Corporate giving reached an estimated $44.40 billion in the United States in 2024, while participating companies in a major corporate responsibility benchmark reported a median Total Community Investment (TCI) of $22.9 million in 2023. These figures describe different measurement systems: Giving USA provides a national estimate, while CECP reports statistics from participating companies.
Contents
- Corporate giving scale and recent trends
- Cash, foundation, and in-kind contributions
- Corporate giving by cause
- Employee matching gifts and volunteering
- Corporate foundations and grantmaking
- How companies organize giving
Corporate giving scale and recent trends
Giving USA 2025 estimated U.S. corporate charitable giving at $44.40 billion in 2024. That was a 9.1% increase in current dollars from 2023. After adjusting for inflation, U.S. corporate giving increased 6.0% in 2024. Giving USA’s figures are national U.S. estimates for charitable giving by corporations, not a census of individual company donations.
The CECP Giving in Numbers: 2024 Edition measures Total Community Investment among participating companies, using 2023 measurements unless another period is stated. TCI combines direct cash, foundation cash, and non-cash contributions.
Among CECP-reporting companies, median TCI was $22.9 million in 2023. The top quartile invested at least $74.6 million, while reported company TCI ranged from $459,000 to $4.5 billion. Those values show how widely corporate community investment can vary across participating companies.
The matched-company trends also show a mixed picture. Inflation-adjusted median TCI rose 2% from 2021 to 2023 and was 5% higher in 2023 than in 2019. Yet, between 2021 and 2023, 53% of CECP-reporting companies reduced TCI, 42% increased it, and 5% reported no change. A higher matched-set median therefore does not mean every participating company increased its investment.
| Measure | Result | Period |
|---|---|---|
| National U.S. corporate giving estimate | $44.40 billion | 2024 |
| Current-dollar change in national estimate | +9.1% | 2023–2024 |
| Inflation-adjusted change in national estimate | +6.0% | 2023–2024 |
| Median CECP-reporting company TCI | $22.9 million | 2023 |
| Top-quartile CECP TCI threshold | $74.6 million | 2023 |
The national Giving USA estimate and the CECP company medians should not be combined. They use different populations and measures: one is a national estimate of corporate charitable giving, while the other describes participating companies’ TCI.
Cash, foundation, and in-kind contributions
Direct cash was included in TCI by 94% of CECP-reporting companies in 2023. It represented an average 45% of TCI, and the median direct-cash investment was $11.6 million. This makes direct cash the most broadly reported contribution type in the CECP figures.
Foundation cash was included by 76% of participating companies. It represented an average 35% of TCI, with a median foundation-cash investment of $8.0 million. Foundation cash is reported separately from direct cash because it moves through a corporate foundation or trust structure.
Non-cash contributions were included in TCI by 69% of CECP-reporting companies. They represented an average 20% of TCI, and the median non-cash contribution value was $2.6 million. Product donations made up an average 61% of non-cash corporate investment in 2023, with a median product-donation value of $2.5 million.
Non-cash giving also showed the strongest longer-term movement among the contribution types reported here. In a matched CECP company set, median non-cash investment rose 24% from 2019 to 2023. This is a matched-set change, not a claim that every participating company increased non-cash contributions.
The shares above are averages across reporting companies, while the dollar figures are medians unless otherwise stated. They should not be added together as if they were components of one representative company’s TCI.
Corporate giving by cause
CECP data shows that corporate giving spans health, education, community development, environmental programs, and other causes. Health and Social Services received an average 26% of TCI among reporting companies in 2023. Community and Economic Development received 17%, followed by K-12 Education at 12% and Higher Education at 10%.
Environment programs received an average 5% of TCI. The median TCI directed to Environment programs was $530,000. In a matched CECP company set, median Environment investment increased 33% from 2021 to 2023. These figures describe the Environment category used in the CECP report; they do not measure every corporate activity with an environmental effect.
