Financial Trends in Organized Social Work in New York City 9780231882262

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Studies of the Research Bureau of the Welfare Council

NUMBER

FOUR

FINANCIAL TRENDS IN ORGANIZED SOCIAL WORK IN NEW YORK CITY

FINANCIAL TRENDS IN ORGANIZED SOCIAL WORK IN NEW YORK C I T Y BY

KATE HUNTLEY

PUBLISHED

FOR

T H E W E L F A R E C O U N C I L OF N E W Y O R K BY

C O L U M B I A U N I V E R S I T Y PRESS NEW

Y O R K : 1 9 3 5

CITY

COPYRIGHT

I 9 3 S

COLUMBIA U N I V E R S I T Y PRESS PUBLISHED

I 9 3 5

PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA GEORGE GRADY PRESS · NEW YORK

THE WELFARE COUNCIL NEW YORK CITY

OF

O F F I C E R S

President CHARLES C. BURL INGHAM

Honorary Vice-Presidents MRS. NICHOLAS F . BRADY

F E L I X M. WARBURG

Vice-Presidents H E N R Y G. BARBEY

J A M E S H . POST

H O N . HERBERT H . L E H M A N

FREDERIC B. PRATT

GEORGE MACDONALD

H O N . ALFRED E. S M I T H

Secretary

Treasurer

Executive Director

GEORGE J . H E C H T

WINTHROP W. ALDRICH

ROBERT P . L A N E

Chairman, Executive Com.

Chairman, Finance Committee

Director, Research Bureau

HOMER FOLKS

JABIES H . POST

NEVA R. DEARDO RPF

R E S E A R C H HAVEN

C O M M I T T E E ,

1 9 3 4

EMERSON, chairman

W I L L I A M A. BERRIDGE

F. ERNEST J O H N S O N

BAILEY B. BURRITT

MAURICE J . K A R P F

ROBERT E. CHADDOCK

WILLFORD I. K I N G

F. STUART C H A P I N

PHILIP K L E I N

STANLEY P. DAVIES

PORTER R. LEE

GODIAS J . DROLET

HARRY L. LURTE

LOUIS I. D U B L I N

REV. B R Y A N J . M c E N T E G A R T

HOMER FOLKS

E. B. PATTON

C. LUTHER F R Y

STUART A. RICE

MEREDITH B. GIVENS

CHARLES H . SEARS

RALPH G. H U R L I N

ARTHUR L. SWIFT, J R .

S U B C O M M I T T E E ON T H E S T U D Y OF F I N A N C I A L T R E N D S I N ORGANIZED SOCIAL WORK IN NEW Y O R K

WILLFORD Ι. KING, SAMUEL A. GOLDSMITH, ( 1 9 2 7 - 1 9 3 0 )

CITY

chairman RALPH G. H U R L t N

PREFACE Social work taken as a whole—if it can be said to have a definite entity—accurately reflects in its organizational forms the individualist age in which it had its origin. During the nineteenth century and the first two decades of the twentieth, it grew without the exercise of central planning or conscious community control. Anyone who saw a need for doing "something" to meliorate the lot of those less fortunate than himself, and could devise a method of attack, was at liberty to set about the task. Hundreds of agencies sprang up to care for those in economic distress, to correct child neglect, to treat delinquents and criminals, to prevent delinquency, crime, land overcrowding, and poor housing and to tackle many other types of misfortune, maladjustment and impoverishment. The organizing groups very largely did as they saw fit. Some created a new voluntary society to put their project into operation. Some tried to induce an existing society to try their scheme. Some tried to persuade a branch of the government to assume responsibility for the operation of the service which they proposed. A favorite method has been for the voluntary society to initiate a project, to demonstrate its possibilities and then to seek governmental support for it either through subsidy or through direct operation. Certain kinds of services have been popular and have been copied here and there. The size of these enterprises ranges from those so tiny as not to be eligible to be considered as "organized" social work to a few very large public agencies spending millions of dollars a year. In our individualistic America different persons and groups with quite similar objectives have a flair for carrying on their activities in ways they regard as distinctive. Often the differences in method are inconsequential. Sometimes they are wide and irreconcilable. It is also true that within a given field of social amelioration, the objectives themselves are diverse and motives are often

vili

PREFACE

mixed and tangled. Interwoven with many activities in the aid of some distressed or troubled class of persons are motives of separatism which inhere in the organization of society itself. Economic classes, political interests, church organizations, fraternal groupings, cultural entities, professional groups, all of these and other associations of persons have sponsored and supported social-work activities of one sort or another and at one time or another. In almost all cases, the motives have combined an objective interest in the beneficiary with a subjective interest in demonstrating the group solidarity, or the capacity for achievement or the altruistic interest, or all three, of the sponsoring group. In an individualistic society, individual interests quite naturally wish to "register" in the social scene. But sooner or later the question arises as to how all of these particularized interests combine to meet the total community need or to reach the objectives common to all of the participating persons and organizations. What is the total picture, we ask. What is the total effort in relation to the total need? Each person or group comes to realize that without that total picture he is apt to wander around in a fog, that he can get his bearings and direct his course intelligently and purposefully only if he has some indication of the boundaries of the field and of the current maneuvers of the other operators in it. It is to these larger phases of the situation that the Welfare Council's research program has been addressed. For seven years the Research Committee and the staff of the Research Bureau have been quarrying the necessary material and building a structure of information of this kind. The study presented here is one of some four corner stones necessary to an elementary understanding of the totality of social work in New York City. This study tells about money secured and spent for social-welfare purposes through the two decades, 1910-1929. The other corner stones needed for a good structure are: ( 1 ) a knowledge of the extent of need in the community for services of various kinds;

PREFACE

ix

(2) an analysis of each of the types of service undertaken, i.e., the methods which were employed to bring about the desired end; and (3) a description of the professional and other qualifications of the persons who undertook it—both board members and staff. Other studies of the Council's Research Bureau have built parts of the rest of this structure. The whole structure is, of course, far from complete for any given period of time. This study relates to aggregates of income and expenditures for social work of different types. It is designed to show the direction in which social work and these several types of service have been moving as revealed in volume of expenditure and in auspices and sources of support. Like the records of the seismograph, the wavering lines of these charts and graphs indicate social and economic upheavals and disturbances, boom times, depressions, wars, pestilence, fears and fashions. They also show the effects of dynamic personalities and militant groups. But only those who are intimately acquainted with the unwritten history of social work in New York City can see and understand the fluctuations due to personal and organizational factors. 1 The impact of social forces outside social work itself is obvious to any student of the subject. This is essentially a work of reference. It offers no prescription for action. It has no purpose other than to inform. But it will put a lantern and a compass in the hands of those who wish to Speaking at a meeting of the New York Chapter of the American Association of Social Workers, Feb. 2, 1932, at which some of the charts in this study were displayed, Mr. Homer Folks said: "As I looked over these charts—and I wish I could do them more justice, because they will repay a careful study over a long period of time, . . . I thought we could interpret these lines with their peaks and their descents, not in terms of money, but in terms of personality. You could with equal truth perhaps run over 20 years, and show that this line going up is not dollars of money, it is a monument to this or that resourceful, determined, powerful personal project. The most notable is that in regard to the great increase in this home relief of widows in New York City, and that might be regarded as a monument to three people, all of whom have left us in the course of the last two or three years." 1

