Community Leadership

Full Circle Fund fosters community leadership by empowering exceptional individuals to engage issues of public importance in substantive ways.

We provide many learning opportunities for members to enhance their effectiveness as community leaders. Full Circle Fund members naturally hone their leadership skills through Circle work, experiential learning, member collaboration, and educational events.

Additionally, programming such as our quarterly Speakers Series Events or our Forum enable the broader community to work towards social change, even if Full Circle Fund membership is not right for them.

Opportunities for Members

We provide many learning opportunities for members and the community to enhance their effectiveness as community leaders.

Circles

• Member Leadership Roles: Each Circle at any given time has 1-2 Chairpersons, a Vice-Chair, Coordinator, Grant Cycle Director, Member Ambassador, and Project Team Leaders.
• Grantmaking Process: In order to choose which organizations to support, Full Circle Fund members meet with community leaders, study and evaluate the relevant social issues, and develop an understanding of best practices.
• Theory of Change: Working as a team, Circle members develop a comprehensive document that analyzes pertinent issues and guides grantmaking.

Learn more about our Circles.

Experiential Learning

• Participating on teams: Members work collaboratively on a long-term project with defined deliverables in order to learn about the nonprofit landscape and see first-hand the impact that engaged philanthropy can have on the community.
• Leading grant teams: Those who lead project teams hone project management and group leadership skills while forging lasting community and business connections.
• Driving grant project success: All team members learn to creatively leverage individual resources and connections to reach grant milestones.

Member Collaboration

• Getting to know Community Fellows: Full Circle members from the business community learn about the nonprofit landscape from Community Fellows and thus gain a deeper appreciation for challenges faced by our grant partners.
• Exposure to new ideas and new people: Given the diversity of our membership, Full Circle Fund provides exposure to range of perspectives and alternative approaches to problem solving.
• Leading Action Teams: Members can have a substantial impact on the success of Full Circle Fund by participating in an Action Team that supports the essential operational needs of the organization.

Educational Events

• Learning from inspiring guest speakers: Most Full Circle Fund events feature speakers on critical social issues such as public policy, civic engagement, and key societal trends.
• Attending annual Member Retreat: This event provides an exciting opportunity for members to lead fruitful discussions on the issues and strengthen relationships with other members.

Forum

The Forum inspires individuals to become leaders in the Bay Area community by showcasing bold models for creating sustainable social change, increasing awareness of Bay Area social issues, and providing opportunities to get involved immediately.

Read more about all of our past events.

"CompuMentor was able to leverage Full Circle Fund's initial investment in our Refurbished Computer Initiative to secure additional funds and staff from Cisco. Personally, I was so excited about the potential impact of this model that I pursued a full time position at CompuMentor leading the proof of concept phase. None of this would have been possible without Full Circle Fund."

Fransicso Mora

former Project Manager, CompuMentor