The Ministers and Missionaries Benefit Board (MMBB) was authorized in 1911 by the Northern Baptist Convention and chartered in New York State in 1913 "to promote interest in the better maintenance of the ministry." Its core purpose was the provision of pensions to aged or disabled ministers. At MMBB's creation, American philanthropy was in transition from patterns of traditional charity to new structures designed to provide fundamental solutions to social and economic problems based on principles of business and science. Reflecting that change, MMBB became a pioneer by developing its pensions as a form of delayed, justly earned compensation that differed from the rare and often meager charitable grants previously available to a very few.