Social scientists have effectively theorized the importance of nostalgia for the political, social, and cultural future(s) of contemporary states and citizenry. As nostalgia changes the meanings of contemporary state for its citizens, it refashions ideal pasts where hopes for different political futures are located. Nostalgia also aids in the formation of new communities of belonging and trust that pose challenges to the workings of global capitalism and the state. Charitable associations and charitable giving provide an important venue to empirically document and analyze such formations. This is especially pertinent in contemporary Turkey where Ottoman past has resurfaced as a legitimate and rich reservoir for crafting a morally and ideologically "just" and "compassionate" Republic. Based on ethnographic and archival research at several associations that focus on poor relief and charitable donations, this paper documents how nostalgia for a beneficent Ottoman past and suspicion toward current state institutions provide an important paradigm for understanding the relevance of charitable giving and charity, both in the governance of poverty and in the formation of new communities of belonging for volunteers, donors, and employees of contemporary charitable associations in Turkey. The paper will situate such nostalgia for an idealized Ottoman rule within the current political economy of Turkey, as both a response to, and a result of corrupt governance and the decline of the welfare state. Under the current Justice and Development Party (JDP) government, welfare provision and associations that spearheaded such provision became effective strategies to consolidate neoliberalism, globalization, and the JDP project of joining the European Union. Hence, if the state is taken to be a discursive, diffuse, and representational construct, then the delegation of poor relief to civil society organizations increasingly support and enable both the representational and real existence of the neoliberal state. The paper will contribute to the literature on neoliberalism, civil society formation, and political economy by critically analyzing the logics and logistics of associations in addressing poverty while countering the vision of a secular state as the only viable option for successful identity politics.