Giving Compass' Take:

• The Science Journalism Awards website profiles writer Charles Piller, who recently exposed the offshore investments by top science funding organizations that often support companies creating the problems researchers are trying to fix.

• This is a good example of why transparency in foundation work is so important. How can build more accountability into grantmaking practices across the board?

• Here's more on how to support science research in philanthropy.

Science writer Charles Piller, winner of a AAAS Kavli Science Journalism Award in 2016, wrote an investigative story in the December 7 issue of Science revealing huge offshore investments by top science funding organizations.

In his reporting, Piller found that such secretive investments sometimes end up supporting companies that create some of the very problems — such as health effects related to air pollution — that the private research funders are trying to address through their philanthropy. The lengthy story, the product of hundreds of hours of research, raised questions about transparency and accountability in the investment decisions of seven major funders of scientific research, including the Wellcome Trust and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

Piller has worked as an investigative reporter for STAT, The Sacramento Bee and the Los Angeles Times. He based his Science article on tax returns, financial statements and the Paradise Papers, a collection of about 13.4 million documents, many of which were leaked from Appleby, an international law firm that handles offshore investments.

Read the full article about Charles Piller's work to reveal offshore investments by leasing research funders by Michaela Jarvis at Science Journalism Awards.