What Spotlight on Corruption does

Spotlight on Corruption is a UK-registered charitable company (Charity Number 1185872, Company Number 12123483) founded in 2019 that conducts research, advocacy, and monitoring on the United Kingdom's role in corruption at home and abroad. Operating from London with a small team of 1-10 staff led by Executive Director Dr Susan Hawley and Senior Legal Researcher Dr Helen Taylor, the organization targets four primary stakeholder groups: UK policymakers and parliamentarians, law enforcement and regulators (including the SFO, NCA, and FCA), media and civil society, and the legal and professional services sector subject to AML supervision.

The organization's core offerings are a suite of analytical products rather than a software platform. These include five Anti-Corruption Enforcement Trackers covering money laundering, bribery, asset recovery, fraud, and AML supervision (with longitudinal data from 2013/14), a Court Calendar and Sanctions Cases database providing transparency on key UK anti-corruption proceedings, and an ongoing stream of Reports & Briefings, formal Submissions to government consultations, and an email newsletter. The underlying technology is a CMS-hosted website (spotlightcorruption.org) plus curated databases; there is no proprietary software stack or AI component disclosed. All public outputs are distributed free of charge.

The business model is donations and charitable funding; the organization explicitly does not monetize its research products. Distribution runs through two parallel channels: free public access via the website and Bluesky, and elite advocacy distribution through direct parliamentary submissions, briefings to Peers and MPs, and coalition work with the UK Anti-Corruption Coalition, Transparency International UK, Open Ownership, RUSI, and Global Integrity. Demonstrated policy impact includes contributing to the closure of the UK's Golden Visa regime, influencing the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act, and exposing VIP-lane PPE procurement failures.

Name

Spotlight on Corruption

Legal name

Spotlight on Corruption

Website

https://spotlightcorruption.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2019

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Spotlight on Corruption is a UK charity that conducts research and advocacy on the UK's role in corruption, publishing enforcement trackers, court calendars, and policy briefings to influence anti-corruption legislation and enforcement.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Anti-Corruption Policy Advocacy

NAICS

Political Organizations (813940)

akta.pro primary industry

Government Accountability, Ethics & Anti-Corruption Advocacy (BPAGAFAN)

akta.pro secondary industry

Public Communications, Transparency & Open Government (BPAIAAAH)

Keywords

• Anti-corruption research
• Policy advocacy services
• Enforcement tracking
• Court transparency tools
• Economic crime monitoring

Headquarters

HQ city

London

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Donations and Charitable Funding: Spotlight on Corruption is a registered charity (Charity Number 1185872) that relies on donations and grant funding to support its operations. The website features a 'Donate' section, and the organization references funders and partners on their website.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Spotlight on Corruption is an independent UK anti-corruption charity that produces research publications, policy briefings, and enforcement monitoring tools focused on the UK's role in corruption at home and abroad. Its portfolio includes online Anti-Corruption Enforcement Trackers (covering money laundering, bribery, asset recovery, fraud, and AML supervision), a Court Calendar database of forthcoming UK anti-corruption hearings, a Sanctions Cases Tracker, formal Submissions to government consultations, and a Newsletter distributed to policymakers, regulators, journalists, and civil society stakeholders.

Product overview

Spotlight on Corruption is a UK-based anti-corruption research and advocacy charity (Charity Number 1185872, Company number 12123483) that operates a portfolio of enforcement tracking and publication products. Its core offerings include a suite of Anti-Corruption Enforcement Trackers (covering money laundering, bribery, asset recovery, fraud, and AML supervision), a Court Calendar with Sanctions Cases database, Reports & Briefings publications, government Submissions, and a Newsletter. The organization does not offer a software platform but rather delivers analytical content, data, and policy advocacy to stakeholders.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Anti-Corruption Enforcement Trackers A suite of online enforcement trackers monitoring UK anti-corruption enforcement actions across money laundering, bribery, asset recovery, fraud, and anti-money laundering supervision. It is offered free of charge to policymakers, regulators, journalists, researchers, and civil society to surface prosecution trends and enforcement gaps.
• Court Calendar A searchable database of forthcoming dates in key UK anti-corruption court cases, providing transparency on judicial proceedings for journalists, researchers, and the public.
• Sanctions Cases Tracker A dedicated tracker for UK sanctions-related court cases and enforcement actions, supporting transparency on sanctions enforcement.
• Reports & Briefings In-depth research publications on UK anti-corruption issues, including policy analysis, legislative briefings, and investigative reports, available free of charge to the public.
• Submissions Formal policy submissions to UK government consultations and parliamentary inquiries on economic crime and anti-corruption legislation, used to influence legislative reform.
• Newsletter Email newsletter providing updates on Spotlight's work, impact, and developments in the UK and global anti-corruption space.

