How We’re Funded

The short version:

Since our launch in 2013, we have had four general sources of funding:

1. Two crowdfunds ($21,500).
2. Periodic donations through our website ($15,000).
3. A new monthly supporters campaign (currently $540 per month). ♥ please contribute here ♥
4. Rob’s personal contributions ($100,000).

Our advocacy has resulted in historic global firsts and we’ve done it all on a very limited budget. We are currently seeking a philanthropist to fund a small team of three to take our efforts global. If that’s you, get in touch! Check out our Inside the Campaign video to learn more about how we got started and how we’re funded.

The long version:

1) Crowdfunds:

Our first crowdfund was for a cross-Canada speaking tour in 2013. We raised $15,075 from 229 donors from around the world. Our second crowdfund was in 2014 to hire a student to seek academic endorsements for our idea. We raised $6,496 from 124 donors. We found that crowdfunds are great for very specific activities but aren’t the best vehicles for funding general operations. They’re also very time consuming and tend to take time and energy away from actual advocacy.

2) Donations through our website:

Since launching our campaign in 2013, we’ve received approximately $15,000 in donations through our website. We find that people are supportive of our campaign and want to help but few take the time to donate through our website. This became part of the reason we opted to run a couple of crowdfunds. People sometimes just need a prompt to contribute.

3) Monthly supporters:

In 2016, we launched a campaign on a crowdfunding platform that allows for regular monthly contributions. Please check it out and contribute here. We now have over 40 patrons contributing a total of more than $500 a month. It’s a better model for us than the traditional one-off crowdfunds as it gives us a more stable budget for our work. We also don’t have to put our advocacy on hold while focusing our limited capacity on promoting a funding campaign.

4) Rob’s personal contributions:

The vast majority of our campaign has been funded through Rob’s savings, line of credit, and credit card. Rob has been able to volunteer his time on the project and partly make ends meet for the past three years by renting out his home in uptown Toronto while paying rent for a small room in downtown Toronto. Unfortunately, he is no longer personally able to fund the work.

People sometimes ask, “Have you applied to the XYZ foundation for a grant?” We have. Given the political nature of our advocacy, we’re unable to secure charitable status. This means that foundations are not able to support our work as they are only permitted to contribute to registered charities. What we really need is a philanthropist who is willing to forgo tax receipts in favour of supporting work that is genuinely changing the world.

Our budget for 2016 to get climate change labels on gas pumps in North America and beyond is $167,000 CAD (or $121,000 USD). This would help us pay for three staff, travel, and other expenses. Want to learn more? Know a philanthropist that might be willing to help? Please contact us at supporters@ourhorizon.org.