FAQs

Why does funding transparency matter?
At their best, think tanks and public policy campaigns make a valuable contribution to political life, generating new ideas and producing important research.

At their worst, they can provide a neutral front while actually working on behalf of vested interests. As organisations that exert influence on public life, it is right that we call think tanks to account and ask for a basic level of transparency.

What methodology do you use?
Since 2022, Who Funds You? has used the same methodology that was developed by the founders of the project in 2018.

Once each think tank is given a preliminary grade we contact them in advance so that they can confirm we have not missed any information. Each grade is reviewed by at least two people. Any grades that are challenged by Think Tanks, or otherwise ambiguous are reviewed by more than two people. You can see details of the methodology here.

What do the grades mean?

Grades A - B

Broadly speaking, these organisations have taken a systematic towards financial transparency and disclose the majority of their supporters. This is an indication that these bodies recognise that funding transparency is an important component of runing a credible research and policy organisation.

Grade C

At best these organisations are on a journey toward implementing a more comprehensive approach to financial transparency. However, think tanks with this grade still may omit significant funders, and so should be treated with some caution,

Grades D-E

These organisations may occassionally disclose funders but there is little evidence of a systematic commitment to transparently declaring their sources of income. As such, any claim made by these organisations to independence should be treated with scepticism and highlighted when their output is discussed.

At worst, these organisations may be be deliberately deceptive about their governance structure and funding. Such organisations have been described as "junk tanks."

Who Funds You though?
The Who Funds You? project is currently supported by the Great Call Cooperative. It does not generate more funds than it costs to run. If you want to help support this project you can become a subscribing member of this website.

How do you know organisations are telling the truth?
We don't. We simply ask organisations to make a voluntary disclosure. Where we can we may cross-reference with public disclosures some organisations must make by law, but we are not in a position to undertake extensive verification checks. If you believe an organisation has been less than truthful, please contact us in confidence.

What can we do if think tanks and public policy campaigns refuse to disclose their funders?
Ultimately this is less about campaigns and think tanks than the journalists, civil servants and politicians that listen to or write about them. We call for a more probing approach to organisations that refuse transparency.

In particular we want a level playing field: if a journalist describes a more transparent organisation as "industry-funded" or "trade union- funded", then they should not unthinkingly repeat an opaque organisation's claim to be "independent". At the very least journalists should always highlight any lack of clarity from organisations that are not transparent.

Anything less is unfair to those think tanks and campaigns that are upfront about their funding.

What happens if a think tank or campaign is funded by another organisation that is not transparent? Do you investigate that?
At the moment we only ask organisations to name their funders, but do not investigate those funders too. However, we do add some special conditions when awarding higher ratings – see the note in our methodology document.

Where there is evidence that donors have used opaque structures to fund a UK think tank and we believe there to be a public interest in reporting it we may highlight this in our email newsletter.

What can funders do?
Funders should insist on transparency – and many do. Besides anything else, responsible funders have an interest in knowing the company they keep by supporting a particular organisation, and should move their money away from those that won't say.

What is the history of the Who Funds You? project?
Between 2012 and 2019 the Who Funds You project was run by volunteers. The branding assets and social media accounts associated with the project were given to openDemocracy for free in 2022. In 2025 the project was spun out to the Great Call Cooperative.