Charity Organisation Society

Last updated

The Charity Organisation Societies were founded in England in 1869 following the 'Goschen Minute' [1] that sought to severely restrict outdoor relief distributed by the Poor Law Guardians along the lines of the Elberfeld system. In the early 1870s, a handful of local societies were formed with the intention of restricting the distribution of outdoor relief to the elderly.

Contents

Also called the Associated Charities was a private charity that existed in the late 19th and early 20th centuries as a clearing house for information on the poor. [2] The society was mainly concerned with distinction between the deserving poor and undeserving poor. [3] The society believed that giving out charity without investigating the problems behind poverty created a class of citizens that would always be dependent on alms giving. [4]

The society originated in Elberfeld, Germany and spread to Buffalo, New York around 1877. [5] The conviction that relief promoted dependency was the basis for forming the Societies. Instead of offering direct relief, the societies addressed the cycle of poverty. Neighborhood charity visitors taught the values of hard work and thrift to individuals and families. The COS set up centralised records and administrative services and emphasised objective investigations and professional training. There was a strong scientific emphasis as the charity visitors organised their activities and learned principles of practice and techniques of intervention from one another. The result led to the origin of social casework. Gradually, over the ensuing years, volunteer visitors began to be supplanted by paid staff.[ citation needed ]

Operations

Charity Organisation Societies were made up of charitable groups that used scientific philanthropy to help poor, distressed or deviant persons. The Societies considered themselves more than just alms givers. Their ultimate goal was to restore as much self-sufficiency and responsibility as an individual could manage. Through their activities, the Societies tended to be aware of the range of social services available in their communities. They thus became the primary source of information and referral for all services. Through these referrals, a Society often became the central agency in the social services of its community. For instance, the Charity Organization Society of Denver, Colorado, the forerunner of the modern United Way of America, coordinated the charitable activities of local Jewish, Congregational and Catholic groups. Its work under the leadership of Frances Wisebart Jacobs ranged from work with tuberculosis patients [6] to the care and education of young children [7] and was funded in part by direct assistance from the city itself. [8]

Settlement House movement

The Charity Organization Society can be compared to the settlement house movement which emphasised social reform rather than personal problems as the proper focus of charity.[ citation needed ]

Efficacy and criticism

Despite its claims that private charity would be superior to public welfare because it improved the moral character of the recipients, records from the COS' Indianapolis branch show that only a minority of its relief recipients managed to become self-reliant, with the exit rate declining sharply the longer people were on relief. The exit rates are similar to those in late-20th-century public welfare programs, despite the fact that COS only granted relief only to recipients it deemed worthy and improvable. Furthermore, journals kept by the COS case workers and "friendly visitors" indicate that they were not on friendly terms with the relief recipients but described them in disparaging terms and interacted with them in an intrusive and presumptuous way. [9]

The COS was resented by the poor for its harshness, and its acronym was rendered by critics as "Cringe or Starve". [9]

Britain's Charity Organisation Society

In Britain, the Charity Organisation Society led by Helen Bosanquet and Octavia Hill was founded in London in 1869 [10] and supported the concept of self-help and limited government intervention to deal with the effects of poverty. Alsager Hay Hill was prominent from its foundation, acting as honorary secretary of the council until July 1870, and as an active member of the council until 1880: [11]

Mr. Alsager Hay Hill joined the Society in its first year. He was one of its first Hon. Secretaries, and the life and soul of Council meetings in the early days of struggle. A man of rare natural wit, something of a poet, and the brightest of companions, he threw himself eagerly into the Society's work, and more particularly devoted his time and energy to an attempt to deal with the problems of unemployment. His 'Labour News' of thirty years ago anticipated the Labour Exchanges of today. [12]

The organisation claimed to use "scientific principles to root out scroungers and target relief where it was most needed". [13] Annie Barnes joined the organisation and used her own background that people objected to accepting "Charity". [14] The Charity Organisation Society was renamed Family Welfare Association in 1946 and still operates today as Family Action, a registered family support charity.