X

PREFACE

carry social work toward more rational and understandable relationships with other forces in society. Is it the wish to encourage public recreation? It can here be learned how recreation compares in expenditure with some other activities, how it is supported, and what the major financial trends have been since 1910. What happened during the two decades to the foster care of children, to specialized services for immigrants, and to care of the aged? What was the relief bill in 1914-1915 and in 19211922? This study gives you answers to such questions as these. But like other works of reference, it assumes that the reader already has some interest and curiosity in the subject. It makes no special effort to create interest in or to promote any special point of view. One of the inescapable lessons of this and similar studies is that until agencies, both public and private, enter upon some plan for at least a few common accounting practices, an inordinate amount of work is and will be required to construct these whole pictures for the community. As long as each agency is an accounting law unto itself, the combined results will give a blurred and indistinct picture, except possibly for the same broad outlines as are here used. It would seem to be of basic importance that functional groups of agencies should agree among themselves or that public authority should bring pressure to bear to induce them to use accounting systems which provide for some pertinent and consistent classifications in the analysis of their income and expense for capital and for operating purposes. We are handicapped in understanding and in shaping programs of expenditures when we do not know what present expenditures are. We are almost helpless in consciously developing income of the different types when we do not know what we, as a class, have already done or are doing at present. A standard system of accounting developed to illuminate each of the fields of social work would contribute greatly to the enlightenment of the public, to common interests of a functional group of agencies

PREFACE

Xi

and to the individual agency itself in that it would be enabled to analyze its own data in the light of comparable figures for agencies and groups. Merely the adoption of a standard fiscal year would be a substantial step forward. Some confusion grows out of the unstandardized practices among agencies of allocating income and expenditures to two or more functions when a single agency carries them on. Common usages devised with some care among "multiple-function agencies" as they are here called, would bring out much more sharply the outlines of our picture than is at present possible. To pick one's way through the vagaries of 820 sets of accounts of agencies, some of which carry on a range of services extending from research to Christmas baskets is a needlessly costly and timeconsuming process. Every agency keeps some kind of accounts. To keep the kind that would make possible community analyses would cost no more and would yield vastly more significant results than can now be secured. The foundations of such a standard system appear in this study. The opportunities for many of the needed refinements are indicated in it. Others come to mind when the crucial questions with regard to social-work finance are reviewed. For this study to be of continued future value for the purposes of administrative control, the data should be collected currently and the various series should be kept up to date. If that is not done, its value for administrative purposes will grow less as time goes by. Its values for the historian, the sociologist and the social philosopher are not so dependent upon its continuance. In this connection it is in order to explain why the year 1910 was chosen as a starting point. The choice rested upon the idea that data for a period of at least a few years before the Great War were necessary to see the changes that had occurred during the war period itself. To begin earlier than 1910 presented the problems of cost in securing usable data for so large a field. The hope is still cherished that the Welfare Council will be

xii

PREFACE

able to analyze income, expenditures and property of hospitals for the period since 1920. It was thought inadvisable, however, to postpone the release and publication of this study until the hospital study had been carried through. This study forms the immediate background for another of the Research Bureau's projects, " T h e Financing of Social Work," which is nearing completion under the auspices of the special committee of which Mr. Walter S. Gifford is chairman. That study has directed attention particularly to the problems of social-work finance which inhere in the public solicitation by the hundreds of agencies of contributions for the current support of their work. Miss Kate Huntley, the author of this study, has borne the brunt of the responsibility for the development of the research method employed in it, for the supervision of the field workers who gathered the data and for the analysis of the findings. In these several processes she has had the aid and assistance of the Welfare Council's staff within both the organizing and the research divisions. As a member of the research staff, Miss Huntley has shared in the consultative services which the members of the Research Committee, both individually and collectively, so generously give to the Welfare Council. She has also had the help of officials and staff members of the hundreds of agencies which opened their books to the field workers engaged in this study. To have made their financial records available often at pain of much inconvenience, and to have answered the numerous questions which arose in connection with the analyses here made was a contribution of sizable proportions from New York City's agencies. The staff is unanimous in its appreciation of the intelligent and helpful cooperation extended by the departments of the city government. Devoted staff service was rendered by the Misses Caro H. Stowell, Gertrude Bagwell, Florence E. Cuttrell, Christine Bohack, Mrs. Faith L. Manley and Mrs. Miriam P. Suckow.

PREFACE

Ziii

This part of the Research Bureau's program was made possible by grants from the Rockefeller Foundation, the Commonwealth Fund and the Hofheimer Foundation. WILLIAM HODSON NEVA R. DEARDORFF

New York City December 15, 1934

CONTENTS I. II. III. IV. V. VI. VII. VIII. IX. X. XI. XII. XIII. XIV. XV. XVI. XVII. XVIII. XIX. XX. XXI. XXII.

Introduction Extent and age of social services Expenditures for all organized social work . . Expenditures of private agencies by type of auspices Public funds for organized social work . . . Relief and its administration Foster care of children Institutional care of the aged Recreational work Housing and related services Vacation service Services for immigrants and foreign-born . . . Services for seamen Coordinating and central financing services . . Legal aid Protective and correctional work Services for the handicapped Health services Other, unclassified services Sources of income of organized social work under private auspices Property owned by private social agencies . . Federated financing in New York City . . .

