A total of $54,191,000 has been raised to date toward local campaign goals by 67 Jewish communities throughout the country, according to a report released today by the Council of Jewish Federations and Welfare Funds. Some of these communities completed their campaigns in July, while others are continuing their drives.
The reporting cities anticipate a final total return of $58,990,500 for 1949, the report said. The same communities raised $71,005,256 last year. These communities include: Baltimore, which has so far raised more than $3,000,000 and will close its campaign in September; Buffalo, which completed its campaign by raising its quota of $1,200,000; Cincinnati, which reached its goal of $1,600,000; Cleveland, which completed its drive after raising its goal of $4,900,000; Detroit, which raised $5,240,000 and is concluding its campaign this month; Kansas City, which reached its goal of $1,210,000; Los Angeles, which raised six million dollars toward its $8,000,000 goal, but which is continuing its campaign through September.
The reporting cities also included Miami, which concluded its campaign last month after raising $1,090,000; Newark, which completed its drive after raising its quota of about $2,800,000; Philadelphia, which raised $5,700,000 but is still trying to reach a total of $6,000,000; St. Louis, which raised $2,650,000; San Francisco, which secured about $1,500,000; and Toronto, which completed its drive after raising $1,322,000. The report only gives the results of spring campaigns.
FUND-RAISING RESULTS WILL EQUAL OR SURPASS PREVIOUS YEARS, EXCEPT 1948
Emphasizing that campaign results will this year equal or surpass all previous years, with the exception of the banner year of 1948, the report of the Council of Jewish Federations and Welfare Funds says: “The current campaigns show that American Jews take their responsibilities seriously. When presented with the challenge for supporting vital and urgent needs, the American Jewish communities can continue to raise tremendous sums of money despite less favorable economic conditions.”
As compared with 1948, the Council’s report makes the following generalizations on the experiences of this year as reported by the communities:
1. Even though the experts are still undecided as to whether the country is now in a “recession,” “depression,” or “mere leveling-off process,” there exists a fear of the economic future which cut sharply into big giving for campaigns. Decreased contributions this year from some big givers foreshadows the problems to be faced in the 1950 campaign.
2. There were “manpower” difficulties–lack of workers and less intense coverage of prospects. The climate of lessened interest in the campaign applied to workers as well as givers, indicating that the impetus of startling headlines, so effective last year, was missing in the current effort. “The emotional appeal was considerably weaker,” many communities reported.
3. Some campaigns were hit hard by poor collection records of the previous year’s pledges; givers who had outstanding balances on 1948 pledges were less favorable prospective givers.
4. Independent capital funds campaigns, in some instances, were harmful to the welfare fund campaign since the timing was had–large fund-raising came directly before or after the central campaign.
5. The internal conflicts in national agencies, preceding the setting of the national U.J.A. campaign, affected the local efforts to some extent.
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