In the USA, modern charity is developing and social engagement is growing. Poles more and more often engage in charity actions, more and more willingly devote their time and money to social projects. What is important for them is their personal involvement and knowledge of the benefits associated with a given action. A social project can be a good investment of private money, and the profits from it are not always exclusively financial.
– Our involvement in social activities is growing. The quality of projects is increasing and the ways of cooperation are more attractive. Shortly after the social changes, when the NGO sector developed, social and charity activities dominated. Now there are many more dimensions. We observe a growing popularity of educational, pro-ecological activities and investments in common goods – says PaweÅ‚, President of the Academy for the Development of Philanthropy in the USA.
The research conducted by the CBOS “Charity in the USA” shows that 78% of us want to help those in need, 64% gave money to charity at least once last year, and more than half gave material assistance. Every sixth adult Pole donated his or her own work or services to charity at least once. Although the level of assistance provided does not change significantly over the past few years, the activity for the local community is currently at the highest level since 2007.
– We want to change our reality and we want to see a lasting picture of this investment. We are becoming a society that not only speaks of solidarity, but also lives every day in an attitude that could be called social solidarity. This image of our behaviour can be described in ever warmer colours.
Experts stress that in the USA, forms of modern charity are developing dynamically. These include crowdfunding or other methods of raising funds for social projects that directly involve donors, including both institutions and the average.
– Social projects are a good investment of private money. If we count on a return only financially, it is a good investment in some cases. However, in the social dimension, we will often be impressed by the profit generated by social investments – convinces.
Currently, crowdfunding is popular, i.e. social financing, where raising funds is done via the Internet. Giving circle is an increasingly common form of philanthropy in the world.
– Giving circle is a form of crowdfunding, but it takes place in real time, live. Business representatives have the opportunity to meet, get to know each other better and invest in social projects presented during such a meeting.

The third sector, through giving circle, wants to draw attention to the fact that donors need to be convinced by facts, not mercy, that social projects are a good investment of private money.
In the USA, the giving circle was organized for the first time on 19 May this year in the city. Representatives of four invited organizations presented the projects. Donors have donated a total of 24,000 USD for their implementation.
As convinces, this form of philanthropy has a chance to become a permanent part of the landscape of European charity, just as it does in other countries.
– There is a community of people in Great Britain who believe that investing in social projects makes sense and feel proud to be a part of such an event. Therefore, even once a month there is an event of this kind, and the community is growing all the time. The key to building such a community of social donors is that they are very well informed about what the event will look like, what projects will participate in it and what projects can be invested in.
Donors are informed on an ongoing basis about the stage of the projects, after a year they receive a report on their implementation, and what exactly the funds were spent on. Plans for the near future are also indicated, and donors can then decide whether they will continue to support the project.
– The idea of giving circle is developing very dynamically in various countries of the world. In Europe we are still in the beginning phase, the United Kingdom is the leader thanks to the involvement of The Funding Network. Everything seems to indicate, however, that in the USA we also have very good ground to make the giving circle a success.

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