Giving Circles at Work

What is a Giving Circle?

Giving Circles are a form of Collective Giving that bring people together to pool funds and donate to causes. Through the deliberation process, participants gain greater insight and awareness of the cause area. They are also able to gain a greater understanding of the impact their donations make and closer collaboration with charities leads to stronger community connections.

How do Giving Circles at Work operate?

For companies, bringing Giving Circles into the Workplace is a great way to apply this model of Collective Giving. Groups of people who share a common interest from across an organisation to raise funds to be donated, and jointly decide which charities they would like to be the beneficiaries. Giving Circles at Work can either be Cause-led, meaning participants agree on a cause, examine what work is being done in this area and jointly agree on which charity project to support; or Charity-aligned, where the group selects a charity at the start and does a deep-dive into the charity’s activities to eventually decide where to make a grant.

What are the benefits of Giving Circles at Work?

Giving Circles at Work offers a unique way to bring your employees together, focusing on a joint goal that engages them not only with their peers, but the charitable community and the recipients of charitable giving.

Research has been carried out by the Centre for Social Impact Swinburne, to evaluate Giving Circles at Work. The report found:

• There was a strong level of satisfaction amongst participants with 85% finding the experience positive and 83% were positive about recommending it to colleagues
• There was a statistically significant increase in self-reported giving of money over the period of the pilot.

The research concluded that there is a compelling case for Giving Circles to be implemented more widely in the workplace, reporting that there are tangible benefits to employees, employers and charities.