Finding aid for the Community Chest and Welfare Federation of Los Angeles Area records
0461
Finding aid prepared by Sue Luftschein
USC Libraries Special Collections
Doheny Memorial Library 206
3550 Trousdale Parkway
Los Angeles, California, 90089-0189
213-740-5900
specol@usc.edu
2011 May
Title: Community Chest and Welfare Federation of Los Angeles Area records
Collection number: 0461
Contributing Institution:
USC Libraries Special Collections
Language of Material:
English
Physical Description:
0.84 Linear feet
2 boxes
Date (inclusive): 1929-1962
Abstract: The Community Chest and Welfare Federation of Los Angeles Area records contains reports (both annual and research), minutes,
by-laws, and other administrative materials that document the higher level functions of these non-profit organizations during
formative phases of their history, the late 1920s through the early 1960s.
creator:
Community Chest of Los Angeles Area.
creator:
Los Angeles Community Chest.
creator:
Los Angeles Community Welfare Federation.
creator:
Welfare Federation of Los Angeles Area.
Conditions Governing Access
Advance notice required for access.
Conditions Governing Use
The use of archival materials for on-site research does not constitute permission from the California Social Welfare Archives
to publish them. Copyright has not been assigned to the California Social Welfare Archives, and the researcher is instructed
to obtain permission from the copyright holder to quote from or publish manuscripts in the CSWA's collections.
Historical note
The Welfare Federation of Los Angeles Area, sometimes referred to as the Los Angeles Community Federation, was incorporated
on March 12, 1924, to serve "as a central bureau through which all funds for charity, relief, and welfare work may be solicited,
collected, held and disbursed." Shortly thereafter, on May 29th, 1924, the Los Angeles Community Chest was incorporated, with
the backing of the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce, after two years of conflict among leaders of private social service agencies,
many of whom feared that the future of welfare services in the region was likely to be controlled, through the Chest, by Los
Angeles' business community. The first 27 volunteer directors of the board of the Welfare Federation were philanthropic leading
citizens, with some experience in the administration of charitable institutions, who stepped forward at a critical moment
when other leadership had failed. On January 2nd, 1925, with an encouraging fund of $2.5 million raised in the Chest's first
campaign, the Welfare Federation began operations.
Membership in the Federation was open to all agencies licensed by the Social Services Commission to solicit funds for charitable
purposes in Los Angeles. The Federation was anxious to have representation from as many agencies as possible so as to achieve
some consensus of opinion on topics of general concern to the social work community. In the first year after its incorporation
the Federation's research department discovered over one hundred privately supported charities in Los Angeles whose existence
had previously been unknown to any official body. These small agencies were, in effect, answerable to no one so long as they
refrained from public fund-raising. Only those agencies who agreed to forego their own individual fund-raising efforts, and
to open their operations to Federation inspection and direction, were eligible to share in the money raised in Community Chest
campaigns. Many large agencies, and particularly those with national and international connections, such as the Red Cross,
the Salvation Army, and the Y.M.C.A. were unwilling to become Chest agencies on such terms and continued with their own year-round
charitable appeals. The Federation attempted to reach agreement with fund-raising agencies so that their activities did not
coincide with the Chest's annual campaigns. Although it was highly influential, the Federation had no legal authority to prevent
individual fund-raisers from operating in a manner likely to detract from the effectiveness of the Community Chest.
Scope and Content
The Community Chest and Welfare Federation of Los Angeles Area records contains reports (both annual and research), minutes,
by-laws, and other administrative materials that document the higher level functions of these non-profit organizations during
formative phases of their history, the late 1920s through the early 1960s. The records provide a wide overview of the activities
of the board of governors, some of the executive committees (including the Cooperative Committee and the Public Relations
committee), and administrative staff.
Included in the collection are early statistical analyses and annual reports reflecting the development of the Federation's
budgeting and allocation procedures, documentation of chest campaigns, and interpretive materials produced during the Depression,
when Angelenos frequently expected the Federation to provide more emergency relief than was afforded by the often meager proceeds
from Chest campaigns in those years. The collection also contains much material on personnel practices, job and service classifications,
and pay plans for the Federation's member agencies. Among problems that troubled the Federation from its beginnings was the
fact that many working Angelenos contributed to Chest campaigns in metropolitan areas of the city but lived in outlying suburbs
where no Chest agencies provided services. The Federation therefore gave early consideration to questions of expansion or
decentralization, and the collection records the beginning of joint budgeting with neighboring community chests. Minutes of
some of the Federation's committees are to be found in the collection, including those of the Chest-Agency Co-Operation Committee
which worked to reorganize the Federation during the population influx of the 1950's.