3 12 19 38 42 65 78 93 105 113 120 126 130 133 137 139 154 175 184 187 220 238

APPENDICES

I. Types of agencies excluded II. Current expenditures not used for functional purposes of agencies III. Construction of index used for calculating purchasing power of expenditures

285 286 288

xvi

CONTENTS

IV. Agencies of government providing social services classified by Department of Administration V. Current expenditures of the Department of Health, New York City, 1929 VI. Inquiry concerning income and expenditures of social agencies VII. Expenditures of a sample group of day nurseries VIII. The extension of expenditure trends to 1932 . . Index

291 294 296 299 301 315

TABLES ι. A count of the private social agencies which have separate boards of directors 2. Expenditures and property, in 1929, of private social agencies, classified by years of origin . . . . 3. Per cent of current expenditures made from public and private resources for organized social work . 4. Amounts of functional expenditures made from public and private resources for organized social work 5. Current per-inhabitant expenditure made from public and from private resources for organized social work 6. Current expenditures in terms of dollars of constant purchasing power from public and private resources for organized social work 7. Current expenditures for privately organized social work classified by religious auspices of agencies 8. Public funds used for organized social work . . . 9. Functional expenditures made from public resources for organized social work 10. Percentage distribution of functional expenditures made from public resources for organized social work 1 1 . Public subsidies to organized social work classified by religious auspices of agencies receiving them . 12. Proportion of city subsidies to private agencies collected from private resources 13. Amounts expended for outdoor relief and service and administration incident thereto, by public agencies 14. Current expenditures made from public and private resources for relief and its administration . . . 15. Expenditures per inhabitant from public and private resources for outdoor relief given and services and administration incident to it

14 17 22 24

32

35 39 45 56

58 60 63 66 70

73

xviii

TABLES

16. Miscellaneous amounts of outdoor relief given through functional groups of agencies other than relief agencies 17. Rates paid by the City of New York for foster care of children 18. Current expenditures made from public and private resources for foster care of children 19. Expenditures for foster care of children through all child-caring agencies 20. Amounts paid to family boarding homes for care of dependent children 21. Proportion of expenditures of institutions used for cottage form of care 22. Current expenditures disbursed under various auspices for foster care of children 23. Current expenditures of institutions for the foster care of children compared with population by sectarian groups

76 80 82 85 87 89 90

92

24. Current expenditures made from public and private resources for institutional care of the aged . .

98

25. Per cent of total functional expenditures disbursed under various auspices by private homes for the aged

102

26. Current expenditures made from public and private resources for recreational work

106

27. Current expenditures of public agencies for recreational work

109

28. Per cent of total current expenditures for recreational work provided under various types of private auspices

Ill

29. Expenditures made for housing and related services by organized social work

116

TABLES

30. Expenditures for housing and related services through organized social work classified by auspices of administration 31. Current expenditures for vacation service through organized social work 32. Current expenditures for vacation service classified by type of agency providing it 33. Proportion of current expenditures received as payments from private resources for services in unattached camps 34. Per cent of current expenditures for organized social work used for coordinating and central financing purposes 35. Current expenditures for various services of organized social work 36. Current expenditures made from public and private resources for protective and correctional work . 37. Amounts and per cent of total current expenditures allocated to various types of protective and correctional work

XIX

117 122 123

124

135 138 141

144

38. Amounts of subsidies from governmental resources for protective and correctional work . . . . 39. New York City rates for protective and correctional work in agencies under private auspices . . .

147

40. Expenditures for various types of noninstitutional supervision of persons and families through protective and correctional agencies 41. Expenditures for official probation work in courts .

149 151

42. Value in terms of dollars of constant purchasing power of expenditure per inhabitant for official probation work in courts 43. Current expenditures made from public and private resources for work with the handicapped . . .

146

152 155

XX

TABLES

44. Expenditures made from public resources for various services for handicapped persons 45. Expenditures for services for the handicapped under public administration 46. Amounts supplied as subsidies from governmental resources for the maintenance, education, and training of handicapped persons by private agencies 47. Amounts supplied as subsidies from governmental resources for the maintenance, education, and training of the deaf by private agencies . . . 48. A m o u n t s supplied as subsidies from

158 162

164

167

governmental

resources for the maintenance, education, and training of the blind by private agencies . . .

168

49. Amounts supplied as subsidies from governmental resources for the maintenance, education, and training of the crippled by private agencies . .

170

50. Rates of pay to private institutions for the care and education of public charges having various types of handicap

171

51. Expenditures of private agencies for services for handicapped persons

173

52. Current expenditures made from public and private resources for health work by 131 private agencies and by 3 public agencies

178

53. Current expenditures made for various types of health services by 131 private agencies and by 3 public agencies

182

54. Gross amounts received from all sources by organized social work under private auspices

188

55. Percentages of gross income received from various sources by private social agencies

191

56. Contributions to organized social work

(excluding

TABLES

57. 58. 59.

60. 61. 62. 63.

64. 65. 66. 67. 68. 69. 70. 71.

bequests) in per-inhabitant amounts of constant purchasing power Per cent of individual income given to social work . Per cent of contributions received as gifts from foundations by organized social work An approximation to a percentage distribution of foundation allotments to privately organized social work by type of agency benefited Classification of bequests into types of agency or service for which they were given Percentages of contributions received from various sources Percentages of gross income received from various sources by agencies under private auspices . . . Sources of income for current purposes of 820 organized private social agencies grouped by type of agency. Data for 1929 Value of total property owned, classified by religious auspices of agencies Value of property owned, classified by functional groups Distribution of ownership of securities held by private social agencies in 1929 Gross income of all Jewish social agencies classified by source Gross income of member agencies of the New York Federation classified by source Gross income of member agencies of the Brooklyn Federation classified by source Relationship of federated financing to all Jewish social work Financial relationship of the New York Federation to current expenditures of affiliated Jewish agencies

xxi

194 196 198

200 203 204 210

215 226 230 237 246 248 250 253 257

xxii

TABLES

72. Financial relationship of the Brooklyn Federation to current expenditures of affiliated Jewish agencies 73. Centralized compared with direct giving for current purposes of Jewish social work 74. Current expenditures of Jewish federated and nonfederated social agencies 75. Functional expenditures of Jewish social agencies . 76. Value of property owned by organized Jewish social agencies APPENDIX

259 261 265 268 275

TABLES

77. Current expenditures for organized social work under private auspices 78. Weights used in construction of cost-of-living indices 79. Cost-of-living index for deflating expenditures . . 80. Health and medical services classified by type of agency providing them (for the year 1926 or 1927) 81. Current expenditures of organized social work 19301932 82. Current expenditures of organized social work for various services under public and private auspices 1930-1932

287 289 290 295 301

309

CHARTS ι. Current expenditures made from public and private resources for organized social work 2. Functional expenditures of organized social work 3. Current expenditures in terms of dollars of constant purchasing power from public and private resources for organized social work 4. Public funds used for organized social work . . . 5. Percentage distribution of functional expenditures made from public resources for organized social work 6. Current expenditures made from public and private resources for relief and its administration . . . 7. Expenditures per inhabitant in terms of dollars of constant purchasing power for outdoor relief given and services and administration incident to it from public and private resources 8. Current expenditures made from public and private resources for foster care of children 9. Current expenditures made from public and private resources for institutional care of the aged . . . 10. Current expenditures made from public and private resources for recreational work 1 1 . Current expenditures made from public and private resources for protective and correctional work 12. Current expenditures made from public and private resources for work with the handicapped . . . 13. Proportion of expenditures from public resources for the care of various types of handicapped persons 14. Current expenditures made from public and private resources for health work 15. Sources of gross income of organized social work under private auspices

