United Jewish Appeal of Greater Toronto
STAR RATINGCi's Star Rating is calculated based on the following independent metrics: |
✔+
FINANCIAL TRANSPARENCY
Audited financial statements for current and previous years available on the charity’s website.
B+
RESULTS REPORTING
Grade based on the charity's public reporting of the work it does and the results it achieves.
n/r
DEMONSTRATED IMPACT
The demonstrated impact per dollar Ci calculates from available program information.
NEED FOR FUNDING
Charity's cash and investments (funding reserves) relative to how much it spends on programs in most recent year.
85%
CENTS TO THE CAUSE
For a dollar donated, after overhead costs of fundraising and admin/management (excluding surplus) 85 cents are available for programs.
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Programs
About United Jewish Appeal of Greater Toronto:
United Jewish Appeal of Greater Toronto (UJA GTA) raises money to support Jewish communities in Greater Toronto and globally. It works with Jewish Foundation of Greater Toronto (the Foundation), a separate registered charity, to form UJA Federation of Greater Toronto (UJA Federation). The two charities share a common website and release an annual report with combined results under this shared name, but UJA Federation is not a registered charity.
UJA GTA controls nine Canadian charities: Joseph and Wolf Lebovic Jewish Community Campus, Lipa Green Centre for Jewish Community Services, Sherman Campus, 750 Spadina Ave. Association, Jewish Community Properties of Greater Toronto, Prosserman Jewish Community Centre, Schwartz/Reisman Centre, the Jewish Museum of Canada, and Greater Toronto Jewish Federation New Ventures. It also controls American Friends of United Jewish Appeal of Greater Toronto, which is an American charity, and 1867942 Ontario Inc., a for-profit company.
United Jewish Appeal of Greater Toronto’s annual campaign raised $59.6 million in F2018 (54% of total donations). 31% of campaign grants supported Jewish education programs, 25% funded initiatives working to strengthen connections with Israel, 16% funded activities fighting poverty in Jewish communities, 16% funded programs focused on preserving Jewish identity among youth, and 8% went toward advocating for Israel and global Jewish communities in need (retired debts account for the remaining 4%). Through these grants, UJA GTA reports that it partnered with 38 Jewish agencies, helped 14 schools and 30 after-school programs in the GTA, funded 17 Jewish camps in Canada and globally, and supported 17 programs reaching Jewish people in need in Canada and globally.
UJA GTA also collects donations through its Tomorrow Campaign, which raises money to build facilities for the general, social, and fitness needs of over 200,000 Jewish people living in the GTA. It raised $8.8 million in F2018 (8% of total donations). The campaign started in 2000 and has created three ‘hubs of Jewish life,’ as stated by UJA GTA: Joseph & Wolf Lebovic Jewish Community Campus, located in York; the Miles Nadal Jewish Community Centre, located in downtown Toronto; and Sherman Campus, located in midtown Toronto and currently being renovated with a target finish date in 2020.
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Results and Impact
UJA Federation’s 2018 annual report, which combines UJA GTA’s results with the Foundation’s, divides its results into three focus areas: fighting Jewish poverty and improving wellbeing; strengthening Jewish education and preserving Jewish identity; and strengthening connections to Israel and empowering global Jewish communities in need.
The 2018 report states that 1,100 people received financial assistance, 1,000 received employment support, and 1,700 low-income Holocaust survivors received critical support services as a result of grants directed towards poverty and wellbeing. New in 2018, the DoortoDoor initiative is an accessible phone service that helps Jewish seniors and Holocaust survivors living in poverty access critical services such as rent subsidies, emergency financial help, compensation and restitution from German government, and home care. The initiative helped 140 people during the year.
The TanenbaumCHAT Affordability initiative, which lowers tuition fees to address the decline in students whose families can afford Jewish education in the GTA, was also launched in F2018. Since the start of this initiative, Grade 9 registration increased by 71% (from 175 to 300 students enrolled).
Because of grants to support global Jewish communities, over 100,000 Jewish people in need received humanitarian relief and social welfare in F2018. In Moldova, 1,113 Jewish people received food/bank cards or fresh food packages, 969 received subsidies for medications, 264 received emergency financial assistance for home repairs and medical procedures, and homecare workers visited 170 homebound seniors to help them with basic daily living activities.
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Finances
UJA GTA is a Major 100 charity – one of Canada’s largest in terms of donations. It received $109.9m in donations in F2018. Administrative costs are 8% of revenues (excluding investment income) and fundraising costs are 7% of donations. Per dollar donated, 85 cents go to the cause, which is within Ci’s reasonable range for overhead spending.
