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Giving Circles Going Global

by Marc Ross Manashil
The Clarence Foundation

The Clarence Foundation is an international grantmaking organization based in Oakland, California. Our mission is to promote engaged international philanthropy by catalyzing and hosting globally focused giving circles. You might describe a giving circle as the philanthropic equivalent of a book club. Participants pool their donations and agree to work together on the process of making international grants.

So far, our giving circles have met at the homes of our members, where we share food, wine and good conversation. We invite expert guest speakers to help us understand the global issues we are addressing, and we meet remarkable people who inspire us by sharing their personal stories. For example, last year were privileged to meet two individuals from Sudan who had just arrived in the U.S. from a refugee camp in Uganda. We then apply what we have learned by considering proposals from grassroots organizations overseas, deciding how best to give away the funds we have pooled together.

Though we do everything possible to help our giving circle members personally connect with the plight of those in highly impoverished areas of the world, we also recognize that there is no substitute for traveling there personally. So this year The Clarence Foundation has decided to take the global giving circle concept to a whole new level by offering two programs that incorporate a travel component.

The first is our Traveling Giving Circle to Kenya, which is being offered in collaboration with The International Child Resource Institute Africa and The Falconer Group. Like our past circles, members will pool their donations and decide collectively how to give their money away. However, this time group members will travel together to Kenya and participate in an on-the-ground giving circle experience. We will visit grassroots organizations working with vulnerable children and families in the urban slum areas of the capital, Nairobi. We will observe their work, meet the people they serve and learn first-hand about the challenges they face. We will also dialogue with the remarkable leaders of these organizations and ask how our circle can best support their work.

And of course, we couldn't come all this way without experiencing the rich culture, landscape, wildlife, cuisine, and the wonderful people of Kenya! Members of the circle will go sightseeing around the Nairobi area, visiting the Bomas of Kenya and Nairobi National Park. We will shop for souvenirs at the Maasai Market and stop for dinner at the Carnivore. We will also go on an overnight safari at Tsavo National Park. Like our other giving circles, it is important to complement the weightiness of the issues we are addressing with other activities that are relaxing and fun.

For those who feel they do not have the time or resources to travel to Kenya, we will be offering two giving circles in the San Francisco Bay Area that will overlap with the traveling circle. Participants who went on the trip will be able to share their personal experiences of visiting the grantees, thereby helping local giving circle members gain a stronger personal connection to the projects they are considering. And who knows, perhaps some will be inspired enough to come along on the trip next time!

Another program we are offering this year provides an example of how we seek to integrate travel with the giving circle experience. We are working in partnership with tour operator and ATTA member Priscilla Macy and her company Global Sojourns on a new Africa giving circle to begin later this month.

Throughout her years of traveling in developing countries, Priscilla has been greatly impacted by the disparity of wealth between the North and South. Many of Priscilla's friends and clients of Global Sojourns have also been moved by what they witnessed during their travels and have asked what they could do to help. In the past, Priscilla has been reluctant to make many specific suggestions, having seen giving with the best of intentions gone awry. However, she found the giving circle concept appealing because it combined a thorough vetting of projects with a process of learning and support that would help the group maximize its impact.

Since Priscilla's clients and friends are located throughout the country, meetings of her giving circle will be held via teleconference. In March, Priscilla will be leading a Global Sojourns adventure travel trip to Botswana, Namibia, South Africa and Zambia. She and fellow giving circle member, Linda Dee, will spend time before and afterwards visiting grassroots organizations addressing issues such as education for children impacted by HIV/AIDS and wildlife conservation. Priscilla and Linda will bring back their personal stories and impressions of the organizations being considered, which will help the other circle members feel more connected and informed about how to best give away their funds.

Though these two circles integrate the travel experience in different ways, both aim to make global giving more accessible and personally satisfying. Even for those of us who have traveled extensively overseas, it is easy to feel overwhelmed by the magnitude of suffering we see in the world today and to wonder what we can possibly do about it. Many of us also have concerns about accountability and want to make sure our contributions reach those who need them most.

Giving circles can help us overcome these barriers. They break down overwhelming global challenges into more manageable bite-sized pieces. They introduce us to remarkable change agents who show us how we can concretely improve and save lives. They offer a leverage point by enabling us to pool our dollars for greater impact. They promote a sense of community, so we don't have to work for change by ourselves. And they enable us to have a great time in the process.

Our goal is that someday global giving circles will be as common as book clubs! We hope that each person who participates will develop a lifelong commitment to international giving, and by extension, to international adventure travel. With both increasing in popularity, there is no better time than now for these two great ideas to come together.

The Traveling Giving Circle to Kenya will take place March 27- April 6, 2007. For further information, please e-mail Marc Ross Manashil at or download a copy of the program brochure at http://www.theclarencefoundation.org/KenyaCircle.pdf. For information about Priscilla Macy's Global Sojourns Giving Circle, please e-mail her at . http://www.globalsojourns.com