During the Pandemic of 2020, Employee Contributions to Nonprofits Increased

Amid the darkness of the pandemic, employees have responded by contributing more money to non-profits. Benevity, an online platform that administers company donations, reported that “51 percent more people donated through its platform from January through October 2020, giving 41 percent more dollars per donation, and culminating in an average of $64 per donation compared to $46 the year prior…As of October 31, 2020, more than $1.6 billion had been donated through the Benevity platform, $200 million more than all of 2019.” (1)

With the biggest donation months of November and December still to be counted, Benevity’s already record year will get even bigger.

In addition, “many companies are foregoing holiday parties and gifts, and instead providing employees, vendors, customers and suppliers with charitable gift cards or donation matching dollars that they can give to any cause they feel passionate about, or are making grants with the savings from in-person events.” (1)

And finally, “Benevity’s data shows that employees who give time or money through a workplace charitable program are 57% less likely to leave the company.” (2)  If your company does not have a “Matching Gift” program, now is the time to consider adding one.  The following site describes the basics of setting up a Matching Gift program.  The one step I would add is to regularly publicize the program with employees. https://donorbox.org/nonprofit-blog/everything-you-need-to-know-about-matching-gift-programs/

(1) https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2020/12/08/2141543/0/en/Benevity-Data-Shows-That-More-People-Gave-More-Money-to-Nonprofits-in-2020-Than-They-Did-Last-Year.html

(2) https://hrexecutive.com/need-some-good-news-this-season-employee-giving-was-way-up-in-2020/