Jewish Charitable Contributions in the U.S. Seen As Declining

Jewish charitable contributions in the United States are likely to decline in the years ahead, with serious consequences both to Jewish health and welfare agencies in this country and to social services in Israel. In addition, this projected decline may reflect “a partial unraveling of the ties that bind Jews together.”

These conclusions are reached by Prof. Steven Martin Cohen, of Queens College, in a feature article in the 1980 American Jewish Year Book. The new edition, Volume 80 in the annual series, has just been published jointly by the American Jewish Committee and the Jewish Publication Society of America. Its editors are Milton Himmelfarb and David Singer.

In his article, “Trends in Jewish Philanthropy, Cohen traces the consistent increase in annual campaigns in local Jewish communities in the U.S. from the mid-1960s to the mid-1970s. In 1975, he reports, this trend was reversed and the total amount raised nationwide plummeted by $185 million from 1974. Since that time, he continues; the amount raised has remained fairly constant, notwithstanding the eroded value of the dollar due to inflation.

REASONS FOR PESSIMISM

Cohen maintains that one of the main reasons for a pessimistic outlook for Jewish philanthropy is the lesser attachment to the Jewish community by today’s younger Jews, as distinguished from their elders when they were young. Present-day younger Jews, he reports, are generationally removed from the immigrant heritage and, “like members of other ethnic groups, less frequently undertake expressions of religious or ethnic attachment such as Jewish charitable giving.”

Another reason for pessimism, he odds; is that “younger Jews have been shifting away from those occupations that have been characteristic for federation stalwarts; they are entering the salaried professions rather than becoming independent entrepreneurs.

The resulting shifts in type of work (from business to professions) and sources of income (from self-employed to salaried) means that younger Jews will less often enter the pool of multimillionaires, that group which has most generously supported federation drives in the past. The shift in source of income also means that a smaller faction of total family income (even if it remains at a high level) will be of the disposable variety.”

A third reason, the author continues, is the increase in “alternative” Jewish households: singles, childless couples, and divorced or separated individuals. Since Jewish communal participation may be heightened by marriage and is almost certainly increased by the presence of children in the home, then the reduction of the proportion of conventional Jewish households means that “Jewish giving will eventually suffer.”

In previous years, Cohen points out, Jewish philanthropic giving was “largely the province of affluent and relatively assimilated Jews.” Today, however, “philanthropic activity is becoming increasingly confined to those Jews who regularly act out their Jewishness; they maintain traditional level of giving even as growing numbers of less-involved Jews turn away from philanthropy.”

To cope with these negative factors, Cohen suggested that Jewish federations, in their own self-interest, should seek to stimulate and Improve Jewish involvement by members of the Jewish community. Among other policies, he suggests that federations might make effort to incorporate alternative families into the Jewish community, or they may choose to focus fund-raising efforts on those families who have the greatest propensity to give, for example, conventional households.

Cohen suggested also that because of the changing Jewish occupational picture, fund-raising efforts should be shifted from being constructed around business circles to a concentration on the professions. He also noted that “the classical preponderance of a small number of wealthy families in each community’s philanthropic circle may not obtain in the future. Federation leadership may pass to individuals of more moderate means who have a relatively strong commitment to Jewish life.”

Concluding the author foresees that “fewer donors and decreased giving would have far-reaching implications for the future of American Jewry. Such on eventuality would mean not only weakened financial support for Jewish agencies, but, in addition, lessened unity within the Jewish community, poorer recruitment of lay leaders for all aspects of organizational life, and, quite possibly diminished Jewish political influence.”