As in previous years, large organisations generally score better than small ones. Very large organisations (spending over USD 10bn: World Bank IDA, EC DEVCO and USAID) have an average score of 57% while very small donors (12 donors spending under USD 100m) have an average score of only 12%. Large does not necessarily equate to being more transparent however, with donors of all sizes appearing throughout the ranking.

The performance of small and medium-sized donors is more varied. One medium and two small donors – MCC, GAVI and UNDP – are placed in the top-most performance category; three medium-sized donors – Canada, the Global Fund and Sweden – are in the good category and a total of 11 medium or small donors are in the fair category.

Of the value of total aid provided by all donors included in the Index, less than 20% can be considered to be ‘very good’ or ‘good’ in transparency terms. Nearly 40% of aid comes from organisations that are only ‘fair’, while the transparency of 42% of all aid by value is ‘poor’ or ‘very poor’.