"What are corporations for? The corporation exists for one reason and one only and that is to make money." - David Suzuki
Eighty one million dollars is what the David Suzuki Foundation has spent over the past decade, according to its Canadian tax returns. No wonder the foundation is so influential. The question is, where did all that money come from?
Money doesn't grow on trees. 'Turns out, a lot of it comes from corporations, especially the millions from American foundations that fuel the environmental movement. Call it Old Growth Money.
Over the past ten years, about half of the David Suzuki Foundation's $81 million was from tax-receipted donations. A total of $8.7 million was from Canadian charitable foundations, including $6 million from the Claudine and Stephen Bronfman Foundation. That's about 8 percent of the total revenue of David Suzuki Foundation over the past decade. In other words, for every $25 that the David Suzuki Foundation has spent, $2 came from the Bronfmans.
In the foundation's earlier years, Bronfman money was even more important. Between 2000 and 2002, 13 percent of the David Suzuki Foundation's revenue was Bronfman money. In 2002, for example, the Bronfman Foundation granted $925,000 to the David Suzuki Foundation.
Nearly 30 percent of the Bronfman's charitable giving has gone to the David Suzuki Foundation over the past decade, according to my calculations. In 2010, the amount that the Bronfmans granted to the David Suzuki Foundation was $427,560.
The big mystery is where did the David Suzuki Foundation get $25 million that is has reported to Revenue Canada over the years as "other gifts" and "other revenue." My guess is that quite a chunk of that money came indirectly from American foundations, through Tides Canada or Tides USA. Indeed, I've traced $10 million that the David Suzuki Foundation has been paid by American foundations, according to U.S. tax returns. Millions more may have gone through Tides USA and Tides Canada which "canadianizes" U.S. money. See how it works?
Over the past decade, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation and the David & Lucile Packard Foundation have granted $91 million to environmental organizations in Canada, particularly for work on the strategic, north coast of British Columbia - Canada's gateway to Asia. The Hewlett foundation and the Packard foundation were created by the founders of the tech giant, Hewlett-Packard.
Through Tides Canada, Tides USA and the Pew Charitable Trusts, the Hewlett Foundation and the Packard Foundation have granted at least $55 million to environmental organizations in B.C. The Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation - created from the wealth of the founder of INTEL - has granted a further $26 million to Tides Canada. That's a total of $81 million that has gone - indirectly - from billion-dollar American charitable foundations to B.C. environmental organizations. My guess is that some of that money went to the David Suzuki Foundation - especially given that in at least one instance, the Vancouver address for Tides USA, as reported to the I.R.S. by the Hewlett foundation, was exactly the same as the address of the David Suzuki Foundation: 2211 West Fourth Avenue, Suite 219.
For a larger view, click on any one of the tables/figures below:
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