Funding
Full Fact is a registered charity. We’re funded by people like you, by charitable trusts, and by other funders. All the details are on this page.
Our running costs consist mostly of paying staff and renting office space in London. We have the usual overheads of any organisation, from computer equipment and internet connections to doing our accounts. We are based in London so that we can meet with central government and major media outlets without the expense of constant travel. We'd like to thank everybody who donates and makes our work possible.
Neutrality
We have rigorous safeguards in place at every level of our organisation to ensure our neutrality. These have been carefully constructed based on advice from our board and examples ranging from Amnesty International to the BBC. They include the cross-party board, fundraising safeguards, a conflict of interests policy, restrictions on staff political activity, feedback processes, operating guidelines, external reviews, and more. Most importantly, they include carefully recruiting staff who are sensitive to these issues.
Ultimately, it is for our audience to judge for themselves whether we succeed—we would encourage readers to judge our individual fact checks and our body of work as a whole. We provide links to all sources so that you can check what we’ve said for yourself.
Individual supporters
We are very grateful for the support of our readers, who donate thousands of pounds to Full Fact every month. You can help Full Fact grow, and check more facts, by donating.
Funders
We would like to thank all of our funders. All donations greater than £5,000 received are listed here along with the amount they gave and what it was given for.
Our funders have no input into our editorial content or decision making.
| (Tides) Google.org Charitable Giving Fund | £522,632 | Full Fact AI |
| Meta | £373,510 | Third Party Fact Checking programme |
| Thousands of individual donors and gift aid | £365,622 | Core funding |
| Mohn Westlake Foundation | £250,000 | Core funding |
| Luminate | £161,734 | Core funding |
| Health Foundation | £141,981 | Health fact checking - clinical misinformation |
| Nuffield Foundation | £100,000 | Fact checking and annual report |
| Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust | £60,000 | Core funding |
| Baillie Gifford | £50,000 | Core funding |
| John Ellerman Foundation | £50,000 | Core funding |
| Pears Foundation | £50,000 | Core funding |
| Full Fact Training sales | £39,306 | Core funding |
| The Dulverton Trust | £35,000 | Core funding |
| European Media and Information Fund | £31,967 | Health fact checking - clinical misinformation |
| Garfield Weston Foundation | £30,000 | Core funding |
| Michael Samuel Foundation | £25,000 | Core funding |
| Gill Family Foundation | £22,000 | Core funding |
| John Armitage Charitable Trust | £15,000 | Core funding |
| Highway One Trust | £15,000 | Core funding |
| Interest | £12,785 | Core funding |
| Full Fact AI sales | £10,822 | Core funding |
| William de Winton | £10,000 | Core funding |
| The Tinsley Foundation | £10,000 | Core funding |
| Meta | £6,475 | WhatsApp fact checking service |
| Education Media Centre | £5,711 | Core funding |
| Andrew Green | £5,669 | Core funding |
| Connected by Data | £5,380 | Rent |
| Google.org | £285,128.45 | Full Fact AI |
| Google AI for Good Impact Challenge | £198,690.84 | Full Fact AI |
| Thousands of individual donors and gift aid | £374,064.32 | Core funding |
| £290,775.69 | Third Party Fact Checking programme | |
| Mohn Westlake Foundation | £275,000 | Core funding |
| Luminate | £147,592.76 | Core funding |
| Nuffield Foundation | £100,000 | Fact checking and annual report |
| £84,834.23 | WhatsApp fact checking service | |
| Baillie Gifford | £50,000 | Core funding |
| John Ellerman Foundation | £50,000 | Core funding |
| Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust | £50,000 | Core funding |
| Pears Foundation | £50,000 | Core funding |
| Esmée Fairbairn Foundation | £46,667 | Core funding |
| Newton and Rochelle Becker Charitable Trust | £40,803.34 | Full Fact AI |
| The Dulverton Trust | £35,000 | Core funding |
| European Media and Information Fund | £31,208.29 | Health fact checking - clinical misinformation |
| Garfield Weston Foundation | £30,000 | Core funding |
| Gill Family Foundation | £30,000 | Core funding |
| Full Fact Training sales | £29,150.50 | Core funding |
