At innovationsinfundraising.org we’ve put together a (collaborative, living) database of information on what each of the firms in the FTSE100 do to encourage and support employee charitable giving.
- Do they ‘match’ employee donations, and if so what are the rules for this (caps, maximums, restrictions)?
- Do they have a ‘Payroll Giving’ scheme set up, and if so who administers it, and how do they promote it?
- Does the company endorse a particular charity or set of charities, and if so how do they choose this?
- What are the results… how much has been raised?
As far as we can see this is the first time this information has been made publicly available in a single place. We will continue to improve and expand this as we learn more and people share information. Please peruse the sortable, filterable, searchable table , and click on individual firm entries (e.g., for Rentokil Initial). Add your comments and questions in the discussion sections, or suggest a new entry (for a firm outside the FTSE100) or a change using our input form.
Why are we doing this, and whom is this for?
Ethically-minded job-seekers may want to consider this in deciding which company to work for. For a larger donors (like someone taking the ‘Giving what we Can’ pledge) finding an employer who offers a generous donation-matching scheme will bring a substantial direct benefit, allowing them to greatly magnify their impact. In general, companies that subsidise employee giving–and where many employees donate–may be more likely to have strong social values.
Employees may not know about their own company’s policies, or may not have thought about taking advantage of these.
Fundraisers and charities may find it fruitful to engage with firms with particularly generous employee-giving subsidies.
Researchers and evaluators may use this as one measure of a firms' (and it’s employees) pro-social orientation. This information should also help enable researchers to find partner firms interested in piloting and testing innovative fundraising programmes and initiatives.
Advocates of effective altruism may find this a useful step towards understanding how companies choose which charities to support and endorse, and how they might be persuaded to consider (more) impactful opportunities.
CSR/HR departments may want to compare their own schemes and outcomes to those of their peers.