About us

Overview

The Open Estonia Foundation, established on 19th April 1990 with the support of philanthropist George Soros, encourages and supports developments in the Estonian society that advance openness in a world that is getting more complicated and unpredictable day by day. Fear is understandable but it is a bad pathfinder. Open Estonia Foundation wants to direct the public debate towards more openness and tolerance. We do it by organizing events and initiating programmes as well as by supporting projects by other organizations. Our focus is future. Future begins today.

When looking at new development charts and lists of countries we are happy that many aspects of Estonian life that make us all proud, like the digital development, have been initiated by the Open Estonia Foundation. But it’s not about comparing Estonia to other countries. Estonia deserves openness for its own sake. We deserve openness today for the sake of the future. 

We wish that Estonia would be a place where everyone has equal opportunities regardless of income, gender, nationality, race or sexual orientation. We wish that Estonia would be a place where democracy means more than just a nice Greek word. We wish that Estonia would be a place where everyone understands the meaning of law and how and why laws are made. We wish that in-depth debates on all-important issues of Estonia’s future included all stakeholders. Many people share these hopes and we are helping to make it happen. To achieve this Open Estonia Foundation cooperates with NGOs, civil activists, entrepreneurs, scientists, educators, artists, media, municipalities and government.