At least 17 per cent ($13 million) of the total revenue of the David Suzuki Foundation, originated from American foundations, according to my calculations based on U.S. and Canadian tax returns. Back in 2000, more than half of the Suzuki foundation's budget was covered by U.S. foundations.
Of the $81 million that the Suzuki Foundation took in from 2000 to 2010, $44-million was from tax-receipted donations, $9-million was from other charities and $25-million was from unspecified gifts and other revenue, according to my calculations based on Canadian tax returns. How much of that $25-million (31 percent of total revenue) came from American foundations is still a bit of a mystery. A further $3-million was from investment and rental income, sales of goods and services, and so on.
Since the late 1990s, U.S. tax returns show that American foundations have made at least 30 grants to the David Suzuki foundation, each for a value of $US-100,000 or more. The average value of these 30 U.S. grants is $US267,000. The total value of the top 30 U.S. grants alone, is $US9-million, equivalent to $CAN 13-million. This included:
- $US1.8-million from the William & Flora Hewlett Foundation ("Hewlett")
- $US1.5-million from the David & Lucile Packard Foundation ("Packard")
- $US1.7-million from the Gordon & Betty Moore Foundation ("Moore")
- $US1-million from the Wilburforce Foundation
- $US-955,000 from the Rockefeller Brothers Fund
- $US-930,000 from the Seattle-based Bullitt Foundation
- $US-181,000 from the Philadelphia-based, Pew Charitable Trusts.
On top of the U.S. funding that the David Suzuki Foundation has received directly from U.S. foundations, the foundation has also received U.S. money indirectly through Tides Canada. For example, in 2008 Tides Canada granted $377,586 to Suzuki's foundation. That money originated from the Moore foundation which has granted at least $92-million to B.C. environmental organizations, including $32-million to Tides Canada.
As I have reviewed grants made to the David Suzuki Foundation, I have noticed:
- Most if not all grants are for projects in British Columbia. To the best of my knowledge, not one single grant was specifically for any other province in Canada. Not one. A number of the grants, especially the largest grants, were for projects specifically on the north/central coast of B.C. Many grants, including some of the largest, were for projects specifically for work with First Nations.
- Scientific, media work, legal action and work with First Nations seems to be all rolled into one. Perhaps this is best exemplified in two grants for from the Rockefeller Brothers Fund. As shown below, the stated purpose for which this money was to be used was "Toward scientific, legal, media and First Nations community organizing work in British Columbia."
- Several foundations paid the David Suzuki Foundation for publishing and publicizing the findings of research - even before the results were known. So, is this research for the sake of scientific merit, or for the publicity value? (See Research on PCBs in Farmed Salmon, and Sea Lice: Science or Marketing? Click here.
- The majority of the grants from U.S. foundations were before 2003. In 2003, Tides Canada Foundation obtained equivalency status in the United States and then began to receive substantial funding from U.S. foundations. U.S. tax returns show that American foundations have paid $60 million to Tides Canada. The David Suzuki Foundation is listed as a grant recipient of Tides Canada in 2003, 2004, and from 2006 to 2008. How much American money the David Suzuki Foundation was paid indirectly, through Tides Canada is not known except for 2006 and 2008, when it was paid $11,000 and $377,586, respectively.
- The project for which most funds were granted appears to be the Pacific Salmon Forests Project. This is the project that produced, among other things, the brochure titled, Why You Shouldn't Eat Farmed Salmon.
- A number of grants were specifically for projects to thwart the salmon farming industry. For example, the Lazar Foundation paid the David Suzuki Foundation "for legal action challenging the expansion of salmon feedlots in British Columbia." The Lazar Foundation also paid the David Suzuki Foundation "for testing farmed salmon for contamination and publishing the results."
