Leadnow is a Vancouver-based, non-profit society that was created in 2010 with the goal of bringing to Canada a model of on-line, political campaigning and movement organizing that began in the U.S. behind President Barack Obama.
During Canada’s 2015 federal election, Leadnow ran a strategic voting initiative called Vote Together. Leadnow claims to have defeated 25 Conservative incumbents. That’s a stretch but in a small number of ridings, it is conceivable that Leadnow had an impact. For example, in Elmswood-Transcona where Leadnow had paid staff and 130 volunteers, the Conservative incumbent was defeated by only 61 votes.
Leadnow presents itself as a thoroughly Canadian “youth-led” organization with a modest budget, the brainchild of two university students, Adam Shedletzky and Jamie Biggar. But that is not the whole story.
Leadnow’s original business plan, written in 2010, called for $16 million over ten years. Leadnow acknowledges that received seed capital but won't identify the source.
At least 17 companies & consultants have provided services to Leadnow, including the design of its brand, the creation of its donor base, surveys, polls and report editing.
One of Leadnow’s original "founding advisors" is Ben Brandzel. At the time, Brandzel was the Director of Strategic Incubation at the Citizen Engagement Laboratory (CEL), based in Oakland, California. With funding via The Tides Foundation (“Tides”), the CEL began in 2008, the same year that Tides began to fund its anti-pipeline, Tar Sands Campaign.
In 2011, Brandzel came to Canada to help set up Leadnow and has since provided behind-the-scenes help. On the basis if these facts it appears that Leadnow was set up as part of the CEL’s “Strategic Incubation” program.’
One of CEL's fiscally sponsored projects is the Online Progressive Engagement Network (OPEN). Ben Brandzel is its director. OPEN describes itself as "a sisterhood of grassroots campaigning organizations from around the world." As it appears, the CEL bundled its "strategic incubation" projects – including Leadnow - into OPEN. OPEN’s member groups appear to be authentically grassroots outfits but, in fact, some of them, including Leadnow, began with help from the CEL.
Leadnow staff have attended OPEN meetings in New York, England, Germany and Australia, photos show. In January of 2016, Leadnow received an award from OPEN for its campaign, Vote Together, that helped defeat the Harper government. And yet, in all Leadanow’s on-line communication, not one single mention of Leadnow’s involvement with OPEN could be found.
Why the secrecy if there is nothing to hide?
OPEN calls itself as "the people behind the people." OPEN says it is a ‘B2B’ organization that intentionally keeps "a very low public profile" because of the sensitive political implications of its work. OPEN “helps insights, expertise and collaboration to flow seamlessly across borders,” it says. OPEN gives “special access to best-in-class external resources ranging from video production to management coaching.” “Seasoned campaign veterans provide expert training and strategic support,” OPEN says.
In a job ad that OPEN posted in 2014, OPEN indicated that it anticipated the possibility of assisting Leadnow with the production of advertisements for use during the 2015 federal election. OPEN has also advertised to hire staff that could be based in Vancouver.
From Leadnow's 2010 Business Plan, it is clear that as far back as 2010, Leadnow has been focused on defeating the Conservative government. Leadnow's "Investor Package" states that Leadnow intended to "offer tangible support to parties that adopt their policies, and use tools like strategic voting to "swing elections" to reflect Canada's progressive majority." Evidently, it stands to reason that the Citizen Engagement Laboratory appears to have knowingly supported a foreign organization with a clear, multi-million dollar plan to defeat a democratically elected, Canadian government. Clearly, this is not what American charitable organizations are supposed to do.
Initially, Leadnow had a policy that prohibited “international funding.” At some point before the spring of 2012, that policy was re-written, records show, and the ban on international funding was discontinued.
Leadnow has received funding from The Tides Foundation in San Francisco, both directly and indirectly through the Sisu Institute, based in Sointula B.C. Neither Leadnow nor Sisu will disclose exactly how much of Leadnow’s revenue it receives via Sisu and Tides. For 2015, The Sisu Institute reported total revenue of $1.7 million. Of that, roughly $1 million (nearly 60%) was from the U.S. via Tides in San Francisco. In 2016, Leadnow and the Sisu Institute received US$59,041 and US$201,848, respectively, from Tides.
The most obvious way that Leadnow had an impact in Canada’s 2015 federal election was in terms of ‘getting out the vote,’ particularly in certain ridings. The less obvious means was by running a hard-hitting, negative campaign on social media against the Conservative party, and in particular, against its leader, Stephen Harper. Justin Trudeau hardly needed to “go negative” because Leadnow and other third parties - and much of the media - were doing so, thereby generating a foil of bad press about the Prime Minister and the Conservatives, in general.
To be sure, there is nothing wrong with Leadnow being part of an international network of progressive organizations. However, given Leadnow’s influence in Canada’s 2015 federal election, its electoral reform campaign and activism against important energy and pipeline projects, Leadnow’s funding and U.S. support needs to be out in the open.
For my full report, submitted to Canada Elections in May of 2017, click here: Vivian Krause Who Is Behind Leadnow?
