Giving Circles are a growing trend

With all the economic challenges over the last year, it seems that there is simply less money to go around. Small gifts have never been as important as they are now, and donors are finding creative ways to do more with limited resources.  One of the growing trends globally is the creation of giving circles.

Giving circles are a unique way of empowering those able to donate smaller sums to have tremendous social impact together. Groups of people together decide what kinds of causes and organizations they would like to support and then pool their funds together to create more impact. In the United States they have becoming increasingly popular – attracting ethnically diverse, if mostly female, donors. According to the most recent studies, there over 800 such groups in the US, and just 40% of them raised over $88 million from their inception in 2000. Most of them are locally-based groups that share a geographical community – but as has nearly everything else in our lives, giving circles are going global.

In last week’s The Jewish Week, philanthropy editor Tamar Snyder writes about the growing importance, and popularity of giving circles in the Jewish community. Snyder, who has written about JGooders in the past, explores a variety of giving circles ranging from groups associated with major Jewish institutions including UJA-Federation of New York, to those geared to Birthright Israel alumni and the Natan Fund’s unique model for deeply engaging younger philanthropists in thoughtful giving. While models may range from strictly formal to very informal – they all give their participants an opportunity to make their giving more meaningful – and social. Within the Jewish community, there are hopes that frameworks like these will keep younger people involved in tikkun olam through a Jewish lens, and engage the next generation of philanthropists, big and small, today.

The Chronicle of Philanthropy too picked up Snyder’s article and gave even wider exposure to this growing trend in the Jewish community.

In many ways, JGooders itself is set up as a series of giving circles, allowing individuals to pool their small donations together for given social causes on the site. But, to allow maximum choice, and to help friends and colleagues work together, JGooders is also launching its own online giving circle pilot to test out the possibility of translating what has been so successful offline because of the personal engagement with giving, to the generally more anonymous online area. The pilot will engage a small group in picking projects from the JGooders site to support on a monthly basis – each member of the group has committed to donating $18/month for a year – the cost of some coffees at Starbucks, or going to the movies – no more.  Our longer term goal is to make it possible for each and every one of  you to use the JGooders platform to create your own online giving circles with your friends, fellow college alumni, or others that share your passionate for the environment, civil rights, Israel, or the arts.

Interested in learning more about giving circles, creating your own or participating in the pilot?  Be in touch with me at tova@jgooders.com

Tags: Giving Circles, Jewish philanthropy, The Jewish Week, Tikkun Olam

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