Rapid Validation & Screening

Rapid Validation & Screening (RVS) is a no-contact, early-stage screening service designed to help grantmakers quickly confirm basic organizational legitimacy and identify material risk indicators before committing staff time, requesting documents, or initiating more resource-intensive review. It is used during initial scoping to support prioritization and sequencing, not to conduct due diligence or make compliance determinations.

Initial review

Where RVS Fits

RVS is an initial review. It helps a grantmaker decide, before any contact with the organization, whether to pursue it as a grantee, by inviting an application or proposal or by selecting it for a grant. Because it relies only on public sources, it does not replace screening built on the organization’s own certified disclosures. Where the grantmaker decides to proceed with a grant, Paragon recommends ATFS or ATFS-HR, as the grantmaker’s assessment of risk or policy requires, before the first payment.

Before any contact
Rapid Validation & Screening
A review of the organization’s website, registry record and screening databases. The organization is not contacted.
No contact with the organization
The grantmaker’s decision
Invite a proposal or select for funding
The grantmaker weighs the RVS findings and risk flags against its own risk tolerance and decides whether to pursue the organization as a grantee, by inviting an application or proposal or by selecting it for a grant directly.
Before funding
ATFS or ATFS-HR
Screening built on the organization’s certified disclosures and documents, completed before the first grant payment.
With the organization’s participation

RVS shares several checks with ATFS and ATFS-HR, and at the organization level adds national sanctions and adverse media screening that ATFS covers only at Tier 2. What RVS cannot reach is what only the organization can disclose: its full governing body, beneficial owners, controlling entities and banks. Nor can it resolve a potential match by asking the organization. A clear RVS result supports the decision to pursue the organization as a grantee; ATFS or ATFS-HR supports the decision to fund.

How they compare	RVSThis service	Tier 1ATFS	Tier 2ATFS-HR
How the review is conducted
Contact and basis of findings	No contact; public sources	Certified disclosures	Certified disclosures
Checks in common
Global sanctions and watchlist screeningCSI WatchDOG Elite	✓	✓	✓
OFAC country-based sanctions programsRVS: country of primary registration. ATFS and ATFS-HR: each reported country of activity	✓	✓	✓
Jurisdictional risk indicatorsFATF listing, terrorist group presence, Basel AML Index and Corruption Perceptions Index	✓	✓	✓
National sanctions screeningCountry of primary registration	✓	–	✓
Adverse media screeningOrganization level	✓	–	✓
Only with the organization’s participation
Full set of people and entities screenedGoverning body, founders, beneficial owners, controlling entities, declared and routing banks	–	✓	✓
Registration documents and certified disclosuresProvided and certified by the organization	–	✓	✓
Bank account status, policies and downstream partner oversight	–	–	✓

Entity Validation

Paragon matches the legal name the client provides to the organization’s registry record and to its website, linked by a shared registration or tax number or the registered address, and records the registry status and, where the registry publishes one, the legal representative. Activities the organization reports online are compared with the purpose shown in its registry record. The organization is validated where both sources are found, the name matches both, and reported activities fit the registered purpose; otherwise the report shows it as partially validated or not validated.

Risk Screening Overview

Global watchlist screening (CSI WatchDOG Elite) checks the organization, its other names, the legal representative shown in its registry record, and key staff identified online against U.S., United Nations, European Union, United Kingdom, FBI and Interpol sanctions and terrorism lists. Each potential match is resolved on public identifiers or reported as unresolved.

National sanctions screening and adverse media screening (Dow Jones RiskCenter) cover the organization and its other names. National screening checks the sanctions and exclusion lists of the country of primary registration, adding coverage that global lists may not carry; where no national list is maintained, the report says so. Adverse media screening looks for published reporting that links the organization to terrorism, sanctions exposure, financial crime, corruption or misuse of funds; routine coverage and unrelated matters are left out.

The review also establishes whether the country of primary registration is subject to a U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) country-based sanctions program, identifying any OFAC general licenses relevant to that program, and records jurisdictional factors drawn from public sources: Financial Action Task Force (FATF) grey or black listing and the presence of U.S.-designated Foreign Terrorist Organizations, with Basel AML Index and Corruption Perceptions Index scores reported as context.

Assessment Summary and Deliverable

Contents

What the RVS Report contains

01Entity validation

The legal name matched to the registry record and website, with the result: validated, partially validated or not validated

02OFAC country-based sanctions programs

For the country of primary registration, with any relevant OFAC general licenses identified

03Global watchlist screening

The organization’s name and any other names it uses, its legal representative, and key staff identified online, with each potential match resolved or reported as unresolved

04National sanctions screening

The organization’s name, and any other names it uses, screened against the sanctions list of the country where it is registered, if that country keeps one

05Adverse media screening

The organization’s name, and any other names it uses, checked for published reporting linking it to terrorism, sanctions exposure, financial crime, corruption or misuse of funds

06Risk flags

Every finding that bears on risk, grouped under information reliability, screening and jurisdiction, with grant-level factors listed for the client’s own assessment

A final Risk Flags section brings every finding that bears on risk into one place, grouped under information reliability, screening, and jurisdiction. Each flag marks a factor associated with higher risk in cross-border grantmaking. No single flag is decisive; several coinciding, or one presenting acutely, points toward higher risk. RVS does not quantify risk or assign a rating: the client weighs the flags against its own risk tolerance.

Grant size and complexity, regranting, and a first-time relationship also bear on risk. They depend on information the client holds, so the report lists them for the client’s own assessment. Reports are delivered within 4 to 7 business days of receipt of the organization’s details.

Who Uses RVS

Rapid Validation & Screening is used by institutional funders and impact-oriented organizations that need early insight into prospective partners before committing resources or initiating more intensive review. It is most commonly requested by foundations and donor collaboratives assessing new grantees, corporate and impact-investing teams evaluating potential partners or investees, and public or multilateral funders operating under time or operational constraints.

No-Contact Service

Rapid Validation & Screening is conducted on a no-contact basis. Paragon does not contact the organization under review or any government authority, request information from the organization, or seek affidavits or certified documents. The client provides the organization’s legal name, country of primary registration, and address; all findings are drawn from the organization’s website, its registry record, and screening databases, for one jurisdiction: the country of primary registration.

RVS findings are as strong as the organization’s online presence and registry record allow, and every report says so on its first page. Information published online is less reliable than an organization’s own disclosures or attestations.

Countries of operation, ownership and control, financial institutions, and individuals’ legal names are outside the scope of RVS.

RVS reports facts drawn from public sources and does not constitute legal or tax advice. Compliance decisions remain with the client and its counsel.

Get started

All Services