Authentic Giving

They have names like Womenade, Bread for the Journey, Party With Purpose and Dining for Women.

They're called giving circles, and they're the new faces of philanthropy.

Link: Learn about giving circles

In these groups, people are gathering with like-minded contributors, pooling their money and deciding which charities should benefit from their cash.

After all, simply whipping out a checkbook to donate to a worthy cause is so old-school.

While charitable giving is declining, giving circles are growing. There are more than 600 in the United States, triple the number from just a few years ago. Some visit and interview potential recipients, while others offer guidance to nonprofits that get their financial support.

Joining a giving circle makes you spend more time thinking about where you want to contribute, which makes donating more fulfilling, said Mary Beth Bardin, who participated in a North Texas giving circle that helped at-risk girls.

"It's one thing to write a check, and there's a certain joy in writing the check, but it takes you to a whole new level to go out and see how the money is being used," Bardin said. "You get personally involved."

Many find giving circles appealing because they don't have the time or interest in joining more traditional volunteer groups, said Angela Eikenberry, a University of Nebraska at Omaha professor who studies giving circles.

"Donors want to be more engaged in their giving and have more leverage and more control," she said. "People who are in giving circles talk about going outside the bureaucracy and outside the established institution and doing things in more innovative, less cumbersome ways."

Many giving circles are informal, making them hard to track. But the circles attract both veteran philanthropists and those new to giving, Eikenberry said. They range in size from just a handful of people to several hundred.

Bardin was part of about 10 mother-daughter pairs who collected about $15,000 and formed a giving circle associated with the Dallas Women's Foundation.

Each mother-daughter team visited agencies that requested funding. Bardin and her daughter, Susan, met with an after-school volleyball program in southern Dallas that wanted $1,500 for uniforms and bus transportation to get to games.

Then came the hard part: Figuring out which groups should receive funding.

"We found ourselves bargaining," Bardin said. " 'This group has asked for $5,000, but what if we gave them $3,000 and we would have $2,000 we could give over here?' "

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