Summary: The participation and role of women in charitable activities in the last decades of the 19th century and the period up to the wars of 1912–1918 is an important aspect of the modernization processes taking place in Bulgarian society. This was the time when civil organizations focused on helping certain groups in need were established, building on what was done during the Revival era and using foreign experience. There were still not many of them. They were only present in some urban centers and were still in the early stages of developing their organizational models and defining their goals. They also lacked sufficient funding. Female participation was strong, even overwhelming, both at the membership level and in the composition of the boards of trustees, in all of them, but especially in the societies that opened and maintained girls’ vocational schools, shelters for orphans and lonely elderly people, and resorts for poor children. These organizations made a significant contribution by raising public awareness of problems and social needs that official institutions either failed to address or overlooked. This forced them to start looking for relevant legal and practical solutions. In other words, they attempted to make up for the absence of a state.
Keywords: Charity, charity organizations, women
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