Brooklyn Federation of Jewish Charities Plans $175,000 Deficit Drive

The Brooklyn Federation of Jewish Charities has decided to conduct an Emergency Deficit Campaign this Spring for $175,000, according to an announcement by Nathan D. Shapiro, president of the organization. The decision was made at a meeting of the finance committee and later approved at a meeting of the entire board, held at the Unity Club, in Brooklyn. The Emergency Campaign, Mr. Shapiro explained, is made necessary by the increased demands for relief that are being made upon the Federation agencies, and the decrease in annual collections following the recent decline of stocks on the market.

The decision of the finance committee to conduct a campaign at this time, Mr. Shapiro said, was based upon reports presented by the Federation societies, indicating that a reduction in their allotments of last year would seriously undermine the efficiency of their work in rendering service to the poor and needy of the borough, and in many instances, would jeopardize the very existence of the societies.

On the basis of these reports, Mr. Shapiro explained, the committee and the board decided upon a campaign for $175,000, which would make possible the continuance of the work of the Federation agencies. “We felt,” said Mr. Shapiro, “that we could not possibly undertake to make these drastic reductions in the allotment to our societies without first appealing to the great Jewish community of Brooklyn to make possible the continuance of the work which our agencies are doing in the community. We are all convinced that the Jewish community of Brooklyn will maintain the ancient tradition of our people of taking care of their own poor and needy, when the situation is properly presented to them.”

Another important factor in the decision to have a campaign at this time, Mr. Shapiro said, was the proposed merger of the Brooklyn and New York Federations of Charity. “One of the conditions of the proposed merger,” Mr. Shapiro declared, “is that neither organization shall have a deficit at the time when the merger becomes effective. Since the only condition attached to the gift of $1,000,000 by Ralph Jonas to the combined Federation is that the merger become effective not later than January 1, 1931, it means that we must close the year 1930 without a deficit if the amalgamation is to become a fact. An analysis of the sources of revenue of the Brooklyn Federation shows that we cannot possibly accomplish this without a campaign for additional funds. In other words, the proposed merger of the two Federations is entirely dependent upon the success of the campaign which we are about to launch.”