Rethink Campaigns

USA Foundation paid Tides Canada $50,000 to realize a vision for Vancouver to be "the greenest city in the world." Where did the money go?

Please read: Copyright Notice & Disclaimer

Updated March 3, 2011

In 2010, the Bullitt Foundation, based in Seattle, paid Tides USA/Tides Canada $50,000 "for expenses associated with the establishment of a fund to enable Vancouver, BC to realize its vision of becoming the greenest city in the world."

The goal to make Vancouver the greenest city in the world is the vision of Mayor Gregor Robertson and Vision Vancouver.

On January 14, I sent an e-mail to Tides Canada to inquire about how the $50,000 from the Bullitt Foundation was spent.  Did it go to Vision Vancouver or to the Greenest City Team?  Three days later, on January 17, 2011,  Tides Canada issued a press release in which Tides Canada announced that it is "exploring with the Vancouver Foundation and the City of Vancouver the potential of establishing a fund to help Vancouver become the greenest city in the world by 2020." Tides Canada says that its participation in this project is made possible by a grant from the Bullitt Foundation. 

In 2010, the Bullitt Foundation paid Tides USA/Tides Canada $30,000 "To advance progressive environmental policies and achieve greater influence and effectiveness with citizens and decision makers in British Columbia." How were those funds used?

The  Bullitt Foundation also paid $30,000 to Tides USA for the Dogwood Initiative "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." 

The Bullitt Foundation also paid $30,000 "To expand an outreach campaign to mobilize urban voters for a federal ban on coastal tankers." Shortly after I testified to a House of Commons Standing Committee, mentioning this grant, the Bullitt Foundation simply re-wrote the grant.

Did the Bullitt Foundation Fund Organizing for Change?

Please read: Copyright Notice & Disclaimer

Back in early January, I reported here that 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.  In that post and in an op-eds in The National Post and The Vancouver Sun, I've also raised questions about the support that Organizing for Change has been getting indirectly, from several organizations that are heavily funded by U.S. foundations that have a clear agenda to that would thwart Canadian oil exports to Asia.

Since January 12, 2011, I've tried to ask Tides Canada 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.

In the tax return for 2009, Tides Canada reports that it paid $12,125 to the Georgia Straight Alliance "in support of Georgia Straight Alliance's participation in Organizing for Change and for Bullitt Foundation match." Did the Bullitt Foundation provide funds to Tides Canada for Organizing for Change?

In 2010, the Bullitt Foundation paid Tides USA/Tides Canada $30,000 "To advance progressive environmental policies and achieve greater influence and effectiveness with citizens and decision makers in British Columbia." How were those funds used?  Did that money go towards Organizing for Change?

The Map of Priority Regions of the Wilburforce Foundation

Please read: Copyright Notice & Disclaimer

Based in Seattle, the Wilburforce Foundation is a non-profit organization with a focus on protecting wildlife and the environment.  Surprisingly, however, according to the foundation's grantee guidelines, Wilburforce does not fund projects for habitat restoration, pollution prevention, air quality, energy-related or transportation-related issues.  After questions were raised about Wilburforce funding for projects in B.C., these grantee guidelines were recently removed.

The grantee guidelines also say that Wilburforce doesn't fund youth education yet it did fund a "youth voting initiative" in British Columbia. 

The Wilburforce Foundation is funded by James Letwin, one of the original group that gave rise to MICROSOFT, and Rosanna Letwin.  Since 1999, the Letwins have given $80 Million to the Wilburforce Foundation, including $54 Million in MICROSOFT shares.

One of the types of activities for which Wilburforce seems to provide substantial funding is in support of environmental organizations that create public pressure for strategic land, “targeted wildlands,” to be set aside in the name of wildlife protection.

As shown in the map from the Wilburforce Foundation, the only part of the entire west coast of North America where the Wilburforce Foundation funds an "environmental" initiative, is the central/north coast of B.C. - right smack where tankers would need to travel if Alberta oil is to be exported to Asia.

Surprisingly, the Wilburforce Foundation does not include the coast of southern/eastern Alaska, California, Washington State or Oregon (with a small exception) among its priority coastal regions.

On the central/north coast of B.C., the Great Bear Rainforest Initiative would block oil tanker traffic in the name of protecting the kermode bear, AKA the Great Spirit Bear.

Back in 1999 and 2000 when the Great Bear Rainforest Initiative forged ahead, the single highest paid grantee of the Wilburforce foundation was the David Suzuki Foundation which was paid  “to build the rationale and the constituency required to realize legislated land protection and conservation-based forestry on the BC coast…” ($620,000 in total).  U.S. tax returns and other on-line records show that since 2000, the David Suzuki Foundation has been paid at least $10 Million by U.S. foundations.

