Rose Terlin was one of the main supporters of the Fellowship in the early days, as were Eduard Heimann, Sherwood Eddy and Paul Tillich.

It deals with persons – and their achieving of life and wholeness – but also with the religious importance of their relations with other people ... We who call ourselves Christians, who claim to be committed to the will of God, have a greater responsibility than anyone else to stand for justice, equality and the right of all human beings to share in the fruits of the earth ... [Christianity] lays upon us the inescapable responsibility to judge fearlessly the moral issues involved in the present world crisis and to act realistically for the achievement of a new world order.

Terlin denied this in a sworn affidavit, but the charge was often brought up as evidence that the YWCA had been infiltrated by Communists.

[3] In her affidavit Terlin stated that she had only just returned to the US on 1 October 1939 after spending two years in Geneva, Switzerland, working for the World Student Christian Federation (WSCF), and was now Economics Secretary of the National Board of the YWCA USA.

[3] Terlin was a member of the national board of the YWCA USA from 1939 to 1943, and was also director of social and economic studies of the WSCF in Geneva.

"[5] She joined the National War Labor Board, where she was appointed head of the white collar section in the New York area.

The American YWCA Secretaries Talitha Gerlach and Lily Haass, who had both worked in China, were also supporters.