How to run a savings circle as an organiser

Before you start

Running a circle is generous work. Members are trusting you with their savings and their turn, so the best organisers do most of the work before the first payment, when everyone is calm and agreeing is easy.

1. Choose your members

Start with people you know, or people someone you trust will vouch for. A small group of reliable members is better than a big group of strangers. Decide how many turns the circle will have: one for each member, unless some members take more than one share.

2. Agree the amount and the rhythm

Pick an amount everyone can manage every time, not only in a good month, and a rhythm that suits how people are paid: every week, every two weeks or every month. Then set the first due date. Our pot calculator shows the pot and every date before you commit.

3. Write the rules down

Agree, and write down:

• How many days after the due date a payment counts as late, and when it counts as missed.
• What happens after a missed payment: a warning, a move down the order, or leaving the order after repeated misses.
• Whether members with the early turns need a guarantor.
• What happens if someone leaves before or after the group starts.
• How a change to the amount or the rhythm can be agreed.

4. Choose a second person

Ask a member you trust to be your deputy. When it is your turn to receive, someone other than you should confirm the payments made to you. Your deputy can also approve big changes with you and step in if you are away.

5. Set the payout order openly

Draw it, agree it by hand with your deputy, or let members choose. Whatever you choose, show every member the order before the first payment. A checkable draw, with the seed shared, removes any suspicion of favourites.

6. Each round

Remind members a few days before the due date. Members pay the member whose turn it is directly, and that member confirms what they received. Follow up on a late payment early and kindly, and apply the rule the group agreed, the same way for everyone, including friends and family.

7. Keep the record shared

The record is the heart of a circle. Keep it where every member can see it, correct a mistake with a new note rather than rubbing out the old one, and never let it live only on your phone.

Doing it with Rotaro

Rotaro does the record keeping for you. You start a group, invite members by link or code, name a deputy and set the order. Reminders go out in the app and by email, the recipient confirms each payment, and the rules apply the same way to everyone. When the last round closes, you can start a new rotation with the same people. Rotaro never holds the money, and members never pay Rotaro anything.