Wilburforce also paid Greenpeace "to pressure government and industry" for "legal establishment" of the Great Bear Rainforest.

Wilburforce specifically paid Tides USA for the Dogwood Initiative “to devolve control over land in B.C.'s central coast to First Nations ...” 

Wilburforce also funds the Headwaters Initiative, another Tides Canada project. Wilburforce has said at its web-site that this project is “to support and organize the First Nations communities impacted by potential tanker traffic associated with the Enbridge pipeline project in the Great Bear Rainforest.”  That information has since recently been removed.

About the Headwaters Initiative, Tides Canada doesn't exactly say the same thing as its funder.  Tides Canada says that this project "works to create a more informed and connected community engaged in the conservation of some of British Columbia’s great rivers." 

In 2009, Wilburforce made grants for $9.6 million. Of that, $1.7 Million was paid directly to Canadian organizations. That included $25,000 paid to the West Coast Environmental Law Research Foundation for "legal strategies" that are "to protect the Great Bear Rainforest from oil supertankers."

Americans Are Meddling in B.C. Politics, in The Vancouver SUN

From: The Vancouver Sun

"On Saturday, members of the B.C. Liberal party will choose a new leader who will immediately become the provincial premier, replacing Gordon Campbell. But who will those Liberal members be?

The party's membership has recently tripled, to 90,000 from 30,000. Bob Simpson, an Independent MLA from Cariboo North, points out that there's no guarantee that these people are real, that they are registered B.C. voters or even Canadian citizens.

There have been calls for Elections BC to take over the membership lists for all provincial political parties.

While a lot of fuss has been made over a cat and a hockey team that ended up on the Liberal party's membership list, there is a much bigger issue: A foreign-funded project called Organizing for Change."

To continue reading, please click here.

 

USA Foundation paid Dogwood Initiative "... to devolve control of land on B.C.'s central coast..."

Please read: Copyright Notice & Disclaimer

According to U.S. tax returns, the Wilburforce Foundation has been funding the Dogwood Initiative through the U.S. Tides Foundation, since 2002.  The initial, stated purpose of the funds was "to develop a conservation-based legal and policy framework to devolve control over land in BC's central coast to First Nations and communities in the interest of long-term habitat protection."

The Wilburforce Foundation also funded the Dogwood Initiative "to work with First Nations to increase leverage and expand conservation and local control of land in the Great Bear Rainforest."

Ten Reasons 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

Here's a list of 10 reasons why I believe that its fair to inquire about the activities of Tides Canada and the origins of its funding.

1.  Big Influence - Tides Canada is behind Open Media, the group that recently mobilized more than 400,000 people to oppose a CRTC decision on user-based internet billing.  This is an example of how influential Tides Canada can be.

2.  Political Involvement - Tides Canada is behind Organizing for Change. One of the activities of this program was to get people to temporarily join the B.C. Liberal party in order to be able to vote to determine who would become the next Premier of British Columbia, on Feb. 26. In 2008 and 2009, Tides Canada has paid at least $90,125 for Organizing for Change, U.S. tax returns show.

• "Strategic advice, coaching and tools" from a U.S. organization
• Organizing for Change is using SALESFORCE.com, state-of-the-art, expensive technology
• 20,000 households contacted in 2009 alone.

3. Big Bucks - Since 2000, Tides Canada has had expenditures of nearly $150 Million. On top of that, the total assets of Tides Canada have increased from $1 Million to $33 Million. Where did the money come from? Tides Canada, and its side-kick, the Endswell Foundation, has paid $51 Million to staff and consultants, since 2003. That's a lot of staff. In 2010, Tides Canada's annual payroll was more than $10 Million.

4.  Foreign Funding - U.S. tax returns and on-line records show that since 2000, Tides Canada has been paid at least $56 Million by U.S. foundations.  Simultaneously, these U.S. foundations are funding multi-million dollar campaigns that would thwart Canadian industries - to the benefit of American interests.  For example, with all the bad press over farmed salmon - generated by Tides Canada-funded organizations - people have been swayed to "wild" salmon, most of which is Alaskan. The ex-vessel value of Alaskan salmon has tripled. See: The American Attempt to Kill B.C.'s Salmon Farms.

5.  Big Payment to First Nations - In 2008, Tides Canada paid $27.3 Million to two small First Nations on the B.C coast, U.S. tax returns show. Why was this grant made so quietly?

