Tips for Practical Giving

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This article is part of a package on rethinking charity in the economic crisis. For more, read Giving When It Hurts, Ladling Soup, Raising Hell: Nonprofit insider Robert Egger is out to reform charities from within, and The Revolution Will Not Be Funded: It’s time to liberate activists from the nonprofit industrial complex.

Giving Circles

One way to boost the impact of a recession-sized donation is to join or establish a giving circle, a group of people who pool contributions to support a common cause—women’s rights, environmental racism, homeless queer youth—and then work together to determine which organization(s) will receive their grants.

“Giving circles in general are more participatory, more collective-minded, and more accessible than traditional philanthropy, which is centered around wealthy individuals’ ‘charitable’ giving,” reports Make/shift (Winter 2009). The magazine profiles the California-based Women of Color Giving Circle, whose 11 members each donate $1,000 a year to the project. The circle then doles out grants to groups that are led by women of color, “whose missions focus on women’s rights, economic justice, financial literacy, and immigrants’ rights; and who have annual budgets under $500,000”—or, as one circle member put it, “We are giving funding to folks who are ‘unfundable.’ ”

The structure of a giving circle is inherently flexible: Its size, the time commitment involved, and the level of formality are completely up to its members. Members of the Women of Color Giving Circle agree to donate several hours of their time each year to the circle, though the group does have two “silent” members who give money but no time. Some circles open a joint bank account to house their collective dollars; others just write individual checks to the circle’s agreed-upon recipient.

It’s important for members to agree upon a circle’s structure, mission, and activities up front to avoid confusion or discord about what’s expected from members, financially or otherwise.

The Forum of Regional Associations of Grantmakers hosts an exceptionally helpful “knowledge center” on giving circles at its website, www.givingforum.org, complete with sample documents, networking resources, and a 10-step guide to starting your own giving circle.

The Dot.org Boom

Some nonprofit reformers think the future of philanthropy lies in developing new business-charity hybrids that employ capitalism in the service of compassion. Whether you’ve heard it called social entrepreneurship, corporate social responsibility, or the third bottom line, the idea is that firms can do good while they’re doing business—and making a profit. If this sounds like pre-recession capitalist hogwash to you, these innovators are out to change your mind.

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