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By Tycely Williams and Britt Hogue
Charitable giving is down. Yet, the number of people joining giving circles is up. Between 2007 to 2016, the number of giving circles tripled, as did the number of people who joined, according to data from the Dorothy A. Johnson Center For Philanthropy at Grand Valley State University.
Giving circles again tripled in growth and increased impact from 2016 to 2023. They are what’s hot for philanthropy during 2025 and beyond.
Smart and committed people who want to make a difference make change through their work, volunteerism, and by investing in a better future. When you combine that with a Presidential transition that is likely to motivate many to put their resources behind causes that matter to them, giving is going to go up when positioned and structured in compelling ways.
Charitable giving reached an estimated $557 billion during 2023, according to Giving USA. And while the numbers are still coming in, 2024 giving is expected to be dominated by foundations that enjoyed stock market gains.
Help Supporters Feel Hopeful
As you build your 2025 fundraising strategy, the annual Giving USA report provides additional insights to remind you of the macro and micro. Take ample time to analyze past fundraising achievement. While it might sound cliché, focus on facts, figures, and feelings. Be sure your realistic growth strategies will also yield positive feelings for supporters of all generations.
The American Psychological Association’s latest Stress in America APA’s poll revealed adults in the United States are severely stressed and emotionally strained. The most common source of significant stress identified by 77% of adults was the nation’s future; followed by the economy among 73% of adults, and the 2024 U.S. presidential election followed closely at 69%. Clearly communicate how financial investments into your nonprofit will solve problems and create a better and brighter future.
Supporters of every generation want to feel an increased sense of satisfaction by knowing their contribution will eliminate threats and reduce harms. Giving circles are an excellent way to foster a hopeful and affirming community for people to feel they can combat social problems with like-minded supporters who share their vision for a positive future.
Look Beyond The Obvious
Be sure to sharpen your thinking and rightfully recognize that as millennials enter their 40s and Gen X rises to the top of their earning potential. These are ideal generations to form transformative giving circles.
Giving circles are often created or led by philanthropic leaders who want to use present day financial day contributions to yield positive future gains. Harness the individual capacity of one supporter to annually invest $5,000, $10,000 or even $25,000 and then multiply the power of one by inviting others to join. These individuals who fall between the socio-economic hierarchy of the working class and upper class, are the likely your “missing middle” with the financial capacity to annually invest discretionary dollars but are not investing at their maximum financial capacity.
According to Q1 2024 data from The Giving Pulse, fundraisers are missing opportunities to engage these potentially motivated donors. Consider the magic of the often-overlooked mid-tier donor to transform your impact before you direct all your attention to ultra-high-net-worth individuals. A key 2025 strategy should be to motivate your missing middle to give, not only in accordance with their means but, in accordance with their values, and shoulder to shoulder with friends and supporters who share their vision for an exceptional future.
Understand The Social Nature of Humans
Philanthropy is often personally motivated and an individual act. Giving circles and other forms of collective giving can bring people together, increase dollars raised, and strengthen the emotional disposition of donors. As reports show that high rates of isolation and loneliness endure beyond the pandemic, consider an invitation to a transformative giving circle to be a thoughtful way to move your fundraising forward while giving back to your supporters.
Let’s move from macro to micro. While you can’t ask every individual who collectively invested more than $373 billion to charitable causes during 2023 about their philanthropic feelings, you should ask yourself these questions during 2025:
- Do you create avenues for your current and prospective donors to find affinity and form connections?
- Are you serving to build a community of shared values among your supporters?
- Can you define and engage your supporters in a vision for transformational collective impact?
- How might you help donors partner with each other to pool financial resources, maximizing impact and strengthening connections between both to your organization as well as to, others who share their values?
Humans are indeed social creatures. Since the 1700s, mutual aid societies, credit unions, and civic organizations have tapped into our natural instincts with transformative models of communal giving. Many of today’s cultivation, solicitation and stewardship strategies leverage the innate desire to commune and connect with others.
This act of benevolence extends beyond the borders of the United States. This practice known as “susu” in West Africa and “tanda” in Mexico, centers shared values that can help you make a move and motivate donors to increase their individual financial investments by expanding the impact of generosity through transformative giving circles.
Start Giving Circles And Multiply Goodness
Seal your success by leveraging the transformative power of giving circles to magnify peer-to-peer solicitation to increase dollars raised. As you seek to start or expand engagement through giving circles remember that it is critical to identify a philanthropic leader with an existing affinity and demonstrated commitment to your organization. The person can invite friends or colleagues with shared interests to become a part your special problem-solving community with these five steps:
- Define the unmet or greatest need that the giving circle can remedy or solve.
- Create flexible terms and offer options for multi-year pledges and payments.
- Celebrate gains and publicly showcase the benefits of collective generosity.
- Highlight the compounding nature of collective giving when communicating with each member of the giving circle.
- Encourage long-term and lifetime connectivity.
You’ll need to do a lot with a little during 2025. Giving circles are a proven pathway for relational fundraising and increased financial growth. The latest study published by Peer-to-Peer Professional Forum in 2022 found that peer-to-peer fundraising was growing at nine times the rate of physical or hybrid fundraising.
The time is now to resource and create infrastructure for giving circles. In case you need one last proof point to propel you into the potential of 2025, according to Urban Institute’s Giving Dashboard, collaborative giving which includes giving circles was up nearly 33% in 2024.
This year should not be all about “out with the old & in with the new.” It is a prudent time to reshape, restructure, and reimagine, especially your individual donor strategies. Remember throughout the year, people will want to feel and be less stressed. Consider giving circles as a sensible way to form community, inspire increased giving, and consequently create a communal pathway to create a better and brighter future.
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Tycely Williams is CEO of Liberty Fellowship. Britt Hogue is principal at strategy firm The Collective Good.
