Edward Albert Filene (September 3, 1860, Salem, Massachusetts - September 26, 1937, Paris, France) was an American businessman, social entrepreneur and philanthropist. Events 36 BC - In the Battle of Naulochus, Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa, Admiral of Octavian, defeats Sextus Pompeius Year 1860 ( MDCCLX) was a Leap year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian Calendar (or a Leap year starting Salem is a city in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. Events 46 BC - Julius Caesar dedicates a Year 1937 ( MCMXXXVII) was a Common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Paris (ˈpærɨs in English; in French) is the Capital of France and the country's largest city This article is about the country For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic France topics. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the Social entrepreneurship is the work of a social entrepreneur. Philanthropy is the act of donating money goods services time and/or effort to support a socially beneficial cause with a defined objective and with no financial or material He is best known for building the Filene's department store chain, and for his decisive role in pioneering credit unions across the United States. Filene's was a Boston -based chain of Department stores owned by Federated Department Stores (1929-1988 2005-2006 and May Department A credit union is a Cooperative Financial institution that is owned and controlled by its members and operated for the purpose of promoting thrift providing credit
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Early life
Edward was one of 5 children of William Filene and Clara Ballin. William Filene was a German Jewish immigrant from Posen, Prussia, who immigrated to the US in 1848. Prussia ( Latin: Borussia, Prutenia; Prūsija Prūsija Prusy Old Prussian: Prūsa) was most recently a historic state “A peddler, chiefly of women’s apparel” he built up a company composed of several small retail shops and in 1881, founded a department store in Boston. [1]
At the age of 5 Edward was injured in the fall that left him with a permanent limp. After attending high school in Lynn, Massachusetts, Edward passed his entrance exams for Harvard University but gave up his educational ambitions to take over the family business in 1890 when his father became seriously ill. The Commonwealth of Massachusetts ( is a state located in the New England region of the northeastern United States. Together with his younger brother Abraham Lincoln Filene, he built the Boston firm of William Filene's Sons, later known as Filene's into a great retail success story. Abraham Lincoln Filene ( April 5, 1865 - August 27, 1957) was an American businessman social entrepreneur, and Philanthropist Filene's was a Boston -based chain of Department stores owned by Federated Department Stores (1929-1988 2005-2006 and May Department
Social entrepreneurship
Edward Filene drew inspiration from the scientific management ideas of Frederick Taylor. Filene's was a Boston -based chain of Department stores owned by Federated Department Stores (1929-1988 2005-2006 and May Department Frederick Taylor or Fred Taylor may refer to the following notable people Fred Taylor (American football (born 1976 American NFL running back While Taylor is best known for the use of scientific methods to increase workplace efficiency, he was also interested in how to improve the quality of work for employees. Filene is credited with refining a number of under-utilized and some cases novel retailing techniques. Filene’s Department Store offered complete and honest descriptions of its merchandise and offered to give customers their "money back if not satisfied".
Although Filene's Basement was not the first ‘bargain basement’ in the United States, the retail design and later the ‘automatic mark-downs’ generated excitement and proved very profitable. Filene's Basement, also called The Basement, is a Massachusetts -based chain of Department stores owned by Retail Ventures Inc Filene personally supervised construction of the first basement in Boston. An advocate of consumer education, he introduced color matching tools in the clothing departments of his stores.
Filene was also a pioneer in employee relations. He instituted a profit sharing program, a minimum wage for women, a 40 hour work week, health clinics and paid vacations. Profit sharing, when used as a special term refers to various Incentive plans introduced by Businesses that provide direct or indirect payments to Employees A minimum wage is the lowest hourly daily or monthly Wage that employers may legally pay to employees or workers He also played an important role in encouraging the Filene Cooperative Association: ‘perhaps the earliest American company union’. Through this channel he engaged constructively with his employees in collective bargaining and arbitration processes. [2]
He formed a savings and loan association for employees which later became the Filene Employee’s Credit Union.
