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Impactful Giving

Funding Circles

Giving together, on one problem

A funding circle coordinates donors around a single causeCause. A broad area of concern to donors.: a shared pipeline of grant opportunities, comparative evaluation by Impactful Giving, and two grant rounds a year to act on it. The strategy and the research are pooled. Every grant decision stays the donor’s own.

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Our circles

Why join a circle

One donor funds a slice. A circle can move the whole chain.

Big problemsProblem. A specific issue within a cause area that reduces the well-being of a target population. run across sectors, states and stages at once, and a single interventionIntervention. A specific mechanism for change. rarely finishes anything. Most donors give to the one slice they understand best, the visible and easily attributed part, while the rest of the chain stays unfunded.

  • A strategy, not a list of grants. The circle builds an open view of where the leverage sits (which sectors, which stages of the chain, which states, what others already fund) and donors shape that thesis rather than receive it. Your giving becomes a considered position on the problem.
  • Reach that one cheque cannot. Some of the highest-leverage work, building a research field, taking a policy programme national, starting an organisation where none exists, needs a scale of funding only a group reaches. And because your money sits in a portfolio rather than a single grant, one disappointment does not define your year.
  • A whole problem, not one piece of it. Solving something usually needs research, then a pilot, then policy change. Alone, you fund one link and hope someone funds the rest. Together, donors can deliberately split the chain and move all of it.

There is a practical dividend too. Members get a scored evaluation of every organisation that reaches the shortlist, a comparative view of the whole cause rather than whatever crosses their desk, and roughly 70 to 80 hours a year they do not spend on diligence.

How a circle works

The evaluation behind every shortlist is the same method we use everywhere: prioritising problems, identifying solutions, and maximising impact.

  1. Funders indicate their annual giving amount and preferences.
  2. Funders and Impactful Giving define a shared strategy together, and agree the RFP scope for each round.
  3. Researchers source and vet applications, narrowing the field, and prepare memos on the shortlist.
  4. Call 1, initial selection: the shortlisted grant memos are discussed, and funders indicate preferences.
  5. Call 2, deep dive: donors request further research and due diligence on promising applicants, and exchange notes.
  6. Call 3, decision: grant recipients, co-funding and amounts are settled, each donor deciding their own.
  7. Impactful Giving handles reporting across both grant rounds.

What it takes

Minimum annual giving to join a circle
₹50 lakhMinimum annual giving to join a circle
Per round, plus reading the grant memos between them
3 callsPer round, plus reading the grant memos between them
A year, so decisions arrive on a known rhythm
2 roundsA year, so decisions arrive on a known rhythm

Giving at a smaller scale? Our advisory starts at around ₹25 lakh a year. Below that, ask us where to give and we will tell you what we would do in your position.

For organisations

The strongest organisations often aren’t the best known. A circle evaluates the plan, the track record, the evidence and the cost per unit of impact, not the marketing, and a good organisation raises once, from a group, rather than pitching twenty donors separately.

For the field

Every grant a circle evaluates leaves behind information the rest of the market can use. Over time that builds a shared picture of what works, lowers the risk for the next funder, and grows the pool of capital willing to back serious work.

Joining a circle

Want in on the next one?

Circles are small by design. Tell us which problem you want to work on, and we will talk through where the next circle is heading and whether it fits.

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