A giving circle is a group of donors who pool their money and decide together where to donate. Giving circles democratise philanthropy — bringing the decisions and relationships of grantmaking to people who wouldn't typically be involved as individual donors, and allowing groups to make grants large enough to have meaningful impact.
Giving circles range from small informal groups (a few friends pooling a few thousand dollars) to large structured programmes with dozens of members making grants of hundreds of thousands of dollars. In New Zealand and Australia, giving circles are growing as community foundations, corporate programmes, and independent groups explore collective giving models.
Pooling contributions. Members each contribute an agreed amount — monthly, annually, or as a one-off. The pool is collected and managed, typically through a community foundation, charitable trust, or other fiscal sponsor.
Collective decision-making. Members participate in deciding where the pooled funds go — through nominations, research, assessment, and collective voting or consensus decisions. The degree of member involvement varies widely.
Learning alongside giving. Many giving circles explicitly include education and learning as part of the model — members learn about the issues they're funding, meet grantees, and develop their philanthropic understanding alongside making grants.
Building community. Beyond the grants, giving circles create community among donors — shared purpose, social connection, and engagement that individual giving doesn't provide.
Community foundation hosted. Many community foundations host giving circles as a way of engaging donors in active participation in grantmaking. The foundation provides infrastructure (trust structure, investment, grants management) while the circle provides member engagement and decision-making.
Corporate giving circles. Some companies run employee giving circles — employees voluntarily contribute and decide together where company matching or pooled donations go. These combine employee engagement with charitable giving.
Women's giving circles. A significant giving circle model, particularly in the US and growing in ANZ — groups of women donors making collective decisions about grants to women- and girl-focused organisations.
Place-based giving circles. Circles focused on a specific geographic community — members pool funds and direct them to organisations in their neighbourhood, town, or region.
Issue-focused giving circles. Circles organised around a shared interest — environment, arts, education, social services — with members who care about the same issue area funding together.
Giving circles create distinctive grants management needs:
Member engagement in assessment. Giving circle members need to be involved in reviewing applications, discussing options, and making decisions — without requiring professional grants management experience. Assessment tools need to be accessible to volunteer members, not just trained programme staff.
Transparent portfolio view for members. Members want to see where the pooled funds have gone, what grants are active, and what outcomes grantees are reporting. A member-accessible view of the grant portfolio — without exposing private applicant information — is useful.
Lightweight process for smaller grants. Giving circle grants are often smaller than professional foundation grants. Process requirements should be proportionate — simple applications, accessible assessment, light reporting.
Fiscal sponsorship administration. When a giving circle is fiscally sponsored by a community foundation, grants are technically made by the foundation. The grants management system needs to accommodate the two-tier structure — foundation as grantor, giving circle as decision-maker.
Relationship and engagement tracking. Community foundations hosting multiple giving circles need tools to track member engagement, circle health, and the relationship between circle members and grantees.
For organisations considering establishing or hosting a giving circle:
Define the model. How will members contribute? How will grantmaking decisions be made? What is the circle's geographic or thematic focus? What is the minimum and maximum contribution?
Legal and fiscal structure. Most giving circles need a legal home — either an independent charitable trust or fiscal sponsorship by an existing charitable entity. Community foundations are natural homes for giving circles given their existing grantmaking infrastructure.
Member recruitment and engagement. A giving circle is only as strong as its members. Recruiting members who will actively participate — not just contribute — requires networks, networks, and compelling value proposition.
Grants management infrastructure. Even small giving circles benefit from organised grants management — a defined application process, structured decision-making, and basic reporting back to members.
Tahua supports community foundations and organisations hosting giving circles — with member-accessible grant views, configurable assessment workflows, and reporting tools suited to collective grantmaking.