27 29

36 46

59 71

75 83 09 107 143 157 159 179 192

xxiv

CHARTS

16. Sources of contributions to organized social work under private auspices 17. Sources of income for current purposes of 820 organized social agencies grouped by type of agency, 1929 18. Value of property owned by private social agencies . 19. Proportion of current expenditures supplied from various sources of income of Jewish social agencies 20. Centralized compared with direct giving for current purposes of Jewish social work 21. Current expenditures of Jewish federated and nonf e d e r a t e d social a g e n c i e s

216 227 255 262 267

22. Functional expenditures of Jewish social agencies . 23. Value of property owned by organized Jewish social agencies APPENDIX

205

272 277

CHARTS

24. Current expenditures for organized social work (1910-1932) 25. Current expenditures made from public and private resources for relief and its administration ( 1 9 1 0 1932) 26. Current expenditures of organized social work for various services ( 1 9 1 0 - 1 9 3 2 )

303

307 311

FINANCIAL ORGANIZED

TRENDS SOCIAL

IN NEW YORK

IN

WORK

CITY

I INTRODUCTION

Objectives of the study THE purpose of this study has been to sketch roughly a financial picture of organized social work in New York City over a period of years, to take a long-range view of the dollar volume of social services and of the resources from which they have been provided. With its multifarious services social work functions for persons of all ages, for individuals of many creeds, and in response to a vast variety of needs. The multitude of agencies established to render these services have been assembled in terms of their income and expenditure for a collective showing of their financing. Such has been the general intent in making this survey, and reasonably good data have been secured to present the situation in broad outline. To this panoramic view of the financing of social work has been added certain detail. The lines of inquiry developed have of necessity been dependent on the kinds of financial information shown in records of the agencies and made available for use in the study. For certain services some types of inquiry had to be abandoned because the agencies as a whole had not kept their accounts in such a way that the facts sought could be discovered. For this reason there is a lack of balance in the amount and kind of analysis presented for the several functional fields. Definition of social work A decision to study the financing of social work presupposes a definite concept of its field. What activities in the community constitute social work? One point of view describes the objectives of social work as : ( i ) the care of those who through misfortune or fault are not able under existing conditions to realize a normal life for themselves or who

4

INTRODUCTION

hinder others from realizing it—dependent children, aged poor, sick, cripples, blind, mentally defective, criminals, insane, negligent parents, and so on—and ( 2 ) the improvement of conditions which are a menace to individual welfare, which tend to increase the number of dependents and interfere with the progress and best interest of others who may be in no danger of becoming dependent. 1 B u t such a broad view of social service comprises w e l f a r e p r o j ects of an industrial concern, of a labor organization, of a political club, of an unorganized neighborhood a c t i v i t y , of a " L a d y B o u n t i f u l , " and an illimitable v o l u m e of service given p r i v a t e l y b y one person to another impelled b y religious belief, friendship, noblesse

oblige,

h a b i t , etc. O b v i o u s l y these t y p e s of philan-

t h r o p y do not form a part of organized

social work as currently

recognized. B u t there is v e r y little precedent for describing the field, for defining social w o r k or a social a g e n c y . T h i s lack of definition is clearly recognized b y the Russell S a g e F o u n d a t i o n in the P r e f a c e of the Social Work

Year

Book

of 1 9 2 9 : The boundaries of social work are not fixed. N o one of the numerous efforts to define its field has had general acceptance. The Year Book makes no such attempt. Its scope has been governed by practical considerations. 2 A n d again, in 1 9 3 3 : The field covered by the Social Work Year Book is broader than its title suggests, since both social work and related activities are included. Which of these are social work and which are only related activities is not indicated. T o draw that line would be to define social work, a task more appropriately undertaken by social workers as a group through their professional organization. Forms of work are 'Devine, Edward T., Social Work, The Macmillan Company, New York, 1922, P· 3· 'Social Work Year Book, 1929, p. 5, published by the Russell Sage Foundation, New York, 1930.

INTRODUCTION

5

regarded as related if those engaged in them are significantly associated with social workers, either locally or nationally. 3

That the terms usually employed are vague and ambiguous has also been observed by various writers interested in making statistical studies and classifications of social-work concepts.4 This study does not presume to devise a definition of social services. It attempts only to interpret the current acceptance of the term and to apply it in the selection of services which constitute the scope of the study, to justify somewhat the decisions made, and to designate certain boundaries set. With the exception of hospitals and unattached clinics, of which a separate financial survey is planned, the activities included are believed to approximate the group of local community services usually classified as social work by the social worker, by the contributors to these enterprises, and by the city's budget-makers. "Social work" is here interpreted to designate a narrower field than "welfare work"; the latter term seems to include, particularly in the public field, many functions contributing in a broad sense to the safety and protection of the general public rather than to the aid and service of the underprivileged and the destitute. A similar concept is accepted in a recent study of social case work made by the staff of the New York School of Social Work: ( i ) The community assumes responsibility for the meeting of certain basic individual needs of its members. Some needs {e.g. elementary education, urban sanitation) are provided for by the community under ordinary circumstances. Responsibility for other needs, such as economic maintenance, care of health, and conformity of conduct is assumed only when individual and family 'Social Work Year Book, 1933, p. 7, published by the Russell Sage Foundation, New York, 1933. ' Reed, Ellery F., "The Normal Net Cost of Social Work in Cincinnati and Hamilton County," Social Forces, Vol. X , No. 4, M a y , 1932, p. 578; and The Family, Vol. X I I I , No. S, Dec., 1932, p. 284.

