Ronalds believed that socialist cooperative communities offered promise as a way to alleviate the poverty and suffering then prevalent in Britain and elsewhere. She actively supported cooperative schemes led by Robert Owen and also James Pierrepont Greaves. In 1825 she travelled to New Orleans with the social activist Frances Wright to meet her friend the Marquis de La Fayette and view slavery. Ronalds contributed £300 to establishing Wright's cooperative community called Nashoba in Tennessee with the goal of educating and preparing slaves for freedom.
