[6][5] InSight Crime was founded by Jeremy McDermott and Steven Dudley (a journalist who formerly reported for NPR, The Washington Post and the Miami Herald) in April 2010 under the endorsement of the Fundación Ideas para la Paz (FIP) in Bogotá, Colombia, and with the financial support of the Open Society Foundations.

[citation needed] The website intends to create an "information resource and networking tool designed for students, academics, analysts, researchers, policymakers, journalists, non-governmental workers, government officials and businesses to obtain the information and contacts they need to tackle the problems that organized crime increasingly presents in Latin America and the Caribbean.

"[9] Apart from publishing information on its website, InSight Crime also conducts investigations across Latin America for private and government organizations.

[8][10] Insight Crime is funded by a mixture of government grants and corporate philanthropy.

[3] For the period December 2023 through to June 2027, the Swedish government development agency (Sida) will fund Insight Crime US$890,410.