Mortgaging Our Heritage Today To  Reformed and energized through the 

Fund The Castles Of Tomorrow  leadership of Lia Hess in the early 

By Marcus Kolga  2000’s, EFC was transformed into an 
  efficient fundraising organization that 
I write this as a concerned father whose  helped improve programming and 
family has benefited from Estonian  increased community participation 
community activity for two generations.  across Canada through various efforts. 
And as a community member who deeply  Large EFC-initiated events like “Laulge 
appreciates the contributions of our  kaasa!” and “An Estonian Christmas” 
community volunteers who help inspire  brought together Estonians in Toronto 
and reinforce Estonian heritage and  who hadn’t participated in community 
identity in our youth.  events for decades. Similar growth was 
  experienced in Montreal, Ottawa, 
How important is the cultural vibrancy  Alberta, Vancouver and elsewhere in 
of our current Estonian community and  Canada, thanks in large part, to funding 
the sharing of Estonian heritage with  support from EFC.   
our children?    
  During my tenure at EFC, donation 
How important are the organizations  revenues were always a concern, as the 
that bring our youth together, that  EFC board wished to provide as much 
bond them into lifetime friendships  support as feasible to all deserving 
and enrich them with culture and  community groups and events.  
heritage by providing them with a   
unique identity through our shared  Another key concern of that time, was 
history?   the increased amount of funding 
  directed to Toronto Estonian House 
Do our youth organizations, like  rental payments, which enable our 
summer camps at Seedrioru and  community organizations to continue 
Jõekääru or our Estonian  using space at Estonian House. 
kindergartens, schools, choirs and  Upwards of $80,000 to $100,000 
dancers deserve our community’s  annually flowed to the Toronto 
ongoing moral and financial support?  Estonian House in those years, to help 
  fund maintenance and urgent repairs. 
As an Estonian Foundation of Canada  These funds could otherwise have gone 
(EFC) board member from 2008-2016,  to improving schools, camps and 
I was privileged and honoured to serve  events, or they could have been 
on the leadership team of this  invested to help ensure continued 
organization, whose primary mandate  funding in future years. 
is to support Estonian community   
programming and activities across  Some of us wondered if there was a way 
Canada, including the most important  to reduce the overall amount that our 
sector, our youth.  community was spending on 
  maintaining real estate so that we could 
better sustain community  clouded in the subsequent years. 
organizations. After all, the aggregate  Instead of focusing on a sustainable 
amount of space our community owns  solution which provides very 
in Toronto far exceeds total community  economical space for community 
needs, including the Baptist Church on  organizations, the future of our culture 
Broadview, St. Peter’s Church on Mount  and heritage in Canada are seemingly 
Pleasant, Estonian House, Tartu  being mortgaged to pay for space where 
College, Ehatare and eventually VEMU.   the primary focus is no longer on 
  community groups, but 
This is why community consolidation  tech-accelerators, new commercial 
was actively investigated by the EFC  space for the credit union and elegant 
when it learned of the city’s intent to  open-concept banquet space. 
sell the city-owned parking lot adjacent   
to Tartu College, and the simultaneous  Why am I speaking out about this now? 
private sale of the house adjacent to the  This month, current EFC board 
parking lot on the north.  members have apparently been tasked 
  with speaking to community leaders 
With mounting costs for rent and  who direct our cornerstone youth 
maintenance of the Estonian House,  organizations. EFC will advise them 
three redevelopment studies and three  that the funding upon which they have 
unsuccessful redevelopment proposals  relied will be cut back immediately by 
(which cost the Estonian House and our  25% and in some cases up to 50%.  
community, hundreds of thousands of   
dollars), many of us felt a new direction  Our community volunteers are being 
had to be considered and investigated.  told that EFC has spent and/or is 
  committed to using a significant share 
Consolidation to one core location,  of its base capital - in excess of $2 
combining the existing space in Tartu  million - to help fund the new Estonian 
College and the planned expansion of  Centre. Since EFC’s focus on 
VEMU, seemed to be an optimal  fundraising and efforts at securing 
solution - especially if adopting the  donations have declined over the past 
Tartu College model of relying on  few years, our youth organizations are 
third-party revenue to fund space used  now being forced to bear the burden of 
by our community. EFC saw this as an  that project commitment through 
ideal way to provide low-cost or  severe and very sudden funding 
rent-free space to our Estonian  cutbacks.  
schools, singers, folk dancers and other   
cultural heritage groups, thereby  EFC’s energetic support of the new 
helping to ensure community  Estonian Centre next to Tartu College is 
sustainability.  welcome. However EFC’s commitments 
  to funding more than $2 million in 
However, recent developments appear  capital to this project is excessive, 
to indicate that priorities have become  especially when taken as a proportion 
of EFC’s overall liquidity in comparison  is ostensibly placing on our youth 
to other Estonian Centre partners and  cultural and heritage groups?  
its mandate to fund programming. It   
seems that EFC has opted to forfeit  A community-focused sustainability 
regular, significant annual investment  strategy must be the number one 
income -which has helped fund ​key  priority for the new Estonian Centre. 
incubators of our community​ - the  Currently, it is not. A re-evaluation of 
schools, camps, choirs, dance groups,  community needs is desperately 
etc- in return for what seems to be an  needed, to ensure that community 
illiquid ownership stake in the new  organizations are provided space, 
Estonian Centre. And although a  either free, or at levels which ensure 
portion of their investment may be  long term sustainability. Let’s not 
structured as a loan, it’s unlikely that  forget that affordable and reliable 
loan would be repaid to the EFC  alternatives do exist for our community 
anytime soon - if ever - given the  organizations, including church 
overall funding challenges that the  basements and other community 
development and construction of the  centres, among them the Latvian 
new centre have currently and will  Centre. But an “International” 
likely continue to face.  Estonian Centre, without Estonian 
  community organizations, is not much 
Community groups are thereby forced  of an Estonian community centre at all. 
into raising annual dues significantly   
or must consider programming cuts to  The development of the new Estonian 
offset this immediate revenue shortfall  Centre is welcome and necessary. 
and in the worst case, contemplate  However we must not bankrupt the 
winding down operations. As someone  future of our heritage in Canada to 
who directs his donations to youth  achieve this objective.  
organizations through EFC, and as a 
father of two active members of the 
Estonian youth community, I am 
deeply concerned. 
 
As commercial entities, the other three 
pillars in the Estonian Centre 
consortium could help by 
acknowledging the critically important 
funding role of EFC in our community. 
Perhaps they and their 
shareholders/members, might consider 
directing a small portion of their 
significant assets towards lifting the 
unfair financial burden that this project