Giving Circle members Cecilia Fleming (left) and Katelyn Amirehteshami (right) pictured in 2024.
Giving circle business memberships help young professionals get involved in philanthropy at no personal cost, while giving businesses a meaningful way to support their community with a tax-deductible donation.
The idea first arose over coffee. Eric Zimmer, Director of Philanthropy at BHACF, was catching up with Rick Kahler, President of Kahler Financial Group. Their conversation turned to how BHACF’s giving circles help folks donate to impactful nonprofits while learning about their community. This sparked an idea for Rick: “Can a business join a giving circle?” he asked. Why not allow businesses to sponsor their employees? Inspired and energized by this idea, Eric worked on launching the business membership program over the next several months.
Cecilia Fleming and Katelyn Amirehteshami, young professionals living in Rapid City, say they may have never met if it weren’t for the program. Kahler Financial Group sponsored Cecilia’s membership, while Security First Bank sponsored Katelyn’s membership. When they met at their first event, they quickly realized they shared much in common. Both women were eager to give back and make meaningful friendships in the community.
Katelyn had recently moved back to Rapid City after years away, and Cecilia was relatively new to the Black Hills area. It’s uncommon to make lasting friendships at networking events, they both said. But the giving circle—centered around purposeful giving—was different. It facilitated authentic conversations around members’ passions, nonprofits and causes that needed support.
Before the event began, Kahler Financial Group and Security First Bank had contributed to the grantmaking pool through Cecilia and Katelyn’s memberships. At the event, Cecilia and Katelyn voted for nonprofits to receive the giving circle’s collective donations.
“I felt really impressed and empowered that Security First Bank sponsored me to do something like this. That, to me, said a lot about the bank and how they are not only helping the community, but also empowering their employees to get involved.”
Katelyn Amirehteshami
Many young employees want to give back to their community but don’t have the budget to make large gifts. The corporate sponsorship program offers a low-barrier way for these professionals to experience philanthropy in action. For Cecilia and Katelyn, the event sparked ideas about volunteering their time or referring others to support nonprofits.
“As an employee, and especially someone who is young in the community, it was awesome to be able to get involved through Kahler Financial Group. It gave me an avenue to do that in a way that I probably wouldn’t have been able to outside of work,” Cecilia said.
By the end of the evening, the giving circle had granted $20,000 total to four nonprofits: Abbott House, Lost & Found, South Dakota Public Broadcasting (SDPB), and Working Against Violence Inc (WAVI). Cecilia and Katelyn became friends and still stay in touch.
At the end of the day, local businesses want to help the local community. I think the corporate sponsorship model will spread and start to make even more of an impact further down the road.
CECILIA FLEMING
Cecilia encourages business leaders who are considering sponsoring an employee’s membership to ask themselves, “What is the harm in trying it out?”