The encounter left Mr. Ochs thinking about charity. Helping a stranger had given him a sense of satisfaction, and he wondered if one man’s good feeling might be the basis for a city’s good will. The next year, he sent a reporter to several of the city’s private welfare agencies to collect stories about the poor. Mr. Ochs had a plan: to publish stories about the 100 neediest cases in the city. The appeal would be made not with a direct request for aid money but with the facts of the subjects’ lives. These small chronicles, it turned out, sounded a powerful call.
The campaign began on Dec. 15, 1912. Soon, other publishers in the United States and abroad adopted the idea that a newspaper could make a general appeal for the poor and solicit funds for established social agencies. Each year, readers sent in more money. In 1912, 117 contributors sent in about $3,600. In the 2022-23 campaign, readers contributed more than $6 million.
The mechanics of the appeal have evolved over the years. In 1970, The Times ceased publishing the names of every contributor. The campaign, no longer limited to 100 specific cases, now distributes its funds to 10 participating social welfare agencies. They serve people of all ages and backgrounds.
In 2023, The Times announced that the fund would be renamed the New York Times Communities Fund in an effort to modernize the appeal.
The Communities Fund is a 501(c)3 organization, and the Times Company pays all administrative costs of the program, ensuring that 100 percent of the donations go to the nonprofits that the fund supports.
To protect the next generation while serving this one, the fund invests unrestricted gifts of $100,000 or more from trusts or estates in an endowment, unless the donor requests otherwise. Interest from the endowment goes directly into the next year’s campaign.
The 112th annual campaign begins in November and will continue through the end of January 2024. Communities Fund stories will be found this year in the New York Times Opinion section. The nonprofit Focusing Philanthropy will work with the Communities Fund to drive high-impact, meaningful campaign giving at scale.
The 2023-24 participating agencies will be:
Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of New York, Children’s Aid, Feeding America, First Book, Hispanic Federation, International Rescue Committee, UJA-Federation of New York, Per Scholas, OneGoal and CamFEd
To donate stock to the fund, call 212-556-1137 or email communitiesfund@nytimes.com. Gifts and bequests are deductible for income and estate tax purposes.
Donations to the Communities Fund may be made online. Please make checks payable to the New York Times Communities Fund and send them to P.O. Box 5193, New York, N.Y. 10087. You can also remember the Communities Fund in your will and trusts.