This article examines the First All-Russian Congress on Public and Private Charity held in 1910 as a key event in the formation of the public sphere of social policy in late imperial Russia. Special attention is paid to the institutionalization of expert knowledge in the field of social assistance, the emergence of a professional community, and the shaping of shared approaches to charity. The congress is analyzed as a venue for discussing the forms and limits of social responsibility, and for negotiating the distribution of obligations among the state, civil society, the Church, and local self-government. The article concludes that the congress functioned not only as a form of professional self-organization but also articulated a growing demand for public participation in shaping the principles and forms of social policy.