Compare Aid Pledges and Commitments

Avoid a common analytical error by separating pledges, commitments, and reported funding flows. The OCHA Humanitarian Funding Scraper provides a bounded connector to the authoritative publisher while preserving stable identifiers and source URLs on every row.

Start with a small, reviewable query

{"year":2025,"maxResults":1000}

Run a small sample before expanding the result limit. Inspect identifiers, dates, null values, units, qualifiers, and source fields in the Apify Dataset. Export as JSON for nested fields or CSV and Excel for review. For recurring ingestion, upsert on the publisher stable record dimensions instead of assuming every run is append-only.

Build a reliable data pipeline

The Actor uses direct HTTP requests, bounded inputs, transient-error retries, and explicit empty-result failures. It does not require a browser or paid proxy, so scheduled runs remain inexpensive. Keep the input in an Apify Task, send completion through a webhook, and load the dataset into a warehouse or dashboard. Store collection time downstream so source revisions can be distinguished from newly published records.

Interpret the source responsibly

Official publication does not remove the need for context. Preserve footnotes, status fields, dataset type, reporting period, and source attribution. A missing value is not zero, and a revised record is not necessarily a new event. For legal, medical, financial, safety, protection, or public-policy decisions, confirm material findings with the publisher and a qualified specialist.

This workflow is designed for aid organizations, donor analysts, and humanitarian finance teams. It is an independent integration and is not affiliated with or endorsed by the source institution.

Define the conversion funnel explicitly

Treat a pledge as an announced intention and a commitment as a firmer financial obligation according to the source's published status. Build cohorts by pledge month, donor, appeal, and destination, then measure how much later appears as committed or paid. Do not match records solely on equal amounts: one pledge may become several flows, and multiple pledges may be consolidated. Use flow relationships and identifiers when available, with unmatched records placed in a review queue. Report the median conversion time alongside the conversion share, and keep currency treatment consistent. This produces a funding-pipeline view rather than a misleading subtraction of two unrelated totals.