Giving Season Recap: Where Employees Donated in 2025 (And Trends We Predict in 2026)

What Employee Donations Tell Us About What Matters

Every year during giving season, we watch patterns emerge that reveal something powerful: when employees have true choice in where their donations go, they vote with their dollars on the causes that matter most.

This isn't about what companies think employees should support. It's about what employees actually choose when given the freedom to direct their donations—and their employer's matching funds—to any verified nonprofit.

In 2025, we analyzed donation data from thousands of corporate employees across Corporate Giving Platform during the peak giving season (October through December). What we found reveals five clear trends that should shape how companies think about corporate social responsibility, employee engagement, and community impact in 2026.

The headline: Employees are responding to immediate human needs, supporting causes tied to their identities and lived experiences, and directing funds to organizations addressing systemic challenges—from food insecurity to gun violence to global humanitarian crises.

Here's what the data reveals—and what it means for your CSR strategy.

The Data—Top 10 Nonprofits During Giving Season 2025

During the 2025 giving season, Percent Pledge tracked donations across our corporate client base. Here are the top 10 nonprofits by donation count (versus funds donated).

What Jumps Out Immediately

1. Food Security Dominates Four of the top five nonprofits focus on hunger relief and food access. Combined, these organizations received nearly 40% of top-10 donation volume.

2. Healthcare and Research Remain Priority St. Jude, Cancer Research UK, and Palestine Children's Relief Fund demonstrating sustained employee commitment to health equity and medical research.

3. Crisis Response and Humanitarian Aid Direct Relief and Palestine Children's Relief Fund reflect employees responding to global humanitarian crises and natural disasters.

4. Emerging Social Issues Everytown for Gun Safety's presence in the top 10 signals employees are directing funds toward systemic social challenges beyond traditional charitable categories.

5. Education as Foundation Blessings in a Backpack and Noble Network represent employees' belief that supporting youth through food access and quality education creates long-term community impact.

Five Giving Trends Shaping Employee Philanthropy

Trend 1: Food Security Is the Most Urgent Employee Priority

The Data:

• Feeding America- ranked #1
• Rise Against Hunger- ranked #2
• Food Access Project -ranked #3
• Blessings in a Backpack- ranked #4

What This Tells Us:

Food insecurity isn't an abstract issue for employees—it's visible in their communities. Whether it's neighbors visiting food banks, children arriving at school hungry, or families struggling with inflation, employees see hunger as an immediate, solvable problem where their dollars create direct impact.

Why Food Security Resonated in 2025:

• Economic pressure: Inflation and cost-of-living increases made food insecurity more visible
• Tangible impact: Employees understand "$50 provides 500 meals"—the ROI is clear and measurable
• Local + global reach: Organizations like Feeding America operate nationally with local food banks, allowing employees to support their own communities
• Universal cause: Hunger transcends political divides; it's a cause nearly everyone can rally behind

What This Means for 2026 CSR Programs (and your CSR software):

If your company isn't actively supporting hunger relief through corporate giving, volunteering, or strategic partnerships, you're missing the cause employees care about most.

Recommendations:

• Partner with local food banks for volunteer events and corporate donations
• Launch hunger-focused employee engagement campaigns during key moments (Thanksgiving, summer when school meals aren't available)
• Offer employee matching gifts for hunger relief organizations
• Consider food drives or meal-packing events as team-building activities with measurable community impact
• Partner with Percent Pledge to utilize our Feed Your Impact feature that directly translates an hour of volunteering into a meal served

Trend 2: Employees Want Choice—And They're Using It

The Data:

The diversity of causes in the top 10 is striking:

• Hunger relief (4 organizations)
• Healthcare and research (3 organizations)
• Humanitarian aid (2 organizations)
• Gun violence prevention (1 organization)
• Education (1 organization)

What This Tells Us:

When employees have access to 2 million vetted nonprofits (rather than a pre-approved list of 50), they direct funds to causes that reflect their values, identities, and lived experiences.

The presence of Everytown for Gun Safety and Palestine Children's Relief Fund in the top 10 demonstrates that employees want to support causes tied to current events, personal beliefs, and systemic social issues—not just "safe" traditional charities.

