The Effect of State Intervention in the Nonprofit Sector: The Case of the New Deal

Abstract

This article raises the question of how the influx of federal money during the New Deal affected nonprofit organizations (NPOs) operating in the social welfare sector. Using data on the number of NPOs operating in six service categories in New York City, we demonstrate three distinct trends—some types of organizations fared very poorly, other types remained relatively stable, and a third set actually experienced significant growth in numbers. We hypothesize that two factors explain these variations—the extent to which NPOs were perceived to be doing work that was explicitly related to the immediate crisis appears to have influenced their success in sustaining charitable support. More importantly, the extent to which a class of organizations was excluded from participating infederal relief programs appears to have significantly influenced the overall success and failure rates. Those organizations that were included as partners in the federal relief efforts experienced significant growth.

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Abbott, G. (1941). From relief to social security, the development of the new public welfare services and their administration. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Blumberg, B. (1979). The New Deal and the unemployed: The view from New York City. Lewisburg, PA: Bucknell University Press.

Brock, W. R. (1988). Welfare, democracy and the New Deal. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

Brown, J. C. (1940). Public relief, 1929-1939. New York: Henry Holt.

Evans, A. H. (Ed.). (1937). Directory of social agencies of New York, 1937-1938. New York: Columbia University Press and the Welfare Council

Evans, A. H. (Ed.). (1941). Directory of social agencies of New York, 1942. New York: Columbia University Press and the Welfare Council.

Federal Emergency Relief Administration . (1933, June). Rules and regulations governing expenditures of federal emergency relief funds No. 1. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.

Hopkins, H. L. (1936). Spending to save: The complete story of relief. New York: Norton.

Katz, M. B. (1986). In the shadow of the poorhouse: A social history of welfare in America. New York: Basic Books.

10.

Kimmel, L. H. (1938). Cost of government in the United States, 1935-1937. New York: National Industrial Conference Board.

11.

Lane, M. D. , & Steegmuller, F. (1938). America on relief. New York: Harcourt Brace.

12.

Miller, L. D. (Ed.). (1922). Directory of social agencies of New York, 1922. New York: Charity Organization Society.

13.

Miller, L. D. (Ed.). (1928). Directory of social agencies of the City of New York, 1927-1928. New York: Charity Organization Society and the Welfare Council.

14.

Miller, L. D. (Ed.). (1932). Directory of social agencies of the City of New York, 1932. New York: Charity Organization Society and the Welfare Council.

15.

Mohr, J. W (1992). Community, bureaucracy and social relief: An institutional analysis of organizational forms in New York City, 1888-1917. Ph.D. dissertation. Department of Sociology, Yale University.

16.

Mohr, J. W. (1994). Soldiers, mothers, tramps and others: Discourse roles in the 1907 New York City charity directory. Poetics: Journal of Empirical Research on Literature, the Media, and the Arts, 22,327-357.

17.

Murray, C. ([1984] 1994). Losing ground: American social policy, 1950-1980. New York: Basic Books.

18.

Olasky , Marvin . ([1992] 1995). The tragedy of American compassion. Lanham, MD: Regnery.

19.

Salamon, L. (1995). Partners in public service: Government-nonprofit relations in the modern welfare state. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press.

20.

Skocpol, T. (1992). Protecting soldiers and mothers: The political origins of social policy in the United States. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

21.

Sosin, M. (1986). Private benefits: Material assistance in the private sector. New York: Academic Press.

22.

Stevenson, M. (1938). Public welfare administration. New York: MacMillan.

23.

Trattner, W I. (1984). From poor law to welfare state: A history of social welfare in America. New York: Free Press.