The DEEP Disclosure Rating
What this rating is. The DEEP Disclosure Rating measures how much a fund tells the public about itself: its finances, its mandate, its process, and its governance. It is scored from 0 to 100 against a fixed, published checklist applied to the fund’s own disclosures.
What this rating is not. It is not a measure of investment quality, past performance, financial strength, or creditworthiness, and it is not investment advice or a recommendation to allocate to, or avoid, any fund. A fund can invest well and score low here if it discloses little, and a fund can disclose fully and still perform poorly. The rating speaks only to transparency.
How the score works
Each fund is assessed against a 100-point checklist grouped into five pillars. Every item is scored on the fund’s published disclosures only, and each determination is tied to the specific document that evidences it. The rubric is the same for every fund, so scores are comparable and reproducible. Where a fund cannot be assessed on an item because that item does not apply to its type, the item is removed rather than marked as a failure (see “Funds the rubric does not fully fit” below).
The rubric
Financial transparency (25 points)
| Publishes an annual report or audited financial statements | 8 |
| Discloses AUM or reserves with an as-of date | 5 |
| Discloses investment performance or return earned | 7 |
| Discloses fees or investment costs | 5 |
Mandate transparency (30 points)
| Publishes an Investment Policy Statement or equivalent mandate document | 8 |
| Discloses target asset allocation | 7 |
| Discloses actual asset allocation | 7 |
| Discloses portfolio holdings (full 8, partial 4, none 0) | 8 |
Process and access transparency (15 points)
| Discloses how it selects managers, or names its investment consultant | 7 |
| Publishes an RFP or procurement process or portal | 8 |
Governance transparency (15 points)
| Names its governing board or trustees and senior investment staff | 7 |
| Publishes board or committee meeting materials or minutes | 8 |
Accessibility and timeliness (15 points)
| Disclosures are freely and publicly accessible, with no paywall | 5 |
| Most recent disclosures are current within the fund’s reporting cycle | 7 |
| Disclosures are reasonably findable and consolidated | 3 |
Score bands
The total maps to a descriptive band. Bands are deliberately worded, not lettered, so the rating is never mistaken for a credit rating.
- 85 to 100
- Exemplary. Discloses fully and accessibly across nearly all applicable areas.
- 70 to 84
- Strong. Discloses most of what a reader would want, with minor gaps.
- 55 to 69
- Adequate. Core disclosures present, several meaningful gaps.
- 35 to 54
- Limited. Discloses selectively, with major areas missing.
- 0 to 34
- Opaque. Little is disclosed publicly.
Funds the rubric does not fully fit
Some funds cannot be assessed on every item. A statutory fund that invests only in government securities has no manager roster, target allocation, or procurement process to disclose. In these cases the items that do not apply are removed from both the points earned and the points available, and the score is expressed as the percentage of applicable points earned, rescaled to 100. Each fund’s profile lists the items marked not applicable, so the basis of its score is visible. A fund is never marked down for failing to disclose something it cannot have.
Sourcing and updates
Every input to a fund’s score comes from a named primary source, the same standard applied to all data on this site. Each score carries a last-assessed date and is re-assessed on the fund’s reporting cycle, for example when a new annual report or trustees report is published. A score reflects the fund’s disclosures as of that date and no later.
A note on accountability
The DEEP Disclosure Rating measures whether a fund discloses, not whether it follows through on what it says. A separate assessment of stated commitments against disclosed action is planned as a distinct, sourced tracker, reported alongside the evidence rather than reduced to a single grade. It is not part of the DEEP Disclosure Rating.