Philanthropy
Filene “played a pivotal role in passing America’s first Workmen’s Compensation Law in 1911” and was a founder of the Boston, American and international chambers of commerce. A chamber of commerce (also referred to in some circles as a board of trade) is a form of Business network. The International Chamber of Commerce is a non-profit private international organization that works to promote and support global trade and Globalization. [3]
Another important initiative was the ‘Boston-1915’, a multi-sector, private-public sector partnership that organized leaders and committees to take leadership roles in solving key urban problems, including slums, public health, crime and local governance. [4]
Living in the era of Henry Ford, Filene believed that the problems of mass production had essentially been solved. Henry Ford ( July 30, 1863 &ndash April 7, 1947) was the American founder of the Ford Motor Company and father of But he feared that production by itself would not ensure prosperity; if ordinary workers could not afford to continue to finance this expansion with their purchasing power, the result would be either reduced production or worse, increasing social inequality leading to violence or dictatorship. He saw credit unions as an important part of the answer.
In a speech in California in 1936 he summed up his view.
“What is needed is that the American masses shall learn the art of constructive self-government in this machine age – in this age in which life is no longer organized on a small community pattern but in which all Americans are more or less dependent upon what all other Americans are doing. ”[5]
Filene also believed in the intrinsic capability of ordinary people to improve their own condition, given “good information and the discipline to use it effectively. ” [6] This faith led not only to his involvement with credit unions, but to a wider interest in research into critical social and economic trends. This research, if clearly explained to the public, would advance the causes of both democracy and peace. These views led him to found the Twentieth Century Fund in 1919 (since renamed The Century Foundation).
Lifestyle
Filene’s lifestyle and motivation for his philanthropic work was described by Bergengren, who knew him for much of his adult life.
“He had a great distaste for material things, lived very modestly, never owned an automobile and was scrupulously careful about small expenditures, all because he felt that he was a trustee for the money that he had earned and that the trustee-ship involved turning his accumulations into the greatest possible disinterested public service. ”[7]
Filene began traveling in the 1880s, purchasing merchandise, studying business practices, and increasingly examining how different societies were organized and the problems they faced. He corresponded with a wide range of leaders from Woodrow Wilson and Georges Clemenceau to Mahatma Gandhi and Vladimir Lenin. Thomas Woodrow Wilson (December 28 1856—February 3 1924 was the twenty-eighth President of the United States. Georges Benjamin Clemenceau ( Mouilleron-en-Pareds ( Vendée) 28 September 1841 24 November 1929 was a French statesman physician and Journalist Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi ( Gujarati: મોહનદાસ કરમચંદ ગાંધી moɦən̪d̪äs kəɾəmʧən̪d̪ gän̪d̪ʱi (2 October 1869 – 30 January
Origins of US credit unions
In 1907 Filene traveled around the world, and by February reached Calcutta, India. Credit unions are community-based Banks organized according to cooperative principles. India, officially the Republic of India (भारत गणराज्य inc-Latn Bhārat Gaṇarājya; see also other Indian languages) is a country There, he visited some rural cooperative banks that had been promoted and funded by the British colonial government. Cooperative banking is retail and commercial banking organized on a Cooperative basis On his return, he contacted his associate Franklin D. Roosevelt and suggested that a similar type of organization be promoted by the US government in the Philippines. [8].
He realized that credit unions could help ordinary American workers to access loans when they needed them without falling victim to usury. Usury (ˈjuːʒəri comes from the Medieval Latin usuria, "interest" or "excessive interest" from the Latin usura "interest" Equally important, workers could save their money so that when hard times hit, they were prepared.
Subsequent to this trip the philanthropy he practiced, combined with the steady implementation efforts of his associate Roy Bergengren were critical to the emergence of credit unions in the United States. He also donated $1 million to the Consumers Distribution Corporation to help them organize a national network of cooperative retail stores.
In 1908, Filene and Massachusetts banking commissioner Pierre Jay, helped organize public hearings on creating credit union legislation in Massachusetts. Year 1908 ( MCMVIII) was a Leap year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Leap year Pierre Jay ( May_4, 1892 &ndash November_24, 1949) was the first chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. The Massachusetts Credit Union Enabling Act in 1909 was the first credit union law in the United States, and would serve as a model for the Federal Credit Union Act of 1934. Year 1909 ( MCMIX) was a Common year starting on Friday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common year starting The Federal Credit Union Act is a United States federal law signed into law by President Franklin D Year 1934 ( MCMXXXIV) was a Common year starting on Monday (link will display full 1934 calendar of the Gregorian calendar.
