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Generosity
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A joyful rise in ‘giving circles’

As more Americans gather in small groups to donate modest amounts of money for local needs, they are expanding the idea of charity and community.

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Volunteers hand out milk at a food distribution site in Miami in 2022.
  • By the Monitor's Editorial Board

Charitable giving by individual Americans took a dip last year, largely because of worries over inflation, according to the latest Giving USA report. Yet the report also notes an unexpected shift. Giving for basic needs such as food or housing has risen for four years despite economic changes. Such giving for “human services” now ranks second to donations for religious institutions, edging out giving for education.

One reason may be that Americans are trying different ways to be generous without relying on established charities. One popular avenue in recent years has been “giving circles.” These are small groups of individuals who gather to seek out local needs and then pool money to meet those needs.

Search almost any local newspaper and you might find a headline like this recent one in Ashland County, Ohio: “County to benefit from EmpowHer Giving Circle.” Donors in that group are asked to give only $75 or less to a cause.

The growth of giving circles has been explosive. Their numbers have risen from roughly 1,600 seven years ago to nearly 4,000 last year. Their total giving has jumped from $1.29 billion to more than $3.1 billion, according to a report in April by Philanthropy Together.

The report found that 77% of people in a collective giving group say their participation gave them a “feeling that their voices mattered on social issues.” The report attributes such results to five “T’s”: time, treasure, talent, ties, and testimony.

This sort of bottom-up philanthropy relies heavily on trust, equality, and selflessness; a virtuous circle that draws in more individuals who see the inherent worth of those in need in a community. Giving circles are also “schools of democracy,” as the report puts it. Participants must often listen to and learn from those who hold opposite views on social problems.

The report predicts that the number of giving circles will double in the next five years. “We are a force, and a joyous force,” Isis Krause, Philanthropy Together’s chief strategy officer, told Inside Philanthropy. New ways of giving are not only creating new ways of gathering. They are also pointing to higher concepts of joy.

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