Central Jewish fund raising efforts – as exemplified by the campaigns conducted by federations and welfare funds in cities throughout the country – resulted in a 326.5 percent increase during the five year period ending December, 1946 it was revealed today in an analysis of the final totals achieved by 160 individual campaigns during this period made by the Council of Jewish Federations and Welfare Funds.
The study disclosed that these 160 member agencies raised nearly $105,000,000 in 1946 as against $50,000,000 in 1945, $40,856,000 in 1944, $33,240,000 in 1943, and $24,620,000 in 1942.
The upward trend in welfare fund and federation fund raising during this period can be abscribed, according to the survey, to a combination of factors: the increasing recognition on the part of contributors of the urgency of overseas needs; the improved economic conditions in recent years; the steadily expanding sphere of interest of local central fund raising agencies as reflected by the inclusion in welfare fund budgets of a variety of causes that were previously supported by independent appeals; improved campaign organization; more widespread permanent year around local community organization; and increased taxes, especially during the war years, which were of advantage to tax-exempt philanthropic giving.
The upward trend of campaign goals was reflected by fewer campaigns for goals of less than $100,000, and the tremendous increase in the number of campaigns seeking $100,000 or more. In the $100,000 to $499,000 category, the number rose from 17 campaigns in 1942 to 78 in 1946. The $500,000 and over campaigns grew from seven to 23 in that period.
The decline in the number of small contributors and the marked rise in the number of “upper” bracket or “big gift” contributions – $100 or more – is revealed by statistics gathered after analyzing the results of 21 member agencies which have been reporting their campaign information since 1939. In that year these communities raised a total of $1,288,427 from 34,869 contributors. The average gift per contributor amounted to $36.95; there were 17 givers per 100 Jewish population.
In 1946 these 21 welfare funds and federations raised $8,130,999 from 59,011 contributors. The average gift per contributor rose to $137.79 and the number of givers per 100 population to 29. About 90 percent of the total raised by this group in 1946 was in the form of contributions of $100 and over (a rise from 69 percent from 1939) and almost 63 percent of it came from contributions of $1,000 and over. Contributions under $10 yielded but one percent of the total.
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.
