As the 2012 U.S. presidential election approaches facts are spun left and right, especially after the Democratic and Republican National Conventions, it can be hard to verify the candidates claims. FactCheck.org analyzes the accuracy of what is said by politicians in speeches, debates, ads, interviews and news releases.

With staff members whose employment background ranges from The Associated Press to The Washington Post, FactCheck.org sets the facts straight concerning what the presidential candidates accuse each other of saying and what is actually said during speeches and debates.

One example, according to FactCheck. org, is when President Obama quoted Romney as saying it was “tragic to end the war in Iraq,” but Romney was actually criticizing the pace of the troop’s withdrawal, according to FactCheck.org.

At the Republican National convention, Romney accused Obama of apologizing to foreign countries for American misdeeds. However, after analyzing Obama’s speeches, FactCheck. org staff members agreed Obama never apologized; but instead drew a distinction between his policies and those of his predecessor, George W. Bush.

FactCheck.org is a nonpartisan/nonprofit project funded by Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania, which was established by a publisher and philanthropist, Walter Annenberg, to monitor public policy issues.

In order to remain nonpartisan and nonprofit, FactCheck.org doesn’t accept money from businesses, but welcomes donations from public individuals instead. “Our policy is to disclose the identity of any individual donor giving $1,000 or more. We also disclose the total amount, average amount and number of individual donations,” the website stated.

The identities of the donators are revealed to allow the readers to judge whether or not the individuals influence the website.

“We do not seek and have never accepted, directly or indirectly, any funds from corporations, unions, partisan organizations or advocacy groups,” according to the site.