6.  The Strategic Plan - Back in 2004, Tides Canada was paid $70,000 to develop "a strategic plan to address oil and gas development in British Columbia."  What was the plan?  Tides Canada won't say.

7.  Campaigns to Block Canadian Oil Exports to Asia - Tides Canada, and its parent organization, the U.S. Tides Foundation, are funding no less than 36 organizations in campaigns that would thwart the Alberta oil industry and block Canadian oil exports to Asia. This would mean that the U.S. would continue to have a virtual monopoly on Canadian oil exports. See: U.S. Cash vs. Oil Sands.

8.  Endswell Funding -  Tides Canada has been paid $12.7 million by the Endswell Foundation, U.S. tax returns show.  Since 2003, 99 percent of Endswell's grants went to Tides Canada, a total of $8.7 Million. The senior people are the same at Tides Canada and Endswell (Joel Solomon, Drummond Pike, and James Morrisey) so when they make grants from one charity to another, in essence, they are just transferring money from one pocket to another.  I don't have a problem with them doing that but I wonder why they needed to spend $11.4 Million in the process.  This is what I have referred to as the $11.4 Million Dollar Question.

Why did office and staff costs sky-rocket?  And why did Endswell, a charity, pay $2.3 Million to staff at Renewal Partners, an "investment firm?"  Why did salaries double or even triple?  How come Joel Solomon has been paid $929,527 including payments to "JSCO"? Is Joel Solomon a "millionaire philanthropist" who founded the Endswell charity, as has been reported by the media, or is he a paid employee? Or both?

9.  Interdependent Investments Ltd. - Since 1999, Endswell has paid $1.4 Million to an "investment" company called Interdependent Investments Ltd.  The officers of this company are Joel Solomon & Martha Burton, a B.C. company summary shows.  Interdependent Investments Ltd. contributed at least $6,000 to Vision Vancouver. Where did the rest of the money go? If there's nothing to hide, why don't Joel Solomon and Martha Burton answer the question?

10.  Behind-the-scenes influence - Some of the activities of Tides Canada aren't exactly out in the open.  For example, a Greenpeace web-site against Alberta tourism, was funded by the Rockefeller Brothers Fund Inc., through Tides Canada. The names of the Rockefeller Brothers Fund and Tides Canada are nowhere to be seen on the web-site that bears the Greenpeace name. See: 

• A charity with plenty of very long tentacles, Kevin Libin, National Post.

• Environmental Activists Hide Behind A Screen Of Big Money, Kevin Libin, National Post

For more reasons about why I believe that its fair to inquire about the influence of the U.S. Tides Foundation, in Canada, and Tides Canada, please click here.

• For my letters to Tides Canada since 2007, click here.
• 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.

Three U.S. Charities RE-WROTE or REMOVED grants to tackle the Canadian oil industry or thwart exports to Asia

"The growing role of private foundations on the global scene raises a(n) important governance question: to whom are these independent and increasingly powerful organizations accountable?"

- The Global Role of U.S. Foundations, The Foundation Center, page 37.

 

Please read: Important Notice & Disclaimer.

Since December, three U.S. foundations have re-written or removed substantial information about the funding that they have provided to Canadian environmental organizations for campaigns that would thwart the Alberta oil industry or block Canadian oil exports to Asia.  These foundations are the Bullitt Foundation, the Wilburforce Foundation, and the Rockefeller Brothers Fund Inc. -   All three fund Tides Canada and the Dogwood Initiative, which runs the "NO TANKERS" campaign.

As of today, the Rockefeller Brothers Fund Inc., has a photograph of the White House, shown below, at the home-page of its web-site.  (Maybe this photo will soon be gone too).

Also, a few years back, the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation quietly re-wrote four grants for $3.6 million for "demarketing" campaigns against B.C. farmed salmon.

1.  The Wilburforce Foundation

Last week, the National Post published an op-ed of mine titled, Who is Organizing for Change?  In that op-ed, I reported that through Tides Canada, the Wilburforce Foundation has been funding a project called Organizing for Change. One of the activities of this project has been to get people to temporarily join the provincial Liberal Party in order to be able to participate in the vote on Feb. 27, which will determine the next Premier of British Columbia.

Days after my op-ed in the National Post, the Wilburforce Foundation removed a substantial amount of on-line information about the purposes for which it has provided money.  In some cases, what's now missing is telling.  For example:

• In a $50,000 grant to Tides USA, Wilburforce removed the words which state that this grant for the Headwaters Initiative was “to support and organize the First nations communities impacted by potential tanker traffic associated with the Enbridge pipeline project in the Great Bear Rainforest.”

