Continue reading for more info about what the giving circle entails and feel free to pass this message along to anyone who might be interested in joining.
GaGLE (gather and give, let's eat) is composed of young adults (~under 30) in the Washington D.C. area with a common interest in improving their community through collective philanthropy. Following a model developed by other giving circles, we pool our charitable contributions and participate in a collaborative and educational process of selecting a non-profit organization to support with our group donation over the course of several months. By pooling our donations and by digging deep into issues, we can enhance the impact of our gifts, learn a lot, and have fun. Here's the website kept by the previous group and something we would update and maintain this round - http://gatherandgivedc.
The selection process for our target nonprofit works like this: first we choose a general issue (food access, health care, housing, education), learn more about the different aspects of that issue, narrow the focus of the group, research local non-profit organizations working to address the selected issues, and finally, choose one and donate our money (by the beginning of June 2009)! In addition to researching issues and organizations, Gather and Give members conduct site visits, volunteer, and host guest speakers at their meetings-- we are hoping to have Liz Falk at our first meeting - she works at the 7th Street Garden and was granted the $$ from the first round of GaGLE (see below for more info). Also, we make and eat lots of good food at each of our meetings (the LE in GaGLE stands for "let's eat!").
All GaGLE members commit in advance to (1) making a minimum suggested contribution of $75 (money is due at the end of the first meeting if you wish to continue, but those who cannot meet this donation amount and are still interested in joining are welcome to donate as much as they are comfortable with); (2) attending at least three meetings; and (3) actively participating in the group's collaborative selection process. In the first round, started in Fall 2006, there were 14 members, all in their mid-20s, who worked in fields as diverse as business consulting, non-profit management, policy research, and construction management. They finished up in June 2007, choosing to grant their pool of money to a fantastic and brand-new community garden called the 7th Street Garden. More about this last round will be discussed at our first meeting.
We'll be discussing the theme for this round, the process, the timeline, and a bunch of other things. We are learning all this as we go along, so any and all suggestions are welcome!
Thanks so much and hope to see you all then!
Sunitha
