In addition to the sources Matt Gallman mentioned, two articles in
Catherine Clinton and Nina Silber's <Divided Houses> by Jeannie Attie
and Kristy Ross focus on some of the women involved in benevolence.
Vol. 4 of the Frederick Law Olmsted Papers, <Defending the Union: The
Civil War and the U.S. Sanitary Commission, 1861-63> includes in
addition to a lot of Sanitary Commission primary materials, a biographical
directory of major officers and a long discussion of organization and
motivation in the introduction.
Sincerely, Jane Censer, George Mason University