Why This Matters for Adoption of Your CSR Software:

Companies that restrict employee choice to pre-approved charity lists miss opportunities to:

• Empower employees to support causes they're passionate about
• Demonstrate trust in employees' decision-making
• Create authentic engagement (employees give more when they choose causes themselves)
• Reflect the diversity of their workforce's values and identities

What This Means for 2026 CSR Programs:

Restrictive nonprofit lists kill engagement in workplace giving and matching donation programs. Employees want choice, and when they have it, participation rates increase 2-3x.

Recommendations:

• Open your nonprofit database to all IRS-verified 501(c)(3) organizations, or adopt a CSR platform that offer nonprofit verification as a built-in capability
• Trust employees to make informed choices (fraud prevention happens through verification, not restriction)
• Celebrate cause diversity in your communications—show that your program supports the breadth of what employees care about
• Enable ERGs to champion causes aligned with their communities without seeking corporate approval

Trend 3: Healthcare and Medical Research Remain Evergreen Priorities

The Data:

• St. Jude Children's Research Hospital -ranked #5
• Cancer Research UK - ranked #7
• Palestine Children's Relief Fund -ranked #10

What This Tells Us:

Healthcare—especially pediatric care and cancer research—remains a deeply personal cause for employees. Many have been touched by childhood illness, cancer diagnoses, or healthcare access challenges in their families or communities.

Why Healthcare Resonates:

• Universal experience: Nearly everyone knows someone affected by serious illness
• Hope through research: Organizations like St. Jude and Cancer Research UK represent investment in cures, not just treatment
• Children as priority: Pediatric healthcare (St. Jude, Palestine Children's Relief Fund) resonates because protecting children is a shared value across demographics
• Gratitude and reciprocity: Employees who've benefited from medical care often give back to institutions that helped them or their loved ones

What This Means for 2026 CSR Programs:

Healthcare and medical research will always be top causes. Companies should integrate health-focused giving into year-round strategies, not just during specific awareness months.

Recommendations:

• Partner with leading health institutions (St. Jude, local children's hospitals, cancer research centers)
• Launch campaigns during key awareness months (Childhood Cancer Awareness Month, Breast Cancer Awareness Month)
• Offer volunteer opportunities like fundraising walks, blood drives, or hospital support programs
• Highlight employee stories (with permission) about why they give to health causes—personal narratives drive peer engagement

Trend 4: Employees Respond to Global Humanitarian Crises in Real-Time

The Data:

• Direct Relief ranked #6—focuses on disaster response and emergency medical aid
• Palestine Children's Relief Fund ranked #10—supports children affected by conflict in the Middle East

What This Tells Us:

Employees aren't just giving during scheduled campaigns—they're responding to what's happening in the world right now. When natural disasters strike, when conflicts escalate, when communities face crises, employees want to help immediately—especially through disaster relief donations.

Why Crisis Response Matters:

• Urgency creates action: Crises remove decision paralysis; employees see a clear need and act
• Empathy and connection: Global events make employees feel connected to affected communities, even if geographically distant
• Tangible impact: Crisis donations feel urgent and impactful ("my $100 provides emergency supplies today")

What This Means for 2026 CSR Programs:

Companies need agile crisis response infrastructure—not just annual giving campaigns.

Recommendations:

• Enable rapid-response campaigns when disasters or humanitarian crises occur (within 24-48 hours)
• Offer emergency matching programs during crisis moments (e.g., "Company will 3:1 match all disaster relief donations this week")
• Partner with established relief organizations (Direct Relief, Red Cross, UNICEF) so you can mobilize quickly
• Communicate with empathy: When crises happen, employees want to know "Here's how we can help together"
• Don't shy away from complex causes: Employees donated to Palestine Children's Relief Fund because they care about children's welfare in conflict zones—trust employees to direct funds to causes they find meaningful

Trend 5: Education Investments Reflect Long-Term Thinking

The Data:

• Blessings in a Backpack-ranked #4—provides food for children on weekends when school meals aren't available
• Noble Network of Charter Schools - ranked #9—supports college-prep charter schools

What This Tells Us:

Employees understand that education is the foundation of long-term community change. Supporting children through food access, quality schools, and pathways to college represents investment in breaking cycles of poverty.

