Rethink Campaigns

The $11.4 Million Dollar Question for Tides Canada & Endswell

Please read: Copyright Notice & Disclaimer

From base camp in San Francisco, the Tides Foundation and its Canadian affiliate (Tides Canada) have paid $6 million to 36 organizations that campaign against Alberta oil.  Over roughly the same period that Tides has been campaigning against Alberta oil, Canada's single most important export, overhead and salaries have doubled and tripled at Tides Canada and at the Endswell Foundation. Endswell is part of the Tides consortium of charities and is run by Joel Solomon, the biggest financial backer of Vancouver's Mayor Gregor Robertson.

In response to the Financial Post, the CEO of Tides Canada defended his charity, saying that there's "nothing nefarious" about Tides.

The Tides campaign against Alberta oil is a serious matter - and not only for Canada. The East-West Energy Chronicle noted, in Chinese, that this campaign is "having an impact on political decisions that are of non-trivial importance to the future of Canada’s energy industry. Interestingly, the funding cited is directed to organizations that are waging a PR war not only against the oil sands, but also against tanker traffic in the coastal area between Vancouver Island and Alaska, the disallowance of which would foreclose the possibility of Canada diversifying hydrocarbon exports away from its current single export market, the USA".

Tides Canada says "corporate public relations budgets dwarf those of non-profits and their foundation supporters." I'm not so sure. Five of the big U.S. foundations that fund Tides Canada have $22 billion in assets and give away about $1.2 billion every year. Even the oil industry might be hard pressed to match that. Since 2000, Tides Canada has been paid nearly $57 Million by U.S. foundations which Tides refers to as "donor clients."

Another big funder of Tides Canada is the Endswell Foundation, a charity registered in both Canada and the U.S.  Tax returns show that since 2003, Endswell has granted $8.7 Million. Of that, 99 percent went to Tides Canada.

One of the things that has surprised me about Tides U.S., Tides Canada and Endswell is that the same people are in charge at all three charities. Drummond Pike, the CEO of Tides U.S is also the "founding chair" of Tides Canada and is the chairman of Endswell.  Joel Solomon, the chairman of Tides U.S., is also the Vice-Chair of Tides Canada and the president of Endswell. Not only Pike and Solomon are at the helm of all three organizations, the treasurer of Endswell and the treasurer of Tides Canada Foundation is the same person: James Morrisey, an accountant at Ernst & Young. Considering that the people at the top are the same and that Endswell's grants went to Tides Canada, it seems to me that these charities are virtually one and the same.

At both Tides Canada and at Endswell, expenditures for staff have skyrocketed. U.S. tax returns show that Martha Burton's salary nearly doubled over one year. Burton, a former assistant treasurer at Tides Canada, is the Sr. Vice-President at Endswell. She is also the treasurer of Vision Vancouver, the political party of Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson. 

U.S. tax returns show that since 2004, Endswell payments tripled to Joel Solomon and John Richardson. Until very recently, John Richardson was the Acting Chair of the Coast Opportunity Funds, a First Nations organization to whom Tides Canada paid $27.3 million in a single grant, in 2008.

At Tides Canada, total expenditures on staff have also tripled since 2005. Payments to Ross McMillan, the CEO of Tides Canada, went from $53,092  to $143,236 in one year.  U.S. tax returns also say that between 2004 and 2006 alone, Tides Canada paid  $433,998  to Boreray Praxis Ltd. Ross McMillan is the company's president.

Source: Canadian tax returns.

The Vancouver Sun reports that Joel Solomon has been giving away his own money, "his millions," through the Endswell Foundation. This gave me the impression that Joel Solomon is independently wealthy so I was astonished to learn that, in fact, according to U.S. tax returns, Joel Solomon has been a paid employee of Endswell since 1997.  According to my calculations, Endswell paid Joel Solomon and his company a total of $872,519 including amounts paid to "JSCO."

U.S. tax returns say that since 1997, Endswell has paid $1.2 Million to Interdependent Investments Ltd., including amounts paid to "IIL Ltd." Little seems to have been reported about this company except that it contributed $6,000 ($5,000 and $1,000) to Vision Vancouver. The officers of Interdependent Investments Ltd. are Joel Solomon and Martha Burton. Why did Endswell need to pay $1.2 million to a company whose only two officers are also the two most highly paid employees of the charity? Joel Solomon and Martha Burton have been asked this question.  So far, no reply. (For my letters to them, please click here).