U.S. Grants to the David Suzuki Foundation during the late 1990s:
- $200,000 in 1998 from the W. Altman Jones Foundation. Purpose: to protect the ecological diversity of the Haida Gwaii and the B.C. coast, from the Alaska panhandle to Vancouver, through public education
- $315,000 in 1999 from the William & Flora Hewlett Foundation. Purpose: The Pacific Salmon Forests Project
- $265,000 in 1999 from the W. Altman Jones Foundation. Purpose: to collaborate with First Nations partners to conserve the remaining coastal temporate rainforests of British Columbia
- $250,000 from the Wilburforce Foundation for the Pacific Salmon Forests Campaign
- $150,000 (1999 - 2001) from the Richard & Rhoda Goldman Fund. Purpose: The Pacific Salmon Forests Project
2000:
- $200,000 in 2000 from the Rockefeller Brothers Fund. Purpose: For work organizing First Nations work on long-term conservation issues along the coast of British Columbia
- $362,600 in 2000 from the David & Lucile Packard Foundation. Purpose: For the Pacific Salmon Forests Project
- $250,000 in 2000 from the William & Flora Hewlett Foundation. Purpose: For the Pacific Salmon Forests Project
- $330,000 in 2000 from the Lannan Foundation. Purpose: For the Pacific Salmon Forests Project
- $250,000 in 2000 from the Wilburforce Foundation for the Pacific Salmon Forests Project
- $200,000 in 2000 from the W. Altman Jones Foundation. Purpose: To conserve globally significant temporate rainforests in northern British Columbia by collaborating with small coastal communities to develop sustainable economies based on alternatives to industrial logging
2001:
- $250,000 in 2001 from the William & Flora Hewlett Foundation. Purpose: For the Pacific Salmon Forests Project
- $250,000 in 2001 from the Lannan Foundation. Purpose: For "Salmon Projects"
- $225,000 in 2001 from the Rockefeller Brothers Fund. Purpose: Towards its scientific, legal, media and First Nations community organizing work in British Columbia
- $181,000 in 2001 from the Pew Charitable Trusts. Purpose: To assess and publicize the risks and impacts of salmon farming in British Columbia on the environment and to eliminate or curtail the indiscriminate slaughter of seals and sea lions by salmon farmers. This appears to have been granted through the San Francisco-based, Tides Foundation, in California
2002:
- $250,00 in 2002 from the William & Flora Hewlett Foundation. Purpose: For the forestry and Turning Point programs
- $250,000 in 2002 from the Lannan Foundation. Purpose: "Salmon Projects"
- $400,000 in 2002 from the David & Lucile Packard Foundation. Purpose: For the Pacific Salmon Forests Project
2003:
- $250,000 in 2003 from the Lannan Foundation. Purpose: For The Pacific Salmon Forests Project
- $250,000 in 2003 from the Lannan Foundation. Purpose: For The Turning Point Initiative
- $175,000 in 2003 from the David & Lucile Packard Foundation. Purpose: For marine conservation on the central and north coast of B.C.
- $200,000 in 2003 from the David & Lucile Packard Foundation. Purpose: For The Turning Point Initiative
2004:
- $340,000 in 2004 from David & Lucile Packard Foundation. Purpose: For marine and terrestrial conservation programs on the B.C. coast
- $450,000 in 2004 from the Gordon & Betty Moore Foundation. Purpose: to protect the abundance and diversity of wild salmon stocks on the coast of B.C. Of this, $150,000 was paid in 2004, $150,000 was paid in 2005 and $120,000 was paid in 2006
- $750,000 in 2004 from the William & Flora Hewlett Foundation. Purpose: For The Turning Point Initiative (granted through the U.S. Tides Foundation). Of this, $250,000 was granted each year for three years, starting in 2004.
2005:
- $125,000 in 2005 from the Lannan Foundation. Purpose: The Turning Point Initiative
- $233,915 in 2005 from the Lannan Foundation. Purpose: The Pacific Salmon Forests Project
Since 2006:
- $471,972 in 2006 from the Gordon & Betty Moore Foundation. Purpose: Reframing marine conservation in British Columbia
- $132,249 in 2009 from the Gordon & Betty Moore Foundation. Purpose: For Sustaining an Area-Based Management Constituency for the PNCIMA Initiative
- $315,430 in 2010 from the Gordon & Betty Moore Foundation. Purpose: For Salmon Market Standards
Spreadsheets:
- Table U.S. Grants to the David Suzuki Foundation: $US12,989,272 (at least 17% of total revenue between 2000 and 2010, equivalent to $CAN 13 million)
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