• In a $25,000 grant to the Dogwood Initiative, the Wilburforce Foundation removed the words which said that this grant was “to protect the BC coast from the threat of proposed pipeline and tanker projects.”

2.  The Rockefeller Brothers Fund Inc.

The Rockefeller Brothers Fund removed information from its web-site which stated that it paid Tides Canada “... to educate American tourists and tour operators about the damage being done to Alberta by the unsustainable extraction of tar sands, and by doing so, to increase pressure on Alberta policymakers…”

In the National Post, Kevin Libin reports that this money was for a Greenpeace web-site which mocks Alberta tourism.  The name on the web-site is Greenpeace but as I reported earlier, here at this blog, the money to pay for it came from the Rockefeller Brothers Fund Inc., through Tides Canada.  The names of the Rockefeller Brothers Fund Inc. and Tides Canada are no where to be seen on the Greenpeace web-site.

 To see how this grant now appears, click here.

3.  The Bullitt Foundation

In December, I testified to a House of Commons Standing Committee that the Bullitt Foundation had paid the Dogwood Initiative "To expand an outreach campaign to mobilize urban voters for a federal ban on coastal tankers." Shortly after, the Bullitt Foundation simply re-wrote that grant saying that the grant description was "a careless mischaracterization."  At the web-site of the Bullitt Foundation, it nows says that this grant was "to engage and educate citizens on the potential risks of tankers on BC's inside passage and the Fraser River."

Why do American foundation remove information or re-write their grants like this?

Dogwood Initiative using SALESFORCE Software with U.S. support: 12,000 letters sent to Chinese & Korean companies

Please read: Important Notice & Disclaimer.

Tides Canada runs a project called Organizing for Change. One of the activities of this project has been to get people to temporarily join the Liberal party in order to be able to vote on Feb. 26, to determine who becomes the next Premier of British Columbia.

One of the key members of Organizing for Change is the Dogwood Initiative ("Dogwood").  Dogwood has a range of partners and supporters, including at least four U.S. foundations: Wilburforce, Brainerd, Hewlett and Tides.  Tides is in turn heavily funded by the billion-dollar, U.S. foundations (eg. Hewlett and the Pew Charitable Trusts) which are funding a multi-million dollar campaign to tackle the oil and gas industries in B.C. and Alberta.

For several years, Dogwood  has been running a sophisticated, well-funded campaign for a federal ban on oil tanker traffic off of the north/central coast of British Columbia.   Since this ban doesn't cover the south coast of British Columbia or the coast of Vancouver Island, this isn't really a tanker ban.  This is a more like a trade ban that would block Canadian oil exports to Asia - all in the name of protecting the kermode bear (AKA the Great Spirit Bear). 

It the Dogwood Initiative succeeds, oil tanker traffic will be banned and along with that, Canada will be stuck with the U.S. as the only big customer for one of our single most important national exports: Alberta oil.  Its easy to see how this would be great for the U.S., but it wouldn't be so great for Canada or for other countries.

I'm all for protecting the kermode bear, and more broadly, all of British Columbia.  But I'm not convinced that Canada needs to give up the opportunity to export oil to Asia, in order to do so.

What has gone largely unnoticed is that the Dogwood Initiative has been receiving substantial support from deep-pocketed funders, south of the border.

The web-site of the Dogwood Initiative is run by Groundwire, a high-tech, Seattle-based organization that is heavily funded by the Wilburforce Foundation.  Wilburforce is funded by James & Rosanna Letwin, to the tune of $80 Million.  Mr. Letwin is one of the original group that started Microsoft.

Groundwire: Certified Salesforce.com Consultants & MICROSOFT Veteran

At least one of the people who works at Groundwire is a certified Salesforce.com consultant, and Groundwire is currently hiring another.  Another senior staff member is a veteran of MICROSOFT. 

In 2009, Groundwire developed 60 web-sites and implemented 44 database projects, according to U.S. tax returns.

To get an idea of how high-tech and sophisticated Groundwire is, check out their report on E-mail Service Providers.

Since 2000, Groundwire has been paid $960,750 by the Wilburforce Foundation. Of that, $460,000 was paid since 2007.  Groundwire has also been funded by the Brainerd Foundation and the Bullitt Foundation.  Wilburforce, Bullitt and Brainerd all fund projects that would block Canadian oil exports to Asia.

