CPLR Recognized as One of the Most Transparent Think Tanks in the World
International organization Transparify, which has been assessing the level of financial transparency of think tanks worldwide since 2014, has surveyed 200 think tanks in 47 countries in order to determine whether they make available information on who finances them.
Centre of Policy and Legal Reform has been recognized as one of the most transparent analytical institutions in the world. According to a Transparify rating, CPLR received the maximum possible score of 5 stars.
International organization Transparify, which has been assessing the level of financial transparency of think tanks worldwide since 2014, has surveyed 200 think tanks in 47 countries in order to determine whether they make available information on who finances them.
Analytical centers, also known as think tanks, have become an integral part of modern democracies worldwide. They play an increasingly important role in public debates and public policy development. Think tanks generate new ideas and carry out independent research aimed at informing the politicians, the mass media, and the public. They research complex issues, which facilitate the making of important political decisions. Each think tank requires money to operate, and thus receives the support from a variety of governmental, international, or private sources. Nevertheless, there are concerns that certain policy recommendations provided by think tanks may lack objectivity and instead result from mercenary interests of the sponsors of these studies. That is why the think tanks’ transparency is such a hugely important precondition for truly independent research and analysis – as is the confidence in their findings.
Transparify rates the extent to which think tanks publicly disclose through their websites where their funding comes from and their donor information, and report on this in their annual reports.
The highest rating is 5 stars. To be awarded this number of stars, an institution must disclose to the general public the listing of all donors, clearly identifying funding amounts for, and sources of, particular implemented projects, activities, and research.
This year, the list of 5-star institutions includes nearly 70 institutions from all continents. This list also includes three Ukrainian institutions: CEDOS, Institute of World Policy, Centre of Policy and Legal Reform.
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You can read the full text of the report, «How Transparent are Think Tanks about Who Funds Them 2016?, here.
Each institution was assessed by two raters independently from each other on the basis of published and openly accessible financial data. They searched each think tank’s website for the availability of data concerning amounts and sources of funding, and then awarded it a certain number of stars according to the type and extent of information available.
The rating process was conducted between November 1 and December 5, 2015, with the adjudication on individual institutions’ rating concluding at the end of January 2016.
This report was made possible through the support of the Think Tank Fund of the Open Society Foundations.