Benefit society

A benefit society, fraternal benefit society, fraternal benefit order, friendly society, or mutual aid organization is a voluntary association formed to provide mutual aid, benefit, for instance insurance for relief from sundry difficulties. Such organizations may be formally organized with charters and established customs or may arise ad hoc to meet the unique needs of a particular time and place.

Contents

• History of benefit societies
• Current benefit societies
• North America
• History
• Structure
• 21st century
• List of benefit societies
• See also
• Notes
• References

Many major financial institutions existing today, particularly some insurance companies, mutual savings banks, and credit unions, trace their origins back to benefit societies, as can many modern fraternal organizations and fraternal orders which are now viewed as being primarily social. The modern legal system essentially requires all such organizations of appreciable size to incorporate one of these forms or another to continue to exist on an ongoing basis.

Benefit societies may be organized around a shared ethnic background, religion, occupation, geographical region, or other basis. Benefits may include financial security or assistance for education, unemployment, birth of a baby, sickness and medical expenses, retirement, and funerals. Often benefit societies provide a social or educational framework for members and their families to support each other and contribute to the wider community.

Examples of benefit societies include trade unions, burial societies, friendly societies, cooperatives, credit unions, self-help groups, landsmanshaftn, immigrant hometown societies, fraternal organizations built upon the models of fraternal orders such as the Freemasons and the Oddfellows, some coworking communities, and many others.

A benefit society can be characterized by

• members having equivalent opportunity for a say in the organization
• members having potentially equivalent benefits
• aid going to those in need (strong helping the weak)
• a collection fund for payment of benefits
• educating others about a group's interest
• preserving cultural traditions
• mutual deference

History of benefit societies

Examples of benefit societies can be found throughout history, including among secret societies of the Tang Dynasty in China and African-Americans during the post-revolutionary years, such as those who organized the Free African Society of Philadedelphia.

Philadelphia's first black organization, the Free African Society was established in 1787 by two African American former slaves, Absalom Jones and Richard Allen. These two men were Methodist converts from evangelical masters, who permitted these men to purchase their freedom in the early 1780s. ^[1]

Mutual aid was a foundation of social welfare in the United States until the early 20th Century. Early societies not only shared material resources but often advanced social values related to self-reliance and moral character. Many fraternal organizations were first organized as mutual aid societies when government at the state and local level supplemented private aid societies more than the converse of this being true. In 1890, 112,000 American residents lived in private charitable institutions, while only 73,000 resided in public almshouses. Towards the latter part of the nineteenth century, public aid was reduced as it was seen as contributing to sloth and dependency while private aid was judiciously provided with greater checks for reform and recovery. ^[2] Writing in 1890, Jacob Riis, commenting on the extent of private charity, says: "New York is, I firmly believe, the most charitable city in the world. Nowhere is there so eager a readiness to help ..." ^[3]

Medieval guilds were an early basis for many Western benefit societies. A guild charter document from 1200 states:

"To become a gildsman,..it was necessary to pay certain initiation fees,..(and to take) an oath of fealty to the fraternity, swearing to observe its laws, to uphold its privileges, not to divulge its counsels, to obey its officers, and not to aid any non-gildsman under cover of the newly-acquired 'freedom.'" (C Gross, The Gild Merchant, (1927))

This charter shows the importance of 'brotherhood', and the principles of discipline, conviviality, and benevolence. The structure of fraternity in the guild forms the basis for orders such as Freemasonry and other fraternal orders, friendly societies and modern trade unions. Joining such an organization a member gained the 'freedom' of the craft and the exclusive benefits that the organization could confer on members.

Historically, benefit societies have emphasized the importance of social discipline, in conforming to the rules of the organization and society, and acting in a morally uplifting and ethical manner. Conviviality and benevolence are important principles. Fraternal societies differed from public and private hierarchical aid organizations by employing an "ethical principle of reciprocity." ^[4] This removed the stigma of charity.