The Vancouver SUN reports that in the 2008 municipal election, Joel Solomon and his associates supported Vision Vancouver to the tune of $330,000. That included $70,469 from Renewal Partners, the "investment firm" of Joel Solomon, Drummond Pike and James Morrisey.  According to the Vancouver Sun, Renewal Partners' donation was the 2nd largest in the entire 2008 Vancouver election campaign, second only to C.U.P.E., British Columbia's largest labor union.  The people to whom Endswell has paid salaries are the same people who work at Renewal Partners. Would Renewal Partners have been able to contribute $70,649 if its staff salaries - to the tune of $US 1.9 Million - hadn't been covered by Endswell?

Since 2003, even though Endswell made virtually no grants at all to any organizations except Tides Canada, Endswell spent $11.4 Million on overhead: $2.3 million for office expenses, $2.6 million for staff costs, $5.9 million for "other expenses" and $427,973 for consultants. From $800,000 in 2003 to $2.2 million in 2009, Endswell's yearly overhead almost tripled. That included about $30,000 per year that was paid to Ernst & Young.

Source:  Based on Canadian and U.S. tax returns 

During the years when Endswell didn't make a single grant at all to any organization except Tides Canada, what were the staff doing? Why did Endswell need to spend $11.4 million so that it could grant $8.7 million to Tides Canada? In my opinion, this is the $11.4 million dollar question. 

Campaigning against the Alberta oil industry, one of Canada's most important industries, is one thing. Doing that while doubling and tripling overhead and salaries, that's another thing all together.

Notes: Joel Solomon and James Morrisey have also been long-time directors of at least three other Tides-affiliated charities: Salal, the Sage Centre (Tides Canada Initiatives Society) and Nextwave. The Nextwave Foundation seems to operate in conjunction with Hollyhock, an ocean-front charity where Hollyhock Farm Ltd., a for-profit company, offers "Bodywork" (spa services?) ranging from $85 - $170 per hour. Property searches indicate to me that Drummond Pike and Joel Solomon own property immediately adjacent to the ocean-front charity.  The president of Hollyhock Farm Ltd. is Joel Solomon and prior to entering politics in 2005, the treasurer of Hollyhock Farm Ltd. was Gregor Robertson, the current Mayor of Vancouver.

Why its fair to inquire about Tides Canada

"Just this week, we learned that one of the largest groups paying for these ads (campaign ads) regularly takes in money from foreign corporations.  So groups that receive foreign money are spending huge sums to influence American elections, and they won’t tell you where the money for their ads come from.  So this isn’t just a threat to Democrats.  All Republicans should be concerned. Independents should be concerned. This is a threat to our democracy.  The American people deserve to know who’s trying to sway their elections."

- President Barack Obama, 7 October 2010

Please read: Copyright Notice & Disclaimer

The Tides Foundation, based in San Francisco, is a registered charity and is a major source of funds for some of the environmental organizations that campaign to "reform" Canada's resource-based industries: forestry, mining, oil and gas, fisheries, aquaculture, and so on.  For example, the Tides Foundation and its Canadian counter-part, Tides Canada, are funding at least 36 organizations that campaign against Alberta oil and against the construction of the Enbridge pipeline that would go from the Alberta oil sands to Kitimat. The Enbridge pipeline would allow Canada to increase oil exports to Asia.  Tides USA and Tides Canada aren't the only source of funding for these campaigns, but as it appears, they are one of the main conduits of funds.

If oil tankers can't transit B.C. waters, Alberta oil can't be exported to China and the U.S. gets a virtual monopoloy on Alberta oil.  Indeed, banning oil tanker traffic is precisely what an American foundation paid Tides USA and Tides Canada to accomplish through the Dogwood Initiative.  The Bullitt Foundation paid Tides USA/Tides Canada $30,000 "... to mobilize urban voters for a federal ban on coastal tankers." Shortly after concern about this foreign funding through Tides Canada to influence legislation in Canada was raised in testimony to a House of Commons committee, and in an op-ed published in The Financial Post (Demarketing Alberta), the Bullitt Foundation promptly re-wrote this grant to Tides USA/Tides Canada.

On the surface, the campaign against Alberta oil is about the impact of industry on the environment. That's fair game but there's more to it than that.  In my view, this foreign-funded campaign encroaches on Canada's sovereignty. Policy and legislation in Canada should be decided by Canadians, not manipulated by foreign-funded campaigns that are run through Canadian charities.  That's why I'm writing this blog, and why I believe that its fair to inquire about the funding and the activities of Tides USA, Tides Canada and the Endswell Foundation, and the USA foundations that fund Canadian organizations that campaign against Canadian industries and interests. Another reason why I'm writing this blog is that I believe that charities should do charity.  Shaking down industries is important sometime but its not charity.

