Hi there, @jdkennedy.
Well, you must be missing everything, I'm afraid, but I'm going to summarize it all for you in a very small paragraph so that way you'll understand it better.
"The project The Circle creates its SPHR token for providing a series of advantages, both for the investor himself holding them and for the rest of the community:
-Daily upvotes for life.
-Cumulative jackpot to distribute annually among our investors
-Fund for donations to charities or NGOs
-Free monthly raffles to our investors.
-Annual passive income, since our token is stakable."
And that we will exactly get it as you said, in the value of the contribution of the community members.
Thanks for asking.
Regards.