During the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries benefit societies in the form of friendly societies and trade unions were essential in providing social assistance for sickness and unemployment, and improving social conditions for a large part of the working population. With the introduction in the early twentieth century of state social welfare programs, and industrial, health and welfare regulation, the influence and membership of benefit societies have declined in importance but remain significant. Nevertheless, in many countries, for example in Europe, mutual benefit societies continue to provide statutory and supplementary healthcare coverage.^{[ citation needed ]}

Peter Kropotkin posited early in the 20th century that mutual aid affiliations predate human culture and are as much a factor in evolution as is the "survival of the fittest" concept.

Oaths, secret signs and knowledge, and regalia were historically an important part of many benefit societies but declined in use in most benefit societies during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Conversely, signs and ceremonies have become the mainstay of fraternal societies that no longer focus as much on mutual aid.

Current benefit societies

Many of the features of benefit organizations today have been assimilated into organizations that rely on the corporate and political structures of our time. Insurance companies, religious charities, credit unions, and democratic governments now perform many of the same functions that were once the purview of ethnically- or culturally-affiliated mutual benefit associations.

New technologies have provided yet more new opportunities for humanity to support itself through mutual aid. Recent authors have described the networked affiliations that produce collaborative projects. ^{[ citation needed ]} In modern Asia rotating credit associations organized within communities or workplaces were widespread through the early twentieth century and continue in our time. ^[5] Habitat for Humanity in the United States is a leading example of shared credit and labor pooled to help low-income people afford adequate housing.

In post-disaster reactions, formal benefit societies of our time often lend aid to others outside their immediate membership, while ad hoc benefit associations form among neighbors or refugees, generally lasting only as long as the emergency exists. Ad hoc mutual aid associations have been seen organized among strangers facing shared challenges in such disparate settings as the Woodstock Music and Arts Festival in New York in 1969, during the Beijing Tiananmen Square protests of 1989, for neighborhood defense during the Los Angeles Riots of 1992, and work of the organization Common Ground Collective which formed in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina in 2005. The Rainbow Family organizes gatherings in National Forests of the United States each year around age-old models of ad hoc mutual aid.

North America

Benefit societies, fraternal benefit societies or "fraternals" are not-for-profit membership organizations that have a representative form of government and are organized through a lodge system, commonly represented in the societies of North America. ^[6] to carry out social, intellectual, educational, charitable, benevolent, moral, fraternal, patriotic or religious purposes. "Fraternals" provide members with life insurance and other financial protection benefits following state law and use the earnings to fund member-supported community activities. Fraternals are chartered by state law and have been exempt from income tax under Section 501(c)(8) ^[7] of the United States Tax Code since 1909.

List of benefit societies

See also

• Fraternity
• Fraternal order
• Friendly society
• Health care sharing ministry

Notes

Related Research Articles

A friendly society is a mutual association for the purposes of insurance, pensions, savings or cooperative banking. It is a mutual organization or benefit society composed of a body of people who join together for a common financial or social purpose. Before modern insurance and the welfare state, friendly societies provided financial and social services to individuals, often according to their religious, political, or trade affiliations. These societies are still widespread in many parts of the developing world, where they are referred to as ROSCAs, ASCAs, burial societies, chit funds, etc.

The Independent Order of Rechabites (IOR), also known as the Sons and Daughters of Rechab, is a fraternal organisation and friendly society founded in England in 1835 as part of the wider temperance movement to promote total abstinence from alcoholic beverages. The Order has been active in Australia from 1843, promoting temperance and as a benefit society. A branch was established in the United States in 1842, and also flourished for a time. In the United Kingdom, the Order trades under the name of Healthy Investment, being well connected in upper society and involved in financial matters; there it gradually transformed into a financial institution which promotes teetotalism.

The International Workers Order (IWO) was an insurance, mutual benefit and fraternal organization founded in 1930 and disbanded in 1954 as the result of legal action undertaken by the state of New York in 1951 on the grounds that the organization was too closely linked to the Communist Party. At its height in the years immediately following World War II, the IWO reached nearly 200,000 members and provided low-cost health and life insurance, medical and dental clinics, and supported foreign-language newspapers, cultural and educational activities. The organization also operated a summer camp and cemeteries for its members.

