Traditional Charity Research Articles

Red Cross Society in Imperial China, 1904–1912: A Historical Analysis

The Red Cross Society was introduced to China in the 1900s, when the nation was under the authoritarian reign of Qing dynasty. Famines and rebellions, along with the invasion of foreign military forces, created tremendous humanitarian crises that the corrupted imperial government was incapable to address. The Red Cross model was found to be a pragmatic solution by Chinese philanthropists. Using archived press releases, correspondences, and government statements, the study reconstructs the founding process of the first Chinese Red Cross organization from 1904 to 1912. The analysis reveals that the organization reflected the congruent interest of the imperial court and social elites in preserving the sovereignty and was therefore promoted by key players from both political and civil spheres. The trajectory of Red Cross movement in imperial China supports the synergism perspective of institutional theories. It demonstrates how micro-level factors such as leadership ties and alliances contribute to the interdependence of public and private sectors and facilitate the transformation of traditional charity to modern philanthropy.

From Traditional Charity to Global Philanthropy: Dynamics of the Culture of Giving and Volunteerism in the United Arab Emirates

The literature concerning the development of philanthropy, volunteerism and the culture of giving in the United Arab Emirates through civic engagement at societal, institutional, and individual levels is limited. There is a lack of both theoretical and empirical work in this important area of the culture of the UAE. This paper contributes to both the scholarship of benevolent philanthropy and the inquiry of the development and current status of the social responsibility, volunteerism and the culture of giving across the Emirates at macro and micro levels. Drawing on theories of traditional and modern worldviews and practices, the study critically examines the theory of economic-material factors of philanthropy. The research endeavors to develop theoretical orientations that go beyond the market-oriented philanthropy to encompass cultural and moral values. It attempts to demonstrate how the culture of giving developed in the UAE from traditional small scale practices prevalent in the pre-oil era into institutional, national and global activities incorporating various forms of government, non-government, societal and individual philanthropy. It seeks to show that social organization, traditional worldview and new cosmology are viewed as essential forces that, along with global forces, shape the unique landscape of the culture of giving in the Emirates society. Keywords : Charity, Philanthropy, Volunteerism, Worldview, Cosmology, United Arab Emirates (UAE)

Using Community Partnerships to Create Critical Service Learning: The Case of Mar Vista Gardens

This article discusses how community partnerships can be used to facilitate critical service-learning opportunities aimed at social change and political advocacy while creating reciprocal gains for all parties. First, a brief literature review discusses the growth of community-campus partnerships and service-learning activities within academic institutions. It summarizes the differences between the traditional charity service-learning approach and the critical service-learning approach. Then, the case of the Mar Vista housing development is introduced. The case involved local college students in a community development course partnering with high school students from a local housing project in Los Angeles. Working together, the two groups of students surveyed community residents in the housing development as part of joint learning activity. The case demonstrates how long-term relationships with community partners can promote service-learning opportunities that teach students important instrumental skills about social change while also helping them to reexamine their assumptions and increase their awareness of community issues.

Cultures of Charity: Women, Politics, and the Reform of Poor Relief in Renaissance Italy, by Nicholas Terpstra

