Why is a being part of a giving circle even better than making a straight charitable gift? For Jodi Moskowitz, it comes down to the power of addition.
“[The circle] really has opened my eyes to all the things that you think about when you give money,” said Moskowitz, current chair of the Jewish Women’s Giving Foundation of Baltimore. “If I had $1,000 that I wanted to give to six organizations, it wouldn’t be that much money that I was able to give to each organization. But if I combine my $1,000 with everybody else’s $1,000, we can give an organization up to $20,000, which for a lot of organizations, can make a huge difference.”
The JWGF is a prime example of a giving circle, a group where donors pool regular contributions and donate periodically to nonprofits of their choosing, often a local organization that is attempting to help local people in need.
According to a report published by The Association of Baltimore Area Grantmakers and the Maryland Philanthropy Network, giving circles emerged in the late 1990s as a higher-engagement form of philanthropy. Donors who wanted to do more than simply write a check were looking for new ways to ensure their contributions made maximum impact.
What emerged from this need was two strategies. One was venture philanthropy. The other was giving circles. The latter trend was especially popular among women, African Americans and younger donors.
Baltimore now boasts a wide variety of giving circles that focus their funds on everything from women’s issues to teen philanthropy to teachers. By no means are they a strictly Jewish phenomenon. The Baltimore Women’s Giving Circle, for instance, has more than 400 members.
While having a donor base that large can increase a giving circle’s influence, smaller circles can still make a big difference. The Jewish Women’s Giving Foundation of Baltimore has roughly 125 members, according to Moskowitz, and makes grants between $5,000 and $20,000. The foundation said it has given out more than $2 million in all since its founding in 2003.
How It Works
The JWGF, like most giving circles, uses membership dues to fund grants for the nonprofits it helps. Members commit to giving $1,100 per year to nonprofits that advance opportunities for women and girls of all faiths and backgrounds to live safer, healthier lives.
JWGF said it endeavors to allocate at least 50% of its funds each year to the Jewish community, either in the Baltimore area or in Israel. Groups can receive funding for up to two consecutive years, then need to wait a year before they can reapply.
This year, members of the Jewish Women’s Giving Foundation of Baltimore received applications from about 40 different organizations. According to Moskowitz, members broke into reading groups to examine the applications, with each person assigned 12 applications to begin with and then three proposals in the second round to review more in depth.
The members’ common background influences the decision-making process, Moscowitz said: “We focus the whole process through a Jewish lens, and so we look at Jewish values and see how they apply to each different organization.”
Responding to Oct. 7
The group’s most recent donations were affected by the post-Oct. 7 crisis in Israel and the rise in antisemitism. In its 2025 annual report, grantee liaison chair Jennifer Klig said that “while our world at times felt out of control, JWGF continued to move toward helping to create stability through actions that underscored the lesson of ‘olam chesed yibaneh’” – the idea that the world is built on loving kindness.
The end result was that during the 2024-25 year, the JWGF made contributions to ten different organizations. Some were Israel-based, like the Magen David Adom Breast Milk Bank, which provides nutrition for premature babies in Israeli hospitals, and the Association of Rape Crisis Centers in Israel. Other recipients were local organizations like CHANA, which helps Jewish women who have experienced abuse or trauma.
And some recipients are non-Jewish, like PIVOT Baltimore, a nonprofit that provides women returning from incarceration with transitional housing and other basic needs.
Since Jewish Women’s Giving Foundation of Baltimore is part of The Associated: Jewish Federation of Baltimore, the organization has a director who handles initial outreach to nonprofits, according to Moskowitz. However, everyone else involved in the giving circle is a volunteer.
“The whole philosophy of a giving circle is collective giving, so that we’re making a decision as a group how we want to give our money,” said Moskowitz. “That … broadens your perspective about the way you look at things.”
