Frequently Asked Questions
Community members of organizations and individuals are dedicated to changing lives across the MENA region. They amplify local voices and elevate philanthropy to address problems inherent to targeted communities. By joining Giving Circle MENA, they aim to learn, invest, and support the co-creation of solutions to issues deeply rooted in the region’s political, religious, socio-economic, and cultural contexts.
Impact partners are implementing partners who bring their concept ideas to co-design context-aware solutions, expanding and enhancing their impact. They actively mobilize resources for their impactful initiatives, driving significant changes.
Legacy partners seek creative ways to co-design and manage their grant-making processes. They build trusted partnerships with vetted nonprofit organizations that are closest to local issues and can quickly identify and assist the most vulnerable. Legacy partners seek technical support to ensure their investments are used more strategically, efficiently, and effectively.
Topics are announced by Giving Circles-MENA. These topics include either novel trends in international development, humanitarian emergencies, or specialized themes that require collaborative efforts to design effective and sensible projects. That is, this scenario requires both vetted NGOs and philanthropists to pool their time and funds to co-design and propose the best means and ends that satisfy the cause. After the scope of work(s) are narrowed and defined, participating NGOs and other invited ones will pitch a 5-minutes presentation of their proposal. Following the presentations, potentially funding philanthropist(s) and Philanthropic organization(s) will vote to decide which proposal deserves funding. A minimum funding cap from philanthropists may be included.
NGOs with specialized ideas, backed by their expertise and past experiences, can approach Giving Circles MENA with a specific topic they wish to receive funding for. These topics should be unique and innovative. In such cases, Giving Circles MENA will issue an invitation to individual and institutional philanthropists to join the circle led by the designated NGO, co-led by the NGO’s Technical Subject Matter Expert. The objective of these circles is to raise funds for qualified, innovative projects and ideas.
When a philanthropic organization requests the creation of a circle on a specific topic and location with an estimated funding amount, Giving Circles MENA will initiate the process. They will invite vetted and qualified non-government organizations to freely participate in discussions and share context-aware ideas. Once the scope of work is narrowed and defined, participating NGOs, along with any additional invited ones, will pitch a five-minute presentation of their proposal. The philanthropist will then decide which proposal deserves the funding.
