Stabilized giving instead of annual drives will be the policy of the New York Federation for the Support of Jewish Philanthropic Societies, according to plans announced by Mortimer L. Schiff, at a luncheon meeting at the Bankers’ Club on Wednesday.
That this policy has the support of the Federation contributors is evidenced by the fact that $201,500 has been converted into recurring subscriptions in response to an inquiry by mail.
Mr. Schiff, who is the father of the plan to make the Federation’s income at the beginning of the calendar year equal to the sum allotted to its ninety-one constitutent societies, announced that 951 letters were sent by him to special donors and that the $201,500 in returns represented 243 responses. The total of special donations which Mr. Schiff is trying to convert is $850,000.
Sol M. Stroock, president of the Federation described the difficulty which the Federation experienced in approving the budgetary requests of the affiliated societies of the Jewish community chest at the present time, since only $3,000,000 was the dependable recurrent income while the expenditures exceeded $4,500,000. Every fall, he said, it is necessary for the Federation to conduct a campaign for the deficit, only to find itself in a similarly unsound position financially in the spring.
About 150 men from business and the professions attended the luncheon and decided to visit the special donors with a view to having them convert donations into subscriptions.
Attorney General Nathan L. Ottinger, in the closing address of the meeting, endorsed the plan of stabilizing the Federation’s income and assured Mr. Schiff that the community was in favor of the program.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
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.
