Jewish Agency Fund-raising Committee to Increase Goals for 1972

The United Jewish Appeal in the United States and the United Israel Appeal-Keren Hayesod in other countries are expected to raise this year one-third more money than they did last year, the Jewish Agency’s committee on world fund-raising was told today. The provisional target figure of the UJA and the UIA for 1971 had been $600 million–$400 million in the U.S. and $200 million in other countries. This target figure is now not considered large enough and a decision on how much to increase this is expected tomorrow. The Jewish Agency’s fund-raising committee met today under the chairmanship of Edward Ginsberg of Cleveland, Ohio. The associate chairman is Michael Sacher of London. After hearing from Jewish Agency members about Israel’s defense needs in addition to the burdens imposed by aliya absorption settlement, welfare, housing, education and the problem of poverty, the committee resolved that in 1972 world Jewry will be called upon to make a still greater effort. This decision was taken despite the fact that this year’s contributions are expected to reach a record figure. Ginsberg reported that in the U.S. there are now one million contributors to the UJA. Shimshon Kreutner, director of Keren Hayesod, said that in countries in which the UIA is active, there are 340000 contributors. This means that in most communities the fund-raising agencies have reached the majority of Jewish families.