The Role of Voluntary Agencies in Meeting the Health Needs of Americans

Voluntary agencies—nongovernmental, self- governing organizations financed primarily by contributions from the public—have become a major mechanism for private collective action in the United States. As a result of a re markable surge in the social consciousness of the American people and a benevolent government tax policy on charitable contributions, the growth of these agencies in the past two decades has been spectacular. Over 100,000 voluntary health and welfare agencies now receive more than $1.5 billion annually in philanthropic contributions to provide a broad spectrum of services to millions of beneficiaries. This growth and the increasing tempo of competition among the agencies for funds and programs, however, have raised perplexing and troublesome questions. These concern the need for co operative action among voluntary agencies in community planning, agency ability to adapt to the rapid increase in government health and welfare programs, the amount and accuracy of information supplied by the agencies on their use of contributions, the adequacy of agency organizational and administrative structure to carry out new and changing respon sibilities, and the divisive impact of the strident debate over fund-raising methods.