Center for Research, Transparency and Accountability

What Center for Research, Transparency and Accountability does

CRTA is a non-profit civil society organization (udruženje građana) founded in 2012 and headquartered at Bulevar kralja Aleksandra 70, Belgrade, Serbia. It develops and operates a portfolio of civic technology platforms that support election monitoring, parliamentary transparency, fact-checking, and citizen engagement. The organization's primary constituents are Serbian citizens, civic activists and volunteers, journalists covering politics and civil society, and international democracy organizations such as the OSCE, the Council of Europe, the National Democratic Institute, and the Kofi Annan Foundation.

The core product suite includes Istinomer (a fact-checking portal that has evaluated more than 2,500 statements by politicians and public officials on truthfulness, consistency, and promise fulfillment), Otvoreni Parlament (a parliamentary transparency platform for the National Assembly of Serbia, which hosts the Sednica na dlanu AI service that summarizes multi-hour parliamentary sessions into searchable overviews organized by speakers, topics, and agenda points), and Građani na straži (an election observation mission that deploys trained observers to polling stations, including 450 stations in a representative-sample Belgrade election deployment). Supporting tools include Mandator (an interactive D'Hondt seat calculator with 2008–2023 historical data), ZmAI (an AI-powered election assistant chatbot), Crta.plus (a facts-in-context platform), an Election Timing Calculator, and Akademija demokratije (a civic education program). Underlying technology centers on natural language processing for text summarization and statement evaluation, knowledge retrieval across the fact-check archive, and process automation for media content analysis, supported by integrations with Google Analytics, SmartOcto, Action Network, PayPal, and AllSecure.

CRTA's business model is donation- and grant-funded: it relies on individual citizen contributions (one-time and recurring monthly donations processed via PayPal, AllSecure Payment Gateway, and Banka Intesa) and institutional funding from international foundations supporting democracy and civil society. All platforms, tools, and publications are provided free of charge, with no commercial pricing model. The organization holds GDPR and Serbian PDPA compliance, PCI-DSS Level 1 payment processing via AllSecure, and has received international recognition including the 2018 OSCE Democracy Defender Award and the 2013 W. Averell Hariman Democracy Award from the NDI awarded to its Director Vukosava Crnjanski Šabović.

Name

Center for Research, Transparency and Accountability

Legal name

Udruženje CRTA

Website

https://crta.rs

Company type

Private

Founded year

2012

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

CRTA is a Belgrade-based Serbian non-profit civil society organization that operates civic technology platforms for election observation, parliamentary transparency, and political fact-checking, serving Serbian citizens, civic activists, journalists, and international democracy organizations.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Belgrade

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Citizen Donations: CRTA receives financial support from individual citizens through one-time or recurring monthly donations processed via payment cards and digital payment platforms
2. Institutional Funding: CRTA operates as a citizens' association with funding from institutional donors supporting democracy and civil society development programs

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

CRTA is an independent Serbian civil society organization that delivers election observation missions (Građani na straži), political fact-checking (Istinomer portal with over 2,500 evaluated statements), parliamentary transparency tools (Otvoreni Parlament with the Sednica na dlanu AI summarization service), and civic education (Akademija demokratije). It complements field observation with a portfolio of civic-technology platforms — including the Mandator vote-to-seat calculator, ZmAI election assistant, Crta.plus facts-in-context platform, Ko je na vlasti governance tracker, and Vučićomer — all provided free of charge to Serbian citizens and supported by donations and institutional grants.

