ABSTRACT
We hold two conflicting views of charity. In the first it is perceived as ‘cold’, uncaring and covered in the barnacles of nineteenthcentury workhouses, watery gruel and mean-spirited care. The second recognises this as a largely outmoded view, arguing that, despite a checkered past, a vibrant voluntary sector is a complementary part of any welfare state. This is witnessed by, for example, the place of children’s charities in providing childcare (and increasingly so), as much as in the National Trust’s place in the conservation of both buildings and countryside. This book largely accepts the second view and looks, in detail, at those diverse elements which go to making up a complex charity. At the heart of this is an altruism which might spring from a spontaneous donation, dropped into a Royal National Institute for the Blind collecting tin or from a day a month given, unstintingly, to the Woodland Trust by a volunteer, or from a trustee on the management committee of a local branch of the Samaritans. All of these represent a major strand in British social policy which has, at its core, an explicit acceptance that whatever the role of the state, there will always be a significant part to be played by a wide range of individuals brought together by a common desire to improve life for others through the gift of time, money and personal resources.
