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“The whole idea was extremely interesting to us,” recalls Love, who worked on details of the plan with founder Karlys Kline and with Elizabeth Day, president of the Community Foundation of Frederick County, which now manages the circle’s finances.

Since it was founded in 2006, the Women’s Giving Circle of Frederick County has raised more than $250,000 and received pledges of more than $410,000. “People flock to it,” Love says. “The giving circle has been very successful.”

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Giving circles are based on a simple premise: Each member donates a certain amount of money in order to belong, and then the group (comprised usually, though not always, of women) as a whole figures out how best to distribute that money.

The idea is gaining popularity in Maryland and nationwide.

“Over the last five years, the concept of giving together through a giving circle has taken off,” says Betsy Nelson, executive director of the Association of Baltimore Area Grantmakers (ABAG), a philanthropy resource.

“In the Maryland-DC-Virginia region, there are at least 20 circles with over 5,000 members who have pledged more than $10 million to make communities in our region better,” says Nelson. “Giving circles are bringing many new faces to philanthropy and getting donors excited about and connected to giving.”

Most of these groups have formed in the last eight years, says Buffy Beaudoin-Schwartz, ABAG’s communications director.

Nationwide, according to a study from the Forum of Regional Associations of Grantmakers, more than 400 giving circles were identified in 2006, double the number from 2004. These circles have collected nearly $90 million and given away about $65 million. And each year, more giving circles are started than the year before.

But if you're picturing a coffee klatch of women getting together to gossip and deciding where to toss a few dollars, think again. These groups are serious. They are set up as nonprofits and have committees and leadership positions. Requests for money are met not with a heart-tug and an open wallet, but with a cold look at the financial prospects of the organization and the potential benefits of the funding.

Recently, about 75 members of the Baltimore Women's Giving Circle gathered for a two-hour lunchtime meeting at the Episcopal Diocese in Baltimore, popping open sodas and munching on apples as they listened to details of how to decipher the financial statements that would come from organizations seeking donations. Ann Boyce Mansfield stood at a podium at the front of the room, taking the members through a mock financial statement and pointing out red flags. "Are you convinced they can really handle this project?” she asked. “Will they do a good job?"

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Though still young, Frederick’s giving circle has already provided crucial support to organizations ranging from Habitat for Humanity to the Religious Coalition for Emergency Human Needs.

"Their gift enabled us to help a significant number of families remain in their homes, to have heat in the middle of winter," says Brian Scott, director of the Religious Coalition.

"The assistance the giving circle provided came just at the right time."

“I think that giving circles can accomplish, through a collective giving effort, a great impact,” says Marlene Young, a founding member of the Frederick giving circle, as well as the chair of Maryland Life’s advisory board. She notes that these circles tap a “very unique synergy that comes from women being united in their giving.”

Women tend to be nurturers, Young continues. “Sometimes, we’re able to identify needs that are specific to families and communities because of the fact that we are used to being caretakers.”