Operations

Finances

The publisher of Direkt36 is a public benefit, non-profit company, and no dividends can be extracted from it. The company’s funds are used exclusively for our operations – to achieve our goals. When financial resources allow, we expand our team, carry out larger-scale investigative projects, and build some reserves. An example of the latter is our film The Dynasty, which we released on YouTube on February 7, 2025, and which had accumulated 4.3 million views by May 2026.

Thanks to the individuals who support us, Direkt36’s independence is guaranteed and the financial basis of our operations is stable. Those who support us know that Direkt36 will still be around in five years’ time, upholding the same values and carrying out the same activities as it does today.  

In our last completed and reported fiscal year, 2025, we received more than 21,000 so-called micro-grants from individuals, even more than the previous year. Together with the 1% donations from the Center for Independent Journalism, the donations covered our annual budget of around HUF 156 million. (This proportion was 84% in 2024.)

You can join our membership program here. 

Media outlets such as Direkt36, which perform tasks that are essential to democracy on a non-commercial basis, are supported by a number of foundations and other organisations, mainly international ones. We only accept support from institutions that do not interfere in any way with our work. For 2025, we have received funding for the operation of Direkt36 from the following institutions: 

• we have been working with the Center for Independent Journalism in Budapest for several years to collect 1% VAT pledges from the members of the Hungarian public; we campaign together, and a significant part of the donations is given to Direkt36 for investigative articles, as decided by the Foundation’s board and in accordance with information provided in the campaign;
• we received a three-year grant from the Sigrid Rausing Trust (London), starting in 2023;
• we received a two-year grant for 2025 and 2026 from the Brussels-based Civitates Foundation;
• The Foundation for Democracy & Pluralism (Båstad, Sweden) suppors Direkt36 for two years (until the end of 2026).

We participated in two grant programs that ran through 2025, both of which were funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). The U.S. government terminated these two grants in January 2025; however, since the amounts involved were small and our financial situation is stable thanks to our individual supporters, this did not cause any disruption to our operations.

Direkt36 is participating in the CJEGC project, led by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) and partially funded by the European Union’s Creative Europe CREA program. The project runs from October 1, 2025, to September 30, 2027.

Of course, none of these partners had any say in the content we produced – nor did anyone else. 

According to the audited accounts for the year 2025, the financial statement and balance sheet total of Direkt36 Nonprofit Ltd. was HUF 498,483 thousand. The amount deposited in stocks and in the company’s bank account is mainly derived from donations already transferred and to be used later for our operations.

Detailed information on the financial year 2025 (in Hungarian)

• Financial statement and balance sheet 2025 (HU) – download
• Notes to the financial statement 2025 (HU) – download
• Public benefit statement 2025 (HU) – download
• Independent auditors’ report 2025 (HU) – download

Previous years

Our institutional supporters in 2025

Our institutional supporters of the last five years

Professional partners