Growing philanthropy through collaboration: the landscape of giving circles in the United Kingdom and Ireland (original) (raw)
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Growing Philanthropy through Giving Circles: Collective Giving and the Logic of Charity
Social Policy and Society, 2017
Whilst philanthropy has long helped fund private initiatives for public good, governments are becoming more interested in expanding this income source as pressures on public spending increase. One outcome of multiple efforts to enhance philanthropy is the growth of giving circles, which involve individual donors collaborating to support causes of mutual interest. This research examines the degree to which giving circles are a good mechanism for enhancing philanthropy. Our overarching interest is to understand if giving circles in the UK and Ireland might serve to grow philanthropy as well as shift the logic of charity to meet the expectations of policy-makers.
Executive Summary of A Survey of Giving Groups/Circles in the UK and Their Impact on Members
Giving groups or circles represent a trend emerging across the UK in which groups of donors collaborate to support-through giving and sometimes volunteering-individuals, organizations, or projects. Members often conduct research on potential beneficiaries and make joint or coordinated decisions about the use of resources. More than 80 giving groups or networks of groups have been identified in the UK and new groups continue to be created and discovered.
Giving circles and fundraising in the new philanthropy environment
This article reports on an exploratory study to understand the impact of the new philanthropy on funding recipients by asking nonprofit professionals about their experiences working with giving circles. Giving circles are growing in number across the United States. They are attractive to new philanthropy donors who pool their resources and then decide together where to give them away. They also frequently include social, educational, and volunteer engagement components. Giving circles seem to be an important source of new and expanded resources for nonprofit organizations, but there are both benefits and challenges to working with giving circles that reveal several problematic tensions for nonprofit funding recipients, the philanthropic relationship, and society more broadly.
Philanthropic Collaboration: A Conceptual Framework for Giving Circles
Public Integrity, 2020
As the country faces challenges in response to the current political climate, societal tragedies, and environmental disasters, citizens are besieged by nonprofit organizations requesting donations. In response to these requests, individual citizens are seeking out innovative ways to engage in philanthropy. One recent innovation in grassroots philanthropy is giving circles where individuals pool their money, knowledge, and resources to make a social impact. The functions of giving circles can be likened to collaborations in that giving circles encompass the key characteristics of collaboration including communication, consensus decision-making, focusing on common goals, a shared vision and ethical approach, pooling of resources, depending on social capital, and trust. The proposed framework of philanthropic collaboration creates an intersection between the collaboration, philanthropy, and social movement literatures by proving an innovative lens through which to view giving circles. The conceptual framework provides a tool for scholars and practitioners to define and operationalize this new innovation in grassroots philanthropy.
Giving Circles: Self-Help/Mutual Aid, Community Philanthropy, or Both?
International Journal of Self Help and Self Care, 2006
Giving circles are growing in number in the United States, the United Kingdom, and elsewhere. They involve individuals pooling resources and deciding together where and how to give these away. They also include social, educational, and volunteer opportunities for members. Most work on giving circles to date has focused on the contributions they make to nonprofit organizations as a means to address community problems. This article focuses on the dual purposes of giving circles to: 1) serve members as self-help/mutual aid groups for wealthy and other philanthropists; and 2) provide resources to the community. Based on data gathered through interviews, document analysis, and secondary data, the article asserts that giving circles provide their greatest value as self-help/mutual aid sources for members rather than as mechanisms for addressing community problems and this has important implications for the expectations of voluntary institutions in a new governance/risk environment.
Nonprofit Management and Leadership, 2008
This article reports on an exploratory study to understand the impact of the new philanthropy on funding recipients by asking nonprofit professionals about their experiences working with giving circles. Giving circles are growing in number across the United States. They are attractive to new philanthropy donors who pool their resources and then decide together where to give them away. They also frequently include social, educational, and volunteer engagement components. Giving circles seem to be an important source of new and expanded resources for nonprofit organizations, but there are both benefits and challenges to working with giving circles that reveal several problematic tensions for nonprofit funding recipients, the philanthropic relationship, and society more broadly.
Private giving and philanthropy – their place in the Big Society
People Place and Policy Online, 2011
While government has clearly signalled the importance it attaches to the growth of charitable giving and philanthropy in building the Big Society, there has been little appraisal of what needs to be achieved through this approach, and how far growth is feasible. This paper identifies current thinking and policy expectations of giving and philanthropy, and the messages which emerge from a review of evidence on current distribution, the donors, donations and emerging demand. It looks at how far philanthropy is likely to take the place of statutory support, and meet new needs. It is concluded that charitable giving is far more driven by donor preference and less socially instrumental than many acknowledge. An increase in the scale of charitable giving and philanthropy may only lead to an expansion in its role if it is accompanied by a new awareness of public need.