2011 – Launch
We launched Open Briefing in 2011. Our Big Idea at the time was to help nonprofits and foundations achieve social change by supporting their campaigns and decision making with intelligence and investigations.
We undertook groundbreaking work on corruption in pharmaceutical supply chains, the spread of armed drones, and the misuse of private military companies. We shaped strategy and influenced policy. We paved the way for the rise of the citizen investigative journalist.
2016 – Pivot
In response to unmet need, we naturally began working more and more on security and risk. In 2016, we pivoted away from intelligence and investigations and launched our safety and security team. We embraced and progressed the holistic security approach, and expanded our teams to include digital and information security in 2017 and wellbeing and resilience in 2018.
We provided consultancy and advisory to help nonprofits and foundations take the right risks when supporting and resourcing grassroots change. This work continues today.
2019 – Evolve
The challenge was that only well-resourced organisations or those with international partners to sponsor the work could easily access support. This changed in 2019, when we launched our rapid response mechanism.
Through requests or referrals for fully-funded support, we build resistance and resilience among the people and communities challenging power. We help those fighting for human rights and social justice, protecting the environment and protesting climate chaos, exposing corruption and reporting the truth, defending their communities and their land, striving for peace and democracy, and standing up for reproductive justice and the rights of LGBTQIA+ people.
2023 – Grow
The scope and scale of the demand for our support grew significantly. We answered more calls for assistance across more countries than ever before. The cases became more complex – involving intersecting physical, digital, and psychological harms – and higher risk, involving highly capable adversaries acting with increasing impunity.
In response, in 2023, we embarked on an ambitious three-year strategy to meet this challenge responsibly and sustainably. We significantly increased our funding and rapidly grew our global team of staff and consultants. An external impact evaluation found that our most significant long-term impact was helping restore agency, continuity, and confidence in contexts where fear, threat, and burnout could otherwise have stopped people’s work entirely.
2026 – Scale
The need for holistic security support is greater than any one organisation can meet alone. Defenders, organisations, and movements are facing converging threats, while the resources available to protect those leading change under pressure are increasingly restricted.
So we are scaling in a different way. We will continue to provide accompaniment and advisory support to those facing complex and high-risk situations. But through our 2026–29 strategy, we will also work more deliberately to strengthen the wider protection ecosystem – sharing knowledge, building partnerships, and helping others adapt and embed holistic security approaches in their own contexts.
This is the shift towards regenerative protection: support that responds to immediate risk while strengthening the conditions that help people and movements continue their work with confidence, clarity, and care.
To describe Open Briefing as a caring partner would be an understatement. They have consistently been at the forefront, providing invaluable support whenever we have faced security threats. Their support has given us the peace of mind necessary to operate fearlessly and effectively.
Center for Justice Governance & Environmental Action, Kenya