Preparing your organisation for data publication

Before publishing IATI data for the first time, consider these steps:

1. Build the case for publishing

Convince senior leadership and stakeholders of the benefits of IATI publishing, such as:

• Enhancing your organisation’s reputation and accountability
• Communicating your goals and achievements to a global audience
• Improving internal data systems and processes
• Enabling better collaboration and reducing duplication with other development agencies
• Increasing financial transparency and reducing corruption risks
• Meeting transparency commitments in policy and governance

For more information about IATI and its benefits, see: Why use IATI?

2. Assess the risks of greater transparency

Anticipate and mitigate potential challenges of a more transparent culture:

• Increased scrutiny of your operations and finances
• Security risks in publishing sensitive data (by sector, type, or location)
• Cost implications for your organisation of maintaining regular data publication

3. Secure senior management support

Engage leadership early to ensure commitment across your organisation. Senior leadership endorsement is vital for allocating resources and integrating transparency into your organisational culture.

4. Form a project team

Create a cross-departmental team (including finance, programmes, IT, legal, HR, and communications), and designate an IATI champion to lead the process. Establish a timeline for both initial and ongoing data publishing.

5. Make IATI publishing a business-as-usual activity

Treat IATI publishing as a continuous responsibility. This may involve assigning roles, updating job descriptions, and embedding IATI processes into regular workflows.

6. Prepare a post-publication communications plan

Once you’ve published IATI data, who do you want to tell? Some organisations create a dedicated webpage and use social media, newsletters, or press releases to highlight their IATI commitment.

Examples of organisations with IATI pages on their websites:

• Oxfam GB
• African Development Bank
• British International Investment

Consider developing an open information policy to guide what data your organisation can proactively share. For more information, see: IATI: Information and data you can’t publish (exclusions)

If you have questions about preparing your organisation for data publication, please contact the IATI Secretariat.