What is a Virtual Giving Circle?

We pool our small donations with the donations of other people who care about the same cause. Together, we share the work of finding great charities doing great work.

Together, we make bigger and better donations than we can do alone!

Why Poverty

We want to empower individuals and communities so they can make their own livelihoods and unleash their full human potential– that’s how we end poverty of the mind, body, and spirit.

The big problems of this world won’t get fixed until people can stop worrying about what they’ll put on the table for dinner. The environment? Human right? Women’s rights? Those are luxuries that one can think about when survival is taken care of.

Is it a human right to have access to clean drinking water or to have the dignity of taking care of yourself and your family? We believe so!

10 Reasons To Donate to Charity Through Our Giving Circle

How is the charity spending my donation? How much of my donation goes to those in need? Are they making a difference?

For a long time, I didn’t feel comfortable answering these questions. For one, I usually donate small amounts of money, and it just felt like too much work to research these questions for $25, $50, or a $100. Secondly, I just didn’t really know where to look or what to ask.

Now, I have a donation team to help me avoid donating to charities like the Central Asia Institute who is accused of using millions in donations for their own personal gain. It’s shocking yet avoidable!

Your charitable donation is a big deal, and you owe it yourself and the world to make your donation count. Here are 10 benefits to donating to through our giving circle:

1. You Make A Bigger Impact on the Charity

   We pool our small donation with the donations of lots of other people. As a result, our donation will be much larger than what we could do or wanted to do alone. A larger donation means that the charity has more money to do their important work.

2. You Make a Bigger Impact on the Problem

   We incorporate education into our giving circle activities, so that our donation committee can research organizations and the programs they’re implementing for efficiency, effectiveness, and accountability. We work hard for our money and we want our money to work hard, too!

3. You Choose a Better Charity

   Not all charities are created equal. Some are doing amazing work, maximizing every dollar spent, and making a huge impact on the problem. Others struggle with organizational efficiency, have high operating costs, paying large salaries for fund raisers and CEO’s, and, in a few circumstances, committing fraud and embezzlement. We’ll often call our charities to speak with a founder or executive. It’s amazing what you can discover about their passion and their organization from a phone call.

4. You Save Time

   You can give as much or as little time to this as you want. You might decide to be on the donation committee or not. You’re just one person with a busy schedule, but when lots of people come together to support the same cause, you leverage the time of all our members. You can always feel great about how you donate while you focus on your work, your family, and your friends.

5. You Have Permission to Say No to Other Donation Requests

   How many requests do you get for a donation? I’d say I have 3 emails every day, one or 2 that arrive in snail mail every week, one or two Facebook friends running a marathon a month, and mountains of requests during the holidays. But I know that I donate through my giving circle, because I can be confident that my donation is making the biggest impact possible on the causes that I care about, so I can politely decline. What a relief!

6. You Get Peace of Mind that You’re Giving Back

   Before I joined a giving circle, I would really want to donate money. But I was busy, and I never could find the time to make the donations that I wanted. I would always have a little voice in the back of my head reminding me of my guilt and that I needed to give back more! But now, I know exactly how and how much I’m giving. I feel good about it, and that little voice in my head has nothing to say!

7. You Won’t Have To Worry About the End of Year Donation Rush

   December is the largest month for donations, that means charities send out massive amounts of requests for donations. If you’re like me, I would know that I needed to donate this year, so I would flip through the catalogs, read the requests, and make the difficult choices about where and how much I could donate. It’s kind of like putting my expenses together for my tax returns. Sure, I could do a little every month, and then it’s nice and easy. But instead I sit down in March and spend hours going through my paperwork.

   A giving circle can be your annual charitable donation plan. You know how much you’ll be donating. You’ll know that the charities will be well chosen. And if you want to give more at the end of the year, then you can choose to browse those catalogs or to send more to a charity we’ve chosen in the past. An end of year charitable donation is your choice to pursue or not at your pleasure!

8. You Enjoy Donating More

   I speak with people all across the country about their giving circles and they all tell me the same thing: a giving circle is a profoundly rewarding way to donate money. It’s more fun, because you’re sharing the experience with other people like you who care about the same cause that you care about. The relationships and friendships created in a giving circle are a big reason why many people across the country continue to participate in giving circles year after year.

9. You Donate More (But It Feels Like Less)

   When I waited until the end of the year to choose where to donate, invariably I had less to donate than I would have liked. The end of the year happens right after Christmas after all! So, I would look at my budget and squeeze in what I felt I could do and maybe a little more, because I felt I should. With a giving circle, charitable giving is part of my monthly budget just like my other monthly expenses. Setting it up to be a little at a time means that overall, I’ll give more money than I would have done at the end of the year, but it feels like less!

10. You Discover New Charities

    There are an estimated 1.5 million non-profits in the US. How many can you think of right now? 10? 20? Maybe 50? It’s easy to get in a rut and only see the same few charities, but there are lots of great charities doing great work, and you’ll discover ones across the country that you would otherwise never hear about. It’s fun and exciting to learn about these charities!

Next Step:

Want to make easy, affordable, and powerful donations? If so,

If you have more questions about how we work, check out our Frequently Asked Questions.