This article first appeared in the Moscow-Pullman Daily News "Nearby History" column on March 1, 2025.
By Hayley Noble, Executive Director
Its March, and that means its Women’s History Month.
Governments, whether federal, state, or local, have always fallen short of providing needed or desired public services. Nowadays, nonprofits provide what the government does not. But nonprofits have a very short history and are a relatively new structure within history and how services are provided. These services are nothing new and range from arts and culture opportunities, environmental conservation, education, and human services. Within human services, advocates have been housing and feeding people since civilizations began and helping the poor is one of the tenants of most religious doctrine. As other needs emerged, churches usually filled the gap in what governments offered and what people needed. As church power waned in the nineteenth century, society had to find a way to make up that difference. Before nonprofit organizations existed, taking on these needs fell to church organizations, civic clubs, and wealthy philanthropists.
The Progressive Era (1890s-1920s) was a time of much social and political reform, and a period when doing social good was on a lot of people’s minds. The majority of people doing this work were women, and this played into the very gendered notion that women are the ones caring for others, nurturing our communities, and generally not employed in middle and upper-class households. A well-known example of this is the creation of the Moscow Public Library and library board with women’s organizations. The Pleiades Club and Moscow Historical Club raised the requisite funding to build an Andrew Carnegie Library, which was completed in 1906. Additionally, the Eromatheon Club, Pleiades Club, Women’s Christian Temperance Union, Moscow Historical Club, and the UI Women’s Faculty Club joined forces to fundraise for a youth recreation center, noticing a lack of playgrounds in the area for children. Similar examples abound throughout history and the legacies of these women’s clubs are everywhere.
During World War II, a lot of this work took the form of broad fundraising on a global scale and volunteering with organizations like the Red Cross was how women got involved with the patriotic home-front war effort. Relief programs, hospital visits, and developing war bond drives fueled the collectivist aspect of the war that brought people together for “the greater good.”
When women started entering the workforce in larger numbers in the 1970s, that’s when nonprofit organizations started emerging. Women were still the primary people doing the community work, but instead of volunteering their time with civic clubs, they now got paid for the work they completed (albeit not much). This time was also one where the government implemented charitable donation tax laws making nonprofit donations tax exempt. Nonprofits and foundations took advantage of these laws, and 501 (c)(3) applications rose substantially in the 70s and 80s.
The 2000s continued to see increased use of nonprofits in part due to the rise of the internet. Online giving is now a major way organizations fundraise and a significant avenue for advocacy and activism surrounding community issues. The on-going work of nonprofits is everchanging, and as we saw with the COVID-19 pandemic, many organizations now offer remote work, lessening the overhead costs of a brick-and-mortar buildings, with employees who may not even work in the communities they serve. Challenges have always been apparent in this sector, but in recent years more and more roadblocks make doing nonprofit work difficult. As women’s clubs died out in the 1970s, and as churches and service/fraternal clubs currently struggle, the work of nonprofits absorb the jobs those groups filled. Because these organizations take on the work that the government won’t, they rely on funding and grants from all levels of the government. Most nonprofits survive on a combination of government grants, foundation giving, business sponsorships, and public donations. The nonprofit sector also continues to be pink-collar, with more than 70% of staff identifying as women, according to the Harvard Business Review. The overall societal undervaluing of pink-collar jobs plagues nonprofits as well, with low compensation, underfunding, burn-out, and the misconception that nonprofit work is not important, despite studies that show nonprofit work greatly increases our quality of life.
Locally, the Palouse is home to an astounding number of nonprofit organizations spanning a huge swath of subjects. Each of their stories is unique and their mission important. As higher education cuts DEI offices, as threats to public education loom, as trans people are targeted, as healthcare costs rise, as stewardship of our beloved public land is forgotten or sold off, as arts and humanities are belittled, as childcare options get slimmer, as demand for shelters grow, as history is weaponized to only tell “positive” stories – this work will fall to community nonprofit organizations. They cannot do this work alone and for free. Their funding sources are getting smaller. They are going to need public support more than ever. Show up to their events, give (even if its only $5) to fundraisers, and let legislators know that their choices impact our quality of life.
This brief history barely scratches the surface of nonprofits, their gendered nature, and the history of community organizations, but hopefully it provides some context as to our current situation. Community betterment has seemingly always fallen to women, and this women’s history month, thank your community nonprofits - especially the women staffing them, because this work matters, and our communities are better for it.
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