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alms</span> Money or goods given to poor people

Alms are money, food, or other material goods donated to people living in poverty. Providing alms is often considered an act of charity. The act of providing alms is called almsgiving.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Welfare state in the United Kingdom</span> Welfare Programs in the United Kingdom

The welfare state of the United Kingdom began to evolve in the 1900s and early 1910s, and comprises expenditures by the government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland intended to improve health, education, employment and social security. The British system has been classified as a liberal welfare state system.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Welfare spending</span> Means-oriented social benefit

Welfare spending is a type of government support intended to ensure that members of a society can meet basic human needs such as food and shelter. Social security may either be synonymous with welfare, or refer specifically to social insurance programs which provide support only to those who have previously contributed, as opposed to social assistance programs which provide support on the basis of need alone. The International Labour Organization defines social security as covering support for those in old age, support for the maintenance of children, medical treatment, parental and sick leave, unemployment and disability benefits, and support for sufferers of occupational injury.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Almshouse</span> Charitable housing

An almshouse is charitable housing provided to people in a particular community, especially during the Middle Ages. They were often targeted at the poor of a locality, at those from certain forms of previous employment, or their widows, and at elderly people who could no longer pay rent, and are generally maintained by a charity or the trustees of a bequest. Almshouses were originally formed as extensions of the church system and were later adapted by local officials and authorities.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Octavia Hill</span> English social reformer (1838–1912)

Octavia Hill was an English social reformer, whose main concern was the welfare of the inhabitants of cities, especially London, in the second half of the nineteenth century. Born into a family of radical thinkers and reformers with a strong commitment to alleviating poverty, she herself grew up in straitened circumstances owing to the financial failure of her father's businesses. Home educated by her mother, she worked from the age of 14 for the welfare of working people.

Workfare is a governmental plan under which welfare recipients are required to accept public-service jobs or to participate in job training. Many countries around the world have adopted workfare to reduce poverty among able-bodied adults; however, their approaches to execution vary. The United States and United Kingdom are two countries utilizing workfare, albeit with different backgrounds.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Helen Bosanquet</span> British social theorist and reformer (1860–1925)

Helen Bosanquet was an English social theorist, social reformer, and economist concerned with poverty, social policy, working-class life, and modern social work practices. Helen worked closely with the Charity Organisation Society (COS), using her direct experience with living among "the poor". Bosanquet focused much of her career on family, specifically working-class families, and their relationship with poverty. Helen was the wife of English philosopher Bernard Bosanquet.

<i>Poverty, A Study of Town Life</i> 1901 book by Seebohm Rowntree

Poverty, A Study of Town Life is the first book by Seebohm Rowntree, a sociological researcher, social reformer and industrialist, published in 1901. The study, widely considered a seminal work of sociology, details Rowntree's investigation of poverty in York, England and the subsequent implications that arise from the findings, in regard to the nature of poverty at the start of the twentieth century. It also marks the first usage of a poverty line in sociological research.

The Majority Report by the Royal Commission on the Poor Laws was published in 1909. The commission was set up by the Conservative government of Arthur Balfour to review whether the Poor Law Amendment Act of 1834 should be modified or changed in the way it was administered, or if new legislation should be introduced, to deal with poverty and unemployment.

The Minority report was one of two reports published by the Royal Commission on the Poor Laws and Relief of Distress 1905–1909, the other being Majority report. Headed by the Fabian socialist Beatrice Webb, it called for a system that was radically different from the existing Poor Law. She, amongst the others heading the report, who included George Lansbury, felt that it was shortsighted of society to expect paupers to be entirely accountable for themselves.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charity (practice)</span> Voluntary giving of help to those in need

Charity is the voluntary provision of assistance to those in need. It serves as a humanitarian act, and is unmotivated by self-interest. Various philosophies about charity exist, with frequent associations with religion.