6

INTRODUCTION

effort fail to meet them. Both public and private resources are used in meeting these needs. (2) Social work agencies represent the community's responsibility for provision for its members when they fail to provide for their own basic individual requirements. Social work is mainly supported by public and private organizations for the purpose of putting this responsibility into effect.5 In general, this study comprises in the voluntary field the types of social-service activities appropriate to membership in a council of social agencies or a community chest. Selection of agencies In certain religious, civic and industrial organizations, some phases of the work have a social-service aspect, but they could not be included in the study because it is seldom possible to isolate a portion of an agency's work in terms of the income, expenditure, and property ownership associated with it. In other words, in a study concerned with finance, each unit of activity can be included or excluded only as the conditions of its financial data dictate. If social services are inextricably buried in the financing of an organization primarily engaged in other work, they cannot be included in the social-work picture. State and national organizations have in general been omitted. T h e difficulty of allocating to a specific community for a period of 20 years the proper share of expense for such state agencies as the State Department of Social Welfare, state commissions, etc., is obvious; it is impractical to include them in this type of study. (Exceptions have been made for those departments of state agencies which are organized to operate exclusively in New Y o r k C i t y . ) 6 Institutions, both state and local, whose services 'Social Case Work—An Outline for Teaching, by a Committee of the New Y o r k School of Social Work, Edited by Mary Antoinette Cannon and Philip Klein, published for the New York School of Social Work by the Columbia University Press, New Y o r k , 1933, pp. 34, 33. " Employment Bureau of the Department of Labor ; parole service of the Department of Correction.

INTRODUCTION

7

are within the fields covered 7 by the study, have been included if 50 per cent of their clientèle have been former New Y o r k City residents. Hospitals have not yet been covered. Criteria had to be established for omitting some enterprises in the community which are in many ways closely related to social work but which pursue primarily other objectives. It was necessary to differentiate social work from civic enterprises, from educational enterprises, from religious activities, 8 and from that vast number of philanthropic undertakings that are either personal enterprises or small, unorganized neighborhood activities. The field work of the study required a cursory investigation of about a thousand agencies which are not included because their services did not fit into the pattern accepted for the section of philanthropy surveyed. The types of agencies excluded are more fully designated in Appendix I. Problems of classification A sketch of the boundaries of organized social work determined the content for the picture of its aggregate financing. An attempt was made to construct a similar financial picture of each functional group of activities.® The determination and segregation of functional groups of agencies involved many problems. The process of classifying social agencies by function discloses more diversity than similarity among organizations. Each agency has a definite individuality and has grown under the influence of its own standards, objectives and traditions, and of the personalities associated with it. Classification of social agencies is further complicated by the fact that in the customary terminology of social work certain activities are known for the type of care given and others for the group of beneficiaries receiving the ' The care of the mentally diseased is excluded as forming part of hospital service. * It is likely that churches have given out considerable relief, especially in years subsequent to 1929. • The definitions made for functional groups of agencies are discussed in the chapters devoted specifically to them.

8

INTRODUCTION

services. Thus, recreation, clinical care, and legal aid indicate a type of service given, while care of the homeless, work for the handicapped, and child care designate the class of recipients benefited. These groups cut across one another and cause a duplication which prevents a clean-cut use of categories mutually exclusive and readily summarized. Further than this, agencies customarily classified in the same functional group often have very different methods of providing service. Some meet a single need of their clients and some attempt to meet various needs; some limit their clientèle to one sex and some to one age-period; some operate on a city-wide basis, some in one borough, others in a restricted neighborhood; certain agencies serve one sectarian group, some, one racial group, others, one nationality group, and still others, one professional or industrial group. But the factor which has caused the chief problem in this study has been the tendency of individual agencies to operate in inore than one functional field. And some of these multifunctional agencies do not make proper segregation in their accounts between the financing of one and another service. For this reason trends can be presented for only a limited number of services. Geographical

boundaries

The far-flung benefits which social work confers are disclosed by a study of its clientèle. Agencies provide services not only to residents of the city but, because it is an important port and a great industrial center, to various types of transients. Students and other temporary residents make use of philanthropic housing facilities; homeless persons from every state participate in relief disbursed; seamen from many countries receive assistance; immigrants passing through the city are given advice and temporary assistance. The agencies included were for the most part located in New York City, but conspicuous exceptions occur in agencies provid-

INTRODUCTION

9

ing institutional care for dependent and delinquent children and for aged persons, as these services are for practical reasons often located in districts outside the city limits. For institutional care, however, a criterion was established on the basis of clientèle: agencies were included which drew at least 50 per cent of their population from New York City. Neither location of agencies nor residence of clientèle could be used exclusively to determine geographical boundaries of the study. Schedule for information The original schedule 1 0 used for recording data for each agency is shown in Appendix VI. Further analysis of some items was sought after a study of a sample group of agencies indicated that it was feasible. Thus supplementary amplifications were added to break down expenditures within certain functions : foster care of children, protective and correctional work, services for the handicapped, etc. The resulting classifications of expenditures are shown in tables of sections relating to those services. Sources of information For private agencies, data published in the annual financial reports were used so far as they were available and complete. These were found in the offices of the agencies; in business offices and homes of officials of the agencies ; in the various Manhattan and Brooklyn libraries; and in banks, trust companies, and offices of auditors, where they were secured with the consent of the agencies. For filling in gaps and for checking doubtful points in the accounts of private agencies other sources of information were sometimes necessary. The most important of these were: reports and files of the Department of Social Welfare of New Y o r k ' " T h e schedule used is similar to the schedule devised by Dr. Willfr.rd I. King for use in his study of Trends in Philanthropy, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc., New Y o r k , 1928.

IO

INTRODUCTION

State; accounts of the Federation for the Support of Jewish Philanthropic Societies of New York City and the Brooklyn Federation of Jewish Charities, for their member agencies; accounts of the Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of New York for its affiliated agencies; records of the Association of Day Nurseries for its member agencies ; records of various foundations in New York for their appropriations to agencies ; records of churches of their gifts to agencies; reports of several city mission societies showing their disbursements to social agencies. "The Assessed Valuation of Real Estate," published as a supplement to the City Record, gave valuations of land and buildings owned. Records of the Surrogate Courts were used occasionally to determine amounts of bequests. For public agencies the data were taken from reports of the various public departments of which the agencies formed a part : Department of Health; Department of Public Welfare; Board of Education; Department of Correction ; Department of Parks ; Office of the Borough Presidents of Manhattan, Brooklyn, the Bronx and Queens; the Bureau of Charitable Institutions of the Finance Department; Office of the Comptroller of New York City; the Board of Child Welfare; Parole Commission of the City of New York; the State Department of Correction; and the State Department of Education. The Budget for the City of New York, issued by the Board of Estimate and Apportionment each year, has been useful, as well as the Civil List and the City Record. Reliability of data Since a comprehensive financial picture of organized social work was sought in this study, when gaps occurred in the data used some items had to be estimated. The weight of such estimates in the data used for calculating gross income for three separated years in the period (the first, the last, and the excep-

INTRODUCTION

tional one near the middle) has been set forth in the tabulation below. In general the earlier years studied offered the greatest difficulty because of lack of records, but for the year 1918 the part of the income which had to be estimated formed a still higher proportion of total income because of the appearance of war-time activities, for which adequate accounting systems were not set up. For 1918 the estimated portion of gross income of all agencies amounted to about 22 per cent. For 1910, it was slightly less than 16 per cent for all agencies: highest in the Catholic group (19 per cent), and lowest in the Jewish group (11 per cent). As would be expected, records for the most recent years furnished the best data, necessitating the estimating of only 5.4 per cent in 1929. In this year also the data for the Catholic agencies were most deficient and those for the Jewish the most complete. PER CENT OF GROSS INCOME ESTIMATED

All agencies Catholic agencies Jewish agencies Protestant and nonsectarian agencies

1910

1918

1939

I S-7

21.8 9.6 8.4 26.6

5-4 7-9 3-9 5-2

19.1 II.2

iS-4

The extent of estimates used in the figures of current expenditures was not calculated, but it was considerably less than was necessary in the income data. In general the amount of money used for the maintenance of an agency's activities is the most available and accurate item in its financial records and sometimes provides a fairly safe basis for estimating total income.