Cultures of Charity: Women, Politics, and the Reform of Poor Relief in Renaissance Italy, by Nicholas Terpstra. Harvard University Press, 2013. xii, 379 pp. $49.95 US (cloth). In this compellingly written book Nicholas Terpstra examines charitable reform in Bologna from the fifteenth to the seventeenth centuries. Based on rich archival and printed material, the study meticulously places the Bolognese welfare system at the crossroads of political change, economic realities, and shifting notions and practices. Bologna's charitable system was an exemplary one and a model to imitate in early modern Italy. Challenging prevailing scholarly conceptions and advancing interpretations, the book contributes significantly to the historiography of poverty and welfare reform in early modern Europe. Continuity and change are often addressed in the study. Terpstra reassesses narratives of the formation of the welfare system as a linear development that gradually led to more disciplined and impersonal forms of and offers a more complex view of the conditions that shaped the early modern welfare system. He argues that early modern poor relief was not a radical departure from medieval tradition and suggests that a distinction between and cultures of is more meaningful than older notions of traditional charity and new philanthropy. In patronal it was the selfless duty of the rich to help the poor. This personal and spiritual contact offered the poor some kind of security, and offered the rich public honour and the poor recipient's prayers. Practical involved assistance to the poor and needy in a more rational and impersonal way, aiming at securing forms of practical assistance like work, education, food supplements, and shelter. Practical required well-organized institutions and effective fundraising either from taxes or from work carried out within the shelters. For all their differences and potential tensions, patronal and practical charitable cultures and practices coexisted in early modern Bologna. The Foucauldian notions of discipline, surveillance, and punishment are critically addressed. Terpstra's examination of the Bolognese welfare system demonstrates that the early reformers were thinking about shelters more as safe homes than as disciplinary or punitive enclosures. In the late sixteenth century, when poverty was identified with female sexual deviance and sin, shelters became much more disciplined. By the mid-seventeenth century, economic pressures and the political climate of the city made profit and punishment the main forces behind charitable initiatives. However, even then the workhouses seldom reached the level of work discipline that organizers aimed for (p. 170). Terpstra's work reveals a complex interplay between the evolving charitable system and the city's politics. The long-standing contest between older communal and republican traditions and newer oligarchic forms, papal interference in Bolognese politics, and the fear of a Bentivoglio restoration, all had a significant impact on the formation of the Bolognese charitable system. The first steps toward poor relief had been taken in the mid-fifteenth century and had been based on confraternal and guild models that encouraged mutual assistance. However, from the mid-sixteenth century, as the Elders, Tribunes, and Masters of the Guilds steadily lost power and the oligarchic Senate took control of the city, the administration of charitable institutions became increasingly centralized (chapter 3). …

Big Philanthropy vs. Democracy: The Plutocrats Go to School

Big philanthropy was born in the United States in the early twentieth century. The Russell Sage Foundation received its charter in 1907, the Carnegie Corporation in 1911, and the Rockefeller Foundation in 1913. These were strange new creatures—quite unlike traditional charities. They had vastly greater assets and were structured legally and financially to last forever. In addition, each was governed by a self-perpetuating board of private trustees; they were affiliated with no religious denomination; and they adopted grand, open-ended missions along the lines of “improve the human condition.” They were launched, in essence, as immense tax-exempt private corporations dealing in good works. But they would do good according to their own lights, and they would intervene in public life with no accountability to the republic required.

Responding to People Sleeping Rough: Dilemmas and Opportunities for Social Work

Rough sleeping refers to the state of being literally without shelter or residing in shelter not fit for human habitation. People who sleep rough are thought to be a group who experience a range of complex problems in addition to their homelessness. Despite their small numbers relative to the broader homeless population, rough sleepers have been identified as a target group for policy and practice intervention. This article critically examines outreach responses directed toward people sleeping rough. Moving beyond traditional charity approaches or interventions that “move people on”, emerging models of “assertive outreach” have been implemented in Australia as part of broader strategies to reduce homelessness. Challenging the idea that assertive outreach is a shift from a social work approach, it is argued that interventions to actively end rough sleeping are consistent with social work principles. Indeed, this article takes it that social work must advocate for the provision of affordable housing as central to rough sleeping interventions. Housing not only enables people to achieve human dignity and worth, but the linking of housing with outreach responses to rough sleepers will facilitate a trusting and effective working relationship.

Charity Law’s Essentials

The boundary between charity and business has become a moving target. Social enterprises, philanthropy divisions of for-profit companies (most notably at Google), and legislation creating hybrid nonprofit/for-profit forms all use business models and practices to mold and pursue charitable objectives. This article asserts that charity law must be streamlined in order to respond to these and other dramatic charitable innovations. My new vision of charity law centers around two essential requirements. First, charity law must continue to demand that charities maintain an other-regarding orientation, pursuing benefits for someone other than their own leaders and managers. Second, existing charity law must be revised and supplemented to mandate that charities utilize group governance. Additionally, this dual focus should be intensified by removing the limits on commercial and political activity that currently clutter charity law. These reforms will enhance charity law’s ability to regulate traditional charities. Moreover, focusing charity law on its essentials will reveal the tools necessary to respond to the exciting developments blurring the boundary between charity and business.

My Work

Hired to modernise a traditional charity, Janet Morrison has made an impact at Independent Age, introducing changes to its services that aim to reflect what older people want today. Janet admits it has been challenging: communicating what needs to be done to staff and, lately, facing up to the impact of the economic downturn. When times get tough, however, Janet's motivation comes from talking and listening to the very people she wants to help.

