• Nonprofits supporting racial justice and food security dominate Top 10 list for the first time

• Four causes from 2019 retain their Top 10 positions in 2020

• Overall giving is up dramatically: 2019’s Top 10 Causes see 58 percent increase in donations

CALGARY, AB – January 21, 2021 – Benevity, Inc., the leading provider of global corporate purpose software, today announced its annual trend data on the 2020 Top Causes that companies and their people supported through the Benevity platform, as well as the shifts in ranking compared with the previous two years. This year’s Top 10 Causes received $232 million and were among 189,000 nonprofit organizations that saw a record-breaking $2.3 billion donated through the Benevity platform in 2020 — a 63 percent increase over the previous year. Over 300,000 global causes have received funds through the Benevity platform to date.

Key Findings

• Causes supporting racial justice and equity hold the top three positions, and comprise more than half of the donations (51 percent) to the Top 10 Causes: NAACP, Equal Justice Initiative, ACLU and Thousand Currents (the official fiscal sponsor of the Black Lives Matter Global Network Project from 2016 to mid-2020).
• Feeding America and Second Harvest of Silicon Valley see a dramatic year-over-year increase in donations, 14x and 7.5x respectively, indicating a desire for people to provide food security for those experiencing a loss of income during the COVID-19 pandemic.
• The Top 10 Causes of 2019 collectively received 58 percent more donations in 2020; four nonprofits made the list two years in a row: ACLU, Red Cross, Doctors Without Borders and St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.
• Although Red Cross and Doctors Without Borders each dropped one spot in the Top 10 Causes ranking, both received well over double the amount of donations this year over last.
• 51 percent of Red Cross donations went to the American Red Cross, followed by the Australian, Lebanese, Canadian, British and Italian societies.
• Donations to the Armenia Fund skyrocketed from several thousand dollars annually to millions as the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war began in late September.

Seasonal donation trends were disrupted as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic which prompted a swift shift toward support for human services and food security from March through May. Then, an exponential spike in support for racial justice and equity came in June following the murder of George Floyd.

The shift in top causes receiving support is a clear indication that business is improving the fabric of society by backing the causes chosen by their people through grassroots, bottoms-up action — a growing trend over the past decade that has reached a tipping point this year.

— Bryan de Lottinville, Founder and CEO of Benevity

“The shift in top causes receiving support is a clear indication that business is improving the fabric of society by backing the causes chosen by their people through grassroots, bottoms-up action — a growing trend over the past decade that has reached a tipping point this year,” said Bryan de Lottinville, Founder and CEO of Benevity. “Corporate purpose is taking hold where all great movements do, in a groundswell of action from employees, the progressive employers who empower them, their customers who are increasingly discerning about the brands they support, and the community organizations who rely on their support.”

The generosity of companies and their employees through Benevity has helped American Red Cross volunteers provide emergency shelter, meals, emotional support and distribute relief items to hundreds of thousands of people in need.

— Don Herring, chief development officer at the American Red Cross

“During this unprecedented year, our global community has come together like never before,” said Don Herring, chief development officer at the American Red Cross. “The generosity of companies and their employees through Benevity has helped American Red Cross volunteers provide emergency shelter, meals, emotional support and distribute relief items to hundreds of thousands of people in need.”

Benevity data from 2020 showed that more people gave more money to nonprofits than ever before. In fact, 51 percent more people donated through corporate purpose programs in 2020, with 41 percent more dollars per donation.

About Benevity

Benevity, a certified B Corporation, is the leader in global corporate purpose software, providing the only integrated suite of community investment and employee, customer and nonprofit engagement solutions. A finalist in Fast Company’s 2020 World Changing Ideas Awards, many iconic brands rely on Benevity’s cloud solutions to power their purpose in ways that better attract, retain and engage today’s diverse workforce, embed social action into their customer experiences and positively impact their communities. With software that is available in 20 languages, Benevity has processed more than 6 billion dollars in donations and 34 million hours of volunteering time, 275,000 positive actions and awarded over one million grants to 300,000 nonprofits worldwide.

Media Contact: Amanda Orr│Kickstart for Benevity│1.323.601.5734│press@benevity.com