Pro bono
The same standard, given freely.
Organizations that protect trafficked workers, exploited children and people at risk rarely have investigators of their own. Since 2023 we have set aside two percent of our analyst hours every year for their cases. The methodology, the evidence handling and the red-team review are identical to our paid work. The only difference is the invoice.
Who we work with
Organizations that protect people who cannot protect themselves.
We take pro bono work from established organizations with caseworkers, safeguarding procedures and a working relationship with the authorities. They know the people affected. We bring the investigation.
Anti-trafficking organizations
Recruitment networks, fraudulent job advertising and the companies and payment channels that move people into forced work.
Child protection organizations
Identification of the people and networks behind online exploitation, prepared for referral to specialist police units.
Worker protection groups
Labor brokers, recruitment fees and employers connected to debt bondage and the retention of workers' documents.
Human rights documentation
Verification, location and dating of footage and imagery, preserved to a standard a court or inquiry can rely on.
Humanitarian agencies
Security assessments for staff working in high-risk places, and verification of events that affect whether they can stay.
Survivor support services
Training for caseworkers in recognizing online indicators of exploitation and preserving what they find.
What we provide
Leads that the authorities can act on.
A suspicion passed to an overstretched police unit is easy to set aside. A referral package with named subjects, preserved evidence and a clear account of the method is not.
- Investigations that connect scattered reports into one network
- Identification of organizers, with stated confidence for each
- Evidence bundles hashed at capture, with a full chain of custody
- Referral packages written for the receiving unit
- Indicators that help caseworkers recognize further victims
- Tradecraft training for the partner's own researchers
How it runs
From a partner's concern to a referral.
Pro bono cases follow the same six-stage method as every other engagement, with two additions: a safeguarding review at the start and a handover through the partner at the end.
-
01 / Refer
A partner brings the case
Cases come from organizations already working with the people affected. We do not take requests from individuals, and we do not look for cases ourselves.
-
02 / Screen
Standards and safeguarding
The pro bono committee checks purpose and proportionality, and agrees with the partner how victims and witnesses will be protected throughout.
-
03 / Investigate
The full method
A lead investigator and specialists work the case exactly as they would for a paying client, including independent red-team review.
-
04 / Hand over
Through the partner
Findings go to law enforcement and support services through the partner organization. Our investigators remain available to give statements.
Safeguards
Good intentions are not a method.
Well-meaning investigation can endanger the people it is meant to help, alert the people responsible and wreck a prosecution. These rules exist to prevent that.
- Victims come firstWe never contact victims or their families. Any approach is made by trained caseworkers from the partner organization or by the authorities.
- No confrontation, no exposureWe do not engage suspects, pose as victims or buyers, or publish names. Findings go to the authorities and nowhere else.
- Built for prosecutionEvidence is preserved and documented to the standard described in our evidence handling guide, so it can be relied on without being collected again.
- Strict handling of harmful materialAnalysts do not collect or retain illegal imagery. Where it is encountered, it is reported to the competent authority at once and not copied.
- Minimal data, short retentionInformation about victims is limited to what a referral needs and deleted after handover, unless the authorities require us to hold it.
- Analyst welfareThis is the hardest casework we do. Exposure is planned and limited, analysts rotate off it and confidential counseling is available to all of them.
Every survivor we met held one piece of the story. Aldervane put the pieces together, and made sure it was our caseworkers, not investigators, who reached out to the people at risk.
Beyond casework
Training and reduced rates for nonprofits.
The program's analyst hours go to investigations. Separately, we train the people who do this work every day and price our services so that nonprofit organizations can use them.
640 caseworkers and researchers trained
A two-day course on recognizing online indicators of exploitation, preserving evidence and working safely, taught without charge to partner organizations.
Nonprofit pricing
Registered nonprofit organizations receive reduced fixed fees for investigations, due diligence on partners and suppliers, and open-enrollment courses.
Tradecraft anyone can use
Our research sets out the methods behind this work, so that organizations we cannot support directly can still apply them.
Being considered
How organizations join the program.
Demand is greater than the hours we have. The pro bono committee meets every month and chooses the cases where an investigation is most likely to change what happens to the people involved.
Organizations are introduced by an existing partner, a law enforcement unit or a funder who knows their work. That introduction is part of the safeguarding: it tells us the organization is established and accountable before any sensitive detail is shared.
- An established organization with its own safeguarding procedures
- A specific question that open sources could realistically answer
- A route to action: a police unit, prosecutor or regulator able to receive the findings
- Caseworkers who can support any victims identified
- No purpose that our standards would exclude for a paying client
Start an engagement
Bring us the question nobody else could answer.
Tell us what you need to know and why. A senior investigator will scope it with you, tell you candidly what open sources can and cannot establish, and propose a plan with a fixed fee and a firm timeline.