| William de Winton | £10,000 | Core funding |
| Tinsley Charitable Trust | £10,000 | Core funding |
| International Fact Checking Network & National Endowment for Democracy | £8,083.66 | Fact-Checkers Working Together Research Program |
| Full Fact AI sales | £6,000 | Core funding |
| Peter Cooper | £5,036 | Core funding |
| Cecil Pilkington Charitable Trust | £5,000 | Core funding |
| Evan Cornish Foundation | £5,000 | Policy: Online Safety Bill |
| £305,119.64 | Third Party Fact Checking programme | |
| £116,352.14 | Framework for collaboration during misinformation crises | |
| £59,634.83 | Health fellowship | |
| Thousands of individual donors and gift aid | £370,148 | Core funding |
| Mohn Westlake Foundation | £250,000 | Core funding |
| Google AI for Good Impact Challenge | £235,222.77 | Automated fact checking |
| Nuffield Foundation | £100,000 | Fact checking and annual report |
| Luminate | £75,789.87 | Core funding |
| Esmée Fairbairn Foundation | £68,333.33 | Core funding |
| £61,809.84 | WhatsApp fact checking service | |
| International Fact Checking Network & WhatsApp | £53,737.20 | Vaccine Grant Program |
| Baillie Gifford | £50,000 | Core funding |
| John Ellerman Foundation | £50,000 | Core funding |
| Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust | £50,000 | Core funding |
| The Buchanan Programme | £49,801.68 | Core funding |
| The Dulverton Trust | £35,000 | Core funding |
| Gill Family Foundation | £30,000 | Core funding |
| James Padolsey | £30,000 | Core funding |
| International Fact Checking Network & National Endowment for Democracy | £26,576.58 | Fact-Checkers Working Together Research Program |
| Colefax Charitable Trust | £25,000 | Core funding |
| The M J Samuel Charitable Trust | £17,500 | Core funding |
| International Fact Checking Network & YouTube | £17,064.56 | Fact Checking Development Grant |
| Highway One Trust | £10,000 | Policy team |
| William de Winton | £10,000 | Core funding |
| Reed Foundation | £9,000 | Core funding |
| Good Thinking Society | £8,000 | Core funding |
| Dorothy Bishop | £6,000 | Core funding |
| Cecil Pilkington Charitable Trust | £5,000 | Core funding |
| Tinsley Charitable Trust | £5,000 | Core funding |
| £563,775 | Promoting international standards for sharing fact checks | |
| £232,400 | Third Party Fact Checking programme | |
| Luminate | £371,554 | Core funding |
| Luminate - Research grant | £76,603 | Research project with Africa Check and Chequeado |
| Google AI for Good Impact Challenge | £193,475 | Automated fact checking |
| Hundreds of individual donors | £160,803 | Core funding |
| Nuffield Foundation | £100,000 | Fact checking and annual report |
| Nuffield Foundation | £60,000 | General election |
| Vodafone Techstarter | £35,000 | Automated fact checking |
| Esmée Fairbairn Foundation | £25,000 | Core funding |
| Colefax Charitable Trust | £25,000 | Core funding |
| TTO Conference Ltd | £17,500 | Earned Income |
| Ndemic Creations | £10,000 | Core funding |
| William de Winton | £10,000 | Core funding |
| Cecil Pilkington Charitable Trust | £5,000 | Core funding |
| Australian Bureau of Statistics | £5,000 | Earned Income |
| Google’s Digital News Initiative grant fund | £210,445 | Third Generation Fact Checking |
| £20,000 | Automated fact checking | |
| Omidyar Network | £115,000 | Automated fact checking |
| Hundreds of individual donors | £74,796 | Core funding |
| Open Society Foundations | £71,917 | Automated fact checking |
| Esmée Fairbairn Foundation | £40,000 | Core costs to improve effectiveness and impact and explore new income streams |
| Barrow Cadbury Charitable Trust | £30,000 | Core funding to enable Full Fact to develop its capacity, reach and services |
| Colefax Charitable Trust | £25,000 | Core funding |
| Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust | £20,000 | Core funding |
| University of Edinburgh | £12,634 | ‘Fact’ Transmission and Persuasive Power in a Digital World |
| Peter Samuel Charitable Trust | £10,000 | Core Funding |
| William De Winton | £10,000 | Core Funding |
| Other | £25,069 |
- Nuffield Foundation
- Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust
- Esmée Fairbairn Foundation
- Barrow Cadbury Trust
- Peter Samuel Charitable Trust
- Omidyar Network
- Open Society Foundations
- The Tinsley Foundation
- William De Winton
Our 2017 corporate supporters are listed below.