Why Education Resonates:

• Multiplier effect: Education creates long-term impact (one student helped can impact their entire family and community)
• Equity and opportunity: Employees see education as the most effective lever for creating opportunity and reducing inequality
• Personal connection: Many employees benefited from quality education themselves and want to pay it forward
• Intersection of causes: Blessings in a Backpack addresses both hunger and education, showing employees understand interconnected challenges

What This Means for 2026 CSR Programs:

Education should be a year-round focus, not just a back-to-school campaign.

Recommendations:

• Partner with local schools for volunteer opportunities (tutoring, mentorship, career days)
• Support education-focused nonprofits through corporate grants and matching donations
• Launch campaigns during key moments (back-to-school, Teacher Appreciation Week, college decision season)
• Offer skills-based volunteering where employees can teach, mentor, or provide professional expertise to students
• Address education holistically: Support organizations tackling barriers to learning (hunger, school supplies, college access, STEM programs)

Corporate volunteerism is on the rise because employee demand has never been higher. Your company can meet this demand and engage employees with enough supply of volunteer opportunities using modern volunteer management software. Volunteering Platforms like Percent Pledge's make it easy for employees to find and participate in volunteer opportunities (in-person and virtual), while automatically tracking key metrics to support your ESG reporting requirements. Metrics like hours volunteered, in-kind value of your volunteer time, unique volunteers and unique nonprofit organizations served.

What This Means for Your 2026 CSR Strategy

The Big Picture: Employees Are Telling You What Matters

Your employees' donation choices are a real-time feedback loop on what they care about. When you give them choice, they direct funds to:

1. Immediate human needs (food, healthcare, disaster relief)
2. Causes tied to their identities (international organizations, faith-based groups, identity-specific causes)
3. Systemic social issues (gun violence, education equity, humanitarian crises)
4. Long-term change (medical research, education, community development)

If your CSR strategy doesn't reflect these priorities, you're out of sync with your workforce.

Strategic Implications for 2026

1. Prioritize Food Security Initiatives

Why: 40% of the top-10 donation volume went to hunger relief. This isn't a trend—it's the top employee priority.

What to Do:

• Launch quarterly hunger relief campaigns (not just Thanksgiving)
• Partner with Feeding America network or local food banks
• Offer volunteer opportunities (meal packing, food sorting, food drive coordination)
• Highlight impact: "Our employees directed $150K to hunger relief—providing 1.5 million meals"

ROI: High participation rates (hunger is universal), measurable impact (meals provided), strong storytelling for employer brand

2. Enable Real-Time Crisis Response

Why: Employees want to respond to disasters and humanitarian crises as they happen—not wait for scheduled campaigns.

What to Do:

• Build infrastructure for rapid-response campaigns (launch within 24-48 hours of crisis)
• Partner with established relief organizations (Direct Relief, Red Cross, UNICEF)
• Offer enhanced matching during crisis moments (2:1 or 3:1 match)
• Communicate quickly and empathetically: "Here's how we can help together"

ROI: High engagement during crises, demonstrates company values in action, strengthens employee trust

3. Expand Employee Choice

Why: The diversity of causes in the top 10 shows employees want autonomy to support what matters to them personally.

What to Do:

• Move from restrictive pre-approved lists to open databases (2M+ vetted nonprofits)
• Trust employees to make informed choices (verification handles fraud, not restriction)
• Celebrate cause diversity in communications (show breadth of what employees support)
• Empower ERGs to champion causes without seeking corporate approval

ROI: 2-3x higher participation rates, stronger employee satisfaction, authentic engagement

4. Invest in Healthcare Partnerships

Why: Healthcare and medical research are evergreen priorities with deep personal resonance.

