WHO WE ARE

At FIND, we use finely tuned investigative skills, research tools and techniques to put critical information into the hands of the civil society organisations fighting to secure justice for war crimes, support survivors of human trafficking, counter digital authoritarianism, and hold perpetrators of environmental harm to account. Our team is passionate about bringing much-needed attention to (or legal action against) the wrongdoing of companies and enablers who profit from others’ suffering and making sure that bad actors don’t go unchecked.

FIND conducts and leads world class financial investigations into the actors, technologies and systems of human rights abuses, international crimes, and environmental harm. We partner with civil society to strengthen their ability to pursue justice for those affected by such crimes. Our work illuminates the companies, technologies, businesspeople, networks, facilitators and flow of funds behind these crimes, providing vital evidence and expertise to civil society organisations, public interest lawyers, journalists and international human rights bodies.

FIND is a not-for-profit certified as equivalent to a US public charity. Our not-for-profit status is written into our articles of association. Our team is based between Glasgow and London, where we are based at Camden Collective, a workspace that supports start-ups and small charities.

  • We define financial investigations as a method used to identify and examine the financial dimensions of an event or chain of events to support accountability efforts. This method primarily consists of collecting, analysing and interpreting the associated paper trail to document the flow of money or value, and/or evidence links between individuals, companies, places and assets.

    Financial investigations have numerous applications within human rights, environmental and international crimes accountability. They can assist in profiling individuals and legal entities, determining ownership and control of assets, tracing the origin and flow of goods or funds, or simply identifying and contextualising relationships.

    We do not have law enforcement or coercive powers to obtain private financial information. Rather, we employ a range of investigative techniques to gather intelligence and collect the paper trail, including open-source and source interviews. Documents and data we examine can include title deeds, corporate filings, financial statements, loan agreements and charges, credit reports, investment records, invoices and receipts, and bills of lading, among many others.

Our vision, mission, and purpose

Vision - Our vision is a world where human rights and international legal principles are upheld, biodiversity and ecosystems are protected, and no individual, state, or corporation profits from the suffering of people or the planet.

Mission - Through rigorous investigations and capacity-building, we support civil society in pursuing justice, defending the rights of people and the environment, and holding perpetrators and their enablers to account.

Purpose - FIND leverages financial investigations as a tool in civil society’s pursuit of justice. We work alongside our partners to open avenues for truth, accountability, reparations for those affected, and guarantees of non-repetition.

OUR PARTNERS

Civil society plays a vital role in holding systems and actors accountable and advocating for the rights of people and the environment. FIND works with community organisations, charities, NGOs, journalists, public-interest law firms and international human rights bodies. We prioritise partners who lack in the in-house capacity or funds to conduct robust financial investigations, enhancing their abilities through trainings and side-by-side investigative efforts.

Collaboration is at the heart of what we do at FIND. We achieve the greatest impact when we combine our strengths and bring together diverse skills and perspectives to tackle complex challenges. Whether working in partnerships and coalitions, we foster relationships built on radical transparency, shared responsibility, and trust.

OUR FUNDING

FIND receives income from grant funding and commissioned work charged at cost.

Since 2020, 55% of our income has been made up of grants from trusts and foundations, with the remaining revenue from commissioned investigations and capacity building engagements. 70% of our costs are staff salaries, with the rest divided between administrative overheads and direct programmatic expenses, such as subscriptions to research databases.

As a mission-driven organisation dedicated to working with civil society partners with limited budgets, FIND charges its time at cost for commissioned work. We have tried to make our services as accessible as possible, and also work on a discounted or pro-bono basis for partners who are not in a position to pay for our services.

We are actively seeking funding to grow our programmatic work and support more partners on a pro-bono basis. Our current donors include Open Society Foundations and Oak Foundation. To learn more about how you can support our work, click here. You can access our most recent statutory accounts here.