Since 1997, the Endswell Foundation has granted approximately $12 million dollars to Tides Canada. Between 2003 and 2009, fully 99 percent of Endswell's grants for a total of $8.7 million, went to Tides Canada, U.S. tax returns show. 

Corporate Bonds in Gas and Pipeline Companies

Fair questions seem to be in order regarding the origins of the assets of the Endswell Foundation and its investments in the oil and gas industry.  U.S. tax returns show that in from 1997 to 1999, Endswell had corporate bonds in 20 companies including at least three gas companies: Consumers Gas Ltd., B.C. Gas and Nova Gas Transmission, a wholly owned subsidiary of TransCanada Pipelines Ltd. TransCanada proposes to build the Keystone pipeline and may stand to gain substantially if the Enbridge pipeline doesn't go through. Since 2000, Endswell's U.S. tax returns report investments in corporate stocks held by Genus and Real Assets (VanCity).  Its hard to know what industry these investments and assets are actually been in.

Funded by Tides USA, Tides Canada, Endswell and other foundations, environmental groups oppose both the Enbridge pipeline which would allow oil exports to Asia, and the Keystone pipeline which would expand Canadian oil exports to the US, but the campaign against the Enbridge pipeline seems to be far more intense.

Tides Canada, a registered Canadian charity, is heavily supported by Tides USA a handful of huge, American foundations based primarily near San Francisco, in California. These foundations are the Hewlett Foundation, the Packard Foundation, the Gordon & Betty Moore Foundation, the Rockefeller Brothers Fund and the Pew Charitable Trusts.   These are the "Big Five," the key U.S. foundations that fund Tides Canada and are core sources of funding for the environmental movement.  These five foundations have $US 21 Billion in assets and give away about $1.2 billion every year.  If they decide to thwart an industry or block the export of Canadian oil to Asia, they may have the means to do so. According to U.S. tax returns, since 2000 Tides Canada has been granted nearly $57 Million by U.S. foundations which Tides USA refers to as "donor clients."

Tides Canada says that it is Canada’s "first and only national public foundation focused on the environment and social justice" and that it has funded hundreds of organizations. This is really important work.  A lot of people are probably trusting that Tides Canada does what it says. The Endswell Foundation, a Tides-affiliated charity, says that it has been the largest, private foundation funding environmental issues in British Columbia. Considering the importance of their work to Canada, and especially in British Columbia, its fair to inquire about these organizations and how they're funded.

For many years, the CEO of the Tides Foundation and the Chairman of the board were Drummond Pike and Joel Solomon, respectively.  Drummond Pike is also the "founding chair" of Tides Canada and Joel Solomon is the vice-chair.  In fact, according to U.S. tax returns for 2007, Drummond Pike was a director of 26 Tides-affiliated organizations, and CEO of seven.  Joel Solomon is also president of the Endswell Foundation, a Tides-affiliated charity of which the chairman of the board is Drummond Pike.  

Political Campaigns

Not only the people involved with Tides Canada are at the forefront of powerful environmental campaigns, some of the people from the helm of Tides Canada are also intimately involved in political campaigns, especially in British Columbia. 

In 2008 and 2009, U.S. tax returns show that Tides Canada paid $90,125 to the Georgia Straight Alliance for Organizing for Change, a project that seeks to influence the leadership choices of both the NDP and the Liberal party in British Columbia. 

In the Vancouver 2008 municipal election, Drummond Pike and Joel Solomon - and the companies with which they are affiliated - brought in a substantial amount of campaign finance for Vancouver's Mayor Gregor Robertson and Vision Vancouver, his political party. According to Vancouver media, Joel Solomon brought in $330,000 and was the second largest contributor to the 2008 municipal elections, second only to C.U.P.E., British Columbia's largest labor union.  The $330,000 from Joel Solomon and people associated with him included nearly $77,000 from two Tides-affiliated "investment firms" (Renewal Partners and Interdependent Investments Ltd.) and $111,000 from three Tides-affiliated P.R. companies: Strategic Communications, Communicopia and Convergence Communications.  The latter is the P.R. company of Michael Magee, the City of Vancouver's current Chief of Staff.   

