How do I become a member? Does it cost any money?
Membership is free and open to all Canadians. You can become a member by registering on our landing page. You can also become a member by taking an action such as signing a petition or emailing your MP. We email our members occasionally to give them an opportunity to take action on important issues.
What will happen if I join Leadnow?
If you join Leadnow you will start to receive emails from us that will ask you to take action on important issues and give you key updates on campaigns. All you have to do is sign up to start receiving our campaign emails and getting involved. The only requirement of membership is to take an action, which can be as simple as signing a petition, or as complicated as hosting a rally. You may unsubscribe at any time to leave Leadnow’s membership and stop receiving emails.
How did Leadnow start?
Leadnow was founded in 2010 by a group of young people who care about a wide range of issues and wanted to create a new way for people to participate effectively in our democracy.
How does Leadnow make decisions?
Leadnow is a member-driven organization. Through internal feedback and surveying, we’ll find the issues that match the interests and passions of our members. To launch, we’re engaging Canadians in a cross-country conversation to discover what kind of country we want to build together, and what specific priorities we want our politicians to cooperate on.
Throughout the year, we’ll also run campaigns on issues of the day. When an important issue becomes public, our staff will write an email to our members in a similar fashion to how an aide briefs the Prime Minister – summarizing an important issue and asking for our members’ support. We’ll do this on each campaign we run – if our members don’t take action to support the campaign then it goes nowhere.
Is Leadnow a political party or affiliated with any political parties?
No. Leadnow is independent. We will challenge all of the political parties. Our priority is to represent the views of our members, and the broader interests of Canadians, regardless of how those positions line up with those of the political parties.
What does Leadnow stand for?
We’re currently engaging Canadians in a cross-country conversation, and will know more at the end of that process. Our founding objective at to improve our society by deepening our democracy, strengthening our communities, advancing social justice, extending economic opportunity and protecting our planet.
How will Leadnow participate in elections?
Leadnow will advocate on behalf of the issues our members identify and support. We’ll aim to elevate those issues to become a part of the political agenda, and push political parties to respond to the requests of our members. We’ll also produce and distribute Election Action Cards to grade all parties on their positions on our members’ main interests, and attempt to focus the election on issues, not personalities.
How is Leadnow different than other advocacy organizations in Canada?
Single issue advocacy organizations are critical to making change happen on the issues in which they are experts. They will continue to be essential. Leadnow will not be duplicating any of their work – we are not experts in any single issues but we do hope to become experts in how to mobilize large numbers of people around issues and elections to make change happen.
We see Leadnow as playing a unique and complimentary role in Canada. We will leverage technology to mobilize many people in a short period of time to amplify people’s voices, sustain attention on key issues until they are resolved, and collect and channel energy from moments of crisis into a long-term movement for positive change. We don’t have the baggage or leader-focus of political parties, our voices aren’t muzzled by having a charitable tax number, and we have a membership that is open to all Canadians.
We believe that it is critical for organizations to work together to make a positive impact and support each other in reaching our common visions.
You say you want to campaign on a variety of seemingly unrelated issues. How will you have the knowledge on policy and the political process to fight campaigns on such a wide range of issues?
We are not experts in any single issues but we do hope to become experts in how to mobilize large numbers of people around issues and elections to make change happen. We hope to be able to partner with single issue organizations to run successful campaigns, and will have relationships with a variety of single-issue experts to provide us with informed opinions on issues of the day.
It may be easy to get quite a lot of people to click on a website – but do decision-makers actually take any notice of web petitions?
Online petitions are just one of the tactics we will use as well as enabling our members to take offline actions. We have great examples of case studies where decision makers have taken notice from MoveOn.org in the USA, GetUp.org.au in Australia, 38Degrees.org.uk in the UK and Avaaz.org globally.
How is Leadnow funded?
Our launch was funded through personal savings, family and friends, and 15 founding donors who have mostly given around $100. In our first year of operation, approximately 800 people have donated an average of about $50 dollars. We have a strict donor policy that prohibits funding from big corporations or governments, and the exchange of donations for influence. A number of Canadians have also helped support us by offering their professional services in kind or at a greatly reduced cost. Help fund Leadnow by visiting our donation page.
Help fund Leadnow by visiting our donation page.
Where do the funds go?
Right now, to a combination of technology, design work, organizer honorariums, and helping feed Jamie and Matthew. In time, we’d like to pay a small and nimble team. We’re committed to transparency, and have engaged Parker Prins & Lebano to audit our books.
Can I suggest a campaign?
Of course, get in touch with by using our contact form located here.