Photo: Shutterstock / Dragana Gordic
By Larissa Ferreira
The giving circle can be a strategy to strengthen community and social justice philanthropy, by bringing together donors and causes/organizations to be supported in a more horizontal and dialogical way.
The fact is that, whether the donation circle is initiated by donors who get together, pool their donations and decide what they are going to support or by an organization that aims to raise resources to strengthen its operations, there are few studies on this way. to mobilize donations in Brazil. Even more so, with regard to the ways of mobilizing collective donations adopted by non-formalized groups and/or historically marginalized groups.
However, it can be noted that some organizations that work in the field of community philanthropy and social justice have sought to get closer to the donation circle mechanisms, such as the Baobá Fund, FunBEA – Brazilian Environmental Education Fund and the Community Institute Greater Florianópolis (ICOM). The three are funds that are part of Rede Comuá and are at different stages when it comes to experimenting with donation circle strategies.
In addition to the three funds, social organizations such as Associação Acorde, located between the municipalities of Cotia (SP) and Embu das Artes (SP) experienced a donation circle for two years, as well as the case of people who promote donation circles bringing together people interested in taking part.
The experiences mentioned were part of the research for the first edition of Rede Comuá's Knowledge Program. People representing the funds, Baobá and ICOM, the organization Associação Acorde and a researcher in the field of philanthropy, who started a donation circle in early 2023, gave interviews to share their experiences.
The interviews were carried out between March and July 2023, with the intention of understanding some aspects of the strategies of what each person considers donation circles, such as the main characteristics, the relationship with the people who make up the donation circle, transparency and the main challenges and achievements.
The experiences of donation circles demonstrate that they can be driven by different motivations, such as the desire to invest in social justice in a territory; the response to an emergency context such as a pandemic; a strategy to complement an organization's fundraising; and through the experience of creating a donation circle, as it is still in its infancy in Brazil.
For most people interviewed, their experiences with donation circles are recent (less than five years ago) and are in the consolidation and experimentation phase. As well, they present different focuses of donors, some focusing more on companies, others on individuals, and others on specific professional groups and/or activities in the area of philanthropy and the third sector.
In all cases, something essential for the relationships promoted by donation circles is communication, both with the donating people/companies and with the initiatives that receive support. Communication is seen as a key point to strengthen transparency and the culture of maintaining a permanent dialogue with those who are part of the donation circle.
A point that draws attention in the relationship with donor people/companies, highlighted by ICOM, is the engagement to participate in the donation circle based on the invitation of companies that are already part of it or, in the case of individuals, people who already had some connection with ICOM. This is interesting as it points to the importance of creating bonds of trust, which make it possible to expand relationships and support from new donor people/companies.
Organizations that have the role of structuring and leading donation circles realize that their actions need to guarantee the necessary resources for the functioning of the circle, invest in the institutional development of the initiatives/organizations they support, be aware of their strategic role in the field of philanthropy and maintain constant communication of the actions carried out and results achieved.
The challenges shared by these experiences are related to the sustainability of the fund/donation circle itself, awareness of the cause of social justice, as well as engagement in actions that consist of supporting structuring programs and not emergency actions. Other shared challenges are understanding the profile of those who donate and reaching consensus for collective decision-making.
Regarding achievements, these are related to the dissemination and sharing of the work carried out by their organizations, the ability to multiply what was donated by the supported initiatives and the desire for people to leave inspired by this experience and motivated to create other donation circles in their networks.
The donation circle, as a strategy for organizations that work in the field of community philanthropy and social justice, appears to be something recent, however, it already points to new possibilities for strengthening the work of initiatives and partner groups, in the search for building relationships that actually are aligned with social demands.
Do you want to know more about the findings of international donation circle experiences and check out the references in this text? Access the full research report! Click here.
Larissa Ferreira is a manager and Environmental Analyst, currently a master's student in Education at UFSCar. She works as a volunteer educator at FunBEA – Brazilian Environmental Education Fund. It was part of the first edition of Rede Comuá's Saberes Program, with research entitled “Community Philanthropy and Environmental Education: analysis of the circle of donors on the North Coast of São Paulo”.