Inspired by the experience in many European countries where credit unions were called ‘people’s banks’, Filene organized the National Association of Peoples Banks to advance the credit union cause in the US. However, little came of this until 1921, when Filene observed in Roy Bergengren the key organizer he needed. Together with Bergengren he founded the Credit Union National Extension Bureau.
Credit Union National Extension Bureau
The Extension Bureau, to which Filene donated nearly $1 million during its 14-year history, had four goals:
1. to bring about the laws needed for credit union development in the various states,
2. subsequently, to organize some credit unions in each state that could serve as examples to others,
3. to expand the number of credit unions to the point that they could create self-sustaining state federations, and
4. to combine the federations into a self-sustaining national association. [9]
The collaboration between Filene and Bergengren, and the work of the Extension Bureau, proved very effective. It brought state laws to fruition in 26 states and substantially revising flawed legal frameworks in 5 others. In 1934 the Roosevelt administration passed the Federal Credit Union Act, making it possible to form a credit union anywhere in the United States. The Federal Credit Union Act is a United States federal law signed into law by President Franklin D
The Extension Bureau has been a model for many projects related to international development and microfinance since. This article is about international development See the closely related concept of development cooperation. Microfinance refers to the provision of financial services to poor or low-income clients including consumers and the self-employed Foreshadowing debates that still rage however, the views of Filene and Bergengren diverged on two key issues.
First, Bergengren believed that the Extension Bureau should attempt to secure federal legislation first, rather than work state by state. Filene prevailed in this debate, maintaining that a national law should be based on a sound understanding of the diverse circumstances of people across America -- from shrimp fishermen in Louisiana, to factory workers in Massachusetts or farmers in the mid-West. Only by developing many state laws first would such a sound national understanding be possible. [10]
Second, as the Great Depression set in the Reconstruction Finance Corporation under President Hoover sought to stimulate the economy with soft loans targeted to banks, railways and large companies. The Great Depression in the United States began on "Black Tuesday" with the Wall Street crash of October 1929 and rapidly spread The Reconstruction Finance Corporation ( RFC) was an independent agency of the United States government chartered during the administration of Herbert Hoover Herbert Clark Hoover (August 10 1874 &ndash October 20 1964 was the thirty-first President of the United States (1929–1933 Filene favoured asking for $100 million in reconstruction credits to be pumped into credit unions. Bergengren strongly opposed this position, and his view prevailed this time. "To him, it meant destroying the vital principle of the whole movement by converting a community enterprise into an agency of the government. To teach people how to help themselves was more important by far in times of depression than at any other time. "[11]
Credit Union National Association
With the work of the Bureau essentially completed, a national meeting of credit union leaders was called at Estes Park, Colorado. The Credit Union National Association, commonly known as CUNA (pronounced "Cue-Nuh" is a national Trade association for Credit unions located The Town of Estes Park is a Statutory Town located in Larimer County, Colorado ( USA) on the The State of Colorado ( or chiefly by nonresidents) is a state located in the Rocky Mountain region of the United States of America. On August 11th, 1934 the Credit Union National Association – a national federation funded by the nation’s credit unions -- was formed to replace the Bureau. The Credit Union National Association, commonly known as CUNA (pronounced "Cue-Nuh" is a national Trade association for Credit unions located The role of philanthropy in creating the US credit union system was over.
The founding By-Laws of CUNA recognize Filene’s contributions with the following words:
“In grateful recognition of the fact that Edward A. Filene is the Raiffeisen of America – that he first brought cooperative credit to the United States – that he created in 1921 and financed from 1921 to 1934 the Credit Union National Extension Bureau in order that there might be a sustained development of cooperative credit in our country – in free acknowledgement of the unique debt which we and succeeding generations of credit union members owe and will always owe him – we make a part of these our By-laws, not subject at any time to amendment, this acknowledgement – and we create the office of Founder of this Association and name Edward A. Filene to that office for life. Thereafter said office shall be abolished. "[12]
The Term 'Credit Union'
Filene seems to have been responsible, with the collaboration of Pierre Jay, for the adoption of the term ‘credit union’ in the United States. His concern with fighting moneylenders and excessively costly consumer loans led to the choice of the word ‘credit’, while, his interest in working people made him want to cast unions in a more positive light.
