Tbilisi, May 8, 2014 – A report [1] released by NGO Transparfy [2] rates the financial transparency of 169 think tanks operating in 47 countries. Based on the analysis of information on the funding of analytical non-governmental organizations, which they released by them, Transparify has compiled a rating which gives the NGOs a score of 0 to 5 (where 5 means ‘the most transparent’) according to the level of transparency.

Transparify selected eight NGOs from Georgia for the study, including TI Georgia and the Economic Policy Research Center (EPRC), which were rated with the highest score – 5. It should be noted that the average rating of the 169 organizations is 2.2, while in the case of Georgia this figure is even higher and equals 2.6.

In total, only 21 NGOs out of 169 were rated with a score of 5. This rating means that these organizations publish complete information about their donors, indicating sums received and projects funded. The study says that these 21 organizations establish the golden standard in this area.

Non-governmental organizations are important actors of the policy process. Their purpose and mandate often involve giving recommendations to policymakers, by which they take part in the formation of policies. For this reason, they are obliged to ensure the transparency of the origin of their own funding.

Eka Gigauri has stated that it’s important for TI Georgia to retain financial transparency, because ‘People often ask questions about the funding of NGOs. In reply to all such statements, we can proudly point to the section of our website which contains complete information about the sources of our funding.’

According to Nino Evgenidze, the Executive Director of the EPRC, ‘Financial transparency of think tanks is very important for two reasons: first, the public should be informed of the sources of our funding, and, second, in order for us to demand transparency and accountability from the government, we ourselves should give them an example.’

Transparify’s rating is based on information that NGOs release about their donors. It is noteworthy that only 35 of the 169 NGOs studied have fully disclosed information about their funding, while 134 organizations are insufficiently transparent.   

The Transparify project is being implemented in the framework of a grant of Open Society Foundations (OSF), and a similar rating will also be published next year.