Charitable organization

During the 19th century, a profusion of charitable organizations were set up to alleviate the awful conditions of the working class in the slums. The Labourer's Friend Society, chaired by Lord Shaftesbury in the United Kingdom in 1830, was set up to improve working class conditions. This included the promotion of allotment of land to labourers for "cottage husbandry" that later became the allotment movement. In 1844 it became the first Model Dwellings Company - organizations that sought to improve the housing conditions of the working classes by building new homes for them, at the same time receiving a competitive rate of return on any investment. This was one of the first housing associations, a philanthropic endeavour that flourished in the second half of the nineteenth century brought about by the growth of the middle class. Later associations included the Peabody Trust and the Guinness Trust. The principle of philanthropic intention with capitalist return was given the label "five per cent philanthropy".

Charities at the time, including the Charity Organization Society (est. 1869) tended to discriminate between the 'deserving poor' who would be provided with suitable relief and the 'underserving' or 'improvident poor' who were regarded as the cause of their woes through their idleness. They also tended to be against the state provision of welfare, due to its perceived demoralizing effect. Although minimal state involvement was the dominant philosophy of the period, there was still significant government involvement in the shape of statutory regulation and even limited funding.