Site Helps Giving Circles Manage Donations and Memberships

April 7, 2014 | Read Time: 1 minute

The One Percent Foundation, a nonprofit that encourages people in their 20s and 30s to donate a portion of their income, grew out of an active giving circle in the San Francisco Bay Area. Now, one of the organization’s first projects is a website that helps people find, start, and administer groups that bring people together to combine their gifts and decide which charities should receive their support.

Giving circles that meet in person can use the One Percent Foundation’s online platform to collect members’ monthly donations, vote on recipients, and direct contributions to the winning nonprofits. People can also use the site to join or start an online giving circle.

The site is designed to be easy to navigate on a mobile device. People can share information about their giving on Facebook, Twitter, and Google Plus.

Adults in their 20s and 30s don’t have a lot of money to give, and they worry about how to pick the most effective nonprofits and whether their small gifts will really make a difference, says Lana Volftsun, executive director of the One Percent Foundation. Giving circles, she says, are a great way for young people to overcome those concerns.

“Our members pool their funds together, so suddenly instead of giving $200, they’re voting on $20,000 grants every quarter,” says Ms. Volftsun. “They feel as though they can make a greater impact collectively.”

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About the Author

NICOLE WALLACE

Features Editor

Nicole Wallace is features editor of the Chronicle of Philanthropy. She has written about innovation in the nonprofit world, charities’ use of data to improve their work and to boost fundraising, advanced technologies for social good, and hybrid efforts at the intersection of the nonprofit and for-profit sectors, such as social enterprise and impact investing.Nicole spearheaded the Chronicle’s coverage of Hurricane Katrina recovery efforts on the Gulf Coast and reported from India on the role of philanthropy in rebuilding after the South Asian tsunami. She started at the Chronicle in 1996 as an editorial assistant compiling The Nonprofit Handbook.Before joining the Chronicle, Nicole worked at the Association of Farmworker Opportunity Programs and served in the inaugural class of the AmeriCorps National Civilian Community Corps.A native of Columbia, Pa., she holds a bachelor’s degree in foreign service from Georgetown University.