Contributions to joint fund-raising campaigns organized by local Jewish communities to meet their local, national and overseas obligations have maintained a steady upward trend since 1933, when the Jewish welfare fund movement began to gain momentum, according to a survey on contributions and contributors during the years 1933-42, made public here today. by the Council of Jewish Federations and Welfare Funds.
An analysis of 13 Jewish welfare funds established in the late twenties or early thirties showed gains of 434 percent in contributions, and nine welfare funds showed an increase of 327 percent in the number of contributors between 1933-34 and 1941-42. The latter period, of course, saw Jewish overseas needs reach new peaks and a subsequent sympathetic response by the American Jewish public.
For the country as a whole, gains in recent years were less phenomenal, with smaller communities reporting a higher rate of increase than the larger ones. Between 1938-39 and 1941-42, the total raised in 138 campaigns increased 18 percent – the increases ranging from 13,6 percent for campaigns of $500,000 or more to 67.6 percent for campaigns of $10,000 to $25,000
APPEALS IN 105 CITIES BRING $27,000,000 IN ONE YEAR
Federations, welfare funds and joint appeals in 105 cities, which reported their 1941-42 figures to the Council, raised a total of $27,025,576, about 3,4 percent more than the previous year. In campaigns of $100,000 or more gains ranged from 2,0 to 9.5 percent; in smaller campaigns, from 11,5 to 15.8 percent.
On the whole, the 1941 Fall campaigns fared better than those held in the Spring of 1942. The Fall drives recorded increases in both the small and large communities. Gains in the 1942 Spring drives were confined mainly to communities raising less than $100,000. A few of the larger cities also showed increases but there was a decrease of about 6,0 percent for the group of large cities as a whole. In all of the 1941-42 campaigns, the bulk of the funds – close to 80 percent – came from so-called “big gifts” of $100 or more.
DIFFERENCES BETWEEN LARGE AND SMALL CITIES IN “TOP” GIFTS
There were marked differences, however, between the large and small cities in the extent of their dependence on “top” gifts. Campaigns for $500,000 and over, derived 20.4 percent of their totals from “top” contributions of $5,000 and over; campaigns for $100,000 to $500,000, about 11 percent, and campaigns for $25,000 to $50,000, about 5.0 percent. Campaigns for less than $25,000 received no such “top” contributions.
Differences between the large and small cities were evident also in the distribution of medium size contributions. In the very large campaigns ($500,00 or more), contributions of $100 to $500 accounted for about 24 percent of the total raised; in the very small campaigns (less than $10,000), contributions in this category accounted for over 42 percent. The same relationship existed with regard to contributions of $10 to $100. The smaller the campaign, the larger the proportion derived from contributions of this size. However, in all campaigns, large or small, the total derived from contributions of less than $10 was equally low in no instance more than about 4.0 percent.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
