Our Readers Speak: On Jewish Philanthropy
PHILANTHROPY OUR READERS SPEAK: Some months ago, moment initiated a monthly poll of its subscribers. Our first poll dealt with intermarriage, our second with energy policy, and our third, whose...
...on virtually every item, in almost every category, more people think that either too much or too little is being allocated than agree with current levels...
...For large numbers of people, "We are One" has no real meaning, except at the most abstract, symbolic level...
...And for everyone who complains that the federations are not doing enough or giving enough to various agencies, I recommend that they spend one day in a budget and allocation session...
...Comments: Jewish Education: I think Federation should spend much more for Jewish education...
...I hope this information will not only be reprinted in moment, but will be tabulated and sent to every Federation in the States...
...Assocations from Federations are still made on the basis of political strength...
...Eighty-eight percent of all charitable contributions was devoted to Jewish causes...
...The Federation is so male dominated as to ridicule and ignore women's efforts...
...At the same time, the poll does provide interesting and useful information...
...I think anyone making a sacrificial gift has the right to complain about anything he doesn't like, and the Federation has the obligation to listen...
...It is always interesting to know what a particular group of concerned people thinks...
...I am aware that elsewhere in the United States the situation is somewhat different...
...I happen to work on the college campus for the Jewish community, serving Hillel on a campus in suburban New York...
...Power people" in my opinion are generally "Jewishly ignorant...
...for the "somewhat active" group, the figure declines to 67 percent...
...Fifteen years as chairman of an allocations committee, and not an elitist...
...The real fear is that there are too few of us doing too much and if the trend doesn't change so as to broaden the base, twenty years from now the Jewish community will be in desperate straits...
...we are criticized roundly after each set of allocations...
...Over 75 people participate in the process, and almost 500 man hours are devoted to the task...
...Federation provides only an infinitesimally small amount for this significant aspect of Jewish communal life...
...We don't ask moment readers to edit moment...
...We must begin to spend more on revitalizing Jewish life in the U.S...
...Unfortunately many Jews are critics, and quite expert at that, failing to see the forest for the trees...
...yet we are accused of superficiality...
...we publish our allocations widely, and we describe the procedures at length in our local Jewish newspaper, yet we are accused of secrecy, favoritism, and worse...
...scarcely any think these two activities get too much help...
...Miscellaneous Thanks for giving us the opportunity of voicing our opinions regarding matters of vital importance to the Jewish community...
...For the "very active" group, 76 percent of all "Jewish dollars" are targeted for UJA/ Federation...
...Would you like moment to be edited by a reader selected at random...
...It wants to be, and deserves to be, the place Jews start from, then expanding into other and more specialized activities...
...Thank heaven for the fortitude and farsightedness of Federation people...
...Your questionnaire, I fear, does a disservice by its presumption that donors are knowledgeable...
...Do hospitals, counseling services, and several others (see the table) get about the right amount, or too much or too little...
...But we think moment readers are special people, concerned with the quality of Jewish life, and it is a dangerous symptom that so many feel locked out...
...about one-fifth think they get too little...
...How can a few people be expected to do a perfect job when they are trying to ease the burdens and the problems of so many...
...even one-third of the most active group holds that view...
...Respondents who are not active in Federation do not give a smaller proportion of their contributions to Jewish causes...
...The majority of Jews don't understand the true meaning of involvement and commitment...
...The more active the respondent in Federation, the larger the proportion of his Jewish charitable dollar is allocated to Federation...
...Our Favorite I would just like to thank you for producing an informative, readable and inspiring magazine...
...But Federation is—central address or not— the most comprehensive institution in American Jewish life, the basic organizational unit...
...But people must remember that Federations are formed to support a wide variety of Jewish needs and cannot support a few to the exclusion of the others...
...I am speaking of the local level...
...in today's world I sometimes wonder...
...The Federation in our community is a closed shop—very social in its orientation, with priorities for spending made by a very small group...
...But of 13 million Jews in the world, only the six million in this country are safe and for the most part affluent, but less than 30 percent of those six million are givers...
...Sadly, most critics— indeed, most donors—do not know enough about the agencies to describe their programs...
...Keep up the probing questions— it is crucial to encourage all opinions and offer a place to express those opinions...