Simple Measures for Social Enterprise

Over the last two decades, social entrepreneurs have become darlings of the social sector. From the pioneering work of Ashoka to the global stage presented by the Skoll World Forum and the inspiring work of their Skoll Fellows, a new breed of innovative people and enterprising institutions are literally promising to change the world. Ranging from non-profits with highly scalable models looking to transform national education policy to for-profit businesses looking to serve the “base of the pyramid” at affordable health clinics, this diverse range of social enterprises offers alternatives to traditional charity or development assistance. Even big businesses are taking social enterprise seriously as they explore new ways to tap into underserved markets in emerging economies. But for all the innovation, the question remains: So what? Have these new approaches led to enduring change? Are people drinking cleaner water, living healthier lives, or moving out of poverty because of the new products designed to be affordable and accessible to the poor? We think so, but the evidence is nascent and mostly anecdotal. Our objective at Acumen Fund has been to push hard on these questions of measurement and impact: if what we are doing is a real innovation in philanthropy and development assistance, then we should have evidence that what we are doing matters for the lives of millions of people. This is not a simple problem. This article describes our efforts to get an answer to those questions within Acumen Fund and dives into the complexity of measuring social change. The article reviews our work to develop a manageable and somewhat simple approach to this complex challenge, and then looks at how the field of measurement might evolve in the coming years. My aim is to provide some very practical advice about how to produce or consume claims of social impact (or,

A Billion Bootstraps: Microcredit, Barefoot Banking and the Business Solution for Ending Poverty

A bold manifesto by two business leaders, A Billion Bootstraps shows why microcredit is the world's most powerful poverty-fighting movement-and an unbeatable investment for your charitable donations. A Billion Bootstraps unearths the roots of the microcredit revolution, revealing how the pioneering work of people such as Dr. Muhammad Yunus-winner of the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize-is giving hope to billions. Philanthropist and self-made millionaire Phil Smith and microcredit expert and consultant Eric Thurman provide a riveting narrative that explores how these small loans, arranged by barefoot bankers, enable impoverished people to start small businesses, support their families, and improve local economies. By paying back their loans instead of simply accepting handouts, men and women around the world are continually giving others the same opportunity to change their futures. Smith and Thurman also examine why traditional charity programs, while providing short-term relief, often perpetuate the problems they are trying to alleviate, and how applying investment principles to philanthropy is the key to reversing poverty permanently. A Billion Bootstraps explains how ordinary people can accelerate the microcredit movement by investing charitable donations in specific programs and then leveraging those contributions so the net cost to lift one person out of poverty is remarkably low. You'll discover how to get more for your money by donating with the mind-set of an investor and calculating measurable returns-returns that will change lives and societies forever.

Benevolent Ladies and Their Exertions for the Good of Humankind: V. A. Repnina, S. S. Meshcherskaia, and the Origins of Female Philanthropy in Early Nineteenth-Century Russia