Facebook gave £75,000, and Google Digital News Initiative gave £165,000. In 2017, corporate donations added up to £240,000, or 25% of our total income of £956,000.
You can read more information about funders from 2017 and earlier here.
- Nuffield Foundation
- Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust
- Esmée Fairbairn Foundation
- Barrow Cadbury Trust
- The Legal Education Foundation
- Peter Samuel Charitable Trust
- Laura Kinsella Foundation
- M J Samuel Charitable Trust
- Adlib Foundation
- Omidyar Network
- Open Society Foundations
Our 2016 corporate supporters are listed below.
- City of London Corporation
- Community, the trade union
- Diageo
- Kings & Wood Mallesons
- Monckton Chambers
- St James’s Place Wealth Management
- Rolls Royce
Each of our corporate supporters gave £5,000, with the exception of the City of London Corporation, who kindly gave £20,000. In 2016, corporate donations added up to £50,000, or 8% of our budget of £627,000.
We host the Google News Lab Fellowship each summer and in 2016 Google provided a £6,400 stipend for us to support this scheme.
In 2016 we received £10,000 from the Economic and Social Research Council, with £10,00 more arriving in 2017, and £20,000 from the Office for National Statistics to set up the Need to Know project. We are also grateful for £5,000 of research support funding provided by the Centre for European Legal Studies, of the University of Cambridge.
You can read more information about funders from 2017 and earlier here.
You can read our Annual Accounts and Reports on the Charity Commission website.
Funding from Facebook
Since January 2019, Full Fact has checked images, videos and articles on Facebook as part of the social network’s third-party fact checking initiative. This work is funded by Facebook. The amount of money that Full Fact is entitled to depends on the amount of fact checking done under the programme.
We publish independent reports on our experience of Facebook’s programme and our recommendations for how Facebook and the UK government can improve the quality of information on the platform. Our first report was published in July 2019.
Practical support
Our web hosting is very kindly provided by Bytemark Cloud Servers. We like Bytemark so much that we were paying for their services. Then Matthew Bloch, their Managing Director, saw us on BBC Question Time and emailed to say they would stop charging. It was a lovely message to receive, late at night after a hard evening’s work. Now they’re making it possible for us to run an ever larger and more complex site with no fuss and completely free.
If you've noticed beautiful images on our site or social media, there's a good chance they were donated by Alamy, the world's largest online stock photo agency. After meeting their CEO James West by chance, he immediately saw how much timely relevant images would make a difference to us. Within a week Alamy gave us an amazing Christmas present—access to their 90 million images to help make sure the facts stand out from the noise.
In 2019, we were joint winners of Google’s AI for Social Good Challenge for our work developing world-leading automated fact checking tools. Our prize was three years of funding and support from the Google.org Fellowship, which saw seven Google developers volunteer with our team for six months. The Fellows helped us build AI tools to help fact checkers detect claims made by key politicians, then group them by topic and match them with similar claims from across media outlets, social media, and parliamentary records.
We also benefit from a general Google Grants scheme for charities which provides $10,000 worth of Google advertising per month. They do not have any say in how we spend them.
Thanks again to all our supporters. If you'd like to join them, check out our donate page.
Full Fact fights bad information
Bad information ruins lives. It promotes hate, damages people’s health, and hurts democracy. You deserve better.