What to Do:

• Partner with leading health institutions (St. Jude, cancer research centers, local children's hospitals)
• Launch health-focused campaigns during awareness months (Childhood Cancer, Breast Cancer, Mental Health)
• Offer volunteer opportunities (fundraising walks, blood drives, hospital support)
• Highlight employee stories (with permission) about why they give to health causes

ROI: High emotional engagement, strong storytelling potential, sustained participation year after year

5. Make Education a Year-Round Focus

Why: Employees understand education creates long-term community impact and opportunity.

What to Do:

• Support organizations addressing barriers to learning (hunger, school supplies, college access)
• Offer skills-based volunteering (tutoring, mentorship, career days)
• Launch campaigns during key moments (back-to-school, Teacher Appreciation Week)
• Partner with local schools and education nonprofits

ROI: Appeals to employees with children, aligns with workforce development goals, creates visible community impact

How to Build a 2026 CSR Strategy That Reflects What Employees Actually Care About

Step 1: Audit Your Current Program Against Employee Priorities

Ask yourself:

•  Does our program make it easy for employees to support hunger relief organizations?
•  Can we launch rapid-response campaigns when crises occur?
•  Do employees have access to 2M+ nonprofits, or are we restricting choice?
•  Are we partnering with top employee priorities (food banks, health institutions, education nonprofits)?
•  Can ERGs lead campaigns for causes they care about without bureaucratic approval?

If you answered "no" to any of these, you have work to do in 2026.

Step 2: Plan Your 2026 Campaign Calendar Around Employee Priorities

Based on 2025 data, here's a strategic campaign calendar:

Q1 (January-March):

• January: New Year giving momentum + crisis response readiness
• February: Heart health awareness (partner with American Heart Association)
• March: International Women's Day (support women-led nonprofits, women's health)

Q2 (April-June):

• April: Earth Day (environmental causes) + National Volunteer Month
• May: Mental Health Awareness Month (growing employee priority)
• June: Pride Month (LGBTQ+ causes, led by Pride ERG)

Q3 (July-September):

• July-August: Summer meal gap (children lose access to school meals—partner with Blessings in a Backpack, Feeding America)
• September: Childhood Cancer Awareness Month (partner with St. Jude), back-to-school education support

Q4 (October-December):

• October: Breast Cancer Awareness Month, Domestic Violence Awareness Month
• November: GivingTuesday, Thanksgiving hunger relief campaigns, Native American Heritage Month
• December: Year-end giving blitz, International Human Rights Day, crisis response for winter weather/holidays

Key Principle: Align campaigns with what employees actually donate to (food security, healthcare, crisis response, education)—not just corporate-selected causes.

See these additional planning resources to save time and get it right the first time:

• Cause Holiday Calendar (Google and Microsoft)
• Heritage Month Engagement Kits

Step 3: Empower ERGs to Lead

Why: ERGs are trusted sources of information and connection. When they lead campaigns, participation skyrockets.

How to Do It:

• Give each ERG a dedicated annual budget ($10K-$25K depending on size)
• Provide campaign toolkits (email templates, social graphics, nonprofit recommendations)
• Create ERG-specific dashboards showing their impact and participation
• Celebrate ERG-led campaigns in company communications

Example ERG Campaigns:

• Black Employee Network: Black History Month campaign supporting racial justice organizations
• Pride ERG: June campaign supporting LGBTQ+ youth, health, and advocacy nonprofits
• Veterans ERG: Veterans Day campaign supporting military families and veteran service organizations
• Women's ERG: International Women's Day campaign supporting women's health, education, and economic empowerment
• LatinX ERG: Hispanic Heritage Month campaign supporting LatinX-led nonprofits and immigration services

Step 4: Build Infrastructure for Crisis Response

Why: Employees want to help when disasters and humanitarian crises occur—but only if you make it easy.

How to Do It:

• Pre-establish partnerships with Direct Relief, Red Cross, UNICEF, and regional disaster relief organizations
• Create rapid-response playbook: campaign email templates, matching policy, communication plan
• Set trigger criteria: "When X happens (natural disaster, humanitarian crisis), we launch Y campaign within 24-48 hours"
• Offer enhanced matching during crisis moments (2:1 or 3:1 match to create urgency)
• Communicate empathetically: "Our hearts are with [affected community]. Here's how we can help together."

