More than 50% of the private entities that receive grants continue without passing the transparency exam, and the companies are placed as those that comply the least, ahead of associations and non-governmental organizations, according to the ranking drawn up by the Consejo de Transparencia y Buen Gobierno (CTBG).
In this exercise, the Council has reviewed the websites and transparency portals of 125 private entities selected at random that are subject to active advertising obligations for having received public aid or subsidies.
Regulations establish that those private entities that, in a single year, obtain aid or subsidies above 100,000 euros, or when at least 40% of their annual income comes from public funds, as long as they reach at least 5,000 euros, must respect the transparency criteria.
For this year’s evaluation, 125 entities have been chosen that have received more than half a million euros annually in subsidies.
Although the level of compliance varies notably among entities, the average Índice de Cumplimiento de la Información Obligatoria (ICIO) has advanced 13.1 points since 2025. However, the Council insists that this progress is still "insufficient", since the overall index stands at 47.5%.
Sports federations and foundations, at the head
By type of entity, sports federations record the best average level of compliance, with 63%, followed by private foundations, which reach 51.4%. At the opposite end are associations (35.2%), NGOs (38.3%) and, with the worst score, companies, which only reach 32.1%.
The entities that have heeded the recommendations made by the Council during the evaluation process notably increase their level of compliance: 27 of them achieve an ICIO higher than 80%, compared with 70 entities (56%) that do not even reach 50%.
To calculate the ICIO, the Council checks whether the entities publish on their websites the information required by law and whether they do so adequately.
Seven out of ten of the entities examined have a transparency portal on their institutional website. However, 23 entities that had already been evaluated by the Council in 2025 continue without enabling one, despite the indications made by the independent body in charge of supervising transparency in Spain.
Lack of updating and incomplete data
Among the mandatory information that is published the least are the description of the organizational structure, the profile and professional track record of its top decision-makers and their compensation, as well as the data on contracts and agreements signed with public administrations.
As for the quality of the information available, the most common shortcomings are the absence of the review or update date and the dissemination of the data in formats that cannot be reused.
Only 27 entities reach an ICIO higher than 80%, and five of them achieve full compliance: the Real Federación Española de Ciclismo, Confederación Plena Inclusión España, Real Federación Española de Golf, Fundación para la Investigación del Clima, Fundación Santa María la Real.
These results represent an improvement compared to the 2025 evaluation, when only four of the 82 entities analyzed (4.9%) exceeded that threshold. In addition, 14 entities currently surpass 90% of ICIO.
The Council reminds the entities that continue to fail to meet their obligations that they must adapt to the regulations and emphasizes that, despite their repeated requests for reform, the current Law on Transparency and Good Governance does not include a sanctioning regime nor does it grant this body coercive powers to ensure full compliance with legal obligations.