Corporate social investments are shifting: How nonprofits and companies can partner for success

Corporate giving saw an overall increase in 2025, with median Total Community Investments (TCI: direct cash, foundation cash, and non-cash/in-kind gifts) growing from $21.5 million in 2024 to $23.5 million. However, an analysis of CECP’s (Chief Executives for Corporate Purpose) Giving in Numbers survey data tells a less rosy story: Giving increased only because the top quartile of companies gave more; most others gave less.

Over the last three years, I’ve led the team that researches and analyzes corporate social investment metrics such as TCI for companies with over $2 billion in revenue. Since H.R.1, also known as the One Big Beautiful Bill, was enacted in July 2025, corporate social responsibility (CSR) practitioners have been grappling with how only being allowed to deduct charitable contributions exceeding 1% of taxable income (we use pre-tax profits as an approximate measure for taxable income in our data analysis) will impact their social impact strategies.

Throughout 2025 and 2026, CECP has fielded a number of Pulse surveys to capture sentiment and activity from CSR practitioners. While CECP has shared data on what companies think they might do in response, we now have data on what companies did in a leadup to the 2026 tax year.

The majority of companies gave less; the top quartile doubled down

Even though median TCI was up by 7%, this was due to the top companies increasing giving. The majority (52% in a matched set) actually decreased their giving in 2025.

According to the latest Giving USA report, corporate charitable dollars only accounted for 7% of total giving in 2025. With fewer companies increasing corporate social investments, those dollars are getting even harder to come by.  

Over the last two decades, corporate giving mirrored fluctuations in pre-tax profit, yet remained flat as a percentage of total revenue. As a result, companies have historically adjusted their charitable dollars alongside profit shifts, meaning new policy constraints could lead to a decline in future corporate social investments.

The decrease in corporate giving could be attributed to more companies seeing a decline in their pre-tax profits, or to companies leaning into skilled volunteering or sharing deeper expertise and connections with their nonprofit partners.

New tax provisions may disincentivize small and midsize businesses from investing in local communities

The impact of the 1% floor on corporate charitable deductions may be felt in the reduction of contributions from small and midsize businesses, as the deductibility of their contributions may have a larger impact on their ability to support local nonprofits.  

Using our Giving in Numbers dataset, CECP estimated that in 2025, corporations dedicated a median 0.39% of pre-tax profit to eligible charitable contributions, well below the 1% floor. While this figure varies drastically by industry, if the largest companies are not close to reaching the 1% floor, how can we expect small and midsize businesses to give above the 1% floor?

Based on conversation with member companies, some are thinking through how to pivot certain support from grants to qualified business expenses, some are considering focusing dollars on sponsorship opportunities, and some are thinking through how to stage their grants as larger initial contributions that cover multiple years of programming–planning out investments to when the company could exceed the 1% floor every few years.

Corporate social investment focus areas are shifting away from health and social services

As companies rethink their social investment strategies, they’re also shifting the program areas they support. In a three-year matched set of companies, median program area spend for health and social services organizations went from $4.95 million in 2023 to $3.55 million in 2025. Other program areas experiencing a decline in funding were higher education, K-12 education, and disaster relief.

Source: CECP Giving in Numbers: 2026 Edition

This shift may be driven by the desire for easier to track impact metrics, a quicker return on investment, strategy refreshes, or changes in leadership. As corporate social investment resources become more constrained, companies are asking themselves: What untapped social impact assets exist inside my company, beyond cash and product, that could be of benefit to our nonprofit partners? The biggest question for nonprofits to ask themselves is: Are we connecting with companies that are working toward the same social impact goals as my organization? Are we providing a variety of options for support via grants, sponsorships, skilled volunteering, or infrastructure?

As the landscape of corporate social investments continues to evolve, nonprofits and corporate social responsibility professionals will need to partner more closely than ever to ensure communities have the resources they need to thrive. 

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