Charity

For the whole of the post war period there has been a long running debate over the role of the state in society and what level of support and/or intervention it should offer. In the Soviet bloc countries you could argue that their incredibly pervasive level of state influence was dictated to the people rather than invited, but in the Western World the people have in variously voted for more or less state control, or bigger or smaller government, dependant on how shoddy a job the previous system did. This has meant that at times there has been more public money to support the vulnerable and needy than at others, which is why charities play such an important role in modern society.

Although many charities do rely on some government funding to provide their services, the vast majority of them are set up to exist without this public money and are able to absorb and adapt to any changing of financing from the public sector. Some may have to scale back services considerably, but they cannot be forced to close by the government as they are not their sole revenue stream.
This flexibility allows charities to maintain a level of continuity in their work regardless of the philanthropic wishes or abilities of the current government, something which is vital in almost all areas of community based charity work. Charities are also allowed to tout for financial, material and manpower support from the general public, something which government agencies cannot.