Charity Organization Societies (COS)

Privately administered and philanthropically funded organizations that were the essential forerunners of modern social services agencies. The first COS was established in London in 1869. The first American COS was in Buffalo, New York, in 1877 and was duplicated in most larger eastern cities soon thereafter. COSs were staffed by volunteer workers who provided direct services to clients and coordinated community efforts to deal with social problems. As more COS workers, sometimes known as friendly visitors, gradually became professionalized, they were called social workers. By the 1930s, as government assumed more responsibility for people's economic and social security, the original COS goal was reached; thus, most of the organizations became or merged with family agencies united in the Family Service Association of America, which was later named the Family Service America (FSA).