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Yahoo
20-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Hali Lee
Credit - Courtesy Kate Russell To Hali Lee, the future of philanthropy lies in collective giving. That's what the philanthropy consultant contends in her new book, The Big We: How Giving Circles Unlock Generosity, Strengthen Community, and Unlock Change. Social change, she says, can start with people, often women, gathered around kitchen tables, pooling their resources to donate whatever they can afford to local organizations like soup kitchens and libraries. 'Everybody's got a kitchen table,' she says. It's a movement that seems to be taking off. From 2017 to 2023, one study found, nearly 4,000 collective giving circles in the U.S. donated $3.1 billion to charity. The same study found that women comprised more than half of the donors in 84% of collective giving groups and 60% of circles were all women. Lee has been doing her part. Twenty years ago, she founded the Asian Women Giving Circle, which has made more than $1 million in small grants to support cultural projects helmed by people of Asian American and Native Hawaiian or Pacific Island ancestry. In 2017 she helped launch Philanthropy Together, an organization that works to scale the collective giving movement. And in 2018 she co-founded the Donors of Color Network, the first national network of high net worth donors of color. Bigger change can ultimately result from these individual, often smaller-dollar donors coming together, Lee believes. While 'Big Phil' certainly does good, she says, 'billionaires don't have any incentive to change the systems that made them rich.' Lee spoke with TIME about the evolution of giving circles and how interested donors can launch a successful group. The interview has been condensed and edited for clarity. Why is the giving circle movement so heavily female? I'm Korean American and in my culture there is something called a geh, a shared giving circle. You might have heard of tandas, [in Mexico] or sou sous [in West Africa]. Indonesians call it arisans. A lot of these cultural forms of pooling resources are organized and run by women. I'm not a sociologist or anthropologist but my hunch is that it's because women were often traditionally excluded from the more formal ways of banking. These cultural forms of generosity, while not philanthropic in origin, lend themselves naturally to being turned into philanthropic forms. Is there a political aspect to the giving circle movement? Where I really land is civic engagement. Giving circles are a great vehicle, not the only vehicle but a really good one, for people to practice being civically engaged. And if there was ever a time when we really need to do that in this country, and maybe even globally, it's now. Civic engagement just means being curious and interested in what's happening in my community and then caring enough to get educated, then taking one more step with a group of friends, neighbors, or colleagues to take action together. What are the most common problems in running a giving circle? The really common problem—I kind of make a joke of this in my book—is constipation. Very commonly a group will start to try to replicate Big Phil. They think they need to be very formal, have a 501(c)(3) [the tax code designation that allows donations to be deductible] and all this apparatus that they actually don't really need. All of that tends to constipate the flow of dollars. I often just tell people, don't build apparatus unless you need it, try to keep it simple, just get the money or volunteer time flowing. You will 100% make mistakes along the way, so build in learning and humility. How can all the members of a giving circle stay on the same page about which causes to support? Have a couple of conversations about what are your individual values, what are the group's values. If you can agree on something in your neighborhood or town that keeps you up at night, maybe that's the thing you agree to raise money for or volunteer for. Some circles decide to pick a different thing every year. Each member might get a turn. That's a good way to learn about a lot of different issues that impact a community. The important thing I think is just to dive in and get can adjust along the way. Contact us at letters@
Yahoo
20-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Sara Lomelin
Credit - Courtesy Bryan Patrick Sara Lomelin runs the nonprofit Philanthropy Together to show that you don't need to be wealthy to be a philanthropist; you can participate in collective giving. Get some friends, neighbors, or other philanthropic-minded people to each kick in small amounts, then gather to decide where to donate the kitty. By pooling resources, you create a bigger impact. 'It's the multiplying effect of the dollars, the ideas and the volunteer hours,' says Lomelin, a former fundraiser for San Francisco's Latino Community Foundation who previously created the Latino Giving Circle Network, the largest network of Latinx philanthropists in the U.S. Lomelin then co-founded Philanthropy Together in 2020, with backing from the Gates Foundation, to help scale and strengthen the collective giving movement. The organization offers free training videos and webinars, and a searchable database of more than 4,000 circles looking for new members. It's a movement that's gaining traction. Philanthropy Together's 2024 study found that collective giving has more than doubled since 2017, with more than 370,000 Americans now participating in giving circles, donating about $3.1 billion. Write to Kim Clark at Kim_Clark@
Yahoo
07-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
With 'giving circles,' anyone can be a philanthropist
When Las Vegas resident Maureen Romito was nearing retirement, she knew she wanted to give more money to good causes. But there were two problems. First, she was not wealthy: "I couldn't become who I think of as a typical philanthropist in the United States—someone with the last name of Gates or Buffett or Musk, somebody that makes a lot of money." Second, it was hard to know who to give to. "There were so many different causes, so much need out there," she says. "If I give $25 to one group, and $50 to another, what difference am I making?" Then she discovered giving circles: groups where members pool their donations and decide together where to allocate them, Reasons to be Cheerful reports. In 2012, inspired by similar efforts in Austin, Texas, Romito set up Impact Las Vegas, a giving circle for women who want to help their community. Members donate a minimum of $1,000 each year, which is pooled into one large grant. Local nonprofits apply, and members whittle them down to one lucky recipient. Last year, having grown to more than 100 members, Impact Las Vegas gave $113,000 to a nonprofit providing school supplies to children in need. Giving in this way addresses several concerns. The impact of Romito's relatively small gift is multiplied, creating one large grant that can be "transformative" for the recipient. As a donor, she gets to hear about the difference it made, which is not usually possible