How The CANADA List Does – and Doesn’t – Make Money
The CANADA List exists to help Canadians purchase the products that most contribute back to the Canadian economy. We are independently Canadian-owned and operated, with no ownership ties to any brand or company featured on the site.
The site began as a self-funded initiative by Matthew Shane, Associate Professor of Psychology at Ontario Tech University. Early growth was made possible by the generous contributions from supporters, whose generosity helped establish The CANADA List as a trusted national resource.
The site has grown beyond its early expectations, which has been both exciting and humbling to experience. However, with growth comes new challenges, and the reality is that the site will require a reliable revenue stream to maintain performance and add new features. It simply won't be able to be the resource that everyone wants it to be without some form of formal monetized support.
That said, we are cognizant of the fact that as a “watch-dog style” agency, trust in the independent and unbiased nature of the CANADA Scores, and of the other site content, is paramount. As such, we are being thoughtful and transparent about how we will – and won’t – accept money.
In this document, we outline our current and planned revenue streams, as well as how we will ensure that collected revenue does not influence the integrity of the scoring system. If these revenue streams change, so will this document.
How We Do Not Make Money
To protect the integrity and independence of the CANADA Scores, we have developed a set of rules that dictate how we will not pursue revenue. These are outlined below.
Rule #1. We Will Not Accept Money for Scores
CANADA Scores are calculated using fixed, well-defined, transparent criteria:
- Canadian ownership
- Canadian manufacturing
- Canadian ingredients/materials
- Canadian jobs impact
No company can pay to influence their score. Whether a company scores a 3 or a 10 will always be determined based solely on their estimated corporate footprint in Canada.
Rule #2. We Will Not Accept Money for Inclusion or Visibility in The List
Inclusion on the list itself will always be free for all companies, both foreign and domestic.
This means that we will not accept money for:
- Inclusion within the list
- Placement within the list
- Changes in visibility within the list (e.g., highlighting, bolding, colour, etc.)
Nothing other than the company’s CANADA Score will influence visibility within the list.
Rule #3. We Will Not Accept any Money Whatsoever Until After the CANADA Score for a given product has been made public
The first step in our process is always to assess a company for their contribution to the Canadian economy.
- We will never accept money of any kind until a brand’s CANADA Score has already been published.
- If a score changes, the update will be clearly marked with an “updated” tag on the site.
- Every change will include a documented explanation, always available upon request.
Together, these rules safeguard the independence and transparency of CANADA Scores, in order to remove the possibility, and even the perception, of financial influence.
How We Do Make Money
Revenue Stream #1. Badge Licensing
Every product assessed on the site qualifies for a free digital badge displaying its CANADA Score.
- Companies may use the badge on their websites at no cost.
- For companies that want to also use the badge within their marketing campaigns (ads, packaging, print or digital), a promotional license is required.
- These licenses are available for CAD $250/year (single channel) or $500/year (multi channel).
See our Badge Usage & Licensing Policy for full details.
Revenue Stream #2. Affiliate Links
The CANADA List has begun providing links directly to products and retailers with 8, 9, or 10 CANADA Scores. These links are one of our most requested features, to make it easier for consumers to obtain more information about, and ultimately purchase, the Canadian products they want. It also helps support high-scoring Canadian retailers – particularly smaller retailers with less natural exposure. It is thus, entirely in line with The CANADA List’s mission of making it as easy as possible for Canadians to shop Canadian.
To help subsidize the site, some of these links are affiliate links. This means that The CANADA List will earn a small commission if a user clicks on the link and subsequently makes a purchase on the vendor’s site. Our strongest supporters are likely to see this as a win/win, as they can support good, high-scoring Canadian brands and support our site without donation, simply by purchasing the products they want to buy.
To be clear and explicit, these links:
- Will never affect scoring (Rule #1)
- Will never affect placement or visibility within the list (Rule #2)
- Will never be established before a product has been scored and publicly listed (Rule #3)
Moreover, just to confirm: these affiliate links will never raise the price of the goods you buy – in fact, in many cases, we may be able to offer coupons or deals from vendors that affiliate with us, which will bring down the cost of the goods you purchase.
Small Team, Big Accountability
Larger companies often create “firewalls” between the departments that score versus promote the brands they assess. The CANADA List is, however, run by an extremely small team, which makes it infeasible to put these explicit “firewalls” in place. Nonetheless, the established rules create a hard firewall in how we operate:
- Scores will always be locked down and made public before any monetization arrangements are put in place.
- Scoring criteria are well-defined and public – there is thus little room for discretion, as the scores are directly related to products’/brands’ actual Canadian footprint.
- We will continue to disclose all revenue streams publicly, so that there are no questions about conflicts of interest.
Questions?
As a watchdog-style site, we appreciate how important it is that we remain independent and free of conflict. We believe this is best achieved through full transparency. If you have questions or concerns of any kind, email us at: info@thecanadalist.ca
—Matt @ The CANADA List