SEER,Vol. 84,No. I,Januagy 2006 Benevolent Ladies and their Exertions for the Good of Humankind: V. A. Repnina, S. S. Meshcherskaia,and the Origins of Female Philanthropy in Early Nineteenth-Century Russia WENDY ROSSLYN ITwas in the earlynineteenthcenturythatRussiansocietyfirstsaw womenbecomepubliclyactiveinphilanthropic andcharitable causes. Theinstitutions through whichtheyactedweresecular, evenifinspired byreligious ideals,andtheindividuals concerned werelargely members ofthesocialelite.Theearlyinstitutional historyoffemalephilanthropy in Russiahasbeen ablydescribed by AdeleLindenmeyr,l who shows that it was in thisway thatwomenbeganto engagein civilsociety. Privatephilanthropic societiesproliferated inthereignofAlexander I, amongstthemsocietiesfoundedby women,who gave generouslyof money,timeandenergy.The birthof secularcollectivephilanthropy allowedwomen to step out of the domesticspherewhich educated Russiansocietythoughtproperforwomen,andmoveuncontroversially intopublicvoluntary activity. Thedeficiencies instatewelfare provision offeredanopportunity to engageinworkwhichwaseffectively service tothestateandofgenuineimportance toit,suchasthereliefofpoverty and prisonreform.The presentarticleis intendedto complement Lindenmeyr'swork, which focuses on the institutionalhistory of women'sphilanthropy inearlynineteenth-century Russia,withastudy of the contribution madeby two individuals, PrincessVarvaraAlekseevnaRepnina (I778- I864)andPrincess Sof'iaSergeevna Meshcherskaia (I775-i848). Wendy Rosslyn is Professor of Russian Literature at the University of Nottingham. The author gratefully acknowledges funding from the British Academy and from the University of Nottingham. I Adele Lindenmeyr, 'Public Life, Private Virtues: Women in Russian Charity', Signs, I993, pp. 562-91. WENDY ROSSLYN 53 Studiesofindividuals illuminate factorswhicharenotwellreflected in institutionaldocumentssuch as annual reportsand committee minutes: thewomen'ssocialstatus,theprocesses wherebytheybecame motivated fortheworkandacquired theirexpertise, theirinvolvement in familyandothernetworks, theiraccessto patronage,andtheiruse oftheirprivatewealth.Thesourcesforthefirstfemalephilanthropists, asformostwomenof theperiod,aremeagre;thereisno biography of Meshcherskaia, andthetwo shortbiographical accountsof Repnina2 dolessthanjusticetoherphilanthropic activity. Legitimatefemaleroleswerethoughtby thepatriarchal societyof the time to be privateand domestic,and into these categoriesfell traditional privateactsof individualcharity,suchas almsgiving. The successionof femalerulersin the eighteenthcenturyhad made (or, madenotorious)a placeforwomenin publicrolesat thepinnacleof society,andCatherineII had appointedEkaterina Dashkova,exceptionally ,to prestigiousroles in public service.But involvementof women,evenfromthenexthighestsociallevelsinpubliclife,aroused objectionsof vanity,immodestyand incompetence.Involvementin publicorganizations with formalstructures was not sanctioned.On hearingof a proposalto forma women'sphilanthropic society,for instance,onewomandenouncedit asa 'senateoffairies': 'iftheywant to do goodandgoodworks,theycando sowithoutpublicity.In these ladies'undertaking I seethedesireto speakout.Thisisa signofvanity evenina man,anditdoesnotatallpleasemein awoman,whoserole itistoremainonthesideline.'3 Itwasassumed thattheinvolvement ofaristocratic andnoblewomen withpubliclifewas,if any,at one remove,exertedvia theirinfluence on husbandsandsonswithinthehome.Thustheymightinspiretheir menfolktojoin inphilanthropic undertakings, butnotengageinthem themselves. Thelatterargument wasputbyI. S.Zakharov inanarticle in praiseofwomen:women'sphysicalweakness precludedthemfrom studyand thusfrompublicduties.Insteadtheycultivatedtheirown virtue,bywhichtheymellowedthe'wildroughness' of theirhusbands andmovedthemto philanthropic compassion.4 The ideathatwomen exerciseda moral and civilizinginfluenceon societythroughtheir 2 A. A. Vasil'chikov, SemeisitoRazumovskikh, 5 vols, St Petersburg, I868-94, 2 (hereafter, Vasil'chikov), pp. I40-46; P. Maikov, 'N. G. Repnin-Volkonskii', in Russkiibiograficheskii slovar', 25 vols, St Petersburg, I896-I9I8, i6, pp. II8-26 (pp. 125-26). Svetlana Makarenko's more extensive account (2003) is based on the author's library and web archive, and lacks scholarly apparatus: [accessed 7 September 2004]. 3 'Iz perepiski M. A. Volkovoi i V. I. Lanskoi', in 1812 god v vospominaniiakh, perepiske i rasskazakh sovremennikov, ed. N. P. Sinitsyn, Moscow, 2001, pp. 4I-75 (pp. 73-74). 4 I. S. Zakharov, 'Pokhvala zhenam', Chteniiav Besedeliubiteleirusskogo slova, I8 I1, 4, pp.3-67 (pp. 8-io). 54 FEMALE PHILANTHROPY IN I 9TH-CENTURY RUSSIA influence on men and theirupbringingof childrenwas well established. The understandingof women as instrumentsof social change had been particularlyespousedby CatherineII, who had thereforeincreasedthe educational opportunitiesfor women, which until the I760s had been restrictedto education in the home or in a few smallprivateschools. In one sense this idea assured women of their value to society without encouragingthem to takea more activepartin public life;in anotherit identified women, alongside educational institutionsand the press, as part of the Enlightenment project and thus as agents in public life, albeit on the margins,in smallnumbersandwith a low profile. Religion was another justification available to women who were intent on engaging in person with the world outside the home. Predominantmaleopinion assumedthatfemalespiritualityrepresented a retreatfrom or compensation for the trialsof life, amongst them the deaths of childrenand relatives,as expressedby one conservative: Desiringthis[eternal wellbeing],andnotfindingitherebelow,theysoarin spiritintoanother world,intoanotherlife.[. . .] Letusimagineawomanat prayer.[.. .] Nothingworldlyactson hersoul;nothingtemporaldistracts herimagining ofeternity; nogoodthingsoftheearthwillsheexchangefor theblisssheexpectsinheaven.5 However, a spirituality which expressed itself in active individual charity was traditional for Russian women, who responded to the Biblical calling to give alms and visit the sick,the poor and prisoners,6 as is shown, for example, in the memoirs of Anna Labzina (I 758- I 828).7 These same religiousgroundscould be invokedtojustify collective philanthropy. Traditional charity...