While president of the Endswell Foundation and vice-chair of Tides Canada, Joel Solomon actively campaigned for Mayor Gregor Robertson. Drummond Pike contributed to his campaign and applauded his win. In Canada, charities are allowed to conduct political activity but it must be non-partisan.  If Tides Canada or any of the Tides-affiliated charities are supporting political candidates - directly or indirectly - at the same time that they tap into the deep pockets of huge U.S. foundations, this needs to be out in the open. 

The information, analyses and opinions that are shared here were presented first to Joel Solomon, Drummond Pike and Ross McMillan (CEO of Tides Canada) in a series of letters sent since early July of 2010. The only response that has been received to date was a series of letters from the lawyer of Tides Canada.

• For Tides Canada Foundation, click here.
• For Tides Canada Initiatives Society, click here. (This link was active until 15 October 2010).
• For The U.S. Tides Foundation, click here.
• For The Endswell Foundation and Renewal Partners, click here.

"An international campaign mounted against the sovereignty of Canada's natural resources...." posted @ CityCaucus.com

From CityCaucus.com:

"... One of our mandates since we established CityCaucus.com has been to discuss the money and influence behind our city-elected representatives. However, never in our wildest dreams did we think we would stumble upon an international campaign mounted against the sovereignty of Canada's natural resources.

Krause's findings indicate that several of the individuals who funded and helped to elect Mayor Gregor Robertson and Vision Vancouver are the same people who arranged for a mult-million dollar public relations campaign to stifle the export of Canada's oil to Pacific Rim countries...."

To continue reading, please click here.

Who pays for RETHINK ALBERTA?

Please read: Copyright Notice & Disclaimer.  All dollar figures are U.S. dollars. 

NOTE:  The lawyer for Tides Canada states in a letter of 2 December 2010 that "Tides Canada is not involved with, and has not received funding from and has not provided any funding whatsoever to "Rethink Alberta."

Corporate Ethics International, based in San Francisco, is leading a campaign against Alberta's tourism industry. The goal, they say, is to get the Alberta government to "rethink" the oil sands.  The name of the campaign is RETHINK ALBERTA.

In August, CBC reported that this campaign has put up 11 digital billboards in England and sent 7,500 postcards to travel agents across the United States.  The question is, who pays for the stamps? Who pays for the expensive billboards?

Canadians who are affected by this campaign have a right to inquire about who's paying the bills for this San-Francisco-based campaign against one of Canada's most important industries. Not only there are the stamps, the billboards and the state-of-the-art web-site to pay for, there's also the the six digit salary for Michael Marx, the Executive Director of Corporate Ethics.

One of the ways to find out how environmental campaigns are funded, is to ask.  In September, I asked Michael Marx who funds his campaign.  He replied but didn't answer the question.  "Our policy is to maintain the confidentiality of our funders and the purpose of that funding," he replied by e-mail.

Another way to try to figure out who funds campaign organizations is to look at their annual reports and see who their funders are.  Then, when you look at the tax returns of the donors (those that are charitable foundations, that is), you start to get a glimpse of where the money comes from. 

Since July of 2010, RETHINK ALBERTA listed ten organizations as participants in this campaign. Recently, the U.K. Tar Sands Network was added to the list. A previous post in this series showed that the U.S. Tides Foundation and Tides Canada have paid at least 36 organizations that campaign against Alberta oil. Of the original ten members of RETHINK ALBERTA, at least 7 are among  these 36 organizations.  As mentioned above, in a letter of 2 December 2010, the lawyer for Tides Canada states, "Tides Canada is not involved with, has not received funding from and has not provided any funding whatsoever to "Rethink Alberta."

U.S. tax returns indicate that Tides paid $750,000 to Corporate Ethics International. Forest Ethics was paid $401,364, the Raincoast Action Network was paid $245,000, the Indigenous Environmental Network was paid $115,000, and so on. In total, the Tides Foundation paid about $1.8 Million to these groups in 2009 alone. 

The question is, where did these funds originate?

Coming soon:  The hedge fund billionaire and his family who paid $95 million to a charitable foundation that then paid $2 million to Tides "to promote awareness of and opposition to tar sands," according to U.S. tax returns.

"Nothing nefarious about Tides," says Tides Canada

A letter to the National Post, sent by Ross McMillan, the CEO of Tides Canada. 

 

"Our mission at Tides Canada Foundation is to provide uncommon solutions for the common good..."

To continue reading, please click here.

"Who's Funding the Propoganda Against Canada?" posted @ Blogging Canadians

From Blogging Canadians...

