What is the difference between GiveRadar and IATI?

Different data layers. IATI (International Aid Transparency Initiative) is an open data standard launched in September 2008 at the Third High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness in Accra, Ghana. It defines an XML-based format for organizations to publish development and humanitarian aid activity data: who funds what, where, in which sector, with what results. Approximately 1,690 publishers (donor governments, multilateral institutions, foundations, NGOs, and private sector organizations) have published roughly 1 million activities to the IATI standard. The IATI Registry catalogs these publishers and the IATI Datastore makes their published data queryable in JSON, CSV, and XML. GiveRadar is a charity organization database: we cover 7 million+ charity entities across 65+ countries with their registry filings, financials, governance, and Integrity Assessment. IATI is activity-level (where aid money flows project by project); GiveRadar is organization-level (the entities themselves).

Is GiveRadar an IATI Datastore alternative?

For organization-level research, yes. For activity-level aid transparency research, no. The IATI Datastore is the canonical source for understanding aid project flows: which donor funded which project in which country at what stage, with sectoral and locational tagging. GiveRadar does not replicate that activity-level depth; we focus on the organization side. If your question is "who funds Ethiopia's water sector?" or "what activities did SIDA report in Q1 2024?", IATI is the right tool. If your question is "is this NGO legitimately registered, what are its financials, what is its Integrity Assessment?", GiveRadar is the right tool. Many international development researchers use both: IATI for activity flows, GiveRadar for the organizations involved.

Does GiveRadar use IATI data?

Yes, as one of our enrichment sources. We ingest the IATI Datastore to enrich charity profiles with their published international development activities and IATI Organisation Identifier where present. This means a charity that publishes to IATI will typically have their IATI identifier surfaced on their GiveRadar profile, enabling cross-reference. We do not, however, replace IATI's own activity-level analysis tools; the IATI Datastore remains the canonical source for activity queries.

Who publishes to IATI?

Approximately 1,690 organizations as of late 2024, including donor governments (USAID, FCDO, GAC Canada, SIDA, AFD, BMZ, JICA, etc.), multilateral institutions (UN agencies, World Bank, regional development banks), foundations (Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Hewlett, Open Society, etc.), and major international NGOs (Oxfam, Save the Children, Mercy Corps, etc.). Coverage is strongest among traditional aid donors and the large international NGO sector; smaller domestic charities typically do not publish IATI data because their activities are not international development. GiveRadar covers all charities that exist in any of 65+ national registries, regardless of whether they also publish to IATI.

Yes, fully. IATI is an open data standard; the IATI Registry, IATI Datastore, and Country Development Finance Data tools are all free to access and query. Data is published as open public data with no licensing fees or usage restrictions. GiveRadar is similarly free for browsing the web interface and offers a free 100-request-per-day API tier; paid Pro and Enterprise tiers are available for higher programmatic volume.

Does IATI cover charities, or just aid projects?

Primarily projects (activities), with publisher-organization metadata as the secondary layer. The IATI standard defines activity-level records (a development project, a humanitarian response, a research grant, etc.) plus organization records that identify the publisher. The activity-level data is detailed (objectives, finances, locations, sectors, results); the organization-level data is comparatively thin and serves mainly to identify who is publishing. GiveRadar inverts this priority: organization-level data is the core (registry filings, governance, financials, Integrity Assessment) and activity context comes from external sources including IATI where applicable.

Should I use IATI or GiveRadar for international development research?

Use both. IATI's activity-level granularity is irreplaceable for understanding aid project flows: who funded what in which country at what stage. GiveRadar's organization-level breadth is irreplaceable for verifying any charity in 65+ countries against its national registry, surfacing financial signals, computing an Integrity Assessment, and detecting red flags or sanctions matches. Donor agencies, foundations, and journalists doing serious aid sector research routinely combine the two: IATI to map activities, GiveRadar to verify the implementing organizations.

Does IATI have an API like GiveRadar?

Yes. The IATI Datastore exposes a REST API returning IATI XML, JSON, or CSV; data is updated within 24 hours of publication via the IATI Registry. The IATI.cloud project (an Apache Solr-powered IATI Datastore implementation) offers similar programmatic access. Both are free. GiveRadar's API is research-oriented for organization-level data: free 100-request-per-day tier with self-service signup, Pro at 99 USD per month for 10,000 daily requests, and a public OpenAPI specification. The two APIs answer different questions: IATI's surfaces aid activities; GiveRadar's surfaces charity organizations.

Can I find a charity's IATI Organisation Identifier on GiveRadar?