Public Funding, Governance and Passthrough Efficiency in Large UK Charities

This paper provides empirical evidence on how external governance mechanisms (e.g. the reporting and monitoring mandated under government funding contracts) and internal governance mechanisms (e.g. the adoption of corporate governance codes and traditional charity governance mechanisms) are related to the efficiency with which large UK charities meet their charitable spending objects. The evidence indicates that government funding and governance requirements, and traditional charity structures, are positively related to efficiency, whereas the adoption of business‐type corporate governance codes is not.

Containing the Poor: The Mexico City Poor House, 1774–1871

Silvia Marina Arrom provides a well-researched and thorough picture of the ultimately failed efforts of the state, the church, and private philanthropists to aid Mexico City’s legitimately needy, while forcing undeserving vagrants to either work or face internment. Arrom traces the changes of the Poor House experiment’s goals from the late eighteenth to late nineteenth century and how both its administration and residents influenced its function and the populace it served. Arrom’s study denies the conventional periodization of Mexican history and instead bridges the colonial and national periods. Furthermore, Arrom argues that the differentiation between heroes and villains in Mexican political histories proves overly simplistic.Arrom pieces her study together using archival sources from Seville, Mexico City, and Salt Lake City, as well as various newspapers and secondary materials. Michel Foucault and the social control school influenced her analysis, which was initially meant to serve as a “Latin American example of the state mobilizing its coercive powers against a disorderly populace” (p. 3). The finished book moves beyond the preliminary works of Gabriel Haslip-Viera and Moisés González Navarro, highlighting the differences between the Poor House’s proposed goals and the way it functioned in reality. Although the experiment sought to improve social control in Mexico City, it was less rigid than Foucault’s asylum.Arrom opens with a broad examination of the problem of beggars and vagrants in Mexico City from 1774 to 1871 and within this context details the establishment of the Poor House. The experiment heeded dual and somewhat contradictory initial aims: a campaign against mendicity and a charity project for the deserving poor. The Poor House reflected a late-eighteenth-century watershed, when enlightened reformers sought to transform traditional charity into more rational poverty relief by disciplining beggars and forcing them to work. The Poor House initially flourished, but by 1800 it faced financial difficulties and resistance from the poor. In 1806 it was reorganized into four departments: the Patriotic School, the Department of Worthy Paupers, the Department of Correction, and the Department of Secret Births. This marked a turning point that undermined its original goals. The new departments specifically targeted white paupers and prevented their downward social movement, thus reinforcing a social hierarchy based on white privilege. Additionally, they received fewer adults and more children. Independence and the early republican years brought material hardship and increased attention to the needs of Poor House employees. The Department of Worthy Paupers, guided by the Poor House’s original goals, shrank and became a part of the expanding Patriotic School. This signaled the end of the original social project and an increased focus on educating poor children, who represented potential paupers. While many historians tout the accomplishments of the liberal state, Arrom argues it failed to improve the Poor House and “instead of replacing caridad with beneficiencia, the Reforma merely undermined the already faltering welfare system, and left little in its place” (p. 227). Arrom credits the Second Empire, specifically Charlotte, wife of Maximilian I, with contributing most significantly to the Poor House. Charlotte feminized social welfare and inspired women to expand their roles in caring for the poor. Arrom discredits the notion that the Restored Republic’s liberal reforms helped the Poor House. Benito Juárez’s administration could not accommodate the large numbers of those in need, and the Poor House sank deeper into ruin.Arrom’s study is more than an innovative perspective of a project to eliminate begging in Mexico. It demonstrates the importance of Mexico City’s poor and the persistent problem they posed for leaders in both New Spain and Mexico, a problem that resonates even today. Arrom provides a window into the life of people seldom captured by history. While most of the Poor House residents did not leave personal traces, Arrom’s careful research draws them from the historical record. She uses municipal censuses to detail the ethnicity, gender, and social class of the inmates. She uses a daily register book to describe those forced into the Poor House and those turned away. She describes the work that both inmates and employees performed. When possible, she details the inmates’ opinions of the treatment they received. Her study demonstrates that the Poor House residents not only negotiated the function of the institution but also influenced its demise. The book contributes to an understanding of how different social classes lived and interacted in Mexico City and serves as a model for further studies on experiments of social control, charity projects for the poor, and the negotiations that lower classes used to control their own lives.

