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Giving Circles Knowledge Center
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Throughout history, passionate individuals have joined together to make life better in their communities. Today, thousands of donors pool their money, energy, and ideas to create giving circles. |
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Want to start a giving circle? Read the 10 Basics Steps to Starting a Giving Circle!
Featured giving circle: AsiaNextGen Giving Circle - a giving circle of young Asian professionals in New York City.
Host a giving circle! Tools for community foundations, nonprofits, or other organizations considering or currently hosting giving circles.
Read the Forum's latest research on giving circles, "More Giving Together: The Growth and Impact of Giving Circles and Shared Giving." Posted May, 2007.
In This Area
- The Basics: Giving Circles
Overview of giving circles, their benefit to donors and communities, whether a giving circle is right for you and why the Forum works with them. - Set Up a Giving Circle
Tips and sample documents: size, structure, focus, recruit members, how much members should contribute, where to keep the circle’s money, administrative costs, host organization decisions. - Manage a Giving Circle
Management tools and sample documents: grantee identification, proposal requests and assessment, site visits, promotion, member education, endowment, giving circle impact. - Host a Giving Circle
Tips and sample documents: definition of a circle host, host organizational readiness, possible services to offer, host agreement templates. - Connect to Giving Circles
Resources for networking: Forum’s Giving Circle Listserv, what other circles are doing, nationwide giving circles directory, read success stories from giving circles across the country, tell us about your circle.
Materials
- Giving Together: A National Scan of Giving Circles and Shared Giving (PDF, 742 KB)
2005 study documents and describes the range and types of giving circle-related activity nationwide, published by the Forum of Regional Associations of Grantmakers. - Hosting a Giving Circle: The Benefits and Challenges of Giving Together (PDF)
An April 2008 analysis by the Forum of the relationship between giving circles and their host organizations; accompanies a handbook of tools for considerations when hosting a circle. - More Giving Together: The Growth and Impact of Giving Circles and Shared Giving (PDF, 1MB)
A broad study commissioned in 2007 by the Forum of Regional Associations of Grantmakers of the characteristics, benefits, and impact of giving circles across the country. - More Giving Together: 2007 Brochure (PDF)
This short booklet by the Forum examines giving circles through stories, facts and information that inspire and educate (2007). Free to download; extra print copies are available.
Links
- Giving Circle Media Tools for Regional Associations
For regional associations: A collection of documents related to promoting giving circles in your region. Please use the information here as you see fit, whether from fact sheets or other related documents. - WXEL: The Giving Circles Explosion
A June 24, 2007, podcast of "Fundraising Success," a weekly, one-hour radio show on WXEL 90.7 FM in South Florida. Host Stephen L. Goldstein, Ph.D., explores the power of giving circles with giving circle leaders and supporters, including Daria Teutonico, Director of New Ventures in Philanthropy at the Forum.
Take Action
Read the Forum's newest report on giving circles