Who is Leadnow?
Questions sometimes come up about Leadnow, about who we are, who guides our priorities and how we are funded. We’re proud of the honest answers.
Leadnow is a community of over 600,000 members from every province and territory across Canada. That’s who we are led by and that’s who we are funded by.
We are united by a vision of a just, sustainable, and equitable Canada, built and defended through the democratic power of an engaged public.
Most people do not feel at home joining political parties. Many people find hope in being able to work together as part of the Leadnow community to engage with our democracy and help shape the world they want for themselves and their children. It is these members that guide our priorities.
When misguided people, fearful of change, wage war on non-profit organizations like Leadnow, they are in effect waging war on the people of Canada – on a fundamental principle of any healthy democracy: the freedom to organize. Such threats are an attempt to silence opposition and an attack on civil society. And in some cases, are an alarming abuse of political power,
With rising polarization and decreasing trust in our democratic institutions over the last few decades, Canada is in dire need of greater democratic engagement, not less.
Thankfully, we at Leadnow do not bend to bully tactics.
Who funds Leadnow?
Leadnow has received no American funds since 2017 for one simple reason: we don’t need it.
Someone threatened by our people power recently cited $63,000 in funding that Leadnow received in 2016 and 2017 via a U.S. charitable fund to fight global climate collapse – a global issue – as evidence that there is a conspiracy afoot to advance the agendas of American billionaires. Ridiculousness of the accusation notwithstanding, far from setting our agenda, that amount represented just 2.5% of our funding for those years.
The great majority of our funding comes from small one-time gifts, and we are sustained by over 2400 monthly donors that contribute an average gift of $14 per month.
As people in Canada come to terms with the escalating crises of climate collapse and rising inequality, compounded by a deepening distrust in our democratic institutions, they increasingly turn to organizations like Leadnow to take action in the face of helplessness.
We are funded through their dedication to fighting for a more just, livable future. And that is what we will continue to do.
Post Script: Déjà Vu
This is not the first time those who feel threatened by our people power have tried to drain our resources with legal battles and wasted taxpayer money. An exhaustive Elections Canada investigation prompted by disgruntled conspiracy theorists after the 2015 election concluded we had broken no rules or laws. That was no surprise to us and we continue to have nothing to hide.