Campaign
CAMPAIGN RAISING THE MONEY Some historical highlights: ? The first UJA campaign, in 1939, produced $11.5 million-double what its (then) three component agencies had achieved the year before.. .by...
...In a word, his inherited Jewishness was low and sterile...
...The story of those years, during which many of the "techniques" in use today were developed, and by the end of which a total of sixty-three millions had been raised, is told by Henry Rosenfelt in his This Thing of Giving, a detailed account, state-by-state, of how the campaign was organized...
...how does Tulsa do it...
...which means that either Tulsa should be patented and exported, or we should all move there...
...per capita giving ranges all over the lot with smaller cities tending to do better...
...in 1967, North American Jewry raised $320 million (in constant dollars, about the same was raised in 1948) .. .there was some decline in the year immediately following the Six Day War, but both 1971 and 1972 produced an even larger total than 1967's record...
...He even disliked them...
...Beyond Technique: ? A stranger wandering into the middle of a campaign might easily be offended by the emphasis on technique rather than purpose...
...The call of a people's suffering struck a responsive chord in his heart...
...so for all its extraordinary success, there's still much room for growth in Jewish philanthropy...
...Some Comparisons: In many large cities, one-tenth of one percent of the contributions to UJA/Federation campaigns account for about 25 percent of the total raised...
...the goal was reached, and surpassed the next year...
...Toledo has over 400 contributors for every thousand Jews, and so do Corpus Christi, Harrisburg, Calgary, Waterbury, Windsor, Wilkes Barre and the Raritan Valley...
...372 of every thousand Jews in Tulsa make a contribution, which is high, but not spectacularly so .. .what's special is that Tulsa has a much higher fraction of its total Jewish population in the "big gifts" category...
...by 1944, the annual campaign netted $26 million...
...almost no one, in any income bracket, "makes" money by giving it away...
...good business principles meant good results...
...in the areas where such grants are made, they represent about a third of the combined United Fund/Federation total...
...we were compelled to regard ourselves as a business establishment and approach our problems in a cold calculating manner...
...in the communities with between 5,000 to 15,000 Jews, the low is $56 and the high is $319...
...The technique of campaigning'—'selling human suffering'—talking in terms of business efficiency and smooth running machinery are phrases which have a jarring connotation...
...but managing a campaign is not just a matter of good will .. .it is a matter of strategy and planning, of care translated into tactic...
...but in constant dollars, less was raised in 1975 and in 1976 than in 1967...
...the total combined synagogue budget in the United States is about $300 million per annum...
...among the sixteen largest cities, the range (1976) was from a low of $44 per capita to a high of $206 per capita (which may be evidence of the wealth of the community, or of the effectiveness of the campaign...
...the 1973 campaign reached $348 million, and the following year, in the aftermath of the Yom Kippur War, $660 million was raised...
...I refer particularly to the Jews who resented being identified with the ghetto and with a remote people he thought of as ghetto Jews...
...The new spirit and unity of the heightened morale in American Jewry born of these repeated campaigns of sacrifice will not spend themselves in charity alone, enormous though this gain will be...
...what 1967's $320 million could buy back then would have require'd $545 million by 1976...
...by and large, the smaller the city the higher the proportion of its Jews who contribute to annual UJA/Federation campaigns...
...A tragedy as moving and impelling as the terrible situation of the Jews in Central Europe, however, required for its relief a carefully planned method of organization...
...He was not one of them...
...36 of every thousand Jews in Tulsa gave $500 or more in 1976, more than twice as high a proportion as in any other North American community, ten times the rate in most big cities...
...It is they who are giving him the consciousness, the understanding, the possession of this wealth...
...Men have contributed large sums without, it is true, the remotest thought of reward—only to help in alleviating suffering...
...So without having looked for payment at all, meaning only to give, this American Jew has almost on the instant received a payment whose value cannot be calculated in dollars and cents...
...The spiritual treasure-chest of all American Jewry has thus been permanently and wonderfully enriched...
...over 95 percent have been allocated to UJA's beneficiary agencies...
...between 1948 and 1967, annual Federation/UJA campaigns produced about $60 million...
...And a new thing comes into his life, a bond of sympathy between him and his brother Jew in Poland and Palestine...
...in most communities, Federation itself uses less than 10 percent of the funds it receives for its various functions, including campaign expense, social planning, the allocating process, leadership training, and so forth...
...in the highest tax brackets, the benefit of a deduction is simple—a 60 percent taxpayer, for example, who gives $100 to philanthropy (and if he's in that bracket, he should be giving much more) has saved $60 in taxes, so his contribution has cost him $40—less than the full hundred, but not nothing...
...He not only gave himself, but persuaded his friends to give...
...Such an awakened and strengthened Jewish consciousness will be the greatest reward to all who have given in the cause of relief...
...since 1974, over $400 million has been raised for UJA each year...
...He and his brethren abroad are one historic people, a people with an unparalleled storehouse of spiritual and cultural treasure...
...an educated guess is that about half—or more—of all Jews don't give, and this number includes many affluent Jews—as many as do give...
...the first great national fund raising campaign in American Jewish life was at the time of the First World War, when the American Jewish Relief Committee was created and sought—successfully—to raise five million dollars, and then, a year later, ten million...
...in the next group of cities (15,000 to 39,000 Jewish population), the range goes from a low of $14 per capita to a high of $261...
...because many of the services provided by Federations at the local level are of substantial benefit to the general community, Federations are in many cases beneficiaries of local United Fund campaigns...
...most agencies depend on Federation grants for only a part of their total budgets...
...And then, all but unconsciously, he begins to understand a greater truth...
...Yet many a man has already received unexpected returns for his money...
...The total, nationwide, is about $27 million, but the experience varies widely from city to city...
...user fees, membership dues, special building campaigns, endowment funds are among the other sources...
...Facts of interest: ? Less than five percent of the total funds received by UJA have been used for expenses...
...Scranton reaches the astonishing level of 727 contributors for every thousand Jews .. .Chicago, Boston, Miami, Los Angeles, Long Beach, San Diego and others have fewer than 200 contributors per thousand Jews— and Orange County has only 61 per thousand...
...Good results meant life and hope for our stricken brethren abroad...
...But is is they who have the cultural wealth, in which he is so poor...
...best estimate is that over a million people contribute to Federation/UJA campaigns across the country...
...since the inception of UJA in 1939, American Jewry has raised, through Federation and UJA, a total of almost $7 billion dollars, of which $4.2 billion has been allocated to UJA...
...He sprang instinctively to the rescue like the loyal, generous man he is...
...Every worker is, and must be, a salesman...
...by 1948, $147 million was raised .. .that remained the peak year until 1967...
...Rosen-felt's conclusion, written in 1924, is still appropriate: "In the last analysis raising funds is fundamentally no different from selling a commodity...
...90 percent of the contributors give less than $1000, and this provides about 20 percent of the campaign total...
...and in communities with fewer than 5,000 Jews, the bottom is $31 and the top is $1,435 (that's Tulsa...
...It is borne upon him that after all there is a tie of blood and brotherhood between them...
...in 1946, a goal of $100 million was proposed—a shockingly high figure, opposed by many people...
...Then came these appeals for relief...
Vol. 2 • June 1977 • No. 8
