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What Is the EU Financial Transparency System — and Does Your NGO Appear in It?

Sandra Ahmidat Fedakova · June 2026 · 5 min read

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If your organisation receives EU funding, there is a good chance that your name, the amount you received, and a description of what you do is publicly searchable — right now, at this moment — by journalists, researchers, auditors and anyone with an internet connection. The EU Financial Transparency System (FTS) is one of the most important but least-discussed aspects of EU grant accountability. Here is what it is, what it contains, and what it does not cover.

What the FTS is and what it contains

The EU Financial Transparency System is a public database maintained by the European Commission, accessible at ec.europa.eu/budget/fts. It publishes information about EU grants, contributions and procurement contracts awarded under direct management — where the Commission itself manages the money.

Each entry contains up to 38 data points, including:

  • Recipient name and country
  • Amount awarded
  • Programme and action
  • Description of the activity
  • Year of award
  • Information about advocacy objectives and Commission/Parliament meetings (for organisations engaged in EU policy)

Anyone can search it without an account. There is no login required.

What the FTS does NOT cover — the shared management gap

This is where most organisations are confused. The FTS only covers direct management. It does not include:

  • ERDF (European Regional Development Fund)
  • ESF+ (European Social Fund Plus)
  • Cohesion Fund
  • Just Transition Fund (JTF)
  • EMFAF, AMIF, ISF, BMVI

These are the funds most small NGOs and charities are likely to receive through national programmes. They are managed by member states through managing authorities, under what is called shared management. Beneficiary data for shared management funds is not in the FTS. Instead, it is published on national or regional programme websites operated by each managing authority.

This means: an NGO receiving Horizon Europe funding appears in the FTS; the same NGO receiving ESF+ funding appears on a national programme website in their member state. Two separate systems, no connection between them.

What auditors found in 2025

The European Court of Auditors published Special Report 11/2025 specifically examining EU funding transparency for NGOs. The findings were significant:

  • The ECA examined €7.4 billion in EU grants to over 12,000 NGOs in the 2021–2023 period
  • Obtaining a reliable, complete picture of all EU funds received by a single NGO is “practically impossible” — the ECA's own words — because information is fragmented across multiple systems
  • The vast majority of payment records in the Commission's accounting system had the NGO classification field left blank — the field was optional, so most recipients did not complete it — creating significant gaps in how NGOs are identified within the FTS
  • In the ECA's audit sample, over 25% of entities classified as NGOs in the FTS were incorrectly classified — including government-dependent organisations and entities pursuing commercial interests
  • EU fund managers rely mainly on self-declarations when checking who NGOs actually are; they do not proactively use available data sources to verify
“Obtaining reliable information about all the EU funds an NGO receives is practically impossible, as information is published in a fragmented way.” — ECA Special Report 11/2025

Why this matters for your organisation

First: if you receive direct EU funding (Horizon, Erasmus+, Creative Europe, LIFE, health programmes), your organisation should be in the FTS. Check it. Search for your organisation by name at ec.europa.eu/budget/fts and verify the information is accurate, correctly categorised, and the description reflects your actual work. If it is wrong, contact the relevant programme's managing body.

Second: if you receive shared management funds (ESF+, ERDF etc.), your data is on your national programme's beneficiary list. These lists are searchable. Know what information is published about your organisation and verify it is correct.

Third: the ECA's finding about self-declarations means that when an audit or compliance check does happen, the documentation you provide is your primary evidence. Auditors are not proactively verifying — they are responding to what you declare and then checking against documentation.

The accountability argument

The FTS exists for a reason: public accountability. Citizens have the right to know how public money is spent. The fragmentation between the FTS (direct management) and national programme websites (shared management) makes this accountability practically impossible to exercise — as the ECA documented.

For organisations committed to genuine transparency, this is worth knowing. Your EU funding is visible. People can look it up. The question is whether what they find accurately represents your organisation and its work.

Practical steps

  • Search the FTS now if you receive direct management EU funding: ec.europa.eu/budget/fts
  • Find your organisation's entry on your national programme website for any shared management funds
  • Verify that descriptions are accurate and up to date
  • Keep a record of what is published — it may be referenced in future audits
  • Understand that transparency about EU funding is not just about compliance; it is about being findable, understandable, and accountable to the public

For a comprehensive overview of the EU transparency framework and how each requirement interacts, see our EU Transparency Guide. To assess your own organisation's current position across all transparency dimensions, use the Transparency Audit tool.

Understand your transparency position

The Vedomia Transparency Audit covers EU compliance alongside governance, financial transparency and communications — giving you a complete picture, not just a compliance checklist.

Take the Free Audit Speak with Sandra