Governance
How this is run and paid for
A volunteer community backed by a commercial sponsor should expect to be asked whose interests it serves. This is the full answer, including the awkward parts.
- What sort of organisation is this?
- A volunteer group. Nobody is employed by it, no officer is paid, and nobody takes an income from it. Its formal legal structure is on the open items below, and until that is settled we are not going to state one here. If you need the position in writing for a due-diligence or data-protection check, ask at admin@osintcd.com.
- Who decides what the community does?
- The officers, collectively. Sponsors have no vote on the programme, no say over speakers, and no approval rights over anything published here.
- Where does the money come from?
- Sponsorship and donations. Advantyx, as founding sponsor, currently covers the running costs. We are looking for further sponsors, because a community with a single backer is hard to tell apart from a single backer’s marketing.
- Where does it go?
- Events and venues, training materials, tools and subscriptions, member merchandise, and safeguarding costs such as safe transport home after evening events. Nobody is paid. There is no surplus to distribute.
- What does a sponsor get?
- Their name on this site and at events they fund, and the reputational benefit of backing something useful. They do not get member data, mailing-list access, paid placements, or listings in the resource directory.
- What funding will you not take?
- Nothing from lobbying organisations or political groups. Nothing conditional on editorial control. Nothing that would require us to share member data.
- Do members’ details go to sponsors?
- No. Membership data is used to run the community and for nothing else. See the privacy policy.
The relationship, stated plainly
The Crown Dependencies OSINT Community was founded with the support of Advantyx, a corporate intelligence and forensic investigation firm based on the Isle of Man. Advantyx covers the community's running costs and its people take part as members and volunteers.
People from Advantyx write and speak here under their own names, as practitioners. Where they do, the affiliation is stated. There is no arrangement under which the community promotes Advantyx's services, and there are no Advantyx service pitches on this site.
If you think we have got that balance wrong, tell us.
Still to be settled
The community is being put on a firmer footing and some of that work is unfinished. The open items are listed here rather than left unmarked.