Campaign Screen: https://docs.google.com/a/leadnow.ca/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AvcsL21DqvrRdHhWcmdKZDIwTWpfaVNGU0stTXkyYWc#gid=11

I just did a campaign screen for supporting fundraising for First Nations legal challenges of Enbridge decision -- it scored high (90). Disclaimer: I really think we should do this and that might be reflected in my responses though I tried to be objective

I'm also including some thoughts on why I think this makes sense for us. Please have a look and keep me in the loop about next steps and timelines for this decision.

Here's why I think we should do this, in a nutshell.

Stopping Enbridge is obviously critically important. Both because of project impacts (climate, FN rights, oil spills...) and because the pipelines are a centre-piece of the Conservative agenda and the fate of Enbridge will be taken as a signal of the Harper government's efficacy.

While there are several strategies for stopping Enbridge, many or all strategies are founded on a tacit assumption that the project will get tied up in court after cabinet approval expected in June (i.e. if we want to elect a new government to block Enbridge, we need to delay the pipeline at least until after the election). However, I'm hearing that First Nations don't have the resources they need to mount strong legal challenges.

So there is a definite strategic need for legal funding, and a clear theory of change.

Given that we have campaigned on Enbridge before, and know a large segment of our community cares about this issue, and given that we have a track record of successful fundraising for urgent legal challenges, this seems like a niche we are well-positioned to fill.

Some other thoughts
A sizeable segment of our community is going to be looking for us to do something when the decision comes down. Some of the tactics other groups are planning (citizen's initiative, civil disobedience) are divisive within the movement and likely not tactics Leadnow is able to support. Doing FN legal fundraising allows us to be doing something that plays to our organizational strengths, and gives us cover to explain why we're not actively supporting other tactics.
I'd be curious to see how many first-time donors from Hupacaseth fundraiser have donated again. Even if we're not getting money from this, the fundraising leads we generate are valuable in themselves
If we were able to raise large chunks of money (which I think we would) another happy side effect would be the ability to report out a larger proportion of our funding coming from individual donors. It was great to have Adam say on PnP that 75% of our funding came from individual canadians, and that wouldn't have been true without Hupa fundraising.
I hope we take this on. Please let me know if I can be helpful in any way, and keep me in the loop about what the process if from here.