Presenter demos DataRepublican site to trace nonprofit funding; audience raises safety and accuracy concerns

A presenter demonstrating the DataRepublican website showed audience members how the site aggregates public records, EINs and grant data to map connections among charities, principal officers and taxpayer-funded grants, and said the site relies on public records and AI to produce searchable linkages.

The presentation, given at a Davis County Citizen Journalism meeting, included a live walk-through of the site’s tools — principal officer search, a charity funding view that flags taxpayer-funded organizations, a charity graph and a people-relations visualization — and guidance on exporting results to spreadsheets for further verification.

The presenter said the site draws on public records and automated processing. “It’s a tool for research,” a recorded segment of the presentation said. “This tool is powerful, but you must use it responsibly. Read carefully, understand the context, and always verify your findings.” The presenter also described the site’s ability to show EIN numbers, percent paid by taxpayers and a downloadable spreadsheet listing organizations, names and titles.

Audience members pressed the presenter about the provenance of funding shown on the site and whether international actors are included. One attendee asked whether the central hubs often discussed at the meeting — referred to in the talk as NED and related organizations — remain funded through USAID after recent changes. The presenter replied that funding streams are variable and complex and noted that Department of State funding is also involved; she said judges and other actors had, in some cases, started and stopped grants, making the tracing of funding uneven.

Attendees also asked whether the site can be used to search for local entities, including the Davis County School District. The presenter said local searches are possible: “That’s something we could search on there,” an audience member confirmed after the presenter described the site’s officer-and-salaries and principal-officer searches.

Several people raised concerns about the safety of researchers who publish sensitive findings. An audience member recounted that the presenter had been doxxed previously and that the presenter’s family had taken protective measures; the audience member said the presenter’s family had spent “over $30,000 fortifying their home.” The presenter acknowledged a period spent with relatives following threats and said she was resuming work.

The presenter repeatedly cautioned that the site reveals leads but is not a “verdict,” advising users to verify records before making public allegations. She described AI as a key tool for synthesizing disparate public records and said the people-relations tool was built in part by distilling large public sources, including Wikipedia, into searchable linkages. “AI is not only for the elite,” she said; “Anyone can use AI.”

During the Q&A, attendees suggested improvements such as listing parameters for volunteer projects and posting how-to guides; the presenter said she plans to add more documentation and videos and to expand federal contract search features that drill into line-item spending. She pointed attendees to the site at datarepublican.com for hands-on exploration.

No formal motions or decisions were made at the meeting. Organizers closed with a prayer and announced future meetings and guest speakers.

The presentation is relevant to local researchers and residents interested in nonprofit transparency and taxpayer funding, but the site’s presenter and attendees repeatedly emphasized the need to verify automated matches and treat the tool as a starting point for research rather than proof of wrongdoing.