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Research Guide

Personal Finances

Aircraft Photo Websites

Description:

Plane spotting enthusiasts take photos of airplanes and upload them to these websites, which occasionally provide information on the beneficial owner or lessee of an aircraft that may not be available in registration documents. The images may also show tail numbers, which you can use on plane tracking websites (described here) to track the movements of planes and look for patterns. You can also submit public-record requests to the FAA for passenger manifests to identify individuals who traveled on an aircraft.

Resource Type:

Media and Other Open Sources

Area of Investigation:

Personal Finances, Associated People

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Aircraft Tracking Websites

Description:

These websites provide real-time and historical location data on aircraft. The current location and itinerary of an aircraft is available for free, but data on historical movements may be behind a paywall.

Resource Type:

Media and Other Open Sources

Area of Investigation:

Personal Finances, Associated People

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Bing Visual Search

Description:

Use Bing Visual Search to search the internet using images instead of words. Using this tool, you can find similar images, products, and pages that include an image.

Resource Type:

Media and Other Open Sources

Area of Investigation:

Background and Family, Educational History, Professional History, Political History, Civil Litigation and Criminal Cases, Nonprofits, Campaign Finance, Personal Finances, Social Media, Associated People

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County and Municipal Building Permits

Description:

Depending on the location of a property, county or municipal permits may be required for any significant construction. Some local governments provide online databases of these permits, and records available from these databases can provide further details on an individual’s lifestyle and spending. These records may be maintained by county clerks, city offices like a Department of Buildings or Department of Licenses and Inspections or other local government agencies.

Resource Type:

State and Local Records

Area of Investigation:

Personal Finances, Background and Family

Link will vary depending on jurisdiction.

Crowdfunding Platforms

Description:

You can search these websites for crowdfunding campaigns on a variety of projects, charitable purposes or emergency community support. GiveSendGo, a Christian-focused crowdfunding site, allows crowdfunding campaigns connected to organizations and causes that other platforms may not allow due to content moderation, including campaigns by political ideologues, legal support funds for fringe organizations.

Resource Type:

Media and Other Open Sources

Area of Investigation:

Social Media, Associated People, Personal Finances

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Federal Audit Clearinghouse

Description:

Use the Federal Audit Clearinghouse (FAC) to search for audits of federal grants connected to individuals and their companies.

Resource Type:

Federal Records

Area of Investigation:

Professional History, Civil Litigation and Criminal Cases, Associated People, Personal Finances

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Federal Aviation Administration

Description:

The FAA allows searches for aircraft by the name of an aircraft’s registered owner, tail number, make and model, etc. Note that many aircraft are owned by companies or trusts. If you have identified an aircraft in photos or other sources, try to identify the tail number on the aircraft and search the FAA database by this number.

Resource Type:

Federal Records

Area of Investigation:

Personal Finances, Associated People

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Ferretly

Description:

Ferretly is a paid research tool that aggregates social media activity from an individual’s accounts on different platforms.

Resource Type:

Media and Other Open Sources

Area of Investigation:

Background and Family, Educational History, Professional History, Political History, Civil Litigation and Criminal Cases, Nonprofits, Campaign Finance, Personal Finances, Social Media, Associated People

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Findmypast

Description:

FindMyPast is a genealogy website that collects certain archival records. Using its advanced World search, researchers can collect information on an individual, their family or their connections by name, location and types of records. In addition to birth/death and family history records, FindMyPast has some historical professional and educational records archived.

Resource Type:

Media and Other Open Sources

Area of Investigation:

Background and Family, Educational History, Professional History, Political History, Civil Litigation and Criminal Cases, Nonprofits, Campaign Finance, Personal Finances, Social Media, Associated People

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Golf Handicap & Information Network (GHIN)

Description:

GHIN is a score and stat-tracking app used by millions of golfers. When logged in, you can search for golfers and see their stats and score history, including the clubs and courses where they’ve played. This is a paid resource.

Resource Type:

Media and Other Open Sources

Area of Investigation:

Background and Family, Personal Finances, Social Media, Associated People

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Google Advanced Search

Description:

Google Advanced Search uses Boolean operators, which allow you to search by including, excluding or combining exact words or phrases. Google Advanced Search also allows you to narrow results by language, file type, domain and other variables. Check out Sunlight’s Advanced Internet Search Tip Sheet to learn how to find exactly what you’re looking for on the internet. It includes a comprehensive list of basic and advanced search operators, search tips and strategies, and more.

