Very little of the data was accessible in machine-readable (“open data”) formats. All of the financial data was manually retrieved by Benefacts from nonprofits’ financial statements, which were acquired by Benefacts in the form of image files.

Benefacts added value to all of the data by classifying, normalising, digitising, cleaning and aggregating it.

The main sources of data were these:

Charities Regulatory Authority (for registered charities) – Benefacts accessed the open data files published and periodically updated by the Regulator with variable data for charities

• Companies Registration Office (for companies, friendly societies and trades unions) – Benefacts purchased a daily updated feed providing consistent company return data , along with image files for constitutions and financial statements from a re-seller under the terms of the CRO’s license terms
• Department of Education (for primary and secondary schools) – Benefacts consulted the Department’s website and updated its database annually
• Library of the Houses of the Oireachtas (for the financial statements of bodies -other than State bodies – established by statute) – Benefacts consulted the Department’s website and updated its database periodically
• Revenue (for the names of sports bodies and charities availing of tax relief) – Benefacts consulted Revenue.ie and updated its database quarterly
• Standards in Public Office Commission (for political parties) – Benefacts accessed the accounts of political parties from the SIPO’s website, and digitised their contents periodically