At the end of the 19th century the first socially oriented enterprises began to emerge in the United States. So, in addition to volunteer charity events to collect donations, seasonal charity fairs of handmade goods, support systems for impoverished immigrants, free evening schools for adults and many other things began to develop actively. Such social enterprises at that time had no legal basis and no government support, and were funded solely by wealthy Americans.
In 1884 in Chicago at the initiative of two wealthy American women Jane Addams and Gates Starr opens the first “Hull House” – a house providing social support for immigrants and their children. An evening school and a number of other specialized educational courses were organized at Hull House. In addition, a system of free meals was created. Later the “Hull house” received the use of several more premises and eventually grew into a whole network of social support homes.
Many of the women who “graduated” from this institution went on to become prominent figures in the city in such socially directed fields as education, lawmaking, and the struggle for women’s rights.
In 1895, Edgar J. Helms initiated the first charity store in Boston to collect, reconstruct, and resell household goods, creating jobs for impoverished immigrants.
The active support of the state contributed to the development of non-profit organizations. Since the 1960s, for example, as part of the Great Society program, the federal government has invested billions of dollars in programs aimed at eradicating poverty and racial discrimination, health care, education, environmental protection, and solving transportation problems.
In response to the downturn in the U.S. economy in the 1970s and 1980s, federal funding for NPOs declined sharply, and social welfare and support were cut significantly. By some accounts, nonprofits lost about $38 billion. Then most nonprofits turned to the form of social enterprise. Between 1977 and 1989, about 40 percent of the growth in income for social service organizations came from for-profit, fee-for-service activities.
The activities of social enterprises are gradually becoming an integral part of the country’s social and cultural life. It is found that it is capable of solving those problems that neither commercial private, nor public, nor the third sector of the economy can solve.
Today there are 1.4 million third sector organizations registered in the U.S. Internal Revenue Service database, with three major clusters standing out among them:
- 654,000 charities
- 354,000 religious groups and organizations
- 140,000 social organizations and businesses.