In the course of preparing my book on Protestant women missionaries in the American Southwest “A Contest of Faiths: Missionary Women and Pluralism in the American Southwest” forthcoming from Cornell University Press, Spring 1995, my attention was drawn to the patterns of philanthropy that were developed to support mission efforts. In the Presbyterian Church, which has been the focus of my study, the Woman’s Board of Home Missions grew from representing, in 1870, 45 local mission societies which raised $1,200 to, in 1900, boasting of 130,000 members in over 1,000 local societies which raised $350,000 annually. The women of the Presbyterian Church were not unique; following the Civil War there was a proliferation of new denominational Protestant women’s organizations to support women’s missionary work at home and abroad. By 1900 there were 41 American Woman’s Boards each supporting the work of hundreds of women. This movement had the effect of extending women’s influence both within and beyond the church. It reinvigorated American Protestantism by bringing new members and additional dollars into the churches mid served as a vehicle by which women could promote larger soda] policies. One unforeseen, yet beneficial, consequence of this movement was that it channeled a spirit of female entrepreneurship, for which there were few other legitimate outlets, into the establishment of a vibrant non—profit social service sector.