Charity Organizations

Foundations of Charity

In tribal societies, survival depended on communal efforts to provide shelter, food, and safety. As societies became more complex, they recognized that some members would need assistance in meeting their most basic needs. Those with limited familial networks were to receive help from their larger social network. Early Confucian texts recognized the importance of benevolence and the need to care for one another. Ancient Judaic, Christian, and Islamic communities had philosophies of almsgiving as a responsibility of those with resources to help provide for those in need. Throughout history, religious institutions were the primary charity organizations responsible for the care of poor community members. The ancient Hebrews levied a tithe (tax) to benefit the poor. Christianity identified seven practices of charity: feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, clothe the naked, shelter the homeless, visit the sick, visit those in prison, and bury the dead. Throughout the Middle Ages, churches remained the primary provider of charity services in Europe. Increasing numbers of poor and the means for raising sufficient funds to care for them overwhelmed the ability of the churches to provide adequate aid.

The English Poor Laws

After the establishment of the Church of England, a series of British laws were enacted that held local governments responsible for the regulation of the poor. Justices of the peace were appointed to categorize the poor into those who would work but could not, such as those who were too old, ill, or young (deserving poor), and those who could work but would not (idle poor). The deserving poor were to be given assistance in their [Page 115]own home or, if necessary, in almshouses, hospitals, and orphanages. Children were to be apprenticed out to learn a trade, and able-bodied adults could work in exchange for wages, shelter, and food. The idle poor were to be taken to the workhouse where they would be required to work.

These laws were to become the foundation of the notion of welfare in Western civilization. In 1601, the Elizabethan Poor Law further developed the local government's responsibility for charity by establishing a compulsory poor rate to be levied on every parish, creating overseers of relief, requiring the poor to work for their benefits, and establishing a poor relief rate (tax) on property owners. The use of the parish as a geographical administrative unit in this legislation connected the civil government oversight of charity to the original church social networks.

Two types of relief were available: indoor and outdoor. Indoor relief allowed people to remain in their own homes and receive either some payment of money or concrete amenities such as food or clothing. This form of relief was provided for the deserving poor. Outdoor relief was provided through almshouses (poor houses), orphanages, and hospitals. Those who were the “idle able” or “undeserving poor” were placed in workhouses to earn their necessities.

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