Can A Congregation or Community Rely On A Designated Charity Fund and Restrict People From Soliciting From Individuals
The Shulchan Aruch (Yoreh Dei'a section, 256:1; listen to audio clip for precise citation) writes that every Jewish community bears the obligation to establish a "Kupa" – a fund that collects money from every member of the community and distributes it to those in need on a weekly basis. Beyond the required Kupa, the Shulchan Aruch adds, some communities also maintain a "Tamchui," a soup-kitchen that provides food for the poor on a daily basis. The Shulchan Arukh rules that whereas the establishment and maintenance of a communal Kupa is mandatory, a community does not bear a strict obligation to run a Tamchui.
The question arises as to whether a community with a Kupa fund is entitled to bar a needy person from soliciting from individuals. May the managers of the communal fund tell the individual that after receiving money from the fund he is no longer entitled to go door-to-door to collect money from the community members?
Rabbi Moshe Feinstein (Russia-New York, 1895-1986), in his Iggerot Moshe (Y.D. 1:169), rules unequivocally that this is forbidden. The Kupa system was established not to supplant private solicitation, but rather as an additional measure to assist the poor. Even after a needy person collects from the communal fund, he is still entitled to approach the donors individually to ask for further assistance.
Likewise, an individual donor may not proclaim himself as the exclusive donor representing the rest of the community or congregation. It is told that a poor person once came to collect charity in a synagogue, and one congregant handed him $100 and said that this donation is given on behalf of everyone in the synagogue. This donor thought he was acting magnanimously by contributing on behalf of the others, but in truth, he actually impaired the poor person's efforts by restricting his access to other potential donors. Had this person been able to approach the other congregants, he may have very likely received larger sums. Just as the communal fund cannot claim to represent every community member's exclusive donation to the given cause, so may a private individual not proclaim himself the representative donor on behalf of others.
Summary: A poor person who received a donation from the community's charity fund may nevertheless approach the community's members individually to request further assistance. Similarly, a person should not give a poor person an amount of money and claim that he gives on behalf of the entire community, barring the poor person from collecting privately.
