What is a giving circle?
Giving circles are on the upswing - increasingly understood as a tool for empowered philanthropy, civic engagement, community-building, and education. Research continually demonstrates that giving circle members give more, give more strategically, and engage more deeply in their communities than non-giving circle members.
Giving circles are also a tremendously powerful tool for building community and for strengthening members’ networks. Through their consensus-based decision-making, they also model the importance of philanthropic partnership and collective impact, reinforcing the truism that no funder, no matter how large or influential, can solve social problems on his or her own.
“A group of people with shared values come together to make change. They pool their time and money, and decide as a circle where it should go.”
In a Jewish context, giving circles provide an excellent access point to Jewish life and a way of exploring and strengthening members’ Jewish identities. They bring people together around the Jewish values of tzedakah (philanthropy) and tikkun olam (repairing the world), creating caring, generous communities of people who think deeply and act strategically about the challenges facing the Jewish world.
