Aside from a collection of essays, Clubs and Societies in Eighteenth-Century Ireland (2010), edited by James Kelly and Martyn J. Powell, and a handful of journal articles, Karen Sonnelitter's Charity Movements in Eighteenth-Century Ireland: Philanthropy and Improvement is the first study to focus on philanthropy in eighteenth-century Ireland and its connection with Enlightenment ideas of improvement. Scholars of philanthropy, especially in Ireland, tend to focus on the nineteenth century and often on women. The real contribution of Sonnelitter's monograph is that it centers its discussion on the improving—that is, rational and scientific—aspect of eighteenth-century philanthropic societies, which were almost all initiated and run by Protestant men on the model of the new joint-stock business corporations. In the process of closely examining the histories of several of these subscription-based charitable societies, Sonnelitter documents a major shift in the methods of and motivations for philanthropy that was specific to eighteenth-century Ireland (although it shares some similarities with England).

Sonnelitter focuses each chapter of Charity Movements in Eighteenth-Century Ireland, except the first, on a specific type of voluntary society and shows how each believed that the charity it administered through the institutions they initiated would contribute to the economic and political stability of Ireland, a country most saw as almost overrun with poverty and the social problems stemming from it. In the first chapter, she summarizes the history of the Church of Ireland in the eighteenth century, demonstrating that it sanctioned and aided all of the Irish voluntary societies but was also itself an object of charitable aid. The Church of Ireland was crucial to the work of the Anglo-Irish voluntary societies because one of the major improving goals of the movement was to civilize and convert the Irish Catholics who made up the majority of the destitute and uneducated population in need of charitable aid in the eighteenth century. This focus on civilizing through educating and improving required the support of the Anglican Church of Ireland in order to succeed and thrive.

Therefore the first charitable institution that Sonnelitter examines, in chapter 2, is the “Incorporated Society for Promoting Protestant Schools in Ireland,” a system that differed from earlier charity schools in its insistence on both converting its pupils to Protestantism by a variety of strategies and on teaching them a trade by which they could become self-sufficient and profitable to the nation. They also differed from the charity schools, which were run by the parishes and usually funded by endowments, in being funded by subscriptions, a method that required continual fundraising through charity sermons and other means. The constant focus on fund-raising, as well as poor conditions in the schools, led most to conclude that the society was a failure, but Sonnelitter argues that its purpose was genuinely philanthropic and not strictly political, thus demonstrating the imbrication of improvement with philanthropy in the motives of society members.

In chapter 3 Sonnelitter details the voluntary hospitals that arose in eighteenth-century Dublin, primarily Mercer's Hospital, which took lunatics and incurables, as well as the sick in general, and the Lying-in Hospital, which treated pregnant women and newborn babies. The hospitals were popular charities because they both served the poor and helped science. They were also thought to contribute to economic improvement by ensuring better health for the working poor and to social stability by reinforcing traditional social bonds. The hospitals were able to operate because of the cooperation of emerging medical science, for which they provided a training ground, and the Church of Ireland clergy, who provided the instruction that reinforced deference for the patients and selfless charity for the contributors.

In chapter 4 Sonnelitter concentrates on the Royal Dublin Society, which was explicitly a scientific improvement organization, but also supported philanthropic endeavors. The Royal Dublin Society was, she argues, the most successful of the voluntary societies and also uniquely Irish. It aimed to use Enlightenment values for practical ends, such as reclaiming bog lands and teaching modern agricultural methods to children, as well as supporting the first Dublin Workhouse.

In chapter 5, Sonnelitter turns to the issue of women in philanthropic work that was also defined as improving. Her focus is on the work of Lady Arbella Denny, who spent years improving conditions at the Dublin Foundling Hospital and establishing the Dublin Magdalene Society for Penitent Women (not to be confused with the nineteenth-century Catholic Magdalene laundries). Although there were limited roles in improving philanthropy for eighteenth-century women, largely because the voluntary societies were based on a business model, a wealthy and famous woman like Lady Arbella could succeed in philanthropic institutions aimed at aiding women and children. She also became the first woman to be an honorary member of the Royal Dublin Society. She was a role model for women philanthropists, especially later ones, and made women's participation in voluntary societies more socially acceptable.

In the final chapter of the book Sonnelitter discusses national and local government involvement in improving philanthropic endeavors and institutions. More than elsewhere, in Ireland the government provided economic support for voluntary societies devoted to reform and improvement. Both the local government of Dublin and the Irish Parliament, before it was abolished with the Act of Union in 1801, regularly contributed grants and other types of support, especially for infrastructure such as harbors, bridges, and buildings. The Dublin Workhouse, at first a charitable institution, introduced the idea that taxation could be used to address poverty. The government was especially a key source of funding for the projects of the Royal Dublin Society.

Charity Movements in Eighteenth-Century Ireland: Philanthropy and Improvement is well worth reading for scholars of eighteenth-century Ireland or of philanthropy in general. Well researched and informative but also written in a lively style with interesting anecdotes and examples, it serves as an important corrective to the notion that philanthropy is a hallmark mostly of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.