Factary
Factary is a Bristol-based independent research agency, founded in 1990, that provides prospect research, proprietary UK donor databases, and fundraising consultancy to charities, universities, and non-profit organisations in the UK and Europe.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded1990
- HeadquartersBristol, United Kingdom
- Headcount1–10
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingServices
What Factary does
Factary (legal entity: The Factary Ltd) is a UK-based independent research agency and consultancy founded in 1990 and headquartered in Bristol, operating in the prospect research and fundraising intelligence niche. The company serves charities, universities, foundations, and other non-profit organisations in the UK and Europe, helping them identify wealthy and philanthropic individuals, screen donor databases, and research newly registered grant-making trusts. Its core assets are two proprietary databases: Factary Phi, a searchable archive of UK donations recording who gave and to whom, and the New Trust Update Archive Database, which tracks nearly 4,000 active trusts registered since 2005 and uses a custom 28-category classification system built specifically for UK fundraisers.
Factary monetises these assets through a subscription-based model for database access (annual and monthly subscriptions to Factary Phi and New Trust Update) complemented by professional services that are quote-driven and delivered by a small (1–10 employee) in-house team. Service offerings include hand-researched prospect profiling, database screening with wealth-band reports, new prospects research, reputational analysis, Factary Atom network mapping, interim researcher placement, and training/consultancy. It reaches customers via direct sales, content marketing (blog, monthly Phi Newsletter, Twitter), and thought-leadership publications such as 'Foundations of Wealth 2025'.
The company has remained privately held with no disclosed institutional funding, no parent company, and no acquisitions or exits since founding. The most significant recent strategic action was the March 2025 re-launch of the New Trust Update Archive Database with expanded classification granularity and grant-history data, followed by the December 2025 'Foundations of Wealth 2025' flagship report.
Factary firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Factary
- Legal name
- The Factary Ltd
- Website
- https://factary.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 1990
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 1–10 employees
- Short description
- Factary is a Bristol-based independent research agency, founded in 1990, that provides prospect research, proprietary UK donor databases, and fundraising consultancy to charities, universities, and non-profit organisations in the UK and Europe.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Factary industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Non-profit prospect research and fundraising intelligence
- NAICS
- Web Search Portals and All Other Information Services (51929)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Charitable Giving & Philanthropic Trust Advisory (FSAEAKAH)
- akta.pro secondary industries
- Philanthropic & Charitable Trust Services (FSAAANAI), Philanthropy & Foundations Advisory (Donor-Advised Funds, Endowments) (FSAAABAH)
Keywords
Where Factary is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Bristol
- HQ country
- United Kingdom
- HQ region
- Europe
Offices1 record
Markets served
Factary business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Services
- Cost components
- Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales
Revenue model
- Subscription Services: Annual and monthly subscription services for access to Factary Phi database and New Trust Update reports. Includes monthly reports on newly registered trusts and access to searchable archive databases.
- Research Services: Hand-researched prospect profiling reports, database screening services, and reputational analysis provided as discrete services to non-profit clients.
Go-to-market motion1 record
Distribution channels1 record
Marketing channels3 records
Factary product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Factary is an independent research agency and consultancy that provides prospect research, fundraising intelligence, and proprietary databases to the non-profit sector. Its core offerings are subscription-based searchable databases (Factary Phi donations database and New Trust Update Archive Database) combined with hand-researched professional services including database screening, prospect profiling, new prospects research, reputational analysis, network mapping (Factary Atom), interim researcher placement, and training/consultancy. Target buyers are UK charities, foundations, and universities seeking to identify wealthy donors, screen supporter databases, and research newly registered grant-making trusts.
Product overview
Factary is an independent research agency and consultancy specialising in database screening, profiling, publications and research for the non-profit sector. The offering consists of a core database product (Factary Phi - donations database), the New Trust Update subscription service with its accompanying Archive Database, plus additional research services including Database Screening, Prospect Profiling, New Prospects Research, Reputational Analysis, Factary Atom network mapping, interim researcher placement, and consultancy/training services. The company provides tools to help non-profits find potential supporters, research existing supporters, screen databases, and access training and consultancy support.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Brands
- Factary Phi: A searchable database of donations and support by individuals, trusts and companies in the UK.
- New Trust Update
- Factary Atom
Products and services
- Factary Phi Donations Database A searchable database of donations and support by individuals, trusts and companies, providing information on who gave and to whom. Used by UK non-profit fundraisers to identify donor prospects and research existing supporters.
- New Trust Update A subscription service providing monthly reports profiling the most recently-registered grant-making trusts, with information on funders' aims, interests, trustees and settlors.
- New Trust Update Archive Database An online searchable archive database containing over 3,500 funders featured in monthly reports since 2005, with classification by philanthropic interests, geographic area of benefit, grant capacity, trustees, and additional flags including corporate foundations and Foundations of Wealth.
