Set Up a Giving Circle
There are many options to choose from when creating a giving circle. You and your fellow giving circle founders can use your creativity to decide how your giving circle will look and operate.This section provides a number of how-to documents and best practices to help you start a giving circle. As you create your giving circle, you will most likely create new solutions and strategies. Please let us know about them!
In This Area
- Giving Circles: Mission and Goals
Use these guiding questions and sample mission statements to determine the mission and goals of your circle. - Giving Circles: Size and Scope
Resources to help you determine how much each giving circle member will contribute, how large you want your circle to be, and benefits and challenges of various options. - Giving Circles: Structure and Type
Learn about the different types of giving circles, including formal, informal, and event-based, and the characterisitcs of each type to help you choose the best fit for you. - Giving Circles: Administration
Learn about ways to operate your giving circle, including possible committee structure, procedure manual, and by-laws. - Giving Circles: Financial Decisions and Information
Explore options for the amount and timing of giving circle members’ financial contributions, how to cover administrative costs associated with running the circle, where to keep the circle’s funds, and whether or not your circle needs a host organization. - Giving Circles: Grantmaking Philosophy
Questions to consider when deciding what area(s) your circle will focus on when making grants.
Materials
- Ten Basic Steps to Starting a Giving Circle
Outlines the decisions needed when considering or starting a giving circle. - Giving Circle Lifecycle
Details typical stages of the development of a giving circle. Knowing how a circle generally develops can help you in your planning. - Options for Giving Circles
Describes many options for structure, member donation, hosting, administration and priorities. - Suggested Calendar for First Year to Establish a Giving Circle
Assuming one meeting a month, this document outlines a schedule for a giving circle’s first year. - 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
- The Community Giving Resource: Getting Started
This guide from the Community Giving Resource is designed to help you get started by offering some basic guidelines for making grants, tracking progress and recognizing your successes.