 In 1881, Daniel Coit Gilman, president of The Johns Hopkins University, helped to found the Charity Organization Society (COS) modeled on a similar agency in Boston.Its purpose was not to give relief per se but to combine and develop all the charitable resources in the community into a single agency.Service to the client might include a referral to another agency, church, or individual, and it usually included the concept of "friendly visiting" to give personal service in a client's home "to promote health, thrift, and to build up character."