C.J.F.W.F. General Assembly Opens; Budgets of National Agencies Reviewed

The 31st General Assembly of the Council of Jewish Federations and Welfare Funds opened here today with a session of the Large City Budgeting Conference reviewing the 1963 budgets of a number of national and overseas agencies. The official opening of the Assembly, in which delegates from 800 Jewish communities will participate, will take place tomorrow afternoon.

The Large City Budgeting Conference, a Joint budget review process set up by the 23 largest communities outside New York City, will continue consideration of the 1963 budgets of participating agencies tomorrow. Louis J. Fox of Baltimore, retiring chairman of the LCBC, said that the total sum involved in the budgets of the 13 agencies reviewed annually by the Conference is $13, 000, 000. The annual allocation from federations and welfare funds outside New York City to these agencies totals about $3,500, 000.

The agencies whose budgets were reviewed today by the LCBC included the American Jewish Congress, United Hias Service, Jewish Telegraphic Agency, and the Synagogue Council of America. The agencies whose budgets will be reviewed tomorrow include the American Association for Jewish Education, National Jewish Welfare Board, National Community Relations Advisory Council, and others.

In opening the session of the LCBC today, Mr. Fox said that the most important asset possessed by the LCBC “is the general store of confidence” with which it is regarded by member and non-member communities and the national and overseas agencies whose budget it reviews. Reports on the LCBC process, Mr. Fox pointed out, will be issued to community allocations committees in March when agency requests for funds are made.

Judge Irving Hill of Los Angeles, chairman of the LCBC committee on community budget procedures, presented the committee’s report on studies it made in regard to LCBC participation by community lay leaders and executives, community use of LCBC reports and materials, LCBC procedures and member action in relation to LCBC reports.

The committee established, according to Judge Hill, that LCBC findings were used by all cities questioned; that there could be a greater involvement in the LCBC process by lay leadership in the respective member communities; that LCBC has stimulated a planning process regarding needs and services going beyond review of items in a current budget and has included reviews of an entire area of need and that LCBC has stimulated or participated in actual or proposed evaluative studies of agency programs and other studies following a variety of patterns.

WORKSHOPS TO DISCUSS EFFECTIVE COLLECTION OF PLEDGES

Plans to strengthen the 1963 fund-raising campaign in each community will be discussed tomorrow at workshops which will follow the opening of the formal opening of the CJFWF Assembly. The primary focus of the workshops will be on campaign evaluation. Experiences will be exchanged on collection of pledges in 1962 and stress will be laid on the essential ingredients for good collections.

A report on basic elements for effective collections was distributed today among the delegates in preparation for tomorrow’s discussions. The report emphasizes that “there is universal agreement that individualized attention to the outstanding accounts is the key-stone of a successful collection effort. But there are variations in the way this is done–variations which reflect the individual differences among the outstanding accounts. “

Some communities, according to the report, have had a marked improvement in their collections as a result of the more frequent attention given to collections by the Federation Board of Directors. Many communities have also found that a top-drawer collection committee gives greater assurance that the collections record will be analyzed regularly and thoughtfully. “Collections work requires people with a very high degree of tact, Judgment, ingenuity, persistence–and collection committees have attracted leadership with these abilities, ” the report says.