A Shift in Corporate Charitable Giving

Benevity recently released a report—surveying over 400 corporations, both global and domestic, as well as over 1,400 nonprofits—indicating that corporate charitable giving has shifted within the last year. The methodology for the surveys used to compile the report is a bit opaque, but nevertheless the report’s results are telling.

The report finds that nearly two-thirds of surveyed companies changed the nonprofits or programs they funded amid increased political, regulatory, and reputational scrutiny. This shift is especially pronounced in politically or internationally sensitive fields. The percentage of companies planning to increase funding for diverse-led or equity-focused organizations fell from 62 percent in 2024 to 36 percent in 2026. Comparable figures declined from 56 to 32 percent for international development organizations and from 58 to 31 percent for crisis-response groups. Corporate reputation and trust have now become the leading stated justification for corporate-purpose programs, suggesting that corporate giving may now be more closely tied to business interests.

But corporate giving hasn’t necessarily dried up. The report also finds that corporate giving increased from the prior year, even as companies reconsidered eligible causes and organizations.

It also spells a growing divergence between corporate priorities and nonprofit needs. For example, and per the report, corporations increasingly view volunteering as a priority. Yet, only 28 percent of nonprofits reported that corporate volunteer groups consistently perform work aligned with their most pressing needs. Half said large, team-based volunteer events provide little or no lasting organizational capacity—a clear mismatch.

The report’s findings underscore the risks for nonprofits of counting on corporate support as permanent or reliable. Nonprofits may need to distinguish more carefully among corporate grants, employee matching gifts, and volunteer partnerships, because each source now reflects different incentives. Finally, I will observe that the report raises broader questions about whether corporate philanthropy functions primarily as private support for civil society or increasingly as an instrument of corporate risk management and brand protection.