Quantifiable outcome

• Contributed to closure of UK's Golden Visa regime
• +3 more outcomes

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature2 records

Partnerships

Six partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• UK Anti-Corruption CoalitioncoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerSpotlight worked closely with academics, experts, and civil society colleagues in the UK Anti-Corruption Coalition to push for stronger post-Brexit procurement regime in the Procurement Act 2023.
• Transparency International UKcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerAllied with Transparency International on Companies House reform advocacy. Transparency International stated the ECCTA reforms were 'a major step forward in the fight against corruption' while noting ongoing loopholes.
• Open OwnershipcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnered with Open Ownership on corporate beneficial ownership transparency advocacy, particularly regarding Companies House reform and access to trust information.
• Global IntegritycoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCo-authored the report 'A Privileged Profession? How the UK's legal sector escapes effective supervision for money laundering' with Global Integrity's GI-ACE Anti-Corruption Evidence programme.
• Royal United Services Institute (RUSI)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaborated with RUSI on roundtable discussion about resourcing the fight against economic crime, attended by government and law enforcement officials.
• Media Partners (Court Transparency)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerJoint submission with five media partners opposing SFO's application for reporting restrictions to conceal identities of individuals in the London Mining case investigation, upholding open justice principles.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Transparency International UK: UK chapter of the global anti-corruption NGO; Spotlight's most direct peer in mission, geography, and audience. Spotlight has partnered with TI UK on Companies House reform and ECCTA advocacy, indicating overlapping mandates and comparable stakeholder bases in UK policymakers and law enforcement.
• Global Integrity: Independent anti-corruption research and evidence organization that co-authored 'A Privileged Profession?' with Spotlight on legal sector AML supervision. Operates in adjacent niche (anti-corruption evidence/research) with comparable funding model (foundation grants) and similar audience of policymakers and donors.
• Open Ownership: Specializes in beneficial ownership transparency, the same corporate registry reform issue Spotlight actively campaigns on. Partnered with Spotlight on Companies House and trust transparency advocacy, making it a natural peer in policy niche and audience.

Broad incumbents

• Global Witness: Larger, established investigative NGO covering corruption, environmental crime, and illicit finance. Comparable in advocacy model, donor base, and policy focus on UK enforcement of economic crime, but operates at greater scale across more jurisdictions.
• Tax Justice Network: Independent research and advocacy organization focused on tax havens, illicit financial flows, and corporate transparency. Highly comparable to Spotlight on UK role in facilitating corruption and money laundering, with similar research-and-advocacy nonprofit model.
• Royal United Services Institute (RUSI): UK defense and security think tank that has collaborated with Spotlight on economic crime resourcing roundtables. Operates as a broader security/policy research organization but intersects directly on AML supervision, NCA reform, and economic crime enforcement issues Spotlight covers.

Emerging players

• Bellingcat: Open-source investigations organization with comparable methodology (FOI requests, data-driven investigations, court transparency advocacy). While primarily focused on conflict and human rights, Bellingcat's investigative model overlaps with Spotlight's case analysis approach.
• Open Democracy: Independent investigative journalism outlet that covers UK lobbying, dark money, and political finance. Comparable on transparency and democratic accountability themes and reaches overlapping audiences of UK policymakers and informed public.
• Anti-Corruption Evidence (ACE) Research Consortium: SOAS-led research partnership producing evidence on anti-corruption approaches in development contexts. Methodologically comparable (academic-policy research with impact focus) but geographically broader, with overlapping funder base and similar advocacy/research hybrid model.

Regional players

• Centre for Crime and Justice Studies: UK-based criminal justice research and advocacy organization. Less specialized than Spotlight on anti-corruption specifically, but operates a comparable small-team policy research and advocacy model targeting UK criminal justice reform audiences.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks4 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/spotlightoncorruption

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles6 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Spotlight on Corruption