II E X T E N T A N D AGE OF S O C I A L

SERVICES

Number of operating units in private social work H o w many separate organizations provide the extensive program of private social work in New Y o r k City? With the territory of organized social work defined, a count of the operating units composing it would seem to be an elementary procedure. It is, however, complicated by the fact that in some agencies the semiindependence in administration, financial support, and functioning of certain departments result in their being accepted as separate organizations. The popular statement that there are 1,200 agencies is based on counting some of these departments as separate agencies. For this study a count of the separate boards of directors seemed to be the most logical enumeration that could be devised. On this basis the private agencies included in the study for the whole twenty-year period totaled 1,054, of which 820 were operating in 1929. T h e two decades witnessed a net increase of 227 active agencies. Most of this growth took place in the years prior to 1924, during which the annual net additions to the number of agencies averaged about 16. In the year 1910 there were 593 agencies in existence; 454 of them continued to operate throughout the period, while 138 disappeared as separate organizations before 1929, and one agency was active intermittently during the period. In addition, 461 new agencies were organized; of these newcomers in social service, 96 had disappeared before 1929. Of the 1,054 agencies having separate boards of directors, 234 agencies, or 22 per cent, became disqualified for inclusion at some time during the twenty-year period. It has been possible to explain the disappearance, as separate agencies, of 185 of these 234 organizations. Eighty-five of them can be accounted for through actual demise; 55 merged with

EXTENT

AND

AGE

OF

SERVICES

I3

other private organizations included in the study; 4 were taken over by public administration; the nature of the services of 41 agencies changed: they were converted into commercial, parochial, civic, national, or unorganized agencies and so were ineligible for inclusion. Concerning 49 organizations, the fate of personnel, clientèle, and assets was not discovered. The operating units of organized social work show marked differences in length of life. T h e permanence of social services is illustrated by 87 agencies organized before 1870, and still in existence; 19 have reached the grade of centenarian. In contrast are the 96 agencies whose careers as separate organizations began and ended within the 20 years, 35 of which ceased to exist, representing that element of social work which is ephemeral or deliberately temporary and experimental. NUMBER OF PRIVATE SOCIAL AGENCIES IN OPERATION EACH YEAR N C l f B E R Of AGENCIES

NUMBER o r AGENCIES

IN OPERATION I9IO . . . • · · · 593 I9II . . . . . . . 6I7 YFAR

YEAR

I9I2

I92O . . . . . . I92I . . . . . . I922 . . . . . . I923 . . . . . . I924 . . . . . .

.

.

.

I9I3 · · · I9I4

.

.

.

.

.

.

64O

.

.

6S4

. . . .

I915 · · · . . . . . IÇI7 . . . I9I8 . . . • I9I9 . . . • I9l6

. .

67S

. . . 684 . . . 702 . . . 717 · • · 734 · · · 754

I925 . . . . . I926 . . . . . I927 . . . . . I928 . . . . . I929 . . . . .

IN OPERATION . 770 . 776 . 791 . 809 . 823

. . .

828

.

83O

. . . . . .

818 817 820

Agencies classified by type of service given Because of the many multiple-function organizations, it is difficult to arrange the agencies into a classification of service groups which is meaningful and avoids duplication. The tendency of such organizations as the family-service agencies, the settlements, the young people's associations, and the child-caring

14

EXTENT

AND

AGE

OF

SERVICES

agencies to maintain various types of service complicates a classification designed to be comprehensive and mutually exclusive. One family-service agency operates a home for the aged, as does a settlement; many settlements maintain day nurseries; others, housing activities, and, in fact, somewhere and at some time during the 20 years settlements have promoted most of the types of service included in organized social work. In the following list the various types of agencies have been classified by the convenTABLE ι A COUNT OF THE PRIVATE SOCIAL AGENCIES WHICH HAVE SEPARATE BOARDS OF DIRECTORS NUMBER OF AGENCIES FUNCTION

Total Operating

1910-1929 Total

Active

1929

Inactive

1929

I.054

820

234 76

Care of dependent children

174 101

98 8S

13

Settlements

107

85

22 8

D a y nurseries and kindergartens

.

.

.

Y o u n g people's associations H o m e s f o r the aged

79

71

63

61

2

Housing agencies

64

II

63

53 40

61

47

Protective and correctional agencies

.

.

Health agencies Recreational agencies Education and care of the handicapped

48

41

.

52

39

7 13

48

39

9

.

39

34

40

31

s 9

35

28

7

18

13

s

13 II

II

2

II

0

Composite agencies Family-service and relief agencies . bummer camps W o r k w i t h immigrants Agencies working w i t h the homeless Coordinating,

financing,

.

.

.

and information

services Agencies for seamen E m p l o y m e n t and vocational guidance Legal aid societies Miscellaneous agencies

15 14

.

9

4

4

3

5 I

25

IS

IO

EXTENT

AND

AGE

OF

SERVICES

IS

tional organization groups or by the agency's most conspicuous function, and the count is based on the number of separate boards of directors, as in the previous tabulation. Of the agencies active in 1929, d a y nurseries and kindergartens were most numerous, totaling 98. T h e care of dependent children accounted for 88 organizations. Other fields in which agencies have multiplied rapidly are: settlements and neighborhood houses, numbering 85 in 1929; young people's associations, 71 ; and homes for the aged, 61. Of the agencies which have ceased to operate or have merged with other societies, day nurseries and kindergartens are by far the most numerous. Settlements also were conspicuous for closing up during this period. Other functional fields in which an appreciable number of agencies have become inactive during the two decades are those of protective and correctional care, care of dependent children, work for the handicapped, health and housing services. Age of private social agencies operating, 1910-1929 When did New Y o r k ' s social work begin? A knowledge of the origin of private social work in N e w Y o r k City would lead the researcher into a study of the early years of the city's history. It is probable that the founders of some of the oldest agencies existing today were persons associated with societies of earlier origin which were either discontinued or merged with the activities of the new organizations, and that many agencies were begun and dissolved before the year 1910, the first year covered by this study. But the years of origin of the organizations included are known and they are classified by decades below. From 1830 to 1929 each successive decade contributed an increasing number of new agencies. T h e genesis of almost two-thirds of the agencies included in the study occurred in the twentieth century.

l6

EXTENT

AND

AGE

OF

SERVICES

PRIVATE SOCIAL AGENCIES OPERATING DURING I 9 I O - I 9 2 9 , CLASSIFIED ACCORDING TO FIRST YEAR OF OPERATION DECADE I75°-I759 I780-I789 I800-l809 I8IO-I8I9 I82O-I829

· . . . .

