WA giving circle helping grow philanthropic culture

Impact100 WA has given away $1.5 million in grants since 2012

Successful giving circles are helping foster a culture of philanthropic giving in Australia, advocates believe. 

Impact100 WA committee chair Simone Eley spoke to Pro Bono News following the giving circle’s latest grant announcement, which saw Earbus Foundation of WA and Camp Kulin each receive $100,000.

Impact100 WA has now given away more than $1.5 million over the past eight years, benefitting 37 smaller not for profits.

Eley said giving circles ­­– whereby people pool their donations to make large impact grants – were a great way to get people involved in philanthropy.

She noted that Impact100 WA members had donated $745,000 to featured charities in addition to the money provided through the giving circle.

“[Giving Circles] make people want to be more philanthropic when they realise the great work organisations are doing,” Eley said.

“It leads to a greater desire to give and help out.”

The basic premise of Impact100 WA is that 100 members each give at least $1,000 a year and get one vote to decide where the $100,000 grant goes.

This year, Impact100 WA raised enough money to not only award two $100,000 grants, but also three $10,000 grants to Ishar Multicultural Women’s Health Services, One Voice Mobile Showers and Type 1 Diabetes Family Centre.

Eley said there was no limit on how many grants Impact100 WA could give away.

“Ideally, we’d love to see it actually keep growing. There’s no reason that it needs to be constrained to two grants or three grants,” she said.

“Some of the Impact100s overseas give away a million dollars a year. So there’s no reason we couldn’t have 10 grants if it grew to that size.”

Impact100 WA was the first Impact100 in Australia, but it has now spread to other states including Victoria, South Australia and New South Wales.

Eley put the success of the concept down to people enjoying being part of “something bigger”.

“For a $1,000, you can actually see a large project come to life. You also become part of a group of donors who you can learn from and get involved with,” she said.

“People are enthusiastic about it and so I think it’s been a great way to get people to make a difference.”