Other reported categories included Culture and Arts at an average 4% of TCI, Civic and Public Affairs at 4%, and Disaster Relief at 5%. The percentages are average shares among CECP-reporting companies, so they are not a single company’s budget and should not be interpreted as a ranking of social importance.
| Cause category | Average share of TCI | Measurement period |
|---|---|---|
| Health and Social Services | 26% | 2023 |
| Community and Economic Development | 17% | 2023 |
| K-12 Education | 12% | 2023 |
| Higher Education | 10% | 2023 |
| Environment programs | 5% | 2023 |
| Disaster Relief | 5% | 2023 |
| Culture and Arts | 4% | 2023 |
| Civic and Public Affairs | 4% | 2023 |
For recycling, conservation, and other environmental organizations, the environmental figures provide a useful view of where corporate community investment fits within the broader giving mix. The $530,000 median and 33% matched-set increase are descriptive CECP statistics, not a forecast of future environmental funding.
Employee matching gifts and volunteering
Employee programs are a substantial part of corporate giving. Ninety-four percent of CECP-reporting companies offered employee matching-gift programs in 2023. Year-Round Policy was the most common matching-gift type, offered by 79% of reporting companies. Disaster Relief matching-gift programs were offered by 28%.
The median corporate matching-gift amount was $1.6 million, while the top quartile was $5.6 million. Matching-gift programs represented 12% of TCI. Their share varied by industry: matching gifts represented 17% of TCI in Financials and 3% in Consumer Staples.
On average, 20% of employees participated in their company’s matching-gift program. Communications companies had the highest average participation rate at 31%. Industrials and Consumer Discretionary had the lowest average participation rate at 13%.
Employee giving extends beyond matched gifts. The median amount employees gave through their employer, whether matched or not, was $2.4 million per company in 2023. The median employee volunteer participation rate was 23% among CECP-reporting companies.
These measures are different: a matching-gift amount concerns the corporate program, employee giving includes amounts employees gave through their employer whether matched or not, and volunteer participation measures employee involvement rather than dollars.
Corporate foundations and grantmaking
Seventy-nine percent of CECP-reporting companies had a corporate foundation or trust in 2023. Prevalence varied by industry and headquarters location. It was 88% among Utilities companies and 57% among Communications companies. Among U.S.-based CECP-reporting companies, 81% had a foundation or trust, compared with 65% of companies based elsewhere.
Most companies with foundations had one, but 17% had more than one. The median number of foundations was 2 in 2023. Grantmaking foundations represented 76% of corporate foundations, while pass-through foundations represented 46%.
Among companies with a foundation or trust, foundation cash averaged 54% of total cash community investment. The average maximum share of a corporate foundation grant eligible for indirect costs or general operating expenses was 44% in 2023. These are structural and policy measures, not amounts that every foundation awarded or every grant recipient received.
The grantmaking workload was also considerable. The median number of grant-recipient organizations was 333 per CECP-reporting company in 2023. The median number of grant recipients per community-investment full-time-equivalent staff member was 34.
How companies organize giving
Corporate giving is often distributed across multiple internal functions. Human Resources was responsible for societal or community investment and employee engagement at 20% of CECP-reporting companies in 2023. Communications held that responsibility at 15%, and Sustainability/ESG at 10%.
Twenty-one percent of CECP-reporting companies had at least two departments responsible for different social-impact functions. This division can place community investment, employee engagement, communications, and sustainability responsibilities in different parts of the organization.
The median number of full-time-equivalent staff overseeing community investment or volunteering was 9 in 2023, with a top-quartile level of 20. Median management and program costs were $2.0 million. Those costs equaled 10% of TCI and 14% of total cash community investment among the reported companies.
Together, the staffing and cost figures put the grantmaking numbers in operational context. A company reporting a median of 333 grant-recipient organizations may also have a dedicated team, multiple departments, and program costs that are tracked separately from charitable investments.
All CECP figures above describe participating companies in Giving in Numbers and use 2023 measurements unless another period is explicitly stated. Medians, averages, percentages, and matched-set trend changes are kept distinct. The claims are descriptive statistics only; no personal, legal, medical, or financial advice is implied.