There are thousands of ordinary people risking their lives every day to protect people and the planet. We want to help those working in overseas aid, search and rescue, disaster response, humanitarian assistance, human rights, research expeditions and the media operate safely and effectively on the ground in complex, hostile or remote areas, such as war zones, disaster areas or under repressive regimes. We are in the process of launching three new units to do just this.
Category: Blog
Funding news!
Open Briefing is delighted to announce two recent fundraising successes. The Oak Foundation's international human rights programme has awarded us a three-year grant worth £155,000 and the Polden-Puckham Charitable Foundation has awarded us a two-year grant worth £25,000. Together, these grants mean we can implement our plans to expand beyond the provision of intelligence to also provide security, training and equipment to help those striving to make the world a better place.
Crowdfunding update – we still need your support!
Open Briefing is currently running a crowdfunding campaign on Indigogo to raise £5,000 towards the cost of launching new security and training units to help protect those striving the make the world a better place.
Open Briefing launches crowdfunding campaign and new promo video!
Open Briefing is a non-profit social enterprise. Unlike many organisations, we do not take any money from governments or corporations. We rely on the support of volunteers and are funded by charitable grants and public donations. Our new security and training units are groundbreaking, and we want to launch them with the backing of crowdfunding so that they are a truly public enterprise. So please help by supporting our crowdfunding campaign and encouraging your friends, family and colleagues to join you.
‘Hostile drones’ report having political impact [Updated]
Following the widespread media coverage of our recent report on the hostile use of civilian drones by non-state actors, our findings are beginning to spur political debate. On 13 January, Paul Flynn MP wrote to the Department of Energy and Climate Change to ask it to review security at nuclear power stations in light of our report. Then on the 19 January, the House of Lords debated the issues raised in our report. The debate was reported on by The Sun, and our report continues to be covered widely by the tech and defence industry press in particular.
So, how did we do? An evaluation of the last three years of Open Briefing
Open Briefing publishes clear objectives and targets to help drive our development and provide concrete evidence by which we can be held to account by funders and others. During 2012-15, we had 10 objectives covering impact, influence and development. We have now reviewed our progress against these objectives and published an evaluation of our activity over the last three years. In short, we surpassed the target in half of our objectives over 2012-15 and we achieved over 50% of the target for all bar one of the remaining five objectives.
Open Briefing publishes plan for next three years
We have published our project proposal and budget for 2016-19, setting out our ambitious plans for the next three years. In addition to expanding the activities of our existing groundbreaking intelligence unit and policy-orientated think tank, we are also announcing the launch of exciting new security and training units - further increasing our ability to keep civil society actors and concerned citizens safe and informed. However, we can only continue this work with your support; so, please consider making a donation if you are able to do so.
Open Briefing in the news
On 11 January 2016, the Remote Control project published a groundbreaking new report from Open Briefing on the potential hostile use of civilian drones. The report was widely covered in the news media, including by the Guardian, Daily Mail, Express and BBC, as well as in the technology press, including Wired and Tech Insider. Open Briefing analysts also gave several interviews to TV and radio news programmes, including RT.