Yes, where available. Charities that publish to IATI typically have their IATI Organisation Identifier (a globally unique aid-sector ID such as GB-CHC-202918 or US-EIN-13-1635294) included on their GiveRadar profile alongside their other native government identifiers. This enables round-trip lookup between GiveRadar's organization profile and the charity's IATI activities, which is useful for journalists or grantmakers tracing aid flows from a specific organization.

Comparison

GiveRadar vs IATI: an honest comparison

Different data layers. IATI (International Aid Transparency Initiative) is the open standard for development and humanitarian aid activity transparency, with about 1,690 publishers and 1 million activities. GiveRadar is a charity organization database covering 7 million+ entities across 65+ countries. Activity-level vs organization-level; commonly used together.

Skip to verdict See full comparison

GiveRadar in one paragraph

A free global charity research database launched in 2026. Aggregates 7 million+ charity organizations across 65+ countries from 50+ official government registries. Computes an Integrity Assessment from 0 to 100 from registry data, plus automated red flags, sanctions screening, and per-charity news context. Free public web interface, free API tier (100 req/day), Pro at 99 USD/month, public OpenAPI spec. We ingest IATI Datastore as one of our enrichment sources; charities that publish to IATI have their IATI Organisation Identifier on their GiveRadar profile.

IATI

IATI in one paragraph

An open data standard for international development and humanitarian aid activity transparency, launched 4 September 2008 at the Third High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness in Accra, Ghana. About 1,690 publishers (donor governments, multilateral institutions, foundations, NGOs, private sector) have published roughly 1 million activities in IATI XML format. The IATI Registry catalogs publishers and files; the IATI Datastore (version 3) makes published data queryable in JSON, CSV, and XML, refreshed within 24 hours of publication. Free open data with no licensing fees.

The 30-second verdict

If you want activity-level aid transparency (which donor funded what project in which country, with what objectives and results), IATI is the canonical source and we cannot replace it. If you want organization-level charity research (is this NGO legitimately registered, what are its financials, governance, Integrity Assessment, red flags), GiveRadar covers what IATI does not. Many international development researchers use both: IATI to map activities, GiveRadar to verify the implementing organizations. We even ingest IATI as an enrichment source, so the two complement rather than compete.

Who they are

A bit of context on each before the side-by-side detail.

IATI (International Aid Transparency Initiative)

IATI was launched on 4 September 2008 at the Third High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness in Accra, Ghana. The initiative is governed by a multi-stakeholder Members' Assembly drawing from donor governments, multilateral institutions, civil society, and partner countries; the IATI Secretariat is hosted by UNDP.

IATI is fundamentally an open data standard rather than a single product or service. The IATI XML format defines how aid activities should be described in machine-readable form: objectives, donors, recipients, finances, locations, sectors, transactions, and results. About 1,690 organizations have published to IATI, including donor governments (USAID, the UK FCDO, Canada's GAC, Sweden's SIDA, France's AFD, Germany's BMZ, Japan's JICA), multilateral institutions (UN agencies, the World Bank, regional development banks), large foundations (Gates, Hewlett, Open Society), and major international NGOs (Oxfam, Save the Children, Mercy Corps, and many more).

The IATI Registry catalogs publishers and the IATI Datastore (version 3) makes the published data queryable in JSON, CSV, or XML, with all data processed within 24 hours of publication. Approximately 1 million development and humanitarian activities are currently indexed, totaling more than 5 GB of structured aid data. All access is free; the standard is openly licensed.

GiveRadar

GiveRadar launched in 2026 as a free global charity research database. Where IATI focuses on activity-level aid transparency (project flows, sectoral allocations, recipient countries), GiveRadar focuses on organization-level data: the legal entities themselves and their registry filings, financials, governance, and operational signals.

We aggregate data from 50+ official government regulators across 65+ countries. Every charity in the database receives an Integrity Assessment from 0 to 100 calculated automatically across registration status, financial transparency, organizational transparency, third-party validation, and community signals. We surface automated red flags, sanctions screening, and per-charity news context.

Importantly for IATI users, we ingest the IATI Datastore as one of our enrichment sources. Charities that publish to IATI typically have their IATI Organisation Identifier surfaced on their GiveRadar profile, enabling round-trip cross-reference between organization research on GiveRadar and activity research on the IATI Datastore. The two systems are designed to work together rather than compete.

Side-by-side comparison

These tools serve different layers of the international development data ecosystem. Last reviewed June 2026.