UJA GTA holds $23.8m in cash and investments, which is exceeded by $38.0m in bank debt and loans. Funding reserves, excluding debt, could cover annual program and grant spending at the F2018 level for under five months.
After F2016 year-end, UJA GTA and the former United Jewish Welfare Fund (UJWF) merged under UJA GTA's name, excluding UJWF's Foundation assets. These assets are now managed by United Jewish Appeal Foundation.
UJA GTA’s audited financial statements combine UJA GTA’s financial performance with all eleven of its controlled entities, which Ci used in its financial analysis. Salary information, which comes from UJA GTA’s individual T3010 CRA filing, does not include UJA GTA’s controlled entities.
UJA GTA reports using external fundraisers in its F2018 T3010 CRA filing. It paid external fundraisers $98k to raise $753k, producing an external fundraising cost ratio of 13%.
UJA GTA’s five largest grants reported in its F2018 T3010 CRA filing are: $45.1m to United Israel Appeal of Canada, $2.5m to Jewish Foundation of Greater Toronto (the Foundation also reports granting $6.7m to UJA GTA in its F2018 T3010 filing), $2.1m to Anne and Max Tanenbaum Community Hebrew Academy of Toronto, $1.5m to Netivot Hatorah Day School, and $1.5m to Associated Hebrew Schools of Toronto. This grant breakdown does not include grants that went to the nine Canadian charities controlled by UJA GTA.
Ci typically adjusts grants for changes in grants payable to report actual cash grants made during the year. UJA GTA’s audited financials report changes in grants payable to United Israel Appeal that would increase grants by $3.0m in F2018, $659k in F2017 and $600k in F2016, but the statements do not disclose whether these changes relate to undesignated grants or donor-designated grants. As such, an adjustment was not made in Ci’s analysis.
This charity report is an update that has been sent to UJA GTA for review. Comments and edits may be forthcoming.
Updated on August 1st, 2019 by Katie Khodawandi.
Financial Review
Fiscal year ending June
|
2018 | 2017 | 2016 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Administrative costs as % of revenues | 8.1% | 5.9% | 5.3% |
| Fundraising costs as % of donations | 7.1% | 7.4% | 7.7% |
| Total overhead spending | 15.1% | 13.2% | 13.1% |
| Program cost coverage (%) | (23.3%) | (28.1%) | (55.7%) |
Summary Financial StatementsAll figures in $000s |
2018 | 2017 | 2016 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Donations | 109,874 | 104,249 | 96,166 |
| Government funding | 2,570 | 544 | 322 |
| Fees for service | 17,629 | 17,118 | 16,115 |
| Business activities (net) | 1,035 | 1,500 | 1,276 |
| Investment income | 185 | 131 | 74 |
| Other income | 9,762 | 6,857 | 5,849 |
| Total revenues | 141,055 | 130,399 | 119,802 |
| Program costs | 21,121 | 20,793 | 20,112 |
| Grants | 39,877 | 38,742 | 39,053 |
| Donor-designated donations | 39,502 | 35,738 | 33,643 |
| Administrative costs | 11,338 | 7,629 | 6,396 |
| Fundraising costs | 7,758 | 7,698 | 7,437 |
| Other costs | 2,137 | 2,225 | 2,583 |
| Total spending | 121,733 | 112,825 | 109,224 |
| Cash flow from operations | 19,322 | 17,574 | 10,578 |
| Capital spending | 10,840 | 705 | (11,051) |
| Funding reserves | (14,215) | (16,709) | (32,954) |
Note: Rental income is reported net of building operations expenses in business activities, decreasing total revenues and expenses by $3.2m in F2018, $3.2m in F2017 and $3.1m in F2016. Ci reported Foundation administrative fee recoveries as a contra-expense in administrative costs, decreasing total revenues and expenses by $1.2m in F2018, $1.1m in F2017 and $931k in F2016. Ci did not include provision for doubtful pledges in expenses, decreasing total expenses by $1.3m in F2018, $1.3m in F2017 and $1.6m in F2016. Program costs include Community Centre operations expenses and capital project expenses. Strategic plan costs are included in administrative costs. Ci only backed out interest-bearing loans payable from funding reserves.
Salary Information
$350k + |
1 |
$300k - $350k |
0 |
$250k - $300k |
1 |
$200k - $250k |
6 |
$160k - $200k |
2 |
$120k - $160k |
0 |
$80k - $120k |
0 |
$40k - $80k |
0 |
< $40k |
0 |
Information from most recent CRA Charities Directorate filings for F2018
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Comments & Contact
Comments added by the Charity:
Charity Contact
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