Our Impact

The Giving Circle of Alexandria


Giving Circle of Alexandria logoThe Giving Circle is a diverse group of women who are invested and engaged in their community. They believe that confronting the City’s high priority issues collectively and strategically is the best means to inspire social change. With an annual matching grant of $25,000, ACT has helped The Giving Circle increase their membership and impact around early childhood education. In 2009, ACT and The Giving Circle co-invested in a city-wide playgroup initiative to expand a collaborative playgroup model around the City.

Learn how you can support this program...

ACTion Alexandria, a new citizen engagement Website, provides interactive tools that make it easier for residents to take a more active role in addressing alt community problems.  ACTion Alexandria will connect individuals to nonprofit organizations they want to support, but with a strictly local focus. Individuals have the opportunity to take action on behalf of nonprofits working to improve the community.  

The American barn raising tradition arose out of necessity. Neighbors came together to help neighbors build an essential element of family and community life because  constructing such a large building required many hands. No one can do it alone.

ACTion Alexandria is part of a new kind of barn raising effort. The principles are the same--it takes many hands to build the community we want--but we now have access to new technology and tools that can help.

The citizens of Alexandria are a powerful force for collective action and know what needs to be done in their communities. But often, citizens don't have the right tools, information, expertise, or enough hands to make the change we seek. ACTion Alexandria was launched to help provide citizens with an online platform and tools to make community action and problem solving easier.

ACTion Alexandria officially launched on February 7, 2011.  Visit www.actionalexandria.org to learn more. 

Links to ACTion Alexandria Stories
Alexandria merges online and offline citizen engagement with ACTion, February 11, 2011
ACTion Alexandria launches, hub for community engagement, positive action, February 9, 2011 
Complete the ACTion Alexandria Pre-Survey, February 2011
Take a Sneak Peek of ACTion Alexandria, January 2011
ACTion Alexandria Internship Opportunity, November 2010
Community Building & Citizen Engagement at ACT's Nonprofit Excellence Forum, October 2010
ACT Hires Community Manager - Tracy Viselli, August 2010
ACTion Alexandria Network Funded for Engaging Residents in Civic Problem Solving & Increasing Local Philanthropy, January, 2010

Questions?  Contact Tracy Viselli, Community Manager at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or Dennis Jaffe, Community Organization at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or call 703-739-7778.