Federation of Jewish Philanthropies of Toronto

For many years prior to 1917 Toronto Jewish community leaders had recognized the need to centralize fund-raising for all local Jewish charities. The 1912 creation of the Associated Hebrew Charities was a partial improvement, but it proved unable to cope with the pre-war rapid growth in immigration, the effects of the 1916 economic recession, and the funding requirements of many still-unaffiliated agencies.. The positive experiences of newly established Jewish community federations in several American cities did, however, offer a better example for Toronto, where prominent Jewish leaders Edmund Scheuer, Abraham Cohen and Ida Seigel provided the leadership that finally did result in the establishment of a Toronto federation.
The Federation of Jewish Philanthropies of Toronto was chartered as a charitable organization under the laws of Ontario in March, 1917. Its central goal was to end the frequent, uncontrolled, and competitive fund soliciting by a wide range of individual Toronto Jewish philanthropic and social service institutions and instead substitute a single coordinated city-wide community fundraising effort. This would ensure adequate and accountable funding for all its affiliated organizations and agencies in Toronto.
Original affiliated agencies of the FJPT were: the Ladies Co-operative Board, the Jewish Orphans' Home, the Jewish Girls Club, the Junior Council of Jewish Women, the Hebrew Ladies Maternity Aid and Sewing Circle, the Hebrew Young ladies Boot and Shoe Society, the Sewing Circle, the Jewish Branch of the Big Brotherhood Movement, the Hebrew Free Loan Society, the Jewish Dispensary, and the Hebrew Burial Society,
The original officers were: President Edmund Scheuer, 1st Vice-President Joseph Singer, 2nd Vice-President Jay J. Allen, 3rd Vice-President Moses Gelber, 4th Vice-President Charles Draimin, Treasurer Eli Pullan, and Honorary Secretary Abraham Cohen. A Board of Trustees consisting of 45 members was also constituted, one-third of whose members were to be replaced each year.
Final decision powers of the Federation were originally vested in the Board, which met monthly and was responsible for funds distribution and the nomination of Officers of the Federation. The Board also had the power to change, by a two-third vote, any Federation by-laws, rules, or regulations. The President chaired all Board meetings and had, along with the Treasurer, signing authority for orders and cheques. In his absence, the President's responsibilities were transferred to the 1st, or other Vice-Presidents, in order. The Treasurer was responsible for receiving all donations and depositing them in the bank. He also had signing authority for disbursals.
A system of committees was also established in order to deal with individual issues such as annual meetings, fund-raising, budgets, day-to-day administration, and policy, constitutional and regulation changes. Recommendations from these committees were sent to an Executive Committee. When vetted, they were then forwarded to the Board of Trustees for final approval. By 1924, a new position of Executive Director was added to the list of officers in order to provide better management of the FJPT administration and to head up the Executive Committee. Also, by this time, six further agencies had become affiliated. These were: Mount Sinai Hospital, the Jewish Boys' and Girls' Camps, Jewish Big Sisters, the Family Welfare Bureau, the Federation Health Clinic and the Federation Employment Bureau.
The first office of the FJPT was at 206 Beverly St., but by 1924 it was headquartered at 218 Simcoe St. and by 1928 it had moved to 179 Beverley St., which was renamed "Scheuer House" after the FJPT's first president.
The 1929 onset of the Great Depression created unprecedented and ever-growing service and monetary demands on the FJPT. Unable to cope, a major change was urgently required. In 1938 the FJPT was thus absorbed into a new and larger organization with an expanded mission and reorganized fund-raising operations, the United Jewish Welfare Fund.
Although the FJPT was absorbed into the UJWF in 1938, meetings of the FJPT Board of Management (responsible for funds redistribution to the FJPT's affiliated agencies) continued to January, 1939 when these responsibilities were finally transferred to the UJWF.