BALTIMORE—A new major gift from T. Rowe Price Associates Foundation puts OSI-Baltimore over the $7 million mark in its $20-million fundraising campaign, OSI officials announced today.

Philanthropist George Soros founded OSI-Baltimore in 1998 and supported the operating foundation with $50 million to expand justice and opportunity for Baltimore residents. Soros pledged to give the institute $10 million starting in 2006, if it raises another $20 million over five years from the community to continue the foundation’s work. Since then, the institute has pursued a development campaign to leverage Soros’s continued investment in Baltimore to create lasting change in the city.

“Baltimore leaders from all quarters of our city – corporate, philanthropic, and individuals – are responding generously to George Soros’s challenge,” said Marilynn K. Duker, chair of the OSI-Baltimore board of directors and president of The Shelter Group. “These people know OSI is working to attack root causes of difficult problems.”

In the first two months of 2007, OSI-Baltimore has raised nearly $500,000. T. Rowe Price Associates Foundation, the investment firm’s charitable vehicle, recently donated $250,000; an anonymous donor also recently gave another $200,000. And many individuals gave amounts ranging from $75 to $2,000.

“The work that OSI has been doing has really made a difference in the community,” said Ann Boyce, president of the T. Rowe Price Associates Foundation. “We want to help ensure that the work here continues.”

“The Open Society Institute works to support a fair and just society in Baltimore,” said individual contributor Charles G. Tildon, Jr., the retired president of Baltimore City Community College. “Its Fellows program attracts committed people willing to tackle tough problems. The Open Society Institute, under the direction of Diana Morris, works to close the gap in unfair disparities.”

Toward the end of 2006, members of the Bunting Group – Mary Catherine Bunting, George and Anne Bunting, and the Bunting Family Foundation – donated $800,000. Other new contributors include the Lois and Irving Blum Foundation, Ben & Zelda Cohen Charitable Foundation, and the Jean and Sidney Silber Foundation.

“These generous gifts demonstrate the commitment of these Baltimore families to invest in the future of our city and create opportunities for all city residents,” said Diana Morris, director of OSI-Baltimore. “These people share our goal of a making Baltimore a better place to live and work.”

As OSI-Baltimore moves forward, it is pursuing four main objectives:

• Increase access to high-quality drug treatment to achieve a “tipping point” where 75 percent Baltimore’s drug-dependent population is in treatment.
• Increase public high school graduation rates from 59 percent in 2004-05 to the state average of 80 percent.
• Decrease incarceration and recidivism while protecting public safety by reducing the number of people entering and returning to prison by 5 percent.
• Populate Baltimore’s struggling communities with a strong network of proven, social entrepreneurs by awarding up to 10 Community Fellowships per year.

“OSI-Baltimore is dealing with the most difficult issues that face the Baltimore community, and in a very unique way, by trying to change systems that result in permanent change,” said Boyce of T. Rowe Price’s foundation. “We want to support that work. We feel it’s very important.”

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