Giving Circles Are a Major Force in Philanthropy

Birmingham Change Fund
Birmingham, Alabama

HERITAGE QUILTERS
Warrenton, North Carolina

Photo Credits: Community Investment Network

According to a report issued by the Forum of Regional Associations of Grantmakers, giving circles have become a major force in philanthropy, raising over $100 million. What are giving circles? They "involve a group of friends who pool their charitable donations and decide together how to use the money to benefit the causes they care most about."

Giving circles have traditionally been thought of as a philanthropic approach used mainly by women, but that is increasingly no longer the case.

For background on giving circles, including information on how to form one, see the Forum's information below.

Resources on Giving Circles:

Report: Giving Circles Are Here to Stay by the Forum of Regional Associations of Grantmakers (the nation affiliate of the Ohio Grantmakers Forum).

More Giving Together: THE GROWTH AND IMPACT of GIVING CIRCLES and SHARED GIVING
A report researched and written by Jessica E. Bearman for the Forum of Regional Associations of Grantmakers

The Joy of Philanthropy:
My Giving Circle Friends and I Find That You Don't Have to Be Oprah to Make a Difference (The author of the article joined a giving circle sponsored by the Washington Area Women's Foundation)

A Circle With a Deep Center:
Black Women Pool Resources in Grass-Roots Effort to Alleviate D.C.'s Social Ills

Community Investment Network
The Community Investment Network works with young adult African Americans in the American South to focus how they engage and give back to their communities. This work has yielded nine giving circles.

African American Womens Giving Circle: Founded in 2004, the African American Women’s Giving Circle (AAWGC) is a charitable fund established out of The Women’s Foundation. The circle includes 15-25 women who have each made a financial commitment of $2,000 or more over a two-year period and agreed to work together as part of a shared grantmaking and learning experience.

Cleveland School Teacher Donates $2 Million to Her Alma Mater

Here is another example of what can happen when motivation and proper financial planning combine to create a legacy to benefit others.

Baldwin Wallace graduate Laura Bickimer donated $2 million to Baldwin Wallace, even thought she never made more than $40,000 per year as a Cleveland school teacher, according to the Plain Dealer. The article does indicate that she received some inheritance to augment her own saving.

Birmingham Couple Pinches Pennies to Endow Scholarships and Make a Difference

Ron Howard and his wife Elizabeth have funded $20,000 scholarship endowments that support education students at the University of Alabama, Ron's alma mater.

They have also endowed a $10,000 scholarship fund at the University of Mississippi and Samford University, , the Howards are midway toward funding a $15,000 scholarship endowment where Elizabeth received her education degree and master's degree, respectively.

"I'm basically poor," he says, turning his empty pockets inside out. "I drive a 1987 Dodge Diplomat. We live in a three-bedroom split level. I don't buy a lot of clothes and stuff. I'd rather put my money in this. I want to make a difference."

To learn how this couple managed to accomplish so much on his $55,000 salary from Bell South and her salary as a teacher, read the article written by the Birmingham News in 2005.

Frugal Farmer Leaves Millions to Charity

According the the Chronicle of Philanthropy, Minnesota farmer Harvey Ordung left a significant part of his $9.3 million estate to charity. The largest gift was to Luverne Dollars for Scholars, a scholarship program in Luverne, Minnesota.

African-American Lessons in Giving

This link provides some interesting statistics on African-American giving. Did you know that Blacks "give 25 percent more of their discretionary income to charity than do whites,"
according to the Chronicle of Philanthropy?

Jabari Asim, the author of this Washington Post Op-Ed, African-American Lessons in Giving, also talks about Thomas Cannon, man who rarely earned more than $30,000 but managed to
give away $150,000 over his lifetime.

Conventional wisdom is that you have to be wealthy, like Bill Gates, Michael Jackson, or Oprah Winfrey, in order to give. This is not true, as I hope will become apparent from the articles in this blog.

Any readers with other examples of people who have made significant contributions with "normal" incomes are encouraged to post information about these people in the comments section of this blog.