Dimension	GiveRadar	IATI
Data layer	Organization-level (the charity entities themselves)	Activity-level (development projects, aid flows, project results)
What's covered	7 million+ charities across 65+ countries	~1 million development and humanitarian activities published by ~1,690 organizations
Sourcing model	Bulk-ingest from official government registries (IRS, CCEW, ACNC, CRA, etc.)	Voluntary publication by aid donors, NGOs, and other organizations to the IATI standard
Format	Unified normalized schema; REST API returns JSON	IATI XML (canonical); IATI Datastore exposes JSON and CSV alongside XML
Public API	REST + OpenAPI spec; free 100 req/day; Pro 99 USD/month for 10,000 req/day	IATI Datastore REST API; fully free; no rate limit documented
Per-charity scoring	Integrity Assessment 0-100 (5 components, automated)	No scoring; raw data exposure for users to interpret
Red flags / sanctions / news	Yes (auto red flags + GDELT news + Open Sanctions screening)	Not a primary feature
Activity-level project data	Limited (we ingest IATI as enrichment for charities that publish there)	Yes; this is the core product (objectives, transactions, locations, sectors, results)
Coverage focus	All registered charities globally, regardless of cause area or international scope	International development and humanitarian aid; voluntarily-publishing organizations only
Pricing	Free web; free 100 req/day API; Pro 99 USD/month	Fully free open data
Founded / launched	2026	4 September 2008 in Accra, Ghana (Third High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness)
Governance	Private platform (Timmermans Media OÜ, Estonia)	Multi-stakeholder Members' Assembly; Secretariat hosted by UNDP

When to use which

Different data layers, different best fits. Most international development researchers benefit from both.

IATI

Use IATI when

• You need activity-level aid project data (specific projects, transactions, sectors, locations, results)
• You want to map "who funds what in which country" across the global aid sector
• Your research follows aid-flow methodology (donor → recipient → activity)
• You are an aid effectiveness researcher, development economist, or policy analyst
• You need IATI XML or canonical IATI Datastore queries for downstream tools (IATI.cloud, d-portal, etc.)
• You want fully open data with no rate limits or pricing tiers

Use GiveRadar when

• You are researching the legal entities themselves (charities, NGOs, foundations) rather than their projects
• You want registry-filed financials, governance signals, and an automatic Integrity Assessment
• Your scope includes charities that do not publish to IATI (most domestic nonprofits)
• Sanctions screening, news context, or red flag detection per organization matters
• You need to verify that an IATI publisher is registered with their relevant national regulator
• Your research is donor due diligence, journalism, or grantmaking compliance rather than aid-flow analysis

Use both when

You are doing serious international development research. IATI's activity-level data tells you what an organization has funded or implemented; GiveRadar's organization-level data tells you whether the organization is properly registered and well-governed. Cross-reference works naturally: look up an organization's IATI Organisation Identifier on its GiveRadar profile, then jump to the IATI Datastore to see their published activities. Or vice versa: starting from an IATI publisher list, look up each organization on GiveRadar to surface registry context, financial signals, and red flags.

What we have in common

Despite different data layers, both platforms share core values about open and accessible nonprofit data.

Open data orientation

Both platforms publish data sources transparently and support downstream research without locking access behind proprietary licensing.

Public API

Both expose programmatic access for integrations, dashboards, and downstream research applications.

Global mission

Both platforms exist to support international research rather than focus on a single country's nonprofit sector.

Free for users

Browsing and querying data is free on both platforms; no paywall on the core research interface.

Honest about the limits

Where each platform is not the right tool for the job.

Where IATI is not a fit

• Researching the broad universe of registered charities; IATI only covers organizations that voluntarily publish
• Domestic nonprofits not engaged in international development (most US 501(c)(3)s, most national charities)
• Per-organization scoring, automated red flag detection, sanctions screening, or news context
• Verifying that an aid recipient is properly registered with their national regulator
• User-friendly browsing for non-developer audiences (IATI's interface is data-first, not consumer-first)

Where GiveRadar is not a fit

• Activity-level aid project data; we are organization-level by design
• Mapping aid flows from donor agencies to specific projects in specific countries
• Aid effectiveness research that requires canonical IATI XML for compatibility with downstream development sector tools
• Project-level results data (objectives achieved, outputs delivered, evaluation findings)
• The honest caveat: IATI's activity-level depth is irreplaceable for development sector research; GiveRadar supplements organization-level context but does not replicate IATI's project-level granularity

Verify any IATI publisher

Search any of 7 million+ charities across 65+ countries to surface their registry filings, financial signals, and Integrity Assessment alongside their IATI activities.

Search charities How we score Data sources

Primary sources

All figures sourced from each platform's own published documentation. GiveRadar figures are live counts from this platform.

This page is written and maintained by GiveRadar. We make no claim to neutrality: we built GiveRadar and we believe in it. We have tried to represent IATI fairly. IATI is a critical infrastructure for global aid transparency that we genuinely admire and ingest as one of our enrichment sources; we recommend it without reservation for activity-level aid research. The two platforms answer different questions and combine well. If you spot an inaccuracy, email [email protected] and we will correct it.