Among the newer screening players, sanctions.io has the merit of clarity: a modern API, clean and fresh lists, a dedicated NGO page. For a technical team, it is attractive. For a finance director preparing an ECHO audit, the question remains: where is the evidence, project by project, that every third party was screened before every expense?
This article reviews sanctions.io from an NGO's standpoint.
sanctions.io for NGOs: a modern screening API — but who files the evidence?
Reading time: ~4 min
Table of contents
- What is sanctions.io?
- Its strengths
- The limits for an NGO
- Comparison with Abvius integrated screening
- The Abvius approach
- Mini FAQ
1. What is sanctions.io?
sanctions.io is an "API-first" sanctions and AML screening provider: more than 75 sanctions and watchlists from 30+ jurisdictions (OFAC, HM Treasury, EU, UN…), a PEP database of over one million records, cleansed and standardised data updated every 60 minutes. The vendor highlights auditable timestamps, SOC 2 compliance, high-volume batch screening — and explicitly addresses the NGO sector.
2. Its strengths
Data freshness and cleanliness. 60-minute updates, standardisation, enrichment: data quality is the heart of screening, and it is sanctions.io's core business.
The API approach. Simple integration into an existing process, batch screening to re-run a whole master, more accessible pricing than legacy premium databases.
Auditable timestamps. The vendor thinks "auditor and regulator", which is far from universal in this market.
3. The limits for an NGO
A component, not a system. sanctions.io provides the check; everything else — a unified HQ-to-field third-party master, triggers, hit disposition, payment blocking, evidence filing — must be built around it. An excellent component if you have an IT department; a construction site for a mid-sized NGO.
The evidence stays with sanctions.io. Timestamps exist, but in the vendor's system or your API logs. The donor auditor wants the evidence in the project file, next to the invoice and the contract.
No grant logic. No notion of project, donor or budget line: attaching a screening to an eligible expense remains entirely manual.
4. Comparison with Abvius integrated screening
| Criterion | sanctions.io | Abvius integrated screening |
|---|---|---|
| Nature | Screening API + data | Service embedded in the humanitarian ERP |
| List freshness | Updated every 60 min | Continuous updates of enabled lists |
| Integration | To be developed (API) | Native to the third party → commitment → payment flow |
| Hit disposition | To be organised | Built-in traced workflow |
| Payment blocking | No | Automatic on unresolved hit |
| Audit evidence | Vendor-side timestamps / logs | Certificate filed in the project's audit folder |
| Project / donor notion | Absent | Structural (grants, budgets, reporting) |
5. The Abvius approach
Abvius does not sell an API: the platform embeds screening where risk is born — in the single HQ-to-field third-party master, at supplier creation, before commitment and before payment. Each screening produces a compliant, immutably time-stamped certificate, automatically filed in the funding project's audit folder and included in donor reporting. Full-master rescreening runs on every list update, with no manual step.
6. Mini FAQ
Can an NGO with a technical team build its screening on sanctions.io?
Technically, yes. But you will need to build and maintain: triggers, the disposition workflow, financial blocking, evidentiary archiving, process documentation for audits. The real cost is that maintenance, not the API.
Are 75 lists enough?
For most donor portfolios, the essentials fit in a handful of lists (EU, UN, OFAC, OFSI, Treasury, World Bank). Coverage matters less than the completeness of the screened master and the quality of hit disposition — see our screening guide.
Does SOC 2 matter for an NGO?
It signals vendor security maturity. But your donor auditor will primarily assess YOUR process, not your data provider's certification.
Summary
sanctions.io is a modern, well-designed screening component. But a component is not a framework: for a donor, compliance is proven in the project's audit folder, expense by expense. That is what Abvius produces automatically. To go further: digital audit trail and AML-CTF compliance. To discuss it, contact our teams via abvius.org.