Funding & independence
Who pays for this — and what they don’t get.
Document-based investigation is slow and expensive, and the people most able to pay for it are exactly the people we must never take money from. This page sets out where our money comes from, what it pays for, and what it can never buy.
- Policy ref
- FUN-01
- Advertising
- None
- Money from subjects
- Prohibited
- Disclosure
- Yearly, itemised
The rule that comes before any funding.
No money from anyone in the register, anyone acting for them, or anyone whose interest in a subject we couldn’t comfortably disclose. We check this before a contribution is accepted, not after.
§01Four things money never buys
What every funder agrees to.
No advertising
We sell no ad slots, sponsored posts, native ads or newsletter placements. There is nothing on the site for anyone to buy.
No money from subjects
We take nothing from the people or companies we cover, their owners, officers, lawyers, agencies or reputation-management contractors — in any form, at any time.
No paid removals
Records are never taken down, hidden, softened or pushed down for money. Attempts to buy one are logged and reported in aggregate.
No say over coverage
Contributors, members and institutional subscribers do not choose subjects, see drafts or get advance warning of publication — and get no veto afterwards.
§02Ways to support the work
Four routes, none with editorial access.
The first three are open to anyone. The fourth involves extra checks, because the sums are larger and the reputational risk cuts both ways.
| Route | Who it suits | What we disclose | Editorial access |
|---|---|---|---|
| Reader membership | People who want the register to keep going, and want the research tools that come with membership | Totals only; members are never named | None |
| One-off contribution | Readers who would rather give once than subscribe | Totals, unless above the named-donor threshold | None |
| Institutional subscription | Compliance teams, law firms, universities, newsrooms and public bodies with several users | Institution named in the annual report | None |
| Investigation grant | Foundations and philanthropic funders backing particular kinds of investigation | Funder, amount, term and any conditions published in full | None |
§03Where the money goes
The unglamorous costs behind every record.
Most investigative cost is invisible in the finished record. It is worth naming, because it explains why one dossier can take months.
Getting the records
Court filing fees, registry extracts, certified copies, company searches, property and vessel records, and the per-page charges agencies apply to anyone who asks.
Translation & local expertise
Reading filings in the language they were written in, by someone who understands the legal system behind them — not by machine translation alone.
Verification & fact-checking
The second editor who argues the other side, the late review that kills weak claims, and the re-checks that stop old records quietly going stale.
Legal review
Pre-publication review of contentious records, and the ability to stand behind an accurate record when someone would rather sue than reply.
Protecting sources
Careful handling of material people send us, safe equipment for opening untrusted files, and security work that shows no output until the day it matters.
Keeping records alive
Hosting, version history and preservation, so records still load and can still be cited long after the events behind them.
§04Funding we refuse
What we turn down — and report.
We report money we refused alongside money we accepted. A publisher that only discloses what it took is telling half the story.
We refuse contributions from anyone in the register and from anyone acting for them. We refuse funding tied to which subjects we pick, to seeing material in advance, to how findings are framed, or to how a correction turns out.
We refuse funding when we cannot establish where it really comes from, when accepting it would create a conflict we could not disclose, and when the funder is likely to become the subject of reporting. Where a refused offer is material, it appears in the annual report with the reason.
If a conflict appears after money has been accepted — a donor becomes a subject, or a subscriber turns out to be linked to one — it goes in the public conflict register, the coverage is reassigned, and the money is returned where that is the only clean fix.
Research tools for people who check the record for a living.
Membership helps pay for the register and, once approved, opens The Scanner and the professional research that comes with it.