Frequently Asked Questions
The register
What is this?
A free, public register of philanthropic funders across the six states of the Gulf Cooperation Council: 1,862 organisations with their country, city, type, mandate and published contact routes, and a funding intelligence layer built on two official records. Of those entries, 1,467 carry a website, 1,169 a telephone number and 946 an email address.
Who is behind it?
One person. It is compiled and maintained independently by Ali Al Mokdad, and it is not affiliated with the Cooperation Council, any member state, or any organisation listed in it.
Who is Ali Al Mokdad?
Senior Strategic Leader in Global Impact Operations, Governance Reform, and Humanitarian Diplomacy.
Why does it exist?
Because the information existed and was scattered. A researcher who wanted to know who funds what in the Gulf had to assemble it from ministry pages, annual reports and news archives, one organisation at a time. This is that work, done once and published.
What does it cost, and who pays for it?
It is free to use and there is no funder behind it. No sponsor, no advertising and no paid placement. The site runs on free hosting.
The data
Where does it come from?
Public sources: the websites and reports of the organisations themselves, national registers and regulators, and the two funding records named below. Every figure on the intelligence pages names the record it came from.
How current is it?
Entries are added and corrected in rounds rather than continuously. Contact routes and mandates drift, so treat the register as a starting point and confirm anything that matters against the organisation itself.
Why are some fields blank?
Because the source left them blank. A field is shown empty rather than filled from a guess or a different source, so an empty field means the underlying record is silent, not that the entry is unfinished.
Can I download the whole dataset?
Not as a bulk export. You are welcome to read, quote and cite it, and the terms of use prohibit bulk extraction and republication of the dataset. If you have a research use that needs more than the site allows, write to connect@gccphilanthropy.org.
The numbers
What are the two records, and why are they kept apart?
The UN OCHA Financial Tracking Service records humanitarian contributions. The OECD Development Assistance Committee records official development assistance, meaning aid reported by states. They count different things by different rules.
So can I add them together for a total?
No. Adding them double-counts in places, misses private giving that neither record captures, and mixes state-reported aid with humanitarian contributions as though they were one flow. Cite each on its own and say which it is.
Is private philanthropy included in those figures?
Largely not. Most private Gulf giving is not reported to either record. The intelligence layer describes what the two official records show, which is a part of the picture and not the whole of it.
Using the site
How does the search work?
Describe what you are looking for in ordinary words, such as scholarships for refugees or eye care, rather than guessing the name of an organisation. The search reads the meaning of the description and ranks mandates against it, and it will return nothing rather than offer a poor match.
Where do the search words go?
To a search service the register operates, so that the ranking can be computed. They are not stored there, nothing is kept in your browser and no profile is built. The privacy policy sets this out, and the practical guidance is short: do not type anything into the box that you would not want to leave your own machine.
Does the site track me?
No. No cookies, no analytics, no advertising, no accounts. The one third party your browser contacts on a normal visit is Google Fonts, which serves the typefaces.
Can I use the contact details to approach a funder?
Yes, for a genuine, individual approach about your work. Not for bulk mail, mailing lists or automated outreach, which the terms of use prohibit and which would put the publication of these addresses at risk.
Corrections and use in your own work
An entry about my organisation is wrong. How do I fix it?
Write to connect@gccphilanthropy.org, saying what the entry says now and what it should say. Corrections from the organisation itself are taken as authoritative.
I want my name or my personal email removed.
It will be removed on request. Section 8 of the privacy policy sets out that right and how it is handled.
How should I cite the register?
Name the register, the page, and the date you consulted it, and attribute any figure to the record it came from rather than to the register. Example: GCC Philanthropy Register, Saudi Arabia, consulted 21 August 2026; contribution figure from UN OCHA FTS.
Can I reuse a chart or a table in a report?
Yes, with the register credited and the underlying record named. Do not present it as an official publication of the Cooperation Council or of a member state, because it is not one.
Is the toolkit legal advice?
No. The toolkit is a set of practice-oriented research syntheses, not peer-reviewed studies and not advice. Laws and regulator services change, so check the current primary authority before acting on anything in it.
Getting in touch
How do I reach you?
By email, at connect@gccphilanthropy.org. Corrections, sources and errors are welcome, and a message that names the page and the problem gets dealt with fastest.
Will you add my organisation?
Possibly. Send the published description the organisation gives of what it funds and where, and it will be assessed against the same sources as everything else already in the register.