• . . . .

· . . . .

I83O-I839 . I84O-I849 . I8SO-I859 .

. . .

. . .

.

.

NUHBES OF AGENCIES . I

- · · . . . . . . . . . . . .

3 4 8 M 24

DECADE I86O-1869 187O-I879 I88O-I889 I89O-I899 I9OO-I9O9 I9IO-I9I9 I92O-I929 Total

.

NUMBEfi or AGENCIES . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . .

• · • . . . . . . •

.

•

·

·

·

34 47 87 145

1,054

Permanence and continuity of social services Although the majority of operating units composing the framework of organized social services in 1929 have appeared since the turn of the century, the backbone of private social work, as indicated by the volume of expenditures made and the property owned, is found in the minority of agencies founded thirty or more years ago. À classification of property held and expenditures made in 1929, based on years of origin of the agencies, discloses that less than two-fifths of the agencies active that year were organized before 1900 ; but that these agencies, the youngest of which was then thirty years old, had by 1929 become responsible for two-thirds of the current expenditures made that year for organized social work, and for the ownership of 70 per cent of the property held. More striking perhaps is the fact that the 127 agencies organized before 1880 formed only 17 per cent of the total number operating in 1929, but made that year 46 per cent of all expenditures, and owned 54 per cent of the property. Thus, through many decades of service and under several generations of leadership, these 127 agencies have acquired stability and wealth. Their current financial status indicates the stable and permanent core of social services in New Y o r k City.

EXTENT

AND

AGE

OF

SERVICES

I 7

TABLE 2 EXPENDITURES AND PROPERTY, CLASSIFIED

YEARS or ORIGIN

NUMBER OF AGENCIES «929

PER CENT OF ACENCIES

IN BY

I 9 2 9 , OF PRIVATE SOCIAL YEARS

OF

AVOUNT IN THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS Current Expenditures 1929

AGENCIES

ORIGIN

Property Owned 1929

PER CENT OF TOTAL Current Expenditures

Property Owned

I7SO-I759

I

O.I

33

442

O.I

0.2

I75O-I789

3

0.4

101

1.085

0.2

04

I7SO-I809

6

0.8

227

3.528

04

1.2

I75O-I819

10

M

637

13.289

1.2

4.6

I75O-I829

12

1.6

741

13.779

M

1750-1839

19

2.6

2,259

29.533

4-2

4-7 10.2

1750-1849

33

4·5

5.038

50,847

94

17-5

1750-1859

55

7-5

12.527

94,814

234

326

1750-1869

84

" S

17.494

126,857

32.6

43-6

1750-1879

127

17.4

24,644

156,822

45-9

53-9

1750-1889

188

25·7

30,341

181,932

56.6

62.5

1750-1899

272

37-2

35.607

204,604

66.4

70.3

1750-1909

396

54-2

40,944

231.858

76.3

79-7

1750-1919

560

76.6

47,470

254.311

88.5

87.4

1750-1929

731·

100.0

53.648

290,938

100.0

100.0

• Certain agencies having separate boards of directors combine in property ownership; hence the total here is 731 agencies rather than 820, the latter being the total indicated on a previous page as representing the number of agencies h a v i n g separate boards of directors.

Types of earliest social services The bond of common nationality seems to have motivated the founding of some of the oldest social agencies. Of those surveyed, the first to be established, St. Andrew's Society of the State of New York, was organized in the year 1756; its object was to promote the welfare of Scotch people in this country. It was followed in 1784 and in 1786 by organizations for British, and German immigrants, respectively, and in 1809 by a society to aid the French. In 1805 the New England Society in the City of New York was formed to benefit needy persons who had migrated to New York from New England. Other important present-day

l8

EXTENT

AND

AGE

OF

SERVICES

fields of social service are represented by seven private agencies formed before 1830, which devised methods for aiding seamen, orphans, the deaf and dumb and the aged, and for providing general community relief. Public social work T o construct a picture of public social work in New York City it is necessary to sift from the many functions of government a selected group of activities. The basis for this selection and a description of the services chosen are given in Chapter V. Public social work as presented by this survey comprises activities in eleven departments and one commission in the city government, three departments of the state, and two services of the Federal government.

III E X P E N D I T U R E S FOR A L L ORGANIZED SOCIAL WORK the boundaries of organized social work reasonably well established, the actual or approximate expenditures were obtained for each active year of the agencies contributing the services during the two decades.

WITH

Definition of functional

expenditures

Current functional expenditures have been defined as amounts paid out currently for the direct purposes of the agencies. They are made up of operating expenditures for every department of work. They include salaries, rent and general office expense; maintenance of institutions; relief to families, etc. They exclude amounts given to other agencies and relatively small amounts of current disbursements not related to any social function of the agencies. 1 Transfers of funds as payments for property purchased or repayments for money borrowed are, of course, not included. T h e value of the vast volume of volunteer services and of gifts in kind has not been estimated as part of the expenditure (nor of the income) of the agencies for the 20 years studied. Some of the unpaid services which readily come to mind are given by volunteer case workers and other home visitors, and by physicians and surgeons to clients of social agencies. Services rendered by certain sisterhoods are remunerated, if at all, by nominal salaries. The value of time given by committee members in connection with financial support and other services is a large item in the cost of social work, but, even with a very thorough investigation particularly adapted to the purpose, probably could not be estimated. In a large city, department stores, hotels and other business concerns often contribute to social work by providing floor space for money-raising or propaganda activities. Occa1

See Appendix II for tabulation of these items.

