The majority of SOMO’s funding comes from governments and private foundations. We also receive grants and membership contributions for the networks we host (GoodElectronics(opens in new window) , Lobbywatch(opens in new window) , MVO Platform(opens in new window) , OECD Watch(opens in new window) , and Tax Justice Netherlands(opens in new window) ).

We are grateful for the financial support of our generous funders:

• Adessium Foundation
• The European Commission
• Ford Foundation
• Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland
• Ministry for Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands
• Various development organisations, collaborations, and funds including Civitates, CLUA, Freedom Fund, and National Endowment for Democracy.

We will not accept funding from funders whose mission, vision, or values are contrary to our own. To safeguard independent research on multinational corporations, we do not receive funding from:

• corporations, commercial enterprises, or development banks;
• funders that have the purpose (whether explicit or not) to bolster the reputation of a corporation/commercial enterprise (‘green washing’).

Our funding strategy

Our long-term funding strategy comprises four interrelated elements:

• diversifying our sources of income by deepening existing relationships and building new relationships with funders that are aligned with our mission;
• securing more general support, flexible, and unrestricted funding, to ensure the structure of our funding is supportive of our work;
• increasing multi-year, strategy-aligned funding;
• building the organisation’s resilience, particularly by increasing our financial reserves.

For more financial information, read our latest Annual Report.