Spinwatch and Powerbase.info are projects of Public Interest Investigations (PII), a non-profit company (number 0532986). PII is funded by grants, donations, royalties, proceeds from book sales and other writing and research commissions.

Unlike many organisations today (such as the PR and lobbying consultancies, think tanks and other lobby groups) we are open about how much money we receive, and from whom.

As our work has developed and PII’s income has grown we have attracted support from a wider variety of sources, including an increasing number of donations.  Although we are neither a charity nor a political party, we decided to update our financial transparency from our 2015 financial year onwards (1 February). Our new disclosure policy is adapted from that of the Electoral Commission, which is far stricter than the guidance in the UK for charity disclosures.  The Electoral Commission requires political parties to disclose donations where:

the value of that donation, or of all donations, visits or loans from the same source in this calendar year, is over £1,500 (for individuals), or over £7,500 (for members associations). When adding up different donations from the same source, you need only count donations of over £500.

We follow the Electoral Commission in defining donations to 'include gifts of money or property, and goods or services provided on non-commercial terms. Sponsorship of an event or publication on your behalf, or payment of your expenses on a visit are also donations’. It should be noted that PII, not being a political party, is not confined to receiving donations from within the UK.

Grants 2005 - 2016:

For a breakdown of Spinwatch activities in the first 18 months of the organisation (from January 2005-June 2006) including financial information please see our first Annual Report.