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Billionaire financier George Soros, known for donating to liberal causes, now commands one of the most powerful philanthropies in the United States after having moved $18 billion of his personal wealth into his Open Society Foundations.

The philanthropy, launched in 1979 with scholarships to black South Africans under apartheid, supports efforts to promote justice and equality around the globe. The latest contribution vaults the charity into one of the biggest in the United States, behind those such as the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, founded by the Microsoft billionaires.

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“This is huge news, because he grants in a more political fashion than almost all of his peers,” said Eileen Heisman, chief executive of the National Philanthropic Trust, which sponsors donor-advised funds. “This is just going to put more dollars behind it.”

Soros ranks 20th on Forbes Magazine’s list of the 400 wealthiest Americans with a net worth of $23 billion. The 87-year-old hedge fund manager was born in Hungary but fled the communist country and put himself through the London School of Economics while waiting tables and working as a railway porter.