"Ever wonder why you hear anti-Albertan, Anti-Canadian, propaganda coming from some Canadian groups? Turns out their locality and political power is for sale to the highest bidder. How very Canadian but this is a story that should be front page. Canadians should know why the old term Tar Sands is still in use, why some Canadians believe lies about our #1 export. Hopefully this corruption is exposed.  I'll await the weeks of coverage by the CBC...."

To continue reading, please click here.

For U.S. Cash vs. Oil Sands, published in The Financial Post, please click here.

For the subsequent article, Demarketing Alberta, in The Financial Post, please click here.

Its time to ask..... who benefits from this?

"Corporate wealth funds anti-oilsands groups," The Calgary Herald, 19 October 2010

By Paul Stanway, published in The Calgary Herald, 19 October 2010 ....

As a nutritionist, former UN aid worker, and a tireless supporter of Canada's native peoples, Vivian Krause seems an unlikely defender of Alberta's oilsands.

But the B.C. freelance journalist and blogger knows hypocrisy when she sees it, and her investigation of the funding of the anti-oilsands lobby should be must-reading for all Albertans.

To read the rest of Paul Stanway's op-ed in the Calgary Herald, please click here.

"American charities fund environmental resistance against Albertan oil sands," The East-West Energy Chronicle

From The East-West Energy Chronicle, 15 October 2010 

"... huge American charities are funding environmental activism in Western Canada. These funds are having an impact on political decisions that are of nontrivial importance to the future of Canada’s energy industry. Interestingly, the funding cited is directed to organizations that are waging a PR war not only against the oil sands, but also against tanker traffic in the coastal area between Vancouver Island and Alaska, the disallowance of which would foreclose the possibility of Canada diversifying hydrocarbon exports away from its current single export market, the USA".

"U.S. Cash Against Alberta Oil," from The Financial Post, October 15, 2010

From the Financial Post, 15 October 2010...

There has never been a major oil spill in Vancouver harbour, but this coming Sunday protestors who say a spill is inevitable will take kayaks and canoes out into the water to stare down oil tankers. Chances are there won't be a tanker in sight, but there will be a party boat, organizers say.

If the campaign against oil tankers were to succeed in Vancouver, overseas exports of Canadian oil would be blocked and Canada would be stuck with only one major customer for Alberta oil: the United States. That's the trade-off.

Like most protests, the one against oil tankers has all the look and feel of a Canadian grassroots movement. The campaign against Alberta's oil sands also seems to rise out of the people, but the interesting thing is that there are very few roots under that grass. Money comes in from a small core of U.S. charitable groups. One of those groups -- the U.S. Tides Foundation of California (Tides U.S.) and its Canadian counterpart have paid millions to at least 36 campaign organizations.

All the money, at least US$6-million, comes from a single, foreign charity. The Tides U.S. campaign against Alberta oil is a campaign against one of Canada's most important industries. It's fair for Canadians to inquire about who's funding this campaign and why. 

To continue reading from The Financial Post, please click here.

36 Organizations Paid to Campaign Against Alberta Oil By The Same, Foreign Charity: The Tides Foundation, based in California

Please read: Copyright Notice & Disclaimer. All dollar figures are U.S. dollars. 

U.S. tax returns for 2008 and 2009 show that the U.S. Tides Foundation and Tides Canada paid a total of 36 organizations that campaign against Alberta oil sands. Of the 36 groups, 26 groups were funded as of 2009.

The total amount paid to these 36 organizations was $5.9 Million in 2009, according to calculations based on U.S. tax returns.  Of that, $4.3 Million (73 percent) was specifically ear-marked "Tar Sands Campaign" (see below).  

Tides and Tides Canada have been asked by e-mail to verify this information and analysis. So far, no reply.

 

The data on which the above figure is based, is presented in the table below. Excerpts from U.S. tax returns on which this table is based, are below the table.  For a larger or printable version of the table, please click on the table itself.

 
Excerpts from U.S. Tax Returns for 2009 showing grants from the U.S. Tides Foundation to 17 U.S. organizations to campaign against Alberta oil:  

The excerpts below are from U.S. tax returns for 2009 showing grants made by the U.S. Tides Foundation to 12 Canadian organizations:

 The excerpts below are from the 2008 U.S. tax returns of Tides Canada, showing grants made to 10 Canadian organizations:  

Note: If you add up 17 + 12 + 10, you get 39, not 36. The reason that I say that it seems to me that 36 campaign organizations were funded by Tides - and not 39, is that three Canadian organizations were funded by both the U.S. Tides Foundation, and Tides Canada.  These organizations are the Driftwood Foundation, Environmental Defense Canada Inc. and the Sierra Club of Canada.