Disaster mitigation and preparedness: the case of NGOs in the Philippines.

The Philippines is very vulnerable to natural disasters because of its natural setting, as well as its socio-economic, political and environmental context--especially its widespread poverty. The Philippines has a well-established institutional and legal framework for disaster management, including built-in mechanisms for participation of the people and NGOs in decision-making and programme implementation. The nature and extent of collaboration with government in disaster preparedness and mitigation issues varies greatly according to their roots, either in past confrontation and political struggles or traditional charity activities. The growing NGO involvement in disaster management has been influenced by this history. Some agencies work well with local government and there is an increasing trend for collaborative work in disaster mitigation and preparedness. Some NGOs, however, retain critical positions. These organisations tend to engage more in advocacy and legal support for communities facing increased risk because of development projects and environmental destruction. Entry points into disaster mitigation and preparedness vary as well. Development-oriented agencies are drawn into these issues when the community members with whom they work face disaster. Relief organisations, too, realise the need for community mobilisation, and are thus drawn towards development roles.

Competing Visions of the State and Social Welfare: The Medici Dukes, the Bigallo Magistrates, and Local Hospitals in Sixteenth-Century Tuscany

In 1542, Florence's Duke Cosimo I established a magistracy to supervise territorial hospitals and consolidate poor relief. Tense relations between the magistracy and these hospitals demonstrate the barriers to bureaucratic centralization in the sixteenth-century state, and underscore the fact that the shift from traditional charity to 'new philanthropy' was as much geographical and cultural as temporal. Tensions between the magistracy and successive Medici Dukes also demonstrate how in negotiations between bureaucrats and local communities territorial rulers could play both sides to advance their personal authority, and could learn from the difficulties of one magistracy how better to design another.

Corporate Philanthropy in the New Urban Economy

Does corporate philanthropy by software, entertainment, and tourism firms sustain the urban business community’s hegemony in urban politics? Software and entertainment depend on local resources but not ones that involve the business community and promote philanthropy to the traditional community charities. Tourism depends on local markets and environmental amenities, which promote philanthropy to traditional charities and collaborations with environmental groups, the traditional urban business community’s “enemy.” Overall, the three sectors’ philanthropy and advocacy collaborations with environmental nonprofits and higher educational institutions erode the cohesion of urban business communities and weaken the traditional urban business community’s control over civic resources.

Charities, Authority and Disabled People: A qualitative study

Disabled people are greatly under-represented in positions of authority within traditional charities. Using qualitative data from original empirical research, this paper identifies some of the causes of their exclusion. The values, attitudes and beliefs of those who govern traditional charities accord largely with the 'personal tragedy' or medical model of disability, and a major consequence of this perspective is that disabled people are confined to roles in which they have little opportunity to exercise power in the traditional voluntary sector.

Realigning Corporate Giving: Problems in the Nonprofit Sector for Community Development Corporations

Corporate philanthropy is set in the context of local political econ omy. This study of corporate giving in a mid-South city finds that community development is not a priority for giving, despite its place in neighborhood and citywide political agendas. Corporate support remains centered on established nonprofit organizations with con cerns for traditional charity and service.

Charity and 'Bienfaisance': The Treatment of the Poor in the Montpellier Region, 1740-1815

List of maps, graphs, figures and tables Acknowledgements List of abbreviations Introduction: charity and bienfaisance in the enlightenment Part I. The Setting: 1. Montpellier and its region 2. The eighteenth-century problem of poverty Part II. The Treatment of Poverty Under the Ancien Regime: 3. Poor relief in Montpellier and its region 4. The crisis of traditional charity 5. Popular attitudes towards poor relief: (i) charity 6. Popular attitudes towards poor relief: (ii) medicine 7. Government, poor relief and the repression of begging Part III. The Treatment of Poverty Under the Revolution and the Empire: 8. Towards a 'welfare state', 1789-c.1795 9. Retreat from the 'welfare state', c.1795-c.1800 10. Poor-relief institutions from the Concordat to the Restoration Part IV. Conclusion: 11. The government and poor relief in the early nineteenth century Appendices Bibliography Index.