Odd Fellows is an international fraternity consisting of lodges first documented in 1730 in London. The first known lodge was called Loyal Aristarcus Lodge No. 9, suggesting there were earlier ones in the 18th century. Notwithstanding, convivial meetings were held "in much revelry and, often as not, the calling of the Watch to restore order." Names of several British pubs today suggest past Odd Fellows affiliations. In the mid-18th century, following the Jacobite risings, the fraternity split into the rivaling Order of Patriotic Oddfellows in southern England, favouring William III of England, and the Ancient Order of Oddfellows in northern England and Scotland, favouring the House of Stuart.

The Independent Order of Oddfellows Manchester Unity Friendly Society Limited, also called the Manchester Unity of Oddfellows; trading as The Oddfellows, is a fraternal order founded in Manchester in 1810.

A 501(c) organization is a nonprofit organization in the federal law of the United States according to Internal Revenue Code. Such organizations are exempt from some federal income taxes. Sections 503 through 505 set out the requirements for obtaining such exemptions. Many states refer to Section 501(c) for definitions of organizations exempt from state taxation as well. 501(c) organizations can receive unlimited contributions from individuals, corporations, and unions.

The Sons of Temperance was and is a brotherhood of men who promoted the temperance movement and mutual support. The organization was started in New York City in 1842.

A fraternal order is a voluntary membership group organised as an order, with an initiation ritual and traits alluding to religious, chivalric or pseudo-chivalric orders, guilds, or secret societies. Fraternal orders typically have secular purposes, serving as social clubs, cultural organizations and providing a form of social welfare through reciprocal aid or charitable work. Many friendly societies, benefit societies and mutual organisations take the form of a fraternal order.

The International Order of Twelve Knights and Daughters of Tabor is an international co-ed African American fraternal organization best known as the sponsor of the Taborian Hospital.

Mutual aid is an organizational model where voluntary, collaborative exchanges of resources and services for common benefit take place amongst community members to overcome social, economic, and political barriers to meeting common needs. This can include physical resources like food, clothing, or medicine, as well as services like breakfast programs or education. These groups are often built for the daily needs of their communities, but mutual aid groups are also found throughout relief efforts, such as in natural disasters or pandemics like COVID-19.

A fraternity or fraternal organization is an organization, society, club or fraternal order traditionally of men but also women associated together for various religious or secular aims. Fraternity in the Western concept developed in the Christian context, notably with the religious orders in the Catholic Church during the Middle Ages. The concept was eventually further extended with medieval confraternities and guilds. In the early modern era, these were followed by fraternal orders such as Freemasons, the Rosicrucian Society of England, and Odd Fellows, along with gentlemen's clubs, student fraternities, and fraternal service organizations. Members are occasionally referred to as a brother or – usually in a religious context – frater or friar.

Welfare in France includes all systems whose purpose is to protect people against the financial consequences of social risks.

The Ancient Order of United Workmen (AOUW) was a fraternal organization in the United States and Canada, providing mutual social and financial support after the American Civil War. It was the first of the "fraternal benefit societies", organizations that would offer insurance as well as sickness, accident, death and burial policies. It dissolved in 1952.

Shepherds Friendly Society is a UK friendly society and one of the oldest mutual insurers in the world.

The American Fraternal Alliance (AFA) is an umbrella group of fraternal orders in the United States. It was founded as the National Fraternal Congress of America in 1913, in Chicago/ It adopted its current name in 2011.

The Golden Age of Fraternalism is a term referring to a period when membership in the fraternal societies in the United States grew at a very rapid pace in the latter third of the 19th century and continuing into the first part of the 20th. At its peak, it was suggested that as much as 40% of the adult male population held membership in at least one fraternal order.

References

• Barber, Benjamin (2002) "Mutual Aid Society on a Grand Scale"a
• Beito, David T. (2000), From Mutual Aid to the Welfare State: Fraternal Societies and Social Services, 1890-1967, University of North Carolina Press, ISBN   978-0807825310
• Beito, David T. (2000) From Mutual Aid to Welfare State: How Fraternal Societies Fought Poverty and Taught Character
• Beito, David T.; Gordon, Peter; Tabarrok, Alexander eds. (2002) The Voluntary City: Choice, Community, and Civil Society
• Kropotkin, Peter (1902) Mutual Aid: A Factor of Evolution
• Olasky, Marvin (1994), The Tragedy of American Compassion, Crossway Books, ISBN   978-0891078630