Josephine Shaw Lowell

And I say New York because other cities had charity organization societies, but the New York City branch was widely considered the most powerful.

And it was founded in the 1880s by a woman named Josephine Shaw Lowell, who was a wealthy reformer from the Boston area.

And she believed that the country's charities had become too scattered and too emotional.

And she wanted something different, something centralized, professional, and organized.