The Institute for European Integrity seeks to safeguard the third sector from high-risk organisations or individual actors who may corrupt the nonprofit space as well as threaten institutional integrity or democratic norms. Through our flagship NGO Watchlist, special investigations, and informative opinion pieces, we aim to empower the third sector to better protect itself from threats within and without.
IEI is an independent organisation whose team includes sector-leading investigators, academics, data scientists, NGO veterans, security specialists, and subject matter experts. Using our proprietary and conservative LESA methodology, the IEI team researches and analyzes third sector organisations (TSOs) and flags those that are found to have meaningful links to: malign influence and finance; financial and organised crime; narrative or reputation laundering; espionage; or possess other indicators as identified in the methodology.
One of the main observations that has been made by IEI is that much of the available information related to high-risk TSOs such as NGOs, Nonprofits, Foundations, Trusts, and Religious Organisations was anecdotal, diffuse in nature, and not easily accessed in one central location. Because the information is scattered throughout cyberspace, organic blind spots exist that expose nonprofits to unnecessary risk as they engage with other actors in this space. IEI consolidates, distills, and synthesizes information, alleviating organisations from having to conduct cumbersome enhanced due diligence processes and facilitating risk-based calculations for key leaders. Thus, the Institute for European Integrity's work is intended to serve as a tool for necessary due diligence to prevent the further infiltration of the third sector and hold accountable those organisations and officials who knowingly collaborate or affiliate with corrupt third sector organisations.