Product overview

CRTA operates a portfolio of interconnected civic technology products focused on democratic monitoring, transparency, and citizen engagement. Core products include Istinomer (fact-checking portal evaluating politician statements), Otvoreni Parlament (parliamentary transparency platform with Sednica na dlanu AI service), and Građani na straži (election observation mission). Supporting tools include Mandator (electoral seat calculator), ZmAI (AI election assistant), Crta.plus (context platform), and Akademija demokratije (civic education). The ecosystem spans election monitoring, parliamentary analysis, media monitoring, and citizen mobilization.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Istinomer: Fact-checking portal that evaluates statements by politicians and public officials based on truthfulness, consistency, and promise fulfillment criteria.
• Otvoreni Parlament (Open Parliament)
• Građani na straži (Citizens on Guard)
• ZmAI
• Crta.plus
• Mandator

Products and services

• Istinomer

Quantifiable outcome

• Over 2,500 political statements fact-checked and published on Istinomer portal
• +3 more outcomes

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration8 records

AI capability4 records

Feature7 records

Partnerships

Eight partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Kofi Annan FoundationcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership on electoral vulnerability assessment. The Kofi Annan Foundation's Electoral Vulnerability Index (EVI) 2026-2027 used CRTA's data and analysis for Serbia's risk assessment, assigning Serbia the highest electoral violence risk score in Europe after Russia.
• PayPalminorOthersPayment service used for collecting donations through the CRTA donation platform.
• AllSecureminorOthersExternal payment processor for secure credit card transactions on the CRTA donation platform. CRTA does not have direct access to payment card data.
• Banka IntesaminorOthersBanking partner for payment processing through the AllSecure Payment Gateway, supporting secure donation transactions.
• OSCEcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerInternational organization recognizing CRTA with the 2018 Democracy Defender Award for contributions to democracy in Serbia.
• National Democratic Institute (NDI)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerInternational democracy organization that awarded CRTA Director Vukosava Crnjanski the W. Averell Hariman Democracy Award in 2013.
• Council of EuropecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCRTA participated in high-level events organized by the Council of Europe's Parliamentary Assembly, Congress of Local and Regional Authorities, and Venice Commission, contributing to the Paris Call to Action for trusted electoral processes.
• European ParliamentcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCRTA Executive Director addressed the European Parliament Subcommittee on Human Rights on May 7, 2026, speaking on human rights and democracy in Serbia.

Scale indicators7 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Broad incumbents

• National Democratic Institute (NDI): U.S.-based democracy support organization already partnered with CRTA; works on political party training, civic participation, and election integrity globally, overlapping heavily with CRTA's remit.
• Open Government Partnership: Multistakeholder initiative promoting government transparency, accountability, and civic participation; comparable to CRTA's transparency, open parliament, and civic-tech agenda.
• International Republican Institute (IRI): Global democracy and governance organization operating programs in Serbia and the Western Balkans; shares CRTA's election observation and civic engagement scope but at greater scale.
• OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR): The OSCE body responsible for election observation across Europe and Central Asia; a parallel election-monitoring actor whose awards and methodology are benchmarked against CRTA's.
• International IDEA: Intergovernmental organization supporting democratic institutions and electoral processes worldwide; comparable in its focus on electoral integrity, constitutional design, and civic participation.

Regional players

• GONG: Croatian civic organization that monitors elections, advocates for transparency, and runs civic education programs—a near-twin of CRTA operating in a neighboring Western Balkan country.

Direct peers

• CESID (Center for Free Elections and Democracy): Serbian civil society organization focused on election monitoring, voter education, and democratic research—directly comparable to CRTA's mission and methodology within the same country.
• Transparency International Serbia: Serbian chapter of the global anti-corruption movement; works on government accountability and civic oversight in the same country as CRTA with overlapping transparency mission.

Emerging players

• Code for America: U.S. nonprofit that builds civic technology for government transparency and citizen services; structurally comparable to CRTA's civic-tech product development model though operating in a different political environment.

Others

• European Fact-Checking Standards Network (EFCSN): European umbrella body for fact-checking organizations (of which Istinomer is a member); relevant peer network as CRTA scales its fact-checking methodology and verification standards.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/crtars
• Facebookfacebook.com/CRTArs
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/crta---center-for-research-transparency-and-accountability

Compliance3 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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