National Observer

National Observer is published by Observer Media Group (OMG), a privately held company, which also publishes Vancouver Observer. The company was founded by a journalist, Solomon Wood, in 2009. National Observer's seed funding came from a Kickstarter campaign, 'Reports from the Energy Battlegrounds'. This was followed a year later by a second Kickstarter campaign, 'Reports from the Race Against Climate Change'. Linda Solomon Wood is the majority shareholder of Observer Media Group. Other shareholders are National Observer's senior staff and reporters, as well as Canadian impact investors. In July 2016, the company launched a paywall and began generating support through subscriptions. The company's goal is to become 100% funded over the next three years. National Observer gratefully acknowledges the following support for funded journalism projects: United Way of Lower Mainland (for Syrian refugee reporting in 2016); Vancity, Teck Inc. and Tides Canada (for Great Bear Rainforest reporting in 2016); Earthways Foundation (for environmental reporting in 2015) and Tides US (for general reporting in 2015). Since inception, about 10% of Observer Media Group's funding has come from foundations. We will be announcing more exciting news in this area soon.