with much smaller gifts. And choosing an area of focus draws on the combined knowledge and experience of the group. "That's the wonderful thing—it's really based on the need we see in our own community, and it changes every year," she says. Giving circles are widespread—and growing. Between 2017 and 2023, Philanthropy Together, a U.S. nonprofit that supports this movement, identified nearly 4,000 collective giving groups in the U.S., involving 370,000 people giving more than $3.1 billion. It expects this to double within the next five years. While the modern American giving circle rose to prominence in the past few decades, the underlying concept is "as old as humanity," says Ilyasah N. Shabazz, who leads operations and communications at Philanthropy Together. There are long traditions of mutual aid and solidarity among marginalized communities, and giving together occurs in many cultures—from tandas in Mexico to gehs in Korea and sou sous in West African countries. "They have a different name, but it's the same core principle of collective giving and collective generosity," says Shabazz. Today's giving circles vary widely. Some involve groups of friends; others are more formalized, with hundreds of members. Some focus on a locality; others are united by identity, such as the group of Black philanthropists supporting Black-led nonprofits, of which Shabazz is a member. Some require significant outlay, but many set the bar much lower—like the Cornwall Women's Fund in the U.K., whose members need only commit to £10 per month. What they all do is challenge conventional notions of what it means to be a philanthropist. "When we talk about philanthropy, we think of the big tech billionaire—that kind of world," says Emma Beeston, a U.K.-based philanthropy advisor who set up a giving circle in her hometown, the Bath Women's Fund. "I think the joy of giving circles is they counter that: It's not just one person saving the planet, it's actually in our communities. How do we come together to make things better? How do we do that with relatively modest sums that lots of people have access to?" Giving circles may also offer safety in numbers, Beeston says—because getting into philanthropy can attract scrutiny and even criticism. And they remove the need to be an expert in any particular area, since members commit to learning together. Indeed, many of those joining giving circles are new to philanthropy. With generosity apparently declining in both the U.S. and the U.K., encouraging these newcomers may be more important than ever. The LA Latino Giving Circle invests in grassroots, Latino-led organizations in Los Angeles that address racial disparities and inequality. Among its members is 33-year-old Steven Almazan, whose parents immigrated from Mexico, and whose own education was supported by Latino professionals. "This is my way of giving back," he says. Anyone able to donate $1,000 annually can join, and much of Almazan's work in encouraging new members involves "demystifying" the concept of philanthropy. "We want to be clear that anyone can be considered a philanthropist, no matter their wealth," he explains. "This is philanthropy for the people, by the people, and there's something beautiful about that." That approach also influences who gets funded. Less than 1% of U.S. philanthropic money goes to Latino communities, Almazan points out. "So, we've developed this mantra: if traditional dollars are not going to Latino communities, then philanthropists like ourselves, from our community, are going to invest in Latino communities." Last year, the group gave nearly $40,000 to Somos Familia Valle, an LGBTQ+ organization working on racial, gender, and economic justice. The focus on causes overlooked by mainstream philanthropy is common among giving circles, according to research in 2023 by Philanthropy Together and others. Possibly connected to this, giving circles are particularly popular among demographics less represented in billionaire giving: 60% of the groups it studied were made up entirely of women, with donors of color making up a "substantial" proportion. The benefits of giving circles go beyond hard cash: Members might offer time or expertise, too. The LA Latino Giving Circle also encourages civic engagement, for example, by facilitating discussions between its members and local policymakers. Even discussions within groups may have wider benefits. Deciding which causes matter most is often tied to personal values, and there is rarely one right answer. Such decisions need to be made collectively—whether by consensus or majority vote—meaning giving circles are "schools of democracy," according to Philanthropy Together. Shabazz says this is good both for "personal growth" and for wider society: "We're participating in a democratic process and flexing those skills." Other benefits cited by givers are the sense of belonging and community, as well as the chance to grow one's professional network. They may also feel a stronger sense of agency. In one study of Latino giving circles, 68% of members said they felt more confident about being able to change their community, and around three-quarters realized their voice mattered on social issues. Modern giving circles are not just popular in the U.S. China has seen momentum in the past decade. Singapore and Germany are also worth watching, Shabazz says. But the concept remains relatively unknown. A 2018 study identified just 65 giving circles in all of Europe; U.K. circles are still quite rare. Nor are they always easy to run—not least because they rely heavily on volunteer time. It can be harder to attract members where people feel less connected to the place: Las Vegas, for instance, is a very transient city, says Romito. And even though they're seen as more democratic than top-down models of philanthropy, giving circles aren't perfect. Women-only groups seem to prioritize certain causes, such as children's rights or health care, Romito notes, meaning things like culture or the environment get much less attention. Nor are they immune to criticism. One giving circle recently faced backlash for what nonprofits described as an onerous and stressful application process that only resulted in one winner. (Shabazz says that Philanthropy Together encourages giving circles to consider equity and justice throughout their processes.) For their biggest fans, the challenges are well worth it. Romito, now aged 70, describes the experience as "probably one of the most rewarding things I've ever done." That's partly because she has been able to put her skills gleaned from a career in HR to good use, working on processes and organizational development. But above all, she feels she is contributing in a meaningful way. "It makes me feel so grateful that I have this way of making a difference in my community, when I don't have a ton of money," she says. "I do feel now like I may be related to Bill Gates or Warren Buffet. That's just as good." Disclosure: The writer is a former student of Emma Beeston, who is also a lecturer in philanthropy. This story was produced by Reasons to be Cheerful and reviewed and distributed by Stacker.
