Last year we published here the first directory of Brazilian Think Tanks tabulated by Brazilians.

Since 2008, the University of Pennsylvania has cataloged the 6,500 Think Tanks in the world, including Brazil.

As expected, they were not able to capture all the Brazilian Think Tanks, and we are in contact to supply the missing Think Tanks.

As a result of this work, we collected dozens of other data from Think Tanks, which will allow us to carry out several studies.

The most transparent and governed is one of them.

It is not customary to demand transparency and governance from Think Tanks, but these attributes are important for any Think Tank that intends to raise funds from individuals and foundations.

One of the biggest fears of Think Tank donors is not whether or not their research will have an impact, but rather being misled by Think Tank fraud or embezzlement.

Having governance and transparency mechanisms solve this problem.

The Think Tanks listed are those that have fulfilled the list of requirements listed in that link.

The following received the Gold Seal: CLP-Public Security Center, FBSP, IDESAM, IEPS, Imaflora, IPÊ, Instituto Península, Itaú Social and Transparência Brasil.

Those who met most of the requirements, but not all, received the Silver Seal: EMBRAPA, ENAP, FDC, IBGE, IPAM and IPEA.

Not all Think Tanks need to be transparent because they are part of Universities or because they are automatically funded by a public body.

But our opinion is that transparency is already a value demanded by society, and honestly it doesn’t require much effort or great costs to implement.

Stephen Kanitz