Spotlight on Giving Circles ahead of Impact100 Melbourne 2025 Launch

Eight years ago, Melbourne social enterprise, SisterWorks received an $81,000 grant through a giving circle. It transformed the business and gave it a future. 

“When we received the gift, we knew we could exist for the next two or three years,” SisterWorks CEO Ifrin Fittock said.

“It allowed us to sleep at night and actually focus our efforts into fulfilling our mission of creating economic empowerment for migrant, refugee and asylum seeker women.”

Since receiving the grant, SisterWorks has opened three empowerment hubs, a new hospitality hub (café and catering), a new manufacturing hub, and supported more than 3000 women from 105 nationalities into meaningful employment.

The grant came from Impact100 Melbourne, a giving circle established in 2014 and hosted by Lord Mayor’s Charitable Foundation. It is a vibrant example of a giving circle model whereby people pool together donations to make a significant grant that is changing the game for small nonprofits and social enterprises.


SisterWorks celebrating their 2016 Impact100 Melbourne Major Grant.

Born out of the United States in the 1990s, giving circles have become a significant grassroots philanthropic movement globally and that momentum is growing in Australia.

The Foundation has been a long-term supporter of collective giving and has also hosted Melbourne Women’s Foundation during its formative years.

National Convenor of Collective Giving Australia and Impact100WA Co-founder James Boyd said there weren’t many sources charities and nonprofit organisations can go to and find a grant of that size. 

“The Impact100 model is quite unique because instead of making multiple small grants, it chooses to make a small number of very large grants to small charities within the local environment,” he said.

“It gives them a power boost, an opportunity to employ more people or expand and invest in the future or build capacity in some way to increase the good work they are doing, and I think that’s very exciting for the donors, but also hugely opportunistic for the nonprofits that are supported.”

Mr Boyd said there was a massive community capacity opportunity through these groups.

“The idea of giving together and having a greater impact together is really powerful,” he said.

“Collective giving groups bring us together to talk about local issues and to work together to make our communities stronger and more connected.”

Philanthropy Australia’s Senior Advisor Engagement and Philanthropy, and Co-founder and Chair of Melbourne Women’s Foundation giving circle, Patricia Burke said it was a moment for collective giving in Australia right now.

“Since launching the giving circle in 2014 and through my work at Philanthropy Australia I have been able to watch the growth of collective giving in Australia,” she said.

“Giving circles are democratising giving and that is a large part of their appeal.

“There is a common misconception that only the very wealthy can be philanthropists, but this is just not the case, everyone can be a philanthropist and giving circles are really encouraging more people to give in whatever way they can.”


L - R: Philanthropy Australia’s Senior Advisor Engagement and Philanthropy, and Co-founder and Chair of Melbourne Women’s Foundation giving circle, Patricia Burke pictured with members of Melbourne Women's Foundation Cat Fay and Dr Susan Feldman.

Impact100 Melbourne founding committee member Rikki Andrews said giving circles gave everyday Australians that major donor feeling.

“Collective giving means that donated funds have a greater impact,” she said.

“A thousand dollars, whilst it might be a large sum of money for an individual, in the greater scheme of things is not a huge amount to be given to a charity.

“If that donor was to pool that with a hundred other people, it brings the total amount to one-hundred-thousand dollars and that is a sum of money that can make a significant impact.”

For SisterWorks, the giving circle grant enabled it “to take a leap of faith” and lease its first shop front. 

“What often stops a small charity like us from taking a risk is not knowing whether or not we can sustain it,” Ms Fittock said.

“And that’s what’s so powerful about a grant like this, it gives you a safety net to be able to plan further ahead, as opposed to worrying about where the money will come from next week or the next month.”


SisterWorks' CEO Ifrin Fittock at the SisterWorks Crafted Culture shop.

After feeling the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, Impact100 Melbourne is relaunching in March.

“Like many other organisations that rely on connection, we suffered during COVID-19,” Ms Andrews said.

“We lost that ability to be able to get people together. The relaunch is to try and regain the momentum we had pre-COVID and to revive that notion of knowing the community, knowing the needs, opportunities and challenges within Melbourne and bringing people together to have that impact they would like to see.”

Impact100 Melbourne is hosted and supported by Lord Mayor’s Charitable Foundation.



Article written by Mackenzie Archer.