Resource Type:

Media and Other Open Sources

Area of Investigation:

Background and Family, Educational History, Professional History, Political History, Civil Litigation and Criminal Cases, Nonprofits, Campaign Finance, Personal Finances, Social Media, Associated People

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Google Dataset Search

Description:

Google Dataset Search is a search engine for datasets. You can use a simple keyword search to discover datasets hosted in thousands of repositories across the internet. For instance, a search for ‘politicians’ will return databases including Work With Data’s Politicians from the United States list and GESIS’ extracted Politician data from Wikipedia and DBPedia.

Resource Type:

Media and Other Open Sources

Area of Investigation:

Background and Family, Educational History, Professional History, Political History, Civil Litigation and Criminal Cases, Nonprofits, Campaign Finance, Personal Finances, Social Media, Associated People

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Google Earth Pro

Description:

Download Google Earth Pro for Desktop to access all of Google Earth’s features. After zooming to an area of interest, you can view historical satellite imagery by clicking the clock icon in the upper lefthand corner of the screen.

Resource Type:

Media and Other Open Sources

Area of Investigation:

Personal Finances, Background and Family

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Google Fact Checking

Description:

Google Fact Check Explorer combines the work of fact checkers, journalists and researchers by aggregating fact checking and misinformation reporting from outlets and agencies around the world. You can search by topic or by people connected to a fact- checked issue. You can also upload photos in the “search fact checks” bar to see fact checks related to an image and when it first appeared online.

Resource Type:

Media and Other Open Sources

Area of Investigation:

Background and Family, Educational History, Professional History, Political History, Civil Litigation and Criminal Cases, Nonprofits, Campaign Finance, Personal Finances, Social Media, Associated People

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Google Image Search

Description:

Google Image Search allows users to search for images by keyword or any of Google’s advanced search parameters. It also allows for reverse image searches using images and links.

Resource Type:

Media and Other Open Sources

Area of Investigation:

Background and Family, Educational History, Professional History, Political History, Civil Litigation and Criminal Cases, Nonprofits, Campaign Finance, Personal Finances, Social Media, Associated People

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Google Maps Street View

Description:

From Google Maps, enter Street View by dragging the orange person icon onto the street you want to view. To view historical Street View images, click on the “See more dates” link in the top right of the screen.

Resource Type:

Media and Other Open Sources

Area of Investigation:

Personal Finances, Background and Family

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Google Scholar

Description:

Google Scholar is an academic journal and patent search engine. It provides a comprehensive search of scholarly journals, databases, preprint servers and the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) archives.

Resource Type:

Media and Other Open Sources

Area of Investigation:

Background and Family, Educational History, Professional History, Political History, Civil Litigation and Criminal Cases, Nonprofits, Campaign Finance, Personal Finances, Social Media, Associated People

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Open Corporates

Description:

Open Corporates is a free database of U.S. and foreign companies. You can search it by company name and director name, and if you register and log in, you can search by registered address and other information. You can verify any information gathered from Open Corporates by obtaining copies of original documents from the relevant secretaries of state.

Resource Type:

Media and Other Open Sources

Area of Investigation:

Professional History, Associated People, Personal Finances

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OpenSecrets

Description:

OpenSecrets is a government transparency group working to track money in politics and how it impacts elections and policy. You can also see connections between candidates on this database. The second link above will take you to a page on OpenSecrets’ site that describes the primary types of information that candidates and members must include on personal financial disclosures.

It also provides detailed insights into lobbying expenditures, including ranked lists of top spenders, industries, and individual lobbyists. The website also has a breakdown of spending trends over time, allowing for year-to-year and quarter-to-quarter comparisons. Lastly, you can also find recent registrations to monitor new lobbying activities. 

Resource Type:

Media and Other Open Sources

Area of Investigation:

Political History, Campaign Finance, Associated People, Personal Finances, Lobbying

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Personal Financial Disclosures

Description:

Most candidates for and members of elected office are required to submit personal financial disclosures. The U.S. Senate and House each maintain a database of financial disclosures, which include both annual financial disclosures and periodic transaction reports. Annual disclosures present a somewhat comprehensive but imprecise summary of a candidate’s assets and liabilities, while periodic transaction reports disclose transactions in publicly traded securities. Candidates who have previously served in the executive branch may have filed annual financial disclosures, periodic transaction reports and documents related to potential conflicts of interest with the Office of Government Ethics. Candidates who have held state-level elected office will have filed financial disclosures with their state-level election authority, often the secretary of state. The level of detail in these reports will vary from state to state. These disclosures can be used to verify information against other public records, identify potentially omitted assets or debts, and provide additional details on a candidate’s or member’s finances. They may also reveal financial transactions, spousal assets and income, gifts and business interests that could identify potential business partners or associates.

Resource Type:

Federal Records

Area of Investigation:

Personal Finances, Nonprofits, Associated People

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