How Elastic boosted nonprofit funding by 76% with a year-round global giving strategy

Company overview 

Elastic is a global software company known for its search, observability and security solutions. With a distributed workforce of over 3,500 employees in more than 40 countries, Elastic’s purpose-driven culture is powered by its CSR arm, Elastic Cares, which sits within HR. This structure allows them to seamlessly weave giving and volunteering into the employee experience and build an inclusive, global impact program.

The challenge 

‍Make purpose at work more than a seasonal campaign

After the pandemic — and before expanding their work with Benevity — Elastic saw giving peak during the holidays, then taper off. While purpose had long been part of their culture, the team needed a way to reenergize participation and turn seasonal generosity into a year-round habit of giving and volunteering.

Elastic wanted to: 

• Simplify global giving, reduce manual work and turn hours of reconciliation into moments of recognition, so their teams could focus on celebrating impact, not managing spreadsheets. 
• Free up their small CSR team to focus on innovation, not administration. They needed a way to reduce manual tasks so they could scale impact more efficiently 
• Unite their global workforce around a shared sense of purpose and move beyond scattered, one-off initiatives. 

The solution 

Centralized giving, scalable impact 

Starting in 2024, Elastic transformed its approach to employee giving by focusing on connection, efficiency and purpose. With Benevity, they replaced scattered, one-off campaigns with a consistent strategy that made giving easier to manage and more inclusive for their global team. The result: streamlined operations, more engaged employees and an impact program that scaled with intention. 

By leveraging Benevity’s Enterprise Impact Platform, Elastic turned strategy into action through:

• Streamlined global operations: Using Benevity’s Global Donor Advised Fund (DAF), Elastic unified matching, disbursements and currency conversion across 40+ countries. One monthly invoice reduced admin and ensured timely, compliant donations.
• Inclusive employee engagement: A $2,000 giving budget per employee covered matching and volunteer rewards. Benevity Bucks supported recognition, seeding and campaigns. Flexible programming enabled global participation. 
• Purpose-driven culture: New hires got donation credits on day one. Volunteer rewards turned hours into impact. Info sessions and ERG channels made the program easy to join and visible company-wide. 
• Cross-functional alignment: CSR collaborated with ERGs, Global Inclusion and privacy teams to align the program with company values. Donation rewards supported contests and recognition, embedding purpose into events and onboarding. 
• Learning and scaling: Elastic launched in phases, using Benevity reporting to refine and scale what worked. Consistency and iteration helped grow participation and results.

With one platform and a collaborative mindset, Elastic made giving more accessible, engaging and impactful for their global team. 

The results

Elastic’s shift to year-round engagement paid off with impressive results. 

• ‍92% increase in direct employee donations — reflecting stronger program visibility and relevance across regions
• ‍76% increase in total funds raised for nonprofits — showing the impact of sustained, global participation
• ‍75% increase in number of donors — driven by inclusive design, effective incentives and localized campaigns 

Operationally, the Global DAF streamlined giving across 40+ countries, reducing administration time by 80% and increasing confidence in financial reporting. The CSR team was able to focus more on engagement and storytelling, less on administration.

Beyond the numbers, the real impact was how it deepened a culture of giving that already ran through Elastic’s DNA — showing up even more clearly in onboarding, team offsites, ERG activities and leadership communications.

Partnership highlights

Looking to the future, Elastic’s partnership with Benevity continues to evolve with plans to: 

• Leverage data insights from Benevity’s reporting tools to inform future campaigns
• Further integrate giving opportunities into employee lifecycle moments
• Explore additional automation to scale global participation 

Elastic’s story shows that when giving is embedded into culture — not confined to a season — participation, purpose and impact all grow.