...Being female, I find it easier to serve with Hadassah...
...The most crying need is for support of Jewish educational institutions...
...I am in support of a "Jewish tax" that would take the burden and a great deal of the power away from the small percentage of Jews who pay for the services that benefit all Jews...
...Many times those who yell the loudest give the smallest...
...It's frustrating to carry the burden of the world Jewish community on a small percentage of shoulders...
...for the inactive group, the proportion plummets to 30 percent...
...There is, it appears, a fairly widespread sense that Federation is a closed shop...
...no young rebels, no smug activists (more accurately, rebellion is independent of age, and smugness is independent of level of activity...
...We prefer to give to smaller organizations directly—to hospitals, schools, and homes for the handicapped...
...Perpetuating Judaism here will help Israel as well...
...One might even "explain away" the dissatisfaction by suggesting that disgruntled people were more likely than others to respond to the questionnaire...
...Too much money is spent on big fancy buildings and offices...
...Too many generous but small contributors accept the myth that only the big givers have the right and responsibility to lead the community...
...One-third report that they are not active at all in their local Federations, slightly over a quarter report that they are "somewhat active," and 38 percent describe themselves as "very active...
...This problem is magnified many times by certain factions, each complaining that its own area of interest is under-funded...
...The average (mean) family contribution to all charities in 1976 was $6,179...
...Then they would see first hand that the federation cannot allocate money it doesn't have...
...And it is useful because we can divide our respondents into sub-groups, as we have done, according to both their age and their level of activity in Federation, and then see whether there are any discernable trends that emerge...
...It's easy to be uninvolved, except as a critic...
...Before presenting the results, a warning: moment's audience is clearly not representative of the Jewish community in general, and those who take the time and the trouble to respond to our poll are likely not representative of ¦ moment's readers in general...
...I am a Jewish communal professional who is seriously considering leaving the field because I have been assailed by many of my peers for being "too idealistic, not practical enough," and "don't generate enough revenue" in my agency...
...most respondents think that Israel is getting about the right amount, but about a fifth think it's getting too much, and an even larger minority think it's getting too little...
...we do ask them to respond to it...
...And your articles are great...
...almost half of the respondents, in every category, think hospitals get too much help...
...Federation Style: I believe that when charitable organizations get too big they become sloppy and wasteful just like all big institutions do...
...There can be no Jewish philanthropy without the existence of a large body of committed, proud and knowledgeable Jews...
...And we find that for large numbers of people, it doesn't work that way, it doesn't feel that way...
...Young people have almost no way to get involved...
...note: There are days I think I might...
...disturbs me...
...Federation A majority of all respondents feel that Federation responds to the interests of the few rather than of the many...
...study groups pour over financial statements, observe programs, sit in classrooms, etc...
...But: Fundraising and dollar distribution are products of evolutionary processes over many years...
...we asked them to evaluate the allocations that are made...
...Activity in Federation peaks in the 35-49 age category...
...People who care about Jewish life—of whom there are too few—and who care about the Jewish community—again too few—cannot be left to feel themselves outsiders...
...I think that if there is one law that should be imposed on all Jews, it is to do everything in our power during our lifetimes to make the world that comes after us safe for children to be Jewish in...
...1 am not an elitist, but some knowledge is required...
...What is needed is people who care enough and have enough time to lead a revolt...
...Not at all...
...We can provide a continuous feed to such a body only through a much greater support of Jewish education and particularly yeshivas...
...General .. .Our several hundred respondents cover the age span: a quarter are under 35, nearly 40 percent are between 35 and 49, and the remainder—37 percent—are over 50...
...The questionnaire...
...At the very least, our respondents appear to be saying, we've got to develop mechanisms that permit people to be heard, to feel that they matter...
...Federations are, after all, local institutions, and there is great diversity from community to community...
...Finally, we are enlightened each month by the comments so many of our readers add to their check marks, and, each time we report the monthly poll results, we select some of the comments to share with all our readers...
...I have been in many such sessions and always leave with a breaking heart and an increased fear for the future...
...What many of them seem to be saying is that they would like Federation to have an equivalent to a "letter to the editor" column...
...And over three-fourths of all respondents, including again over a third of the most active group, believe that it is hard for them to get their views across...
