicated to supporting the advancement of Polish society, particularly in the fields communications, culture, science, and education. It is committed to further developing the democratic political system and free market economy in Poland, as well as working toward political and economic cooperation among the nations of Central and Eastern Europe. The foundation supports programs facilitating the European integration process.
The Stefan Batory Foundation primarily assists non-governmental organizations, associations, and foundations through grant disbursements. According to the Foundation, the most valuable contributions to a society are initiatives that unite people around common aims and values, thus fostering civil responsibility and facilitating solutions to specific problems in local communities.
The foundation supports activities designed to strengthen the NGO sector and broaden cooperation between NGOs and other social partners. It helps NGOs that spread knowledge on citizens' rights and legal reform, and that counteract any form of discrimination against women and ethnic and national minorities. The foundation also supports educational initiatives, including assistance to students and teachers, and program development in the areas of conflict resolution, equal opportunity, health education, teacher training, and arts and culture curriculla. The foundation also provides significant financial aid to institutions and associations that support culture and the media.
