Transparify is an initiative that provides a global rating of the financial transparency of major

think tanks A think tank, or policy institute, is a research institute that performs research and advocacy concerning topics such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, technology, and culture. Most think tanks are non-governmental or ...

. It rates the extent to which think tanks publicly disclose their sources of funding, the amount of funding they have received, and the specific research projects that were supported by this funding. It is based in Georgia and has a not-for-profit status. It is funded by

Open Society Foundations Open Society Foundations (OSF), formerly the Open Society Institute, is a Grant (money), grantmaking network founded and chaired by business magnate George Soros. Open Society Foundations financially supports civil society groups around the wo ...

, an organisation set up by

George Soros George Soros ( name written in eastern order), (born György Schwartz, August 12, 1930) is a Hungarian-American businessman and philanthropist. , he had a net worth of US$8.6 billion, Note that this site is updated daily. having donated mo ...

. Its executive director is Hans Gutbrod.

Ratings

Transparify uses a five-star ranking system. Institutions that are highly transparent about their funding receive a five star rating, whereas institutions that are 'broadly transparent' receive four stars. Three star ratings and lower are given to think tanks that are deemed to lack transparency.

2014

For its first round of ratings, published in May 2014, Transparify rated 169 think tanks located in 47 countries. From all rated institutions, 21 were given a five star rating, and another 14 were given a four star rating.

2015

A second round of ratings published in 2015. Again Transparify rated 169 think tanks located in 47 countries. One of the findings was ''"Taken as a group, British think tanks drag down the European average"''. Three organisations in the UK were deemed to be 'highly opaque';

LSE IDEAS LSE IDEAS is a foreign policy think tank at the London School of Economics and Political Science. IDEAS was founded as a think tank for Diplomacy and Strategy in February 2008, succeeding the Cold War Studies Centre founded in 2004. The Chair is ...

Institute of Economic Affairs The Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) is a right-wing pressure group and think tank registered as a UK charity Associated with the New Right, the IEA describes itself as an "educational research institute", and says that it seeks to "further ...

and

International Institute for Strategic Studies The International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) is a British research institute or think tank in the area of international affairs. Since 1997, its headquarters have been Arundel House in London, England. The 2017 Global Go To Think T ...

. LSE IDEAS claimed to be ''"extremely surprising"'' by its one star rating, insisting its financial details are ''"... available online as well as in hard copy and can easily be found on the LSE IDEAS homepage"''.

References

External links

Official website
{{authority control Research institutes in Georgia (country) Anti-corruption non-governmental organizations Transparency (behavior) Think tanks