Capitalist models for charities

Charities could be seen to have adopted two aspects of capitalist organisation - the voluntary society as joint stock company and the division of labour within the charity.

Charities set up in the eighteenth century and after are often seen to have adopted the joint stock model in their development as subscribing charities (eg Roberts: "investors in works of charity were to be entitled to make their decisions on the basis of full information as in any other area of market choice"). But Morris says that the major organisational sources were the non-conformist chapel and the pub (Southwark Living Streets meets monthly in the Royal Oak Tavern in Tabard St). So is this true for Jewish and Irish charities? Which organisational source did they look to?

On the division of labour, charities were often an attempt to reinforce direct social relations that were being weakened in the face of the separation of classes in work environments and the spatial separation of rich and poor. So charities aimed at being volunteer led to create that contact and to reflect ideals of voluntary service. But their history tends to often demonstrate a weakness to keep this ideal in the face of variable enthusiasm by volunteers and the difficulty for volunteers to make the detailed decisions needed. So for instance the Mendicity Society was forced to employ a full-time manager and introduce a standard work test. So even charities could not avoid the division of labour in their own work.