A story published today has raised questions about OCCRP’s funding and strongly implies that we are influenced by our donors. This is simply wrong. OCCRP has no limits on its journalism and no donor influences our reporting. The story, co-written by a disgruntled former member of our network, was unable to cite a single instance of inaccuracy or influence in our work and relied instead on insinuation and implication. As a donor-funded media organization, OCCRP has built into its editorial process a number of safeguards to ensure that we maintain independence and that our journalists and member centers around the world can pursue stories they think are important and worth telling.
OCCRP has a long history of holding power to account and insisting on transparency even in difficult circumstances, and we have always been open about our funders. We list them on our website, in our published audits, in our annual reports for the past 17 years, and in our IRS 990 forms, which all U.S.-based nonprofits are required to file. All of these documents are publicly available.Â
Our journalists around the world work doggedly to report on issues few others are willing or able to do, in environments that can be extraordinarily repressive. Our stories come mostly from partner organizations and, as a result, we have published hundreds of investigations in countries that rarely receive international media coverage, and our work has contributed to the recovery of more than $10 billion in corrupt funds. Above all, our mission is to support this network of journalists, some of whom are literally risking their lives to expose corruption.Â
