In the 19th century, many charitable organizations emerged to alleviate the terrible conditions of the working class in slums. The Society of Friends of Workers, led by Lord Shaftesbury in the United Kingdom in 1830, sought to improve working-class conditions. It promoted, for example, the allotment of land to workers for “cottage farming,” which later became the vesting movement. In 1844 it became the first Model Housing Company, one of a group of organizations that sought to improve working-class housing conditions by building new homes for them, while earning a competitive rate of return. on any investment. It was one of the first housing associations, a charitable activity that flourished in the second half of the nineteenth century because of the growth of the middle class. Later associations included the Peabody Trust (founded in 1862) and the Guinness Trust (founded in 1890). The principle of philanthropy with capitalist returns was labeled “five percent philanthropy.”
City charities grew tremendously. The Broome Commission led to the passage of the Municipal Corporation Act of 1835, which reorganized several local charities into separate organizations under the control of local government.
Charities at the time, including the Society of Charitable Organizations (founded in 1869), tended to distinguish between the “deserving poor,” who were given appropriate assistance, and the “unserving” or “inconsiderate poor,” who were considered the cause of their own troubles through their idleness. Charities tended to oppose the provision of social services by the state because of the seemingly demoralizing effect. Although minimal government involvement was the dominant philosophy of the period, there was still considerable government involvement in the form of legislative regulation and even limited funding.
Philanthropy became a very fashionable occupation among the growing middle class in Britain and America… Octavia Hill (1838-1912) and John Ruskin (1819-1900) were important forces in the development of social housing and Andrew Carnegie (1835-1919) exemplified the large-scale philanthropy of the newly wealthy in industrialized America. In The Gospel of Wealth (1889) Carnegie wrote about the responsibility of great wealth and the importance of social justice. He founded public libraries in all English-speaking countries and contributed large sums to schools and universities. A little more than a decade after his retirement, Carnegie gave away more than 90 percent of his fortune.
By the end of the nineteenth century, with the emergence of New Liberalism and Charles Booth’s pioneering work documenting working-class life in London, attitudes toward poverty began to change, leading to the first social liberal welfare reforms, including old-age pensions and free school meals.
Since 1901.
During the twentieth century, charities such as Oxfam (founded in 1947), Care International and Amnesty International greatly expanded into large multinational non-governmental organizations with very large budgets.