Gift Circles are participatory funding gatherings where a group of people comes together to discuss needs, contributions, and intentions, then collectively decides how to allocate a shared pool of funds or support. Rather than traditional voting or competitive pitching, participants engage in listening, witnessing, and gifting with relational awareness.
How It Works
Gift Circles replace competitive grant processes with relational, dialogue-based allocation.
- Gather participants — a group with shared context and mutual trust assembles (in-person or online)
- Pool resources — a shared funding pool is established for the session
- Structured sharing rounds — each participant shares their needs, contributions, and intentions with the group
- Collective gifting — the group collectively decides how to distribute funds based on what was shared, often through consensus or facilitated dialogue
- Full transparency — all allocation decisions are visible to the group
Advantages
- Builds deep trust and presence in funding decisions
- Surfaces invisible or relational labor (care work, stewardship, emotional support)
- Creates shared ownership of allocation decisions
- Supports collective emotional and economic resilience
Limitations
- Does not scale to large, anonymous groups
- Unsuitable for rapid decision-making or efficiency-focused funding
- Poorly suited for competitive or adversarial contexts
- Requires emotional safety and trust among participants
Best Used When
- Tight-knit, values-aligned communities need to distribute funds
- Recognizing care work and emotional labor that other mechanisms miss
- Cultural and ritual-based public goods funding
- Small to medium distributions where relational trust is high
Examples and Use Cases
DAO Contributor Care Budgets
DAOs distribute monthly contributor care budgets through gratitude-based gifting circles, recognizing work that falls outside formal deliverables.
Local ReFi Hub Allocation
A local ReFi hub allocates $5,000 across stewards, artists, and organizers through a facilitated gift circle, honoring contributions that would be invisible in a standard grant process.
Seasonal Cultural Commons
Communities combine resource allocation with ritual, storytelling, and presence in seasonal circles that fund cultural infrastructure.