Dogwood Initiative Uses Saleforce.com Database

Groundwire describes the Dogwood Initiative's NO TANKERS campaign as "a multi-year, multi-faceted campaign largely organized online and supported by the sophisticated functionality of a Salesforce.com database."  Salesforce is not only sophisticated, state-of-the-art technology, its expensive.

As of May of 2010, the Dogwood Initiative had 40,00 members, Groundwire says. "A list this size for a regional nonprofit is extraordinary," says Groundwire.  As of Feb. 3, 2011, Dogwood reported that it has 70,000 members.

How exactly does Groundwire help the Dogwood Initiative?  

In Groundwire's own words, "Groundwire worked with Dogwood to set up this online petition as well as additional online actions forms, all of which integrate with their Salesforce.com database".

'Sounds like they really know what they're doing. Groundwire says, "No Tankers petion signers are added to Dogwood’s Salesforce.com database and receive regular communication from Dogwood Initiative; action alerts, email appeals and a monthly e-newsletter. For actions with a regional focus, the list is segmented geographically. Each online action receives a leadership level from 1-5, a measure of the level of effort and engagement it takes to complete that action, for example: signing a petition is a level 1 action, donating is level 3 and so on. In addition to leadership levels, leaders committed to the campaign are asked to identify themselves by joining the "No Tankers Action Team." The No Tankers Action Team focuses on actions that require a higher level of effort and engagement such as writing personal letters and organizing activities for the campaign," says Groundwire.  

Groundwire says that the Dogwood Initiative has used its on-line letter-writing tool to sent 646 letters to the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency (CEAA), and 12,000 letters to Chinese and Korean companies that were on the verge of signing firm agreements with a Alberta oil producers and buyers, according to Groundwire. "A total of over 12,000 letters were sent to 10 recipients (1,200 letters each). It is six months later and Enbridge has yet to submit its official application to regulators largely due to its failure to secure firm commitments from suppliers and buyers," says Groundwire.

Wilburforce Grantee Guidelines Quietly Removed

Please read: Important Notice & Disclaimer.

 

Over the past few days, the Grantee Guidelines of the Wilburforce Foundation seem to have been removed: http://www.wilburforce.org/grant_guidelines/index.htm

For the document that was posted a few days ago as "Grantee Guidelines," click here.

What concerns me about this document is the list of activities that Wilburce doesn't fund.  The Wilburforce Foundation is an environmental foundation and yet, according to these guidelines, it doesn't fund habitat restoration, pollution-related programs, energy-related or transportation-related issues, clean air programs or sustainable development.

Open Letter to Elections B.C. RE: Organizing for Change, Tides Canada

Please read: Important Notice & Disclaimer.

For the reply from Elections B.C., please click here.

Feb. 21, 2011

TO: Mr. Craig James, Acting Chief Electoral Officer, Elections B.C.

RE: Organizing for Change, a Project of Tides Canada

I am writing to provide information, to express my opinion, and to suggest that Elections B.C. investigate Organizing for Change, a foreign-funded project that has encouraged thousands of people to temporarily join the Liberal party in order to be able to determine who becomes the next Premier of British Columbia.

By way of background, I am a resident of North Vancouver and have done extensive research on U.S. funding for environmental and political campaigns in Canada. My work has been published in The Financial Post and the Vancouver Sun. I am not funded nor associated with any political party or any industry.

According to my analysis of U.S. tax returns, the member organizations of Organizing for Change have been heavily funded by billion-dollar, U.S. foundations, in conjunction with the U.S. Tides Foundation and Tides Canada, a registered charity. These U.S. foundations, and Tides Canada, appear to me to have a clear agenda to block oil tanker traffic on the north coast of B.C. This would block Canadian oil exports to Asia.

My understanding is that while Elections B.C. does not have statutory jurisdiction over party memberships, it does have a responsibility to ensure that the elections process is conducted in a manner that is fair and transparent.

On the basis of the accompanying information, I believe that Organizing for Change has been unfair and improperly conducted in the sense that the foreign funding for this project has not been fully disclosed.

My hope is that Elections B.C. will properly investigate and take appropriate actions. I also hope that the Elections Act will be amended to prohibit the use of foreign funds to influence the elections process in British Columbia.

Sincerely,

Vivian Krause

c.c. Mr. Ross McMillan, President & CEO, Tides Canada Foundation

Mr. Tim Greyhavens, Executive Director, The Wilburforce Foundation

Mr. Chad Pederson, Executive Director, B.C. Liberal Party

Mr. Wayne Moriarty, Editor-in-Chief, The Province

Ms. Patricia Graham, Editor-in-Chief, The Vancouver