By its own admission, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) has been using Tides Canada as a vehicle through which to receive charitable donations because PETA itself doesn't qualify for charitable status.
"Head up, Canadian!" wrote PETA at its web-site, adding, "For your retirement account, and donations and bequests to PETA in general, you may want to consider giving through the Tides Canada Foundation-PETA Fund. Tides Canada. Tides Canada is a registered charity, but PETA is not because of our advocacy work. The RRSP beneficiary paperwork is just as easy, so if Canadian tax credits are important, you can only get those benefits by making the beneficiary of your retirement accounts the Tides Canada-PETA Fund rather than specifying PETA."
Shortly after Tides Canada was asked questions about this by e-mail, and shortly after this was reported in a post at this blog in 2011, PETA quietly removed this paragraph from its web-site.
Elsewhere at its web-site PETA says, "Are you interested in receiving a Canadian tax credit for your bequest or donation? Contact us to learn more about the Tides Canada PETA Fund. Like many advocacy and campaigning organizations in Canada, PETA is not recognized as a charity under Canadian law, so donations made directly to PETA are not tax-creditable against Canadian income. However, donations and bequests made to the PETA Fund at the Tides Canada Foundation, a qualified Canadian charity, may be eligible for a Canadian tax credit...."
To read this web-page at PETA's web-site as it reads today, click here. To read this web-page as it reads in Internet archives from , click here. For a .pdf click here. For information about the Tides Canada-Peta Fund, click here.
Living Oceans Society
Another organization, also funded by Tides Canada, that has admitted in writing that it was keeping its political activity quiet, is Living Oceans Society (LOS). Over the past decade, Living Oceans Society has been granted at least $10 million by U.S. foundations, U.S. tax returns show.
In a 2001 report prepared by LOS, contained in the U.S. tax returns of the Seattle-based Bullitt Foundation, LOS says, "Living Oceans Society is currently applying for charitable tax status. We have been advised to refrain from posting action items on our web-page until this application has been approved as it could be interpreted as 'political.' In the meantime, we have met with a web-page designer and we are prepared to add this to our web page when the timing is more appropriate." This excerpt is shown below.
How is Living Oceans Society funded today? At its web-site, Living Oceans says that it is funded through Tides Canada. "Contributions donated to the Oceans Fund (at Tides Canada) are granted to various charitable organizations that we collaborate with to support work that advances our mission of research and education .... Donations to support this charitable work are eligible for a charitable tax receipt issued by Tides Canada Foundation," says Living Oceans Society at its web-site.
Pipe Up Against Enbridge
Other information about politically-active organizations funded by Tides Canada has also been taken off-line since this blog began to raise quesitons about this political activity - which does not appear to be related to any charitable purpose. For example, the web-site of Rainforest Solutions, one of the largest projects of Tides Canada, no longer promotes the Pipe Up Against Enbridge campaign, as it did during the summer of 2011 (as shown above).
In 2009, Tides Canada granted $848,966 to Rainforest Solutions, in a single grant, U.S. tax returns show. How much Tides Canada has since granted for this project is unclear because Tides Canada's U.S. tax returns for 2010 are much less transparent than they were in 2008 and 2009.
Open Media
Information about donations to Open Media, made through Tides Canada, has also been quietly removed and re-written. For more about that, click here.
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