Anna Donath's Ex-Employer Makes Huge Profit Last Year

Last year, Shelter - Association for Helping Migrants received funding from Washington, Brussels, and Soros. The organization, like the failed president and former MEP of the opposition Momentum party, played a helping role in preparing reports condemning Hungary.

Momentum's President and EP list leader Anna Donath speaks at the party's election results waiting event for the local and European elections at La Vida DUNA Event Hall, in Budapest, on June 10, 2024. (Photo: MTI/Tamas Vasvari)

In 2023, the NGO Shelter - Association for Helping Migrants, a former employer of Momentum's failed party chief Anna Donath, increased its revenues by more than HUF 100 million, from 237.9 million to 343.9 million forints.

The organization is headed by Antal Orkeny, described by Magyar Narancs as the "daredevil of sociology." His biography is remarkable, as are his statements: he holds a doctorate from the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, is a professor emeritus at ELTE TáTK, and a visiting lecturer at CEU. His name appeared in the Soros Foundation's 1988 yearbook, and he is also listed among the grantees in 1995.

In recent years, Mr. Orkeny has regularly voiced his criticism of the Hungarian government, with his reproach also extending to the Hungarian people.

During the 2015 migration crisis, he accused Hungary's government of running a "hate campaign," which he called a "tragedy," claiming that there was "no self-control in Hungarian society... Instead, people are completely and utterly confused." He also contended that "the state, with its current refugee policy, is disturbing public peace on purpose, stirring up the devil that's present in all of us."

Later, he expressed his discontent with the government’s handling of the coronavirus crisis. Concerning public health restrictions imposed in 2021, he remarked, among other things, that "Hungarian society must recognize that the government has crossed certain boundaries both in the economy and in people's private lives, for political gain."

He also criticized what he described as Hungary's "homophobic law" and the idea of luring the renowned Chinese Fudan University to Hungary. Additionally, he lamented that, under COVID, "apart from individual closure, countries have also apparently moved in a closed, nation-state direction."

Against this backdrop, it comes as little surprise that Shelter closely cooperates with various organizations supported by George Soros's Open Society Foundations network, especially the Helsinki Committee, and has served as a basis for EU (click here) and US (click here) reports condemning Hungary for many years.

Looking at the association's 2023 report, it shows—somewhat surprisingly—that a substantial portion of the available funds (HUF 214.2 million) was spent on wages. Statistically, the association's headcount was 32.3, which implies that if the amount was evenly divided among the employees, each would have earned over half a million forints a month.

The largest contribution to support Shelter's work in 2023 came from the UNHCR, amounting to HUF 174 million. In that same year, various EU funds contributed HUF 35 million, while two funds from Soros's network transferred over 47 million forints.

Besides the billionaire speculator, the association's sponsors also include the US Embassy in Budapest (HUF 6.2 million) and several foreign refugee groups.

It's worth noting that Shelter had a budget of "only" HUF 141.1 million in 2020, meaning their coffers have more than doubled in four years. This growth is largely thanks to increased funding from the UN, which has risen by more than seventy percent during this time. Interestingly, Shelter’s report from four years ago did not feature any Open Society donations, making last year’s inclusion particularly notable, especially given reports that the Soros network was preparing to focus its efforts on other parts of the world.