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A benefit society, fraternal benefit society, or fraternal benefit order 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. Often fitting this description include friendly society, or mutual aid organizations.
Many major financial institutions existing today, particularly some insurance companies, mutual savings banks, and , trace their origins back to benefit societies, as can many modern fraternal organizations and which are now viewed as being primarily social. The contemporary 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 broader community.
Examples of benefit societies include , Burial society, Friendly society, cooperatives, , self-help groups, landsmanshaftn, immigrant Hometown society, fraternal organizations built upon the models of such as the Freemasonry and the Oddfellows, some Coworking, and many others.
A benefit society can be characterized by
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 also often advanced social values related to self-reliance and moral character. Many fraternal organizations were initially established as mutual aid societies, as government at the state and local level provided more support to private aid societies than the reverse. In 1890, 112,000 American residents lived in private charitable institutions, while only 73,000 resided in public almshouses. Toward the latter part of the nineteenth century, public aid was reduced as it was seen as contributing to sloth and dependency. In contrast, private aid was judiciously provided with greater checks for reform and recovery. 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 ..."
Medieval were an early basis for many Western world benefit societies. A guild charter document from 1200 states:
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 , friendly society, and modern . 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." 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 Europe, mutual benefit societies continue to provide statutory and supplementary healthcare coverage, accounting for 25 percent of the insurance market.
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 essential part of many benefit societies. Still, they 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.
New technologies have provided yet more opportunities for humanity to support itself through mutual aid. Recent authors have described the networked affiliations that produce open source. In modern Asia, rotating credit associations organized within communities or workplaces were widespread through the early twentieth century and continue in our time. "Mutual aid societies Dialog from the H-Asia list, October 1995", Hartford-hwp.com. 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. In contrast, 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.
As Walter Bayse wrote in his history of fraternal insurance:
As indicated in this case, a fraternal benefit society is required to have a "common bond" among its members. Further, a society is required to specify in its laws the eligibility standards for membership, as well as classes of membership, the process of admission, and the rights and privileges of members."Modern Fraternal Code Section 6". American Fraternal Alliance
A fraternal benefit society operates under a lodge system if it has a supreme governing body and subordinate lodges into which members are elected, initiated, or admitted under its laws."Modern Fraternal Code Section 2". American Fraternal Alliance A society has a representative form of government if its supreme governing body is an assembly composed of delegates elected directly by members or intermediate assemblies, or a board similarly elected."Modern Fraternal Code Section 3". American Fraternal Alliance
Fraternal benefit societies provide insurance benefits to their members, including life insurance and endowments, annuities, disability, hospital, medical, and nursing benefits, and such other benefits authorized for life insurers that are not inconsistent with the general fraternal laws."Modern Fraternal Code Section 16". American Fraternal Alliance
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