Shared Gifting Funds
RSF Shared Gifting Funds pioneer an innovative model of grant-making designed to encourage collaboration and learning.
RSF Social Finance is dedicated to transforming the way the world works with money. We believe it is possible to transform the dynamics of the philanthropic field by fostering a spirit of collaboration and learning, rather than competition, in the grant making process. RSF has been supporting a “fund sharing” model of grant making through the Mid States Shared Gifting Program for over 15 years. This program, created by Elise O. Casper, demonstrates a new model of grant making in which the grantees are also grantors as they work together to disburse a pool of funds to each other.
What is Shared Gifting?
After careful pre-meeting work, the process is as follows: 1) a pool of money is granted to a selected group of grantees; 2) the grantees review one another’s proposals and needs; 3) at the meeting, grantees share news, organizational biographies, and discuss each other’s proposals; 4) through a process of gifting, grantees collectively determine how the funds should be distributed between each of the participating organizations.
From an economic perspective, the fund sharing process fosters the most efficient use of resources by requiring grantees to achieve consensus on how funds will be best allocated to support their collective efforts. From a social perspective, the process builds community by placing participants in relationship with each other as both grantee and grantor. Ideally, competition becomes collaboration. You can read more about the fund sharing model, originally developed through the Fund Sharing Group of the Mid States Shared Gifting Program, in this article.
Current Activity
In the summer of 2010, RSF invited our client community to submit nominations of organizations to participate in the first round of grant making from our Food & Agriculture Fund. Seven selected nominees were invited to participate in a collaborative grant making process to determine grant amounts from a pool of $50,000. Details about this first meeting can be found in the Spring 2011 RSF Quarterly.
Help Support the Growth of Shared Gifting
The Shared Gifting Program is dependent on Philanthropic Support to continue this work. RSF is seeking funds to support Shared Gifting in each of our three focus areas.
We are currently seeking a match of $14,795 and additional gifts for
support of the next round of grant making for the Food & Agriculture
Shared Gifting Group.
We also received the following matching funds as a start to this initiative:
Four participants from the Food & Agriculture Shared Gifting Fund donated back to RSF a total of $1,795 as a matching grant for support of the next round of grantmaking: $400 from the Free Farm, $476 from Marin Organic, $443 from San Francisco Waldorf School, and $476 from Partners for Sustainable Pollination.
$3,000 grant from the AnJeL Fund
$10,000* grant from the Flow Fund as a start to this initiative
*The Flow Fund is inspired to share that this grant came from interest income on their Social Investment Fund account held here at RSF.
Resources
Read about the origin of the Shared Gifting model
Read about the first meeting of the Food & Agriculture Shared Gifting Group
Read about the Barn Dance that was held as a result of the Shared Gifting Group
Read this feature article on Shared Gifting in the Chronicle of Philanthropy
Read the RSF white paper on the Shared Gifting model
If you are interested in donating to this fund or learning more about the shared gifting process, please call or email Kelley Buhles.
Please note that this fund will not accept unsolicited grant proposals. Please do not contact RSF if you are seeking a grant from this fund.
- Printed from http://rsfsocialfinance.org/services/giving/shared/