Family and Children's Services of Central Maryland, Inc. doing business as Springboard Community Services (SCS), formerly Family and Children's Services (FCS), is a private, nonsectarian social services agency that was founded in 1849. SCS addresses issues from birth through the end of life with a goal to build self-confidence, resilience and hope. SCS is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization.

Social work as a profession dates back to years ago, with the first social welfare agencies appearing in urban areas in the 1800s. It has its roots in the attempts of society at large to deal with the problem of poverty and inequality. Social work is intricately linked with the idea of charity work, but must be understood in broader terms. The concept of charity goes back to ancient times, and the practice of providing for the poor has roots in all major world religions.

The Catholic Church operates numerous charitable organizations.

Alsager Hay Hill was an English social reformer active during the late 19th century, influential on poor law reform and employment issues. He founded one of the first labour exchanges and, in 1871, a newspaper, Labour News, that is still published today as Construction News.

Family Action is a charity in England founded in 1869. It provides support for families, including financial and mental health issues relating to them.

Thomas Hancock Nunn (1859-1937) was an English social reformer.

The Scientific Charity Movement was a movement that arose in the early 1870s in the United States to stop poverty. It sought to move the role of supporting the impoverished away from government and religious organizations and into the hands of Charity Organization Societies (COS). These Societies claimed the altruistic goals of lifting the poor out of poverty through the means of education and employment, and did make some strides to help young children involved in immoral underaged labor practices. However, when it came to the COS's treatment of the "defective class" as they were labeled, the Scientific Charity Movement's other goals based in the popular post civil war social scientific theories of eugenics and social Darwinism came to light. Many of these "defective classes" were moved from the streets and into insane asylums where they were often experimented on by scientists of the time.

Margaret Sewell (1852–1937) was an English educator who was Warden of the Women's University Settlement. She was a pioneer advocate of social work.

References

  1. ↑ Poor Law Board; 22nd Annual Report (1869–70), Appendix A No.4. Relief to the Poor in the Metropolis. PP XXXI, 1871
  2. ↑ (1895). "Charity's Clearing House." The Washington Post . 15 December.
  3. ↑ (1900) "Commissioners of the District of Columbia." Washington Government Printing Office.
  4. ↑ (1887). "Lots of Chronic Paupers." The Washington Post. 21 October.
  5. ↑ Welfare, National Conference on Social (1 January 2005). Official proceedings of the annual meeting: 1880.
  6. ↑ (1903) Albert Shaw, The American Review of Reviews. Radcliffe Library, 1903: 701.
  7. ↑ (1903) Benjamin Lindsey Collection, Box 85, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress; letters from Izetta George dated 11 February and 14 February 1903.
  8. ↑ (1900) Isabel C. Barrows, ed. The Social Welfare Forum. The Proceedings of the National Conference of Charities and Correction at the Twenty-Sixth Annual Session Held in the City of Cincinnati, Ohio, May 17–23, 1899. Boston: George H. Ellis, 1900, page 376.
  9. 1 2 Ziliak, Stephen (2004), Self-Reliance before the Welfare State: Evidence from the Charity Organization Movement in the United States. Journal of Economic History, Vol. 64, No. 2, pp. 433–461
  10. ↑ "1800s". Family Action: About Us. Archived from the original on 18 July 2011. Retrieved 17 November 2010.
  11. ↑ Lee, Sidney, ed. (1912). "Hill, Alsager Hay"  . Dictionary of National Biography (2nd supplement). London: Smith, Elder & Co.
  12. ↑ Bosanquet, Helen (1914), Social work in London, 1869 to 1912: A History of the Charity Organisation Society. New York, E P Button & Co.
  13. ↑ Rees, Rosemary (2001). Poverty and Public Health 1815–1949. London: Heinemann.
  14. ↑ Elizabeth Crawford, ‘Barnes , Annie (c.1887–1982)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 accessed 28 July 2017
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.