- Database Screening A screening service that helps identify the best prospects for an organisation by screening existing databases to surface wealthy, influential or philanthropic people, with Wealth Band Reports showing prospects alongside wealth banding and lifestyle indicators.
- Prospect Profiling Hand-researched, up-to-the-minute reports for leading prospects providing detailed background information on wealthy individuals and grant-making trusts.
- New Prospects Research Research services to identify and profile new potential supporters, both individuals and foundations/trusts.
- Reputational Analysis Analysis services to assess and evaluate reputational aspects of prospects and donors before fundraising approaches.
- Factary Atom Network Mapping Network mapping service that visualises relationships known to a prospect, showing them as a visual diagram to help analyse and identify strategic potential in connections.
- Interim Researcher Temporary research staff provision to support non-profit organisations with prospect research needs.
- Support & Consultancy Experienced, research-based counsel and training services for non-profits, leveraging 25+ years of research expertise in the UK non-profit sector.
Quantifiable outcome
- 80% of grant-makers reporting on grants have capacity to give £10,000 or more
- +4 more outcomes
Companies that use Factary
Customer profileNamed customers2 records
Segments1 record
Ideal customer profiles1 record
Factary technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Feature4 records
Factary partnerships and signals
Strategic signalScale indicators7 records
Recent moves5 records
Expansion highlights4 records
Factary competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- WealthEngine: Wealth screening and prospect research SaaS for non-profits and fundraising teams. Closely comparable to Factary's database screening and wealth-banding functionality.
- iWave: Canada-based prospect research and wealth screening platform serving non-profits. Direct comparable to Factary on prospect profiling, screening services and donor intelligence workflows.
- Instrumentl: US-based grant prospecting platform for non-profits that combines funder discovery, tracking and matching. Direct functional peer to Factary Phi and the NTU Archive for prospect research, albeit US-focused.
- Cause IQ: Non-profit intelligence platform providing data on non-profits, foundations, grants and people. Comparable to Factary's role as a UK-focused information provider for the charity and foundation sector.
- DonorSearch: US prospect research firm offering wealth screening and prospect profiling to non-profits. Direct functional peer to Factary's screening and prospect profiling services.
- GrantFinder: UK subscription database covering grant-making trusts, foundations and grant programmes. Directly comparable to Factary's New Trust Update and Archive offering for UK charities seeking funders.
Broad incumbents
- Blackbaud: Large US-listed provider of software, data and services to the non-profit sector, including prospect research and wealth screening tools. Comparable as a broad incumbent that increasingly bundles data intelligence alongside CRM and fundraising software that Factary competes against.
- Candid (formerly Foundation Center): Established US-based philanthropy information provider (formerly Foundation Center / GuideStar) covering foundations and non-profits. Comparable as a broad incumbent in foundation intelligence with overlapping use cases to Factary's trust and foundation data products.
Emerging players
- 360Giving: UK open-data initiative that publishes standardised grants data from funders. Comparable because it operates in the same UK grants intelligence space and is increasingly used as a free complement or substitute to commercial grant databases like Factary's.
- Dataro: Australia-based AI-driven fundraising analytics and donor propensity platform for non-profits. Comparable as an emerging technology-led challenger in prospect identification, intersecting with Factary's prospect research value proposition.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat4 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights6 records
Customer concentration
Factary social profiles
Digital presenceFactary financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Factary leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Factary funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Factary M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Factary
What does Factary do?
Factary is an independent research agency and consultancy that provides prospect research, fundraising intelligence, and proprietary databases to the non-profit sector. Its core offerings are subscription-based searchable databases (Factary Phi donations database and New Trust Update Archive Database) combined with hand-researched professional services including database screening, prospect profiling, new prospects research, reputational analysis, network mapping (Factary Atom), interim researcher placement, and training/consultancy. Target buyers are UK charities, foundations, and universities seeking to identify wealthy donors, screen supporter databases, and research newly registered grant-making trusts.
Is Factary a public or private company?
Factary is a private company. It is classified as founder individual operated bootstrapped and is currently operating.
When was Factary founded?
Factary was founded in 1990. It employs 1 to 10 people.
Where is Factary based?
Factary is headquartered in Bristol, United Kingdom, in the Europe region.
How does Factary make money?
Two revenue lines are on record. Subscription Services are the primary driver. The others are research Services.
Who are Factary's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are WealthEngine, iWave, Instrumentl, Cause IQ, DonorSearch and GrantFinder. Broad incumbents are Blackbaud and Candid (formerly Foundation Center). Emerging players are 360Giving and Dataro.
Does Factary have an API?
No public API is recorded for Factary.
What industry is Factary in?
Factary's product category is Non-profit prospect research and fundraising intelligence. Its primary akta.pro industry code is FSAEAKAH, Charitable Giving & Philanthropic Trust Advisory, with a secondary code of FSAAANAI, Philanthropic & Charitable Trust Services. Its NAICS code is 51929.