Tides Canada Paid $90,125 to "Organizing For Change" which seeks to influence Liberal & NDP Leadership. Where did Tides Canada get the money?

Please read: Copyright Notice & Disclaimer

Updated Feb. 2, 2011.

According to U.S. tax returns for 2008 and 2009, Tides Canada Foundation paid $90,125 to the Georgia Straight Alliance for Organizing for Change.  According to e-mail from Organizing for Change, this project seeks to influence the leadership picks of both the Liberal and the NDP parties in British Columbia.  As such, its fair to inquire about the origins of the funding that Tides Canada is providing for this project.  This is relevant and important in light of the $57 million that Tides Canada has been paid by USA foundations, since 2000.

Since January 12, 2011, Tides Canada has been asked by e-mail about the origins of the $90,125 that Tides Canada paid to the Georgia Straight Alliance for Organizing for Change. So far, no reply.

Fair questions also seem to be in order about the support that Organizing for Change may be getting indirectly through American organizations.  For example, the web-site for Organizing for Change is run by Groundwire, a Seattle-based organization that is heavily funded by USA foundations.

Groundwire has been paid $975,000 (2000 - 2010) from the Brainerd Foundation, $355,000 (2008 - 2010) from the Wilburforce Foundation and $65,000 from the Bullitt Foundation (2008 - 2010).  These are some of the same USA foundations that are funding B.C. environmental organizations that campaign against the Northern Gateway Enbridge pipeline and against oil tanker traffic that would allow the export of Canadian oil to Asia.

During 2009 and 2010 the Brainerd Foundation paid $18,000 to the Dogwood Initiative including funds "To help grow public opposition to counter the Enbridge pipeline construction and the risk associated with increased oil tanker traffic in B.C.'s north."  The Brainerd Foundation also paid $2,000 to the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society "To leverage the moratorium by First Nations on oil and gas development on their lands..." The amount of this grant is small but the stated purpose is telling.

One of the grants from the Bullitt Foundation was $30,000 paid to Tides USA "to mobilize urban voters for a federal ban on coastal tankers."  Shortly after this was reported in testimony to a House of Commons committee, and in an op-ed in The Financial Post (Demarketing Alberta), the Bullitt Foundation RE-WROTE this grant to Tides USA. The Bullitt Foundation also paid Tides USA $30,000 "to strengthen and enforce a 34-year moratorium on oil tanker traffic in the mid and north coast of British Columbia, and to prevent expansion of oil and gas infrastructure in Georgia Strait and the lower Fraser Basin," through the Dogwood Initiative which runs the NO TANKERS campaign.

According to its own web-site, the Wilburforce Foundation paid: 

• $18,000 to the Dogwood Initiative, including funds "To help grow public opposition to counter the Enbridge pipeline construction and the risk associated with increased oil tanker traffic in B.C.'s north."

• $95,000 to the Westcoast Environmental Law Research Foundation (WELRF) for its work "to provide legal support to First Nations allies in developing and communicating their positions about the Enbridge Northern Gateway Project" and "to abate threats posed by pipelines and oil tanker traffic to BC’s terrestrial and marine environments in and around the Great Bear Rainforest."  WELRF was also paid $100,000 by the Rockefeller Brothers Fund Inc. "to prevent the development of a pipeline and tanker port that endangers the Great Bear Rainforest protected area..."  One has to wonder what kind of legal support WELRF was providing to First Nations with funds from the Wilburforce Foundation, at the same time that WELRF was paid by the Rockefeller Brothers Fund Inc. to prevent the development of the pipeline.

• $70,000 to the Pembina Institute for "advancing new decision making frameworks" with regards to the MacKenzie Gas Pipeline. The Pembina Institute also got $462,393  from the California-based Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, "to improve the current approach to large-scale energy development projects such as coal bed methane and pipeline" and the Pembina Foundation/Institute was paid $100,000 by the Rockefeller Brothers Fund Inc. "to prevent the development of a pipeline and tanker port that endangers the Great Bear Rainforest protected area..." 

In summary, what the above information suggests to me is that Groundwire, which runs the Organizing for Change web-site, is heavily funded by USA foundations with a clear agenda to thwart the oil and gas industry in British Columbia, and oil tanker traffic which would allow exports of Canadian oil to Asia.  

When Organizing for Change tries to influence the leadership picks of the Liberal and the NDP parties, will it seek candidates who would serve the interests of the American foundations that are funding the organizations that support Organizing for Change?

Comments

[JR]

Wow Vivian well done.

The Tides foundation is a nasty piece of work, cleverly disguised as a charity. Same as Hollyhock.

Somehow canadians who have been financially impacted by Solomon and his bogus charities need compensation for financial losses. A class action lawsuit might turn the tides.

Thanks for the great investigative work.

[Wake up call]

ORGANIZINGFORCHANGE.ORG is an American Website run by Groundwire.org and Onenw.org out of
1402 Third Ave, Suite 1000
Seattle.Wa

Canadians need to wake up. Americans are organizing a take over.