Corporate Giving Statistics For Nonprofits
Corporate giving is motivated by a combination of altruism and self-interest. Most companies tend to favor nonprofits that operate in and improve the quality of life in the geographic locales in which they operate, as well as organizations or causes that their employees support with their own time and money.
We’ve compiled a list of top corporate philanthropy statistics that help highlight the various ways in which companies across the globe are supporting nonprofits and other social causes.
Corporate Philanthropy Trends
- Corporate giving in 2021 increased to $20.77 billion—an 8.0% increase from 2019.
- 39% of companies surveyed indicated plans to expand their workplace giving programs in the next two years.
- Corporate giving was bolstered by $405 million in contributions related to disaster relief.
- More than 49% of nonprofit respondents identified workplace giving as a growth strategy for their organization.
- In the last three years, the percentage of Russell 1000 companies that offer corporate matching gifts grew by 11.8%.
- 93% of nonprofits believe they can grow the amount of money they raise from corporate giving programs.
- 97% of donors want the option to give directly to a nonprofit and for their company to match gifts to any nonprofit of their choosing.
- Purpose-driven consumer companies achieved a compounded annual growth rate of 9.85% over five years, compared to just 2.4% for the S&P 500 Consumer Sector.
Corporate Giving Roadblocks
- Only 1.31% of individual donations are matched at the average nonprofit, despite more than 10% being eligible for corporate matching.
- 80% of nonprofits said they have difficulty building strong corporate partnerships and workplace giving strategies with limited staff and resources.
- 78% of donors are unaware if their company offers a matching gift program.
- 16% of donors know their company has a program, but are unsure if they’re eligible or don’t know how to submit their matching git request.
- 8% of donors know their company has a program, know they’re eligible, and know how to submit their matching gift request.
- Only 19% of companies include more than one paragraph on their matching gift programs in easily accessible employee handbooks or training materials and on their website.
With all these roadblocks, the best way for nonprofits to grow their matching gift revenue is to use Double the Donation’s service. Corporations should also make sure they use a CSR Vendor with Autosubmission enabled.
Corporate Giving Technology Statistics
- Double the Donation is the largest provider of matching gift tools for nonprofits and educational institutions working with 78% of the largest nonprofits in the United States.
- More than $50 million has been invested in the last two years into new CSR startups to help expand matching gifts, volunteer grants, and other corporate giving offerings.
- The three largest legacy CSR vendors for corporations are YourCause, CyberGrants, and Benevity, though collectively, they power <25% of all corporate giving programs.
- Four of the fastest-growing CSR vendors are Millie, Point, Selflessly, and Givinga, all of which have integrations with Double the Donation to help boost matching gift utilization rates.
- Nonprofits leveraging matching gift software to identify eligible donors results in 77% more donations being flagged as match-eligible, and can double or even triple an organization’s matching gift revenue due to better identification and higher utilization rates.
- Nonprofits using 360MatchPro’s automation tools in their fundraising strategy increases matching gift revenue by over 61%.
- New auto-submission functionality is projected to yield an 80% increase in matching gift revenue for organizations leveraging Double the Donation’s tools.
Matching Gift Program Statistics
- Employee matching gift programs are the most sought-after corporate giving program by employees.
- 67% of Fortune 500 companies offer matching gift programs, with that number growing for each of the last 3 years.
- Nearly 27 million individuals work for companies that offer matching gift programs.
- Approximately $5 billion is raised through workplace giving annually, with more than 50% of that coming from employee matching gift programs.
- An estimated $2-3 billion is donated through matching gift programs annually, with $4-$7 billion going unclaimed each year
- Corporate matches of employee donations made up 12% of total corporate cash contributions.
- The median employee participation rate for matching gift programs is 9%.
- Mentioning matching gifts in fundraising appeals results in a 71% increase in the response rate and a 51% increase in the average donation amount (prior to receiving matching gift funds).
- 84% of survey participants revealed they were more likely to donate if a match was offered.
- Matching gift emails sent within 24 hours of a donation being made results in a 53% average open rate, which is more than 2-3 times higher than the standard nonprofit email open rate.
- 93% of companies set a minimum match requirement of less than or equal to $50, with the mean falling at $34.
- 80% of companies set matching gift maximums between $500 and $10,000 annually per employee, with an average cap of $3,728.
- 91% of companies match donations at a 1:1 ratio, while 4% match at a lower rate, such as .5:1, and 5% match at a higher rate, such as 2:1 or 3:1.
Corporate Volunteerism Statistics
- Nearly 60% of Fortune 500 companies offer paid time off for employees to volunteer, and an additional 21% plan to offer release time in the next two years.
- 40% of Fortune 500 companies offer volunteer grant programs.
- 80% of companies that offer volunteer grants provide between $8-$15 per hour volunteered.
- Over 85% of the top matching gift companies also offer volunteer grant programs for employees.
- An average of 33% of employees volunteer.
- In order for a company to rank in the top quartile of corporate volunteerism, over 50% of employees must participate in volunteering experiences.
- People who volunteer report that they feel better emotionally, mentally, and physically.
- In an analysis of over 30,000 individual volunteer activities, skills-based volunteerism outperformed traditional volunteerism by 7-125% in all but one tracked benefit categories.
- 82% of the survey respondents say employees want the opportunity to volunteer with peers in a corporate-supported event.
Corporate Giving Recipients Statistics
- The percentage of companies offering unrestricted matching gift programs (i.e., will match to any nonprofit recipient) grew by over 48% in the last three years, while “restricted” programs (e.g., only matching donations to a single nonprofit verticle) decreased by 33% to only 13.6%.
- 29% of corporate giving goes to education-related causes — a combined percentage from K-12 and higher education.
- 25% of corporate giving goes to health and social services programs.
- 15% of corporate giving goes to the community and economic development programs.
- Technology companies gave the highest proportion of matching-gift contributions as a percentage of total cash gifts at 17.3%.
- 85% of companies in the US have a formal domestic corporate giving program in place vs. only 45% with a formal international program.
- 7 out of 10 companies give to recipients abroad.
Corporate Giving Statistics for Companies
- 97% of employees want flexibility in where and how they give to causes they care about; for example, giving directly to a nonprofit and their company allowing matching gifts for any nonprofit of their choosing.
- 90% of companies indicated that partnering with reputable nonprofit organizations enhances their brand, and 89% believe doing so leverages their ability to improve the community.
- 79% of companies reported increased donor participation rates, and 73% raised more money through corporate matching.
- 71% of employees indicate that it’s very important to work at a company that partakes in philanthropy, such as by matching employee donations.
- 73% of companies prefer to have deeper partnerships with a smaller number of nonprofit causes.
- 92% of surveyed corporate human resources executives agree that contributing business skills and expertise to a nonprofit can be an effective way to improve employees’ leadership and broader professional skill sets.
- 86% believe that employees expect them to provide opportunities to engage in the community, and
- 87% believe their employees expect them to support causes and issues that matter to those employees.
- 88% believe effective employee engagement programs help attract and retain employees.
- 77% of respondents believe that offering employee engagement opportunities is an important recruitment strategy to attract millennials.
- 88% of Millennials find their job more fulfilling when they have opportunities to make a positive impact on society and the environment.
- Approximately 2/3 of young employees (i.e., Millennials and Gen Z) won’t take a job at a company with poor CSR practices.
- 78% of Americans want companies to address social justice issues.
- Employees who engage in corporate giving programs have 75% longer tenures with the company.
- 88% of people indicated that they’d like to know about a company’s CSR efforts.
Looking for more? Read the full list of charitable giving statistics: