Giving Circles

In his latest post, Seth Nemeroff shares his thoughts on giving circles:

A friend of mine recently forwarded a story from NPR about giving circles that I thought I would share with the YP community. The topic covered is one that is relevant to the questions of "What can I do? How can I get involved?" that keep coming up in conversations with YP members.

The concept of giving circles is not new; however, the timing is perfect for the growth of this model. The influx of demand into the social sector coupled with an increasing call to service from the public sector is creating an opportunity for innovative ideas around the differing notions of giving. The basic premise of a giving circle is a group of people (friends, co-workers, etc) pool financial resources and professional expertise to make a targeted contribution to a non-profit organization. The ability to make a larger sized donation by joining together in a group instantly allows you a louder voice with the organization the circle chooses. The "circle" allows for different ideas and concepts to be thought out and debated before making the grant decision and exposes you to the intricacies of the world of philanthropy (albeit on a small scale). The group also offers various professional services to the non-profit organization. This final part separates the giving circle from more traditional forms of donations and helps create a different type of answer to the "How can I get involved?" question.

I have recently become a member of a giving circle called the New York Venture Philanthropy Fund (NYVPF). The fund chooses an area that it wants to focus on (i.e. education, the environment, etc), then researches local New York-based non-profits that work in this sector before final grant decisions are made. Learning about the various steps of the process is rewarding and has broadened my knowledge of the non-profit sector.

There are many potential variations of this idea. Perhaps a group of YP members can join together to form a Young Professionals for Acumen Fund "branded" giving circle with the focus on Acumen or like minded organizations working in the areas that Acumen focuses on? If this is something that may interest you, feel free to reach out to me at sethnem@yahoo.com.