Legacy
Perhaps partly as a result of his childhood injury, and the eczema that plagued him throughout his life, Filene was shy as a youth, and never married. As several writers mention, this may be why “his family in a very real sense became society as a whole. ”[13]
The results of this dedication speak for themselves. By the end of 2006 US credit unions had 87 million members. This is the largest membership of any country in the world, and one of the highest levels of market penetration in the world. [14]
A credit union think tank and research organization, the Filene Research Institute, is named in his honor as the father of the credit union movement. A building of the Hillman Housing Corporation, a housing cooperative in the Lower East Side of Manhattan, is named after him. Cooperative Village is a community of Housing cooperatives on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, New York City. A housing cooperative is a legal entity—usually a Corporation —that owns Real estate, consisting of one or more residential buildings The Lower East Side is a Neighborhood in the southeastern part of the New York City borough of Manhattan. Bronze busts honoring Filene and seven other industry magnates stand outside between the Chicago River and the Merchandise Mart in downtown Chicago, Illinois. The Chicago River is 156 miles (251 km long and flows through downtown Chicago. When opened in 1930 the Merchandise Mart or the Mart, located in Chicago Illinois, was the largest building in the world with of floor space Chicago (ʃɪˈkɑːgoʊ is the largest City by population in the state of Illinois and the American Midwest of the United States. The State of Illinois ( roughly ill-i-NOY is a state of the United States of America, the 21st to be admitted to the Union.
The first credit union to be named after Filene outside the United States was Filene Credit Union in Broad Cove, Nova Scotia in December 1932. Broad Cove may refer to Broad Cove Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada Broad Cove (southern shore Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada Nova Scotia (ˌnəʊvəˈskəʊʃə ( Latin for New Scotland; Alba Nuadh Nouvelle-Écosse is a Canadian province located on Canada 's
Publications
The Way Out: A Businessman Looks at the World. (1925)
References
- ^ Yanki Stillman. Edward Filene: Pioneer of Social Responsibility. Jewish Currents, Sept. 2004.
- ^ Yanki Stillman. Edward Filene: Pioneer of Social Responsibility.
- ^ Yanki Stillman. Edward Filene: Pioneer of Social Responsibility.
- ^ J. Carroll Moody & Gilbert C. Fite. The Credit Union Movement: Origins & Development, 1850-1980, p. 27
- ^ cited in Ian MacPherson, Hands Around the Globe, p. 20.
- ^ Ian MacPherson, Hands Around the Globe, p. 20.
- ^ Roy Bergengren. Credit Union North America. Southern Publishers Inc. , New York, Chicago, 1940, p. 94.
- ^ J. Carroll Moody & Gilbert C. Fite. The Credit Union Movement: Origins & Development, 1850-1980, pp. 21-22.
- ^ Roy Bergengren. Credit Union North America, p. 100
- ^ Gerald W. Johnson. Gerald White Johnson (1890–1980 was a journalist editor essayist historian biographer and novelist Liberal's Progress. Coward-McCowan Inc. , New York, 1948, p. 218
- ^ Gerald W. Johnson, p. Gerald White Johnson (1890–1980 was a journalist editor essayist historian biographer and novelist 219.
- ^ Constitution & By-Laws of Credit Union National Association, cited by Bergengren in CUNA Emerges, p. 213.
- ^ for example, Moody & Fite, p. 19.
- ^ World Council of Credit Unions, Annual Statistical Report, 2006
See also
External links
- Credit Union National Association
- The Century Foundation
- Pioneer of Social Responsibility
- Role in creation of Credit Unions
- Short bio
- A tribute to Edward Filene
- About the Filene Research Institute
| Persondata | |
|---|---|
| NAME | Filene, Edward |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Filene, Edward Albert |
| SHORT DESCRIPTION | American businessman and philanthropist |
| DATE OF BIRTH | September 3, 1860 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Salem, Massachusetts, United States |
| DATE OF DEATH | September 26, 1937 |
| PLACE OF DEATH | Paris, France |
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