B’nai B’rith president Philip M. Klutznick last night outlined an ambitious 10-year program of expansion for the 400, 000 member organization which included an increase of 50 percent in funds raised and spent to support its national agencies.
Predicting that the demand for voluntary services in the Jewish community will double in the next decade, Mr. Klutznick warned that the growth is necessary and “must be planned for now” if B’nai B’rith is to maintain “its level of basic services in 1968. ” He addressed 1, 800 persons at a membership rally sponsored by the B’nai B’rith New Jersey Council. Four hundred new members were inducted into the organization as the “Philip Klutznick Membership Class.”
The B’nai B’rith president foresaw an increase of 2, 500, 000 in B’nai B’rith’s national budget within the next decade–“to keep pace in particular, with community pressures for additional youth services that are increasing in geometric ratio to the burgeoning youth population.” As an example, he cited B’nai B’rith’s Hillel Foundations which now provide cultural centers for Jewish college students on 207 campuses but “will have to spread to more than 400 campuses by 1968. ” The same trend, he added, can be expected in the B’nai. B’rith teen-age youth movements and vocational service program.
Mr. Klutznick’s proposed these “available” sources for Income growth in 10 years: 1. A 25 percent B’nai B’rith membership increase; 2. $500, 000 in “normal growth and inflationary increases, ” and 3. $1, 000, 000 from local federations welfare funds and other community sources. B’nai B’rith’s anticipated expenditures for its national service programs this year are $5, 300, 000. In addition, about three times this amount is raised and spent annually by B’nai B’rith lodges and chapters for local community services.
The national executive board of B’nai B’rith Women at a meeting in Washington this week voted funds to erect 30 highway shelters in sparsely settled areas of Israel. The action was taken on a recommendation by Mrs. Hy Kornblett of Kansas City, Kansas, president of the organization. It was “an expression of congratulations to Israel on her tenth anniversary. “
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.
