Method sources, processing and limits

In short

Sources

Donation registers published by electoral commissions, courts of audit, parliaments and party-finance authorities, plus the Authority for European Political Parties for the EU level. Nothing is estimated or taken from the press, and every donation links back to its official file.

Donors

Names are matched within each country, not across borders: the same company in two registers appears twice. Donors are classified by type (individual, company, trade union, association, foundation, public body, party) with multilingual rules; sectors are assigned to companies where the data allow it, mostly in Italy.

Recipients

Parties, their branches, candidates, campaigns, referendum committees and European parties. Every national party is linked to its European party and to the European Parliament group of its MEPs.

Currency

Amounts in other currencies are converted to euro at the European Central Bank's average rate for the year of the donation. The original amount and currency are kept and shown next to the euro value.

Private donors

Some registers also list public subsidies and transfers between branches of the same party. The register hides them by default with the “Private donors only” switch; profiles and exports can include them.

Updates

Index built 29 Sep 2026. The most recent donation in the register is dated 24 Sep 2026.

Limits

Totals measure transparency as much as money. Read them as what each country chooses to publish.

• Disclosure thresholds vary from every single transfer (Czechia, Estonia, Latvia) to gifts above £11,180 (United Kingdom) or €35,000 per donation (Germany, since March 2024). Small donors are invisible where thresholds are high.
• Coverage in years differs: some registers go back to 2000, others start in 2019 or later.
• France does not publish donor names. For Belgium, Denmark, Spain, Greece, Lithuania, Malta, Portugal and Iceland the index holds no named donations yet, only aggregates or public funding.
• Registers report what parties declare. Late, missing or corrected declarations are only reflected when the authority republishes its files.
• Names are published as the registers print them. Spelling variants of the same donor are merged where the evidence is clear; homonyms can remain.

By country

Sources

Reuse

Licence

Data can be reused under CC BY 4.0, crediting the original registers (national electoral commissions, parliaments, audit offices, the European Parliament's Authority for European Political Parties).

CSV

Every view of the donors and donations register can be exported to CSV with the filters you set: up to 500 rows with a free account, more on request.

JSON

/api/funders, /api/donations, /api/funder/<slug> and /api/suggest accept the same filters as the register.

Questions

What is Donorscope?

A searchable register of declared political donations in Europe. It brings together the official donation registers of European countries and the EU level in one database, converts every amount to euro and links donors, parties and European Parliament groups.

Where do the data come from?

Only from official disclosure registers: electoral commissions, courts of audit, parliaments and party-finance authorities, plus the Authority for European Political Parties. Nothing is estimated or taken from the press, and every donation links back to its official file.

Why is a donor or a country missing?

Many countries publish donations only above a threshold, only for some recipients or not in a reusable form. The Countries page explains what each one publishes and the threshold for naming donors.

How up to date is it?

The index is rebuilt when registers publish new data; the method page shows the build date and the date of the most recent donation.

Is it free?

Yes. Anyone can search the register; a free account, with sign-in by email, opens longer lists and CSV export. The data are reusable under CC BY 4.0.

How should I cite Donorscope?

Name Donorscope and the original register, for example "Donorscope, from the UK Electoral Commission register", and link the page you used.