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There’s one virus in the Northland that Gaye Ballinger hopes will keep spreading.

Ballinger is one of the recent co-founders of the Northland Giving Circle, an organization aimed at leveraging charity and sharing the gospel of cooperative giving across the region.

“I just think it’s so exciting that this concept is growing in the Northland,” Ballinger said.

A giving circle is essentially a small, cooperative foundation, according to the Forum of Regional Associations of Grantmakers.

The circles consist of members who each donate a set amount. The shared funds are then donated en-masse to a charitable organization based on a vote of the members, according to the grant makers’ forum.

The Northland Giving Circle is seeking 100 people to give $302.50, according to Jan Kauk, executive director of the Northland Community Foundation. The foundation is providing administrative services for the circle, which means any donations are tax deductable.

Once a $2.50 administrative fee is applied, the remainder of each donation will be pooled, Kauk said.

Once $30,000 has been collected, the Northland Giving Circle members will cast their votes for charities that have submitted funding requests to the organization. The winning group will receive a lump-sum donation from the circle.

The value of the giving circle is that it facilitates a “high-impact grant” award from people who might not be able to have those kinds of resources individually, Kauk said.

“Our members can participate in charity in a way that they may not be able to otherwise,” she said. “The giving circle is an opportunity to encourage more people to participate in philanthropy.”

The Northland Giving Circle was founded in July after Ballinger and several friends read about the success of a similar group started about two years ago by Fran Bussey in Liberty.

The Liberty group provided regular advice based on its experience to Ballinger and her friends on starting a giving circle, Ballinger said.

“The women of Liberty have been so helpful and so gracious with us,” she said.

Throughout the second half of the summer, Ballinger and Kauk held small gatherings of interested community members to explain the giving circle concept and solicit support.

For Kauk, it’s been fun watching like-minded, generous people connect. In many cases, these are people who might not otherwise get to know each other, she said.

“This is creating a real synergy among people who value charity and community service,” Kauk said.

Ultimately, the goal is that the group will grow enough to split off smaller, more community-specific giving circles, Ballinger said.

“Why would we not want people to break off and start their own giving circles?” she asked. “It’s the perfect opportunity to create a network of charity.”

giving circles

Here are 10 steps to starting a giving circle:

- Gather like-minded friends, family and neighbors, explain the concept and create a structure.

- Once the group has been established, define the mission, goals and objectives, and set a giving amount.

- Create a means to manage the donated money. This can include establishing a partnership with an existing nonprofit organization, such as the Northland Community foundation.

- Refine the vision of the group, its focus as a charitable organization. For instance, the Northland Giving Circle is aiming its dollars towards groups that provide basic living necessities such as food and clothing to area residents.

- Divide specific tasks among group members.

- Figure out how the group will process and prioritize funding requests.

- Determine what kind of partnership the giving circle will have with its funding recipients.

- Take time to carefully review funding requests. This should likely include site visits to the organizations asking for money.

- Award the money.

- Evaluate the process and make adjustments for the next round of giving.

Source: The Forum of Regional Associations of Grantmakers

ONLINE

To learn more about the Northland Giving Circle, visit www.northlandgivingcircle.org or call Gaye Ballinger at 741-7620 or Linda Ward at 746-8818.

Staff writer Ray Weikal can be reached at 389-6637 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

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