...Hmmm...
...there's not a startling consensus...
...Observations A surprisingly large number of people expressed their thanks for this poll, indicating that though they felt themselves citizens of the Jewish community, they did not feel they normally had the chance to express their views on these subjects...
...the 50+ age category is far more likely to express primary concern for Israel...
...Federations: I am deeply concerned about a growing trend in our Jewish community to criticize our Federations and UJA...
...We didn't ask them to make allocations...
...they tend to pick causes other than U J A/Fe deration...
...Such trends are, at the least, suggestive, for they may give us clues as to what is happening in the community at large...
...We receive requests from over 55 agencies and we fund seventeen, and I'd be surprised if 10 percent of the Jewish community could describe even the seventeen...
...I've served as chairman of our Federation allocations committee for almost all of the past 15 years...
...Allocations Question 5 asked how the respondent felt about Federation allocations...
...A rich few control the Federation and its functions...
...The difficulty in working on campaign after campaign tends to burn out the committed Jew...
...True, they are almost all active in some aspect of Jewish life, and if they feel frozen out of Federation, they do not therefore turn their backs on being Jewish...
...then perhaps I might become an "idealistic" board member and wrest policymaking away from jaded Jewish civil servants...
...There is a myth that only a few people run Federations...
...Of those under 35, more than half are inactive—reflecting, perhaps, some student responses as well as a lifestyle that is less settled...
...Hence the fact, for example, that our respondents report annual charitable giving on the order of $6,000 per family does not mean that all Jewish families (or all moment families) contribute at that level...
...But that's not the point...
...The frightening loss of many of our young Jewish men and women to various cults and through intermarriage is, I think, due to their ignorance of the ethical and moral concepts of our Torah...
...Everything else is secondary...
...Israel Several questions probed respondents' feelings about allocations to Israel, and they all show that Israel remains the primary focus of Jewish philanthropic activity: .. .when asked whether local needs or Israel should get more of the Jewish philanthropic dollar, or whether the two should get about the same, less than 10 percent of the respondents chose a "tilt" towards local needs, one third wanted Israel to get more, and the balance—over 60 percent—thought they should get about the same...
...younger respondents are more likely to think that services for the elderly are not adequately funded...
...when you examine the responses to each of the seven items by each of the three age categories and by each of the three activity categories, you have a total of 42 possibilities and there's majority agreement that the allocation is "about right" on twelve of these...
...It warms my heart to know that there are so many Jews who really do give a damn...
...Our first poll dealt with intermarriage, our second with energy policy, and our third, whose results are reported here, was about certain aspects of Jewish philanthropy...
...In the 50+ category, a third are inactive, a quarter are somewhat active, and the balance—40 percent—are very active...
...there's not much relationship between age and response to allocations, nor between that response and level of activity in Federation...
...I am disturbed when members of the Orthodox community attack the federation for not giving enough to day schools, and I am disturbed because many times these same people are non-givers during the campaign...
...So I wish there would be less criticism of our Federations and much more help...
...Anyone can have a say if he is willing to work and give to his own individual capacity...
...In the 35-49 group, almost half are very active, and another quarter are somewhat active...
...Without educating our children, everything else will come to nought...
...asked how much of their own contribution they would direct to Israel, a plurality in every category answered in the 51-79 percent range, and at least eight of every ten respondents in every category want to see Israel get 50 percent or more of their own philanthropic dollars...
...We have been derelict in providing this support and have forced yeshivas to seek financial support from government, thereby bringing up the issue of church-state separation, with Jews battling each other on this issue...
...Sixty-nine percent of all contributions to Jewish causes was contributed to UJA/Federation campaigns...
...And if the answer is that Federations really are accessible, that if only people would try they'd find greater receptivity than they imagine, then it's clear that even that perception needs somehow to be better translated into Federation behavior...
...Our representation until now has been nil, and the results have been disastrous...
...If I am to become a "hardheaded businessman," I will choose to do so for myself...
...Here are the results: .. .a majority of respondents, in every category, feel that services to the elderly and Jewish education get too little help...
...It really doesn't matter whether our respondents are "correct" in their perceptions...
Vol. 2 • June 1977 • No. 8
