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Fourdoves Foundation
The Fourdoves Foundation was established in 2012 by Andrea Soros Colombel and her husband Eric Colombel. Andrea is the daughter of George Soros, whose macro...
Fourdoves Foundation
The Fourdoves Foundation was established in 2012 by Andrea Soros Colombel and her husband Eric Colombel. Andrea is the daughter of George Soros, whose macro trading at Soros Fund Management generated one of the great hedge-fund fortunes. While her brother Jonathan Soros and the broader Open Society Foundations carry the most visible public-policy mandates, Andrea's foundation emerged as a quieter, culturally focused vehicle. The foundation directs most of its programmatic energy toward preserving Tibetan language, literature, and religious traditions. Its signature asset is the Latse Library Collection, a repository of Tibetan texts housed in New York. Beyond cultural work, Fourdoves makes grants across a deliberately eclectic set of progressive causes — public-record filings show support for the ACLU Foundation, the Center for Community Change, and the Tsadra Foundation. The foundation also maintains a relationship with Acumen, the impact-investment vehicle founded by Jacqueline Novogratz, a long-term associate of the Colombels. An Altss research review of public filings identifies a small corporate-bond and government-obligation portfolio alongside residential real estate in Manhattan's West Village and a property in Rhinebeck, New York. Fourdoves does not disclose total assets. An Altss analysis of publicly available grant activity and real-estate holdings places the endowment in a $60M–$70M range. The foundation has no website, no LinkedIn presence, and no dedicated staff publicly listed — it operates through the direct involvement of Andrea and Eric Colombel. Andrea Soros Colombel also serves on the Global Board of the Open Society Foundations, creating overlapping governance between her personal foundation and the broader family philanthropic enterprise. In May 2024, the foundation's grantmaking continued to reflect a dual commitment to Tibetan cultural institutions and U.S. civil-liberties organizations, consistent with its posture since inception. The foundation's structural differentiator is its extreme opacity combined with a genuine, specialized cultural mission. Unlike the Open Society Foundations' massive, multi-region apparatus, Fourdoves concentrates on a single ethnic preservation mandate while maintaining a secondary progressive-grantmaking stream. There is no successor generation publicly named, and governance appears to rest entirely with the founding couple.
General information
Firm type
Endowment / Foundation
Year founded
2012
Location
Region
North America
Country
United States
City
New York
Corporate office
New York, NY, United States
Principals
Andrea Soros Colombel
Founder / Director
Eric Colombel
Co-Founder
Sector focus
Frequently asked questions
Who runs investment decisions at Fourdoves Foundation?
Investment decisions are made by Andrea Soros Colombel and Eric Colombel, the foundation's founders. There is no separate investment committee or CIO publicly identified. The foundation's financial assets, per public filings, consist of a modest portfolio of corporate bonds and US government obligations alongside direct real estate holdings — suggesting a conservative, internally managed allocation approach rather than an outsourced or institutional one.
How is Fourdoves Foundation related to the Open Society Foundations?
Andrea Soros Colombel serves on the Global Board of the Open Society Foundations, her father's flagship philanthropic enterprise. Fourdoves operates as a legally separate private foundation, not a subsidiary of OSF. The two entities share no programmatic overlap: OSF runs large-scale democracy and human-rights programs globally, while Fourdoves concentrates narrowly on Tibetan cultural preservation and a small portfolio of US progressive grants.
Where does the underlying wealth come from?
The wealth originates with George Soros, Andrea's father, who built one of history's most successful macro hedge funds through Soros Fund Management. His 1992 short of the British pound — which earned him the moniker 'the man who broke the Bank of England' — remains the most famous single trade in currency markets. Andrea Soros Colombel received a portion of that family wealth and deployed it into the Fourdoves Foundation.
What is Fourdoves' primary programmatic focus?
Tibetan cultural preservation is the foundation's primary mission. Its most significant ongoing project is the Latse Library Collection in New York, a repository of Tibetan-language texts, literature, and religious materials. The foundation also provides grants to the Trace Foundation and the Tsadra Foundation, both of which support Tibetan communities and Buddhist scholarship.
Does Fourdoves Foundation maintain philanthropic structures beyond direct grantmaking?
Yes. The foundation maintains the Latse Library Collection as an operating program rather than a grantmaking line. It also holds a relationship with Acumen, the impact-investment fund founded by Jacqueline Novogratz, who is a long-term associate of Andrea and Eric Colombel. The nature of that relationship — whether grantee, co-investor, or advisory — is not publicly detailed beyond the connection disclosed in public records.
What US-based organizations does Fourdoves support?
Public grant records show support for the ACLU Foundation and the Center for Community Change, both progressive advocacy organizations. These grants represent a secondary giving stream distinct from the Tibetan cultural mission. The foundation does not publish an annual report or grant guidelines, so the full scope of domestic giving is known only through public filings.
What real estate does the foundation hold?
Altss research has identified residential properties at 10 West 10th Street and 243–245 West 4th Street in Manhattan's West Village, a mixed-use unit at 132 Perry Street, and a residential property called Glenburn in Rhinebeck, New York. These properties appear to be direct holdings of the Colombels or the foundation and represent a meaningful portion of the estimated $60M–$70M in total assets.
Profile maintained by Altss using OSINT (open-source intelligence), regulatory filings, licensed data partners, and verified direct submissions. Read the methodology. Last updated: . Continuous refresh with full update cycles at least every 30 days.
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