[2] The JRSO founders were twelve of the largest Jewish organizations worldwide: American (American Jewish Committee, American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, Jewish Cultural Reconstruction), British (Anglo-Jewish Association, Board of Deputies of British Jews, Central British Fund, Council for the Protection of the Rights and Interests of Jews from Germany), French (Conseil Représentatif des Institutions juives de France), Zionist (Agudas Israel World Organization, Jewish Agency for Palestine), an organization representing the interests of the Jewish congregations in the American Zone (Interessenvertretung Israelitischer Kultusgemeinden in der US Zone) and an international organization (World Jewish Congress).
[3] The goal of the JRSO was to institute proceedings in the American occupation zone for the restitution of heirless property of murdered persons and dissolved organizations that had been pursued on racial grounds under the Nazi regime.
The assets obtained in this manner were distributed by the JRSO to Jewish institutions and organizations, primarily in the USA and Israel.
In the United States, funds were distributed through various communal organizations, such as the American Federation of Jews from Central Europe.
[4] The parallel organizations in the British and French zones of Germany were the Jewish Trust Corporation Ltd. (JTC) and the Jewish Trust Corporation Branche Française (JTC BF).