Giving Tuesday is here! Since 2012, charitable initiatives have been celebrated on a national level on social media platforms. #GivingTuesday formally kicks off the charitable season on the Tuesday following Thanksgiving, when individuals and organizations focus on end-of-year giving. In the spirit of Giving Tuesday, the International Foundation is looking back at recent survey data to gain a better perspective on how organizations are supporting charitable causes. See what our respondents are saying.

Charitable Donation Support

According to our biennial benchmarking survey, about one in four (22.3%) responding organizations offers matching charitable gift programs.
Source: Employee Benefits Survey: 2016 Results (296 U.S. corporate and public sector respondents).

Responding organizations that offer financial/retirement education at their organization were asked about specific topics covered in their programs. Though rare, 6.7% of programs address giving to charity and volunteerism.
Source: Financial Education for Today’s Workforce: 2016 Survey Results (269 U.S. and Canadian corporate, public sector and multiemployer respondents).  

Time Off to Give Back

Over one in five organizations (21.5%) provide paid leave for volunteering and community service through a paid-time-off (PTO) bank, with an additional 19.7% offering the leave through a plan other than a PTO bank.
Source: Paid Leave in the Workplace: 2017 Survey Results (497 U.S. corporate and public sector respondents). 

As of February 2016, 21.6% of respondents offered paid leave for volunteering, with an additional 9.1% offering unpaid leave for volunteering.
Source: Employee Benefits Survey: 2016 Results (296 U.S. corporate and public sector respondents).

Social and Community Health Initiatives

In our 2017 wellness study, responding organizations were asked if they offered initiatives related to social and community health. Three in five (59.1%) respondents offer community or charity drives/events, including food drives and school supply drives. More than one-half (53%) host community volunteer projects, followed closely by blood drives (47%).
Source: Workplace Wellness Trends: 2017 Survey Results (530 U.S. and Canadian corporate, public sector and multiemployer respondents).

Here at the International Foundation, workers are giving back to local causes in need of financial support and charities in need of volunteer hours. Every year, our staff sponsors local families who have experienced significant hardships, providing them with gifts in hopes of brightening their season. We sponsor similar fundraising events that donate to local animal shelters and provide staff time off to serve at local organizations.

What initiatives does your organization offer to encourage charitable giving? Are financial incentives provided? Is time off encouraged? Share your experiences in the comments below!

Justin Held, CEBS
Senior Research Analyst at the International Foundation