When George Shuster saw a way of doubling contributions to Warwick nonprofits, he called on his friends to create a “Giving Circle.”

However Shuster, who played an instrumental role in the passage of a state bond in 2010 that provided funding to preserve Rocky Point and is active in supporting Warwick non-profits, didn’t exactly know how his plan would work. He picked up on the idea of a community-based giving after learning that the Rhode Island Foundation was entertaining proposals aimed at increasing giving and offering an incentive to match funds raised up to $5,000.

While the Rhode Island Foundation had giving circle requirements, it did not offer guidelines on how matching funds could be raised or where they should be directed.

Shuster was looking for new ways of giving. He was sure of one thing.

“I wanted from the outset to maximize the $5,000,” he said.

The plan that emerged was to get 25 people to each give $100. That would raise $2,500, which Shuster and his wife Stephanie planned to personally match. The combined amount – $5,000 – would then serve as the match for the Rhode Island Foundation grant for a total of $10,000.

As Shuster was working on his giving circle, so were five other groups chosen for this pilot project. Lauren Paola, manager of special projects at the Rhode Island Foundation, said Wednesday the groups represented a cross-section of interests. One group is made up of women only, while others are comprised of young professionals and young parents.

“It’s all about creating a culture of philanthropy,” she said. Although not current, Paola said studies have shown Rhode Islanders rank low compared to giving trends in other states.

Paola said the circle were selected in April and, following an orientation, encouraged to develop a plan and guidelines. Thus far Shuster’s circle and one other have made contributions. She expects all six circles will have raised enough in contributions to make the full $5,000 match.

Shuster’s circle is the only one site-specific.

Shuster knew that he wanted the money to go to Warwick-based organizations. And while Shuster knows Warwick well, and knows the work of Warwick organizations, he wanted to hear from those giving where they thought the money should go.

With those concepts as a starting point, he sent emails and made calls to see if people were interested. But there were still a lot of unanswered questions.
“We had to make up the ground rules,” he said.

Shuster’s next step was to come up with a list of nonprofits and how the funds – assuming he came up with enough donors – should be divided. The Shusters invited all those showing an interest to their home on Oct. 1.

In his invitation Shuster wrote, “While any non-profit working in Warwick is a possibility, I would ask you to focus on organizations where a gift of this size would be meaningful or could be tied to a specific local project. So, for example, a large national non-profit working in Warwick could be nominated, but if the money just goes into a big national account and does not directly tie back to Warwick, that seems less in the spirit of what we would want to do here.”

Shuster said he was surprised by the number of nonprofits suggested as possible recipients. He knew of many, but was also hearing of some for the first time. That list was whittled down to 13.

Also, Shuster planned to split the donations between five non-profits by voting, with $3,000 going to the top vote getter; the next three getting $2,000 and the fifth $1,000.

A second round of voting determined the awards, with the Boys and Girls Clubs of Warwick the top vote getter and, hence, the recipient of $3,000. The others in order of their ranking are: the Rocky Point Foundation, Trudeau Center, West Bay Community Action and tied, meaning they will each receive $500, the Warwick Neck Improvement Association and the Warwick Center for the Arts.

Paolo said the pilot program would be evaluated. She couldn’t say whether it would be replicated next year. She said the goal is to make giving circles sustainable without Rhode Island Foundation support.

Shuster believes some potential donors were put off because they didn’t understand how much of a donation they were committing to. Now that it has been done once, he thinks it will be easier to do again.

Paolo is pleased with the response.

“I’m very impressed…inspired by their efforts,” she said.