2 O

EXPENDITURES

FOR

ALL

SOCIAL

WORK

sionally the space for the office of an organization is provided free of rent. Many societies, especially homes for old people and children's institutions, receive gifts in the way of clothing, food, linen. (If the agency had set a money value on these latter items, they were of course included as a part both of contributions and of current expenditures.) The task of estimating for a current year the value of these services and material gifts in New York City is a staggering problem; for past years it is wholly impossible. Growth in current expenditures How much has this multitude of agencies spent to provide New York City with social services? The numerous and varied activities (exclusive of the care of the sick 2 ) which, through organized efforts, make up the social-work program of the city, incurred in 1929 a total bill of about 7 3 ^ million dollars. This substantial amount is about four times the expenditure made in 1910. This growth reflects not only the net increase in expenditures of agencies existing throughout the 20 years, but also the changes due to the beginning of some activities and the discontinuance of others. In observing the curves in the charts which follow, it should be remembered that they are governed by many factors: the current expenditures of an agency fluctuate somewhat from year to year because of changes in amounts of interest charges, of cost of money-raising, because of the substitution of gifts in kind for the purchase of supplies and of volunteer for paid services. The variations in expenditures must be ascribed to these factors as well as to actual changes in the bills for salaries of social workers and their clerical assistants, and food, shelter and other commodities provided to clients. The total expenditures, shown in Chart 1, form an upward trend throughout the period, but the rate of increase has not been * As given in hospitals and unattached clinics.

EXPENDITURES

FOR ALL S O C I A L W O R K

2 1

uniform during the 20 years. For the first six years of the period the expenditures grew at an average of 6 per cent a year. In the four years covered from 1917 to 1920, characterized by war activities and by a sharp rise in prices, annual increases in expenditures ranged from 10 to 28 per cent. This rise in the middle years reflects expenditures from private more than from public resources. During the last nine years of the period, the annual rate of increase in all expenditures averaged about 5.3 per cent; the rate of increase rose in each of the last four years ; it advanced from 5.0 per cent in 1926 to 6.5 in 1929. After 1922, the curve for private expenditures maintains an upward trend, while the curve for public expenditures is practically level until 1926, after which it rises sharply. The increase of expenditures in 1929 over 1922 was very nearly the same in public and in private funds: 42 per cent in public money, and 46 per cent in private resources. Public versus private funds used for social work The share of the burden borne by public and private funds in the financing of social work changed little during the two decades. The proportion of total expenditures supplied from public resources varied in normal years from 40 to 35 per cent, with a drop to from 31 to 33 per cent in those years when war emergencies brought expansion in private projects. A comparison of the first and last year of the period shows a change of less than V/2 per cent in the weight of public money in the total bill. The division of financial responsibility for social work between public and private resources has then remained fairly constant for the 20 years. Tax revenue is supplied for social services not only for publicly administered activities but also in the form of subsidies to private agencies. In 1929 social work under private auspices spent nearly 53 2A millions, of which about 8}6 millions came

22

EXPENDITURES

FOR

ALL

SOCIAL

WORK

from public resources as subsidies. Public agencies spent that year an additional 2 0 ^ millions on enterprises of their own. Thus the bill for social work in 1929 was paid by about 45 millions derived from private resources and nearly 28 Y millions from tax revenue. In 1 9 1 0 the private agencies spent nearly 14% millions, of which about 4 millions came from public resources. Public agencies maintained publicly administered activities at a cost of 3 ^ 0 million dollars. The total public bill for social work was then, in TABLE 3 P E R C E N T OF CURRENT E X P E N D I T U R E S MADE FROM P U B L I C AND P R I V A T E RESOURCES FOR ORGANIZED SOCIAL WORK ' YEAR

ALL RESOURCES

I9IO

100.0

40.0

60.0

I 9 I I

100.0

40.0

60.O

PUBLIC RESOURCES

PRIVATE RESOURCES

I9I2

100.0

39-7

60.3

I 9 I 3

100.0

39-8

60.2

I 9 I 4

100.0

40.2

59-8

I 9 I 5

100.0

3 9 1

60.9

T9l6

100.0

38.0

6Ï.O

I9I7

100.0

3 7 1

62.9

I 9 1 8

100.0

32-4

67.6

I 9 I 9

100.0

31-2

68.8

I92O

100.0

3 2 9

67.1

I92I

100.0

37-6

62.4

I922

100.0

39-2

60.8

I923

100.0

38.1

61.9

I924

100.0

37-2

62.8

I92S

100.0

36·4

63.6

I926

100.0

35-4

64.6

I927

100.0

36.4

63.6

I928

100.0

37-9

62.1

I929

100.0

38.6

6 1 4

« Derived from data in Table 4, p. 24.

EXPENDITURES

FOR A L L

SOCIAL

WORK

23

1910, 7 % million dollars, and private resources were drawn on to the extent of 1 0 ^ million dollars. The term "private resources" must not be confused with contributions. The bill for private social work is partially met by income on endowment funds and by payments received for services (earnings). Excluding these amounts from the total expenditures from private resources, a comparison may be made between the amount of voluntary contributions used for current expenditures in social work and tax revenue similarly applied. Employing the estimate of the former item made for 1929 and shown in the table on page 215, the comparison discloses that tax revenue furnished for the current support of social work considerably more than did voluntary giving: public funds used in 1929 aggregated 28^2 million dollars (Table 4), while private contributions spent that year amounted to nearly 2 2 ^ millions.8 With a population in New York City in 1929 aggregating approximately 6,834,563 persons, the expenditures for social work averaged per population unit $4.17 from tax revenue and $3.29 from contributions. Components of total-expenditure curve The most satisfactory understanding of the curve for total expenditures comes from a study of its components, which take the form of the various services rendered. The expenditure for each of the functions includes the sums spent directly for the service indicated ; and, when the service forms a part of the program of a multiple-function agency, a share of general administrative expense is added. A great deal has been said about "overhead" in social-work expense, but it is difficult to differentiate such an item from service expense. In this analysis, the * Total voluntary contributions received for both current and capital purposes, shown in Table 54, Chap. X X , p. 188, cannot be contrasted with a comparable figure of public funds since tax revenue used for capital (building) purposes of social work has not been estimated in this study.

Ili ISi CL,

si

(A w υ

¡A

Ρ O

c« f* M

VI « 00

Pi Ν TÍ- Ο Ι Λ Ο Ν " Μ Η 9 O S© t·» 1—.

rt O w ií N O » O VÛ OC O - C71 H

N O "t ο ο> Ν M 00 ^t- OO po ^ » o O v o M

M

M

M

M

00 t o t O ON * 0 O " « t o 00 o ί— Ν Ν Ν Ο Ρ» f i

Ci

fi

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t o O oo * í " 0 «t Ν Μ Μ ΓΟ

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^t

Tj-

« O H 00 « « P« fOOO 00 O »-. I - r o

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m c» ο rj· ν > θ Ν Ν Ν

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·