Impacts of Giving Circles on Participants: Collaboration and Involvement
Faculty Advisor Name
Dr. Rob Alexander
Description
This presentation, “Impacts of Giving Circles on Participants: Collaboration and Involvement”, is concerned with the exploration of the characteristics present in members of collaborative, community-based philanthropic groups known as “giving circles” in which individuals join together to collectively contribute resources towards organizations or issues of interest, often with the goal of community development or as a way to involve historically marginalized groups in the philanthropic process. Described as a “cross between a book club and an investment group”, giving circles are seen as a promising tool for the creation of philanthropic engagement with a strong social aspect. This research study proposes that membership in these giving circles is likely to impact the proclivity of participants to further their civic engagement and participation in the philanthropic process. This study also proposes that the usage of collaborative decision-making processes present in giving circles results in greater likelihood of the utilization of more collaborative-based approaches outside of the group on the part of the participants. After identifying giving circle groups across the state of Virginia through both existing databases and social media outreach, groups are contacted with the request for members to participate in brief interviews. These responses are then coded and analyzed for emerging themes and are qualitatively examined through statistical analysis software. These interviews are designed to obtain qualitative responses from participants about the nature of their giving circle participation, their reasons for joining and continuing to participate in these groups, and their feelings on how membership has impacted their philanthropic behaviors and civic engagement patterns as well as identifying the presence of traits including those relating to previously identified qualities of altruism. This research also seeks to explore the underlying rationale behind the tensions between engaging independent, grassroots collaborative action with democratic governance and the ability to comprehensively address community problems by giving circle groups as posited by researchers such as Eikenberry. This research sheds light on the profile of giving circle members in Virginia and the ways in which community-based philanthropic groups work to address issues which more regulation-bound community foundations may have trouble addressing. Findings from this study provide qualitative examples of the forces driving Virginians to get involved in democratic and philanthropic processes in our society and communicate that the appeal of a giving circle is as much about a desire to see the increased impact of pooled, targeted funding towards an issue as it is about forging connections, social capital, and a deeper method of engagement with issues of interest.
Impacts of Giving Circles on Participants: Collaboration and Involvement
This presentation, “Impacts of Giving Circles on Participants: Collaboration and Involvement”, is concerned with the exploration of the characteristics present in members of collaborative, community-based philanthropic groups known as “giving circles” in which individuals join together to collectively contribute resources towards organizations or issues of interest, often with the goal of community development or as a way to involve historically marginalized groups in the philanthropic process. Described as a “cross between a book club and an investment group”, giving circles are seen as a promising tool for the creation of philanthropic engagement with a strong social aspect. This research study proposes that membership in these giving circles is likely to impact the proclivity of participants to further their civic engagement and participation in the philanthropic process. This study also proposes that the usage of collaborative decision-making processes present in giving circles results in greater likelihood of the utilization of more collaborative-based approaches outside of the group on the part of the participants. After identifying giving circle groups across the state of Virginia through both existing databases and social media outreach, groups are contacted with the request for members to participate in brief interviews. These responses are then coded and analyzed for emerging themes and are qualitatively examined through statistical analysis software. These interviews are designed to obtain qualitative responses from participants about the nature of their giving circle participation, their reasons for joining and continuing to participate in these groups, and their feelings on how membership has impacted their philanthropic behaviors and civic engagement patterns as well as identifying the presence of traits including those relating to previously identified qualities of altruism. This research also seeks to explore the underlying rationale behind the tensions between engaging independent, grassroots collaborative action with democratic governance and the ability to comprehensively address community problems by giving circle groups as posited by researchers such as Eikenberry. This research sheds light on the profile of giving circle members in Virginia and the ways in which community-based philanthropic groups work to address issues which more regulation-bound community foundations may have trouble addressing. Findings from this study provide qualitative examples of the forces driving Virginians to get involved in democratic and philanthropic processes in our society and communicate that the appeal of a giving circle is as much about a desire to see the increased impact of pooled, targeted funding towards an issue as it is about forging connections, social capital, and a deeper method of engagement with issues of interest.