Also present are materials reflecting the work of the Federation's research department as it produced maps, bibliographies,
and reading lists for inquiring citizens, began a research library, and made studies of unmet service needs in the region.
Of particular interest is a 1925 report on "Social Work With Families in Los Angeles", made by Carl de Schweinitz and Ruth
Hill for the Welfare Federation under the direction of the American Association for Family Social Work. Also noteworthy is
the candid 1951 report from a Citizens' Study Committee on recommended changes in the management and functions of the Federation.
Of curiosity interest are some long lists of harmless-sounding groups and associations supplied to Los Angeles social welfare
agencies in 1955 by the House Un-American Activities Committee, with a stern warning that these groups be scrupulously avoided
as "subversive".
Preferred Citation
[Box/folder# or item name], Community Chest and Welfare Federation of Los Angeles Area records, Collection no. 0461, California
Social Welfare Archives, Special Collections, USC Libraries, University of Southern California
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Community Chest of Los Angeles Area. -- Archives
Los Angeles Community Welfare Federation. -- Archives
Welfare Federation of Los Angeles Area. -- Archives
Annual reports
Bylaws (administrative records)
Correspondence
Los Angeles (Calif.)--Social conditions--Archival resources
Minutes
Nonprofit organizations--California--Los Angeles--History--Archival resources
Reports
Social service--California--Los Angeles--History--Archival resources
Box 1, Folder 1
Social Work with Families in Los Angeles, California, by Karl deSchewinitz and Ruth Hill
1925
Box 1, Folder 2
Statistical Analysis, Community Welfare Federation, Los Angeles, California, Research Division
1926-1927
Box 1, Folder 3
Los Angeles Community Welfare Federation resources for minorities
1926-1927
Box 1, Folder 4
Community Welfare Federation annual report
1927
Box 1, Folder 5
Annual Report of the Community Welfare Federation operating the Los Angeles Community Chest
1928
Box 1, Folder 6
Speech of Executive Director of New York Association of Community Chests to Los Angeles Welfare Federation
1929
Box 1, Folder 7
Community Chest brochures
1932, 1938
Box 1, Folder 8
Community Chest public relations
1935-1936
Box 1, Folder 9
"Social Service as Administered by Public and Private Agencies"
1935
Box 1, Folder 10
Administrative policy questions, budget matters
1941-1942
Box 1, Folder 11
Job classification and pay plan
1946
Box 1, Folder 12
Pay plans--Administration
1949-1963
Box 1, Folder 13
Summary of major program findings and conclusions, Welfare Federation
1951
Box 1, Folder 14
Budgetting process
1951-1952
Box 1, Folder 15
Citizen's Study Committee, budget procedures, executive classification
1951-1957
Box 2, Folder 1
Welfare Federation minutes, reports, correspondence, by-laws, budget
1952-1960
Box 2, Folder 2
"Code of the Chest and Council Movement"
1953
Box 2, Folder 3
Instructions to member agencies, policies and procedures--budget admission (n.b. subversive groups)
1954-1962
Box 2, Folder 4
Chest-Agency Cooperation Committee, Advisory Committee of Agency Executives
1954-1955
Box 2, Folder 5
Chest-Agency Cooperation Committee, Advisory Committee of Agency Executives
1955
Box 2, Folder 6
Community Chest campaigns, Agency Participation meetings, other agency committee meetings
1956-1959
Box 2, Folder 7
"Better Management Better Service"
1959
Box 2, Folder 8
Community Chest of LA classification of services
1962
Box 2, Folder 9
Board of Governors, Agency executives
1962
Box 2, Folder 10
"Budget Manual for Member Agencies"
1962-1963
Box 2, Folder 11
"Appendix C for Attitudes and Opinions of Selected Groups Toward Giving to Organized Charities"
undated
