Below are generic samples of forms and collateral materials created and used by other giving circles that you may choose to personalize for your giving circle’s needs.
By no means do you have to use these! As you can imagine, there are as many of these forms as there are giving circles.
If you don’t see what you are looking for here, look around at what other giving circles have created and reach out to them to ask if you can model your form after their form.
(All forms are in MS Word or MS Excel so they can be personalized for your needs.)
Registration & Commitment Form
This is a sample commitment form used by a single registrant who agrees to donate $100 per quarter.
Registration & Commitment Form (two-person team)
This is a sample commitment form used by a team of two registrants who agree to collectively donate $100 per quarter.
Team Registration & Commitment Form (three or four-person team)
This is a sample commitment form used by a team of up to four registrants who agree to collectively donate $100 per quarter.
Charity Nomination Pre-Qualification Form – MEMBER
This is a sample form for members to use to submit a nonprofit for funding consideration, if your giving circle decides to pre-qualify nonprofits against certain criteria.
Charity Nomination Pre-Qualification Form – NONPROFIT
This is a sample form for nonprofits to complete once nominated by a member (see link above this), if your giving circle decides to pre-qualify nonprofits against certain criteria.
Charity Nomination Ballot (simple)
This is a simple ballot for members to put their name and the name of their nominated nonprofit into the hat for funding consideration at a meeting. Some giving circle’s choose not to pre-qualify the nonprofits and instead have members nominate an organization right at the meeting.
Charity Nomination Form
Some giving circle’s combine the Charity Nomination Pre-Qualification form and the Presentation Guidelines and Talking Points into one document to use as their nomination form. This is that sample.
Presentation Guidelines and Talking Points – Presenting the Charity to the Giving Circle
Whether you allow the nonprofit to present to your chapter or require the presentation of the charity to be from a member, here are some tried and true talking points to pass along to help prepare the presenter to ensure s/he makes the best use of the 5-10 minutes allotted to present their pitch and field questions.
Sample Voting Ballot (simple)
This is a simple ballot for members to use to submit their vote at the meeting. Scrap paper or index cards may be used also.
Sample Proxy Voting Ballot
If you allow proxy voting, this is a sample proxy ballot for an absentee member to fill out and give to a friend, along with their check, so the friend can vote on behalf of the absentee member.
Donation Acceptance Letter
This is a sample form that the selected charity completes and returns to you acknowledging receipt of the giving circle’s donation, agreement of future non-solicitation of individual members and an agreement to acknowledge the giving circle’s collective donation in their annual report (in lieu of each member’s individual donation).
Sample Membership Survey
This is a sample survey that you can edit and use to fit your purposes to check in routinely with your membership.
Sample Meeting Announcement Flyer
Need a template of a flyer to post on bulletin boards around your town? Here is a generic sample that you can personalize for your giving circle.