Example: When Hurricane X hits, you launch a 72-hour crisis campaign with 3:1 matching for disaster relief organizations. Result: High participation, rapid deployment of funds, employees feel their company responded quickly.

Step 5: Measure What Matters (with CSR Reporting Software)

Stop measuring only: Total dollars raised

Start measuring:

• Participation rate by cause area (Which causes drive highest engagement?)
• Repeat giving (Are employees giving multiple times per year?)
• Cause diversity (How many different cause areas are employees supporting? Diversity = authentic engagement)
• ERG-led campaign performance (Which ERGs drive highest participation?)
• Crisis response engagement (Do employees participate when you launch rapid-response campaigns?)
• ESG reporting metrics like volunteer hours served, organizations helped, and lives impacted

Why This Matters: These metrics tell you whether your program resonates with employees—not just whether you moved money.

Step 6: Communicate Impact Year-Round

Why: Employees need to see that their donations matter. Silent programs don't build engagement.

How to Do It:

• Quarterly impact updates: "This quarter, our employees supported 300+ nonprofits across 15 cause areas"
• Real-time dashboards: Show live totals during campaigns (dollars raised, employees participating, nonprofits supported)
• Nonprofit spotlights: Feature organizations employees supported and what they accomplished
• Employee stories: Highlight why individuals give to specific causes (with permission)
• Year-end impact report: Comprehensive summary showing total giving, top causes, participation trends

Example Email: "This giving season, you directed $250K to hunger relief organizations—providing 2.5 million meals to families in need. Your top-supported causes were food security, healthcare, and education. Thank you for making such a profound impact."

Conclusion: Listen to Your Employees—They're Showing You What Matters

The 2025 giving season data reveals a clear message: employees care deeply about food security, healthcare, crisis response, and education—and they want the freedom to support causes that reflect their values and identities.

If your 2026 CSR strategy doesn't reflect these priorities, you're out of sync with your workforce.

The good news? You don't have to guess what employees care about. Just give them choice, watch where they direct their donations, and align your corporate strategy accordingly.

At Percent Pledge, we believe the best CSR programs are employee-driven, not corporate-mandated.

When you empower employees with:

• Access to 2M+ vetted nonprofits (not restrictive pre-approved lists)
• Instant automated matching (no forms, no waiting)
• Modern technology experiences (user-friendly like consumer technology, no training required)
• ERG tools and budgets (let employee groups lead)
• Crisis response infrastructure (respond to what's happening in the world)

...they show you exactly what they care about. And when you align your strategy with their priorities, participation rates soar, engagement deepens, and impact grows.

What's Your 2026 Strategy?

Three questions to ask yourself:

1. Does our program make it easy for employees to support the causes that mattered most in 2025? (Food security, healthcare, crisis response, education)
2. Can we respond quickly when crises happen? (Disasters, humanitarian emergencies, urgent community needs)
3. Are we empowering employees and ERGs to lead—or are we dictating what they should care about?

If you answered "no" to any of these, it's time to rethink your approach.

Ready to Build a 2026 CSR Strategy That Reflects What Your Employees Actually Care About?

Percent Pledge helps companies:

• Eliminate friction (automated matching, 2M nonprofits, mobile-first)
• Drive engagement (ERG tools, crisis response, personalized campaigns)
• Prove ROI (participation tracking, retention analysis, ESG-ready reporting)
• Scale effortlessly (same admin burden for 100 or 10,000 employees)

Let's talk about your 2026 strategy. Schedule a Demo. Download the 2025 Giving Trends Report.

About This Data

This analysis is based on donation data from Percent Pledge's corporate client base during the 2025 giving season (October-December 2025). Data reflects donations made by corporate employees through employer-sponsored giving programs with donation matching. Organizations included in this analysis represent the top 10 nonprofits by donation count across our corporate giving platform. This data reflects authentic employee choice—not corporate-mandated giving or pre-approved charity lists. Methodology: Donation count includes all employee-initiated donations processed through Percent Pledge during Q4 2025. Company matching funds are tracked separately but reflect the same nonprofit priorities.