Evening star., 1923-02-07
San Francisco Community Chest
Obuiates Tag Days and Drires
Business Men of Golden Gate, ''SoId'' on
Plan, Donate Once Year, Instead
of 100 Times as Formerly.

San Francisco. city without tag
!dav,
How the Golden Gate recently Sc
cured it's first community chest OF
more than s2,0oo.000. thus doins
away with all drives for money on
the part of individual charity organi-
cations. and making tag days thing
of the past. was told to a representa-
tive of The Star today by two bust
ness men of that city who are In
Washington for a brief stay.
They are A. B. c. Dohrmann' char
man of Community Chest, Inc, and H.
w. Harris. chairman of the publicity
committee. which sold" San Fran
cisco on the general idea of such a
community budget. making it possible
to raise the great sum In ten days.
Public Must BE "sold."
For the public must be sold" on
the idea of a community chest before
the funds can be raised. This Is the
outstanding hint brought to wash
ington by the two Californians, who
completed January 81 the first com
munity chest drive in the great IA
cific coast city.
Four months of preliminary work
telling the people just what the com
munity chest would mean to them. to
the people who needed such dement's
and to the charity organizations
themselves, enabled the active work
ers to secure s2.037 900 In exactly ter
;days, with another S1o0,ooo coming III
after the appeal closed.
Has Message for Capital.
So San Francisco, latest of 100
chests, believes that it has mes
sage for the National Capital Wnfci
it's charitable people may Wen neeu
Reducing the cost of admlnlstrailis
the finances of a great clty's cnarilles
from Is per cent to per cent tnus
saving more than 100000 is justly
regarded by the Calffornians as some
what of an achievement.
The two men, successIul pus -
men of Frisco, were enthusiastic ~
their account of the work aone, ane
what il means for the social service
oreanizations of their home city
Ubat n means to the whole popula'
zion there. and especially to thost
families and persons who during tht
wear will need help.
Suppose nobody cared.
Buttons Read "I Care"
; That was the slogan around whicf
the workers built their appeal, ano
at its end $4,000 citizens =, prouuiS
! wore buttons announcing care
whereas in 1921 but $4,000 citizens
had contributed to the 100 charities
III San Francisco.
The National Capital. with its sue
cessful Council of Social Agencies
now in it's second year or CROWN
possesses, along with the generous
spirit of it's people, all the requisites
! to make a community chest here I;
| success. according to Dohrmann an'
Harris.
Council Is Formed.
In San Francisco the Council oi
Social and Health Agencies, as it i:
called there, was formed. 1t consists
of three delegates from the board OF
directors of each Of the 100 socia
agencies OF the three delegates from
any one agency, only one could be
a social worker. The other two are
business men or others who may bt
on the board.
rectors of the Council of Social ant
| and the Health Agencies and the Sar
francisco chamber of commerce or.
9anized q Joint committee to consid
ar the advisability of communlt!
chest. Intensive study was made OF
the community chests in existence II
! cleveland, Rochester. Cincinnati, ant
other cities of the country, and the
thorough investigation made of the
subject by the United States Chamber
! of Commerce was given careful study
BOARD Is Constituted.
Last August the joint committee ask
cd Mr.. Dohrmann to organize a com.
munity chest committee. A board OF
directors was constituted, consisting
; of fifteen persons appointed by the
councfl, fifteen donors of the city
nersons who in years past had shown
their interest and generosity in So
ciaI service work, two persons from
the chamber of commerce, two from
the city government, appointed by
Mayor James Rolph, and two from
the labor unions.
The first thing decided upon was
70 "sell" the public on the idea OF
a community chest. Business men
were shown how the raising of such
a universal budget, If it might be
called such, would relieve them OF
anpeals for this and appeals for
that, drives for this institution
and drives for that organization. tag
days for this and that, pencil days
etc. Social service organizations
were shown how the budget would
wear as to just where the money was
going to come from.
/ idea Good, but New.
The idea was good, but 1t was new
| to San Francisco, and westerners
have to be shown. So the committees
| started out to show everybody In
| town lust how good a thing a. COM
munity chest could he, and just why
and how, and even when. There
was to be no forcing of the issue
They would state the thing and the
J people would see it-and do the rest