Fun-Raising Philanthropists | Frederick Gorilla

By Chris Little Photos by Casey Martin

Could be that when you hear the word philanthropist, what pops into your head is a stodgy old One Percenter writing a big check to a dusty museum in exchange for his name on a brass plate in the lobby. Well, time to think again. At The Frederick Giving Project, the philanthropists are young. They?re not (necessarily) wealthy, and they?re too busy having snowball fights, kickball games and happy hours to even consider being stuffy. Oh yeah ? they?re also making a real difference in the Frederick community through both their financial largesse and volunteerism. Not a brass plate in sight.

Here?s how it works: $100 makes you a member of The Frederick Giving Project (i.e., a ?Giver?). The Giving Project pools all Giver contributions into an account at the Community Foundation of Frederick County, the tax-exempt umbrella organization that manages assets for a variety of local charitable funds. Then, once a year, Givers vote to choose a local nonprofit as their beneficiary (?Grantee?). Givers also commit to some volunteer work for that nonprofit during the next calendar year.

The concept, known as a ?giving circle,? is becoming an increasingly popular way for like-minded people of modest means to make an impact in causes they care about. Although there?s no age requirement, The Frederick Giving Project targets young professionals connected to the Frederick community.

?We say you have to be young at heart,? explains Rebecca Southers, chair of the group (or, according to its website, ?Empress?). ?If our events appeal to you ? our happy hours and general silliness, everything from a community-wide snowball fight to a supper club ? you?re our target audience. We do tend to be irreverent in our philanthropy. If you want to give back to your community playfully, you might want to check us out.?

Southers founded The Frederick Giving Project with an old friend from Hood College, Melissa Sines, with whom she reconnected at a nonprofit seminar. ?We were both sitting in a workshop about giving circles, talking about them theoretically. It sounded like what I was searching for, and I was so excited about it,? Southers says.

At one point, she saw Sines on the other side of the room raise her hand to ask a question, prefacing it with: ?I?ve heard a lot about giving circles and I?ve always wanted to start one ?.?

That?s when lightning struck for Southers. ?I looked at her and thought, ?We are doing this.?? Southers tracked down Sines afterward, and within the month, the two were planning how to set up a giving circle in Frederick, and they were pulling in other people.

That was March 2009. Southers and Sines, now the group?s vice chair (?Organizer Extraordinaire?), set up a fund at the Community Foundation and threw their launch party in December 2009. The two gathered members and donations throughout 2010, and by that December, the group?s Givers awarded $8,000 to Cakes for Cause. In 2011, the group volunteered at Cakes for Cause, which provides job and life skills training to youth aging out of foster care through internships at the Moxie Bakery & Caf? on North Market Street. They also staffed its farmer?s market stand and hosted happy hours and supper clubs at Moxie to raise funds for their grantee.

?Generally what the Giving Project does is make philanthropy accessible for younger people,? says Cakes for Cause Executive Director Elin Ross. ?It gives young people who may not have been exposed to philanthropy an opportunity to figure out what fits for them.?

Since the young professionals running the Giving Project come from the nonprofit world and are deeply familiar with the travails of grant writing, the group strives to make it as easy as possible for a nonprofit to become a Grantee. They start by soliciting a one-page letter of inquiry, then winnow them down to five finalists who are invited to submit a detailed proposal. Abbreviated versions are sent to Givers via an email survey. Each Giver gets one vote, no matter how much he or she has donated.

Out of 27 applicants last year, the group voted to make the Frederick Arts Council their 2012 grantee, donating more than $8,000 and volunteering in any capacity, including staffing the Frederick Festival of the Arts.

?Working with the Giving Project is pretty exceptional,? says Susie Miller, the arts council?s acting executive director. ?Not only do they provide funds, which are greatly appreciated, but more so, they volunteer their time and their expertise. That, for a nonprofit organization, is huge.? Miller notes that the Giving Project?s up-and-coming philanthropists? willingness to commit their time and money to a local nonprofit is one aspect that sets this giving circle apart from other organizations. ?It?s a great partnership. They?re using their knowledge and enthusiasm to help not just this nonprofit, but all the nonprofits they work with,? she says.

Southers believes The Frederick Giving Project serves the Frederick community in another way too. ?People in our generation want to feel connected,? she says. ?We commute long distances and converse virtually. There?s a common feeling that we?ve lost connection, and a deep need to reestablish it.? Staying connected to a giving circle fulfills that desire for community, Southers says. ?Just donating to a charity is so abstract. This is a social network of people who care and want to help. It?s a way to build friendships with other giving people.?

For more information about The Frederick Giving Project, its events and ways to get involved, visit www.frederickgivingproject.org.

Source: http://www.frederickgorilla.com/fun-raising-philanthropists

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