Founded in 1971, The Jewish Community Foundation of Montreal’s (JCFM) mission is to promote philanthropy by making giving easy, efficient and tax smart. It raises and accepts funds through endowments, bequests and other planned giving programs. Donors set up a charitable fund with JCFM who invests these funds to earn an investment income. At the donor’s recommendation, JCFM distributes these funds to registered charities in Canada. JCFM also runs services for charities. It hosts an annual conference that brings together professionals such as accountants, lawyers, notaries, insurance professionals and wealth managers – to review updates in tax law and other matters affecting individuals and businesses. This annual conference aims to educate professionals and their clients on estate planning and ways to increase their philanthropic giving. In addition, the JCF gives local non-profit organizations financial and organizational advice and manages institutional trust funds.

In F2016, The Jewish Community Foundation of Montreal managed 1843 funds and distributed $41m in grants to 686 organizations. JCFM granted $11.4m in F2016 to Federation CJA, making it the largest single-organization grant recipient at 28% of total grants. JCFM manages over $1b in assets.

In F2016, JCFM had a pooled fund return of -3%. This is lower than the 9% and 12% returns in F2015 and F2014, respectively. The average annualized return over the past five years is 5%.  The average payout ratio for the past 3 years is 14%.

The pooled investment portfolio is allocated into equity (40% of total investment assets), diversifying strategies (30%), natural resources and real estate (15%), and fixed income securities (15%). JCFM charges an administrative fee to each of its fund holders. This ranges from 0.2-0.65% depending on the amount invested and is charged quarterly.

The Jewish Community Foundation of Montreal is the largest charity in Canada measured by $871m in donations in F2016. Administrative costs were 0.3% of revenues. JCFM incurred no fundraising costs. Other than this minimal administrative cost, every dollar donated to JCFM goes directly to the cause at the donor’s recommendation.

JCFM has funding reserves of $1.2b. Donor-endowed funds make up $1.1b of total funding reserves. As JCFM is set up as an investment fund, its funding reserves can cover 23.7 years of its programs.

This charity report is an update that is currently being reviewed by The Jewish Community Foundation of Montreal. Changes and edits may be forthcoming.

Updated on June 5, 2017 by Juliana Badovinac