NEW YORK, July 16, 2026 /3BL/ – New data from Chief Executives for Corporate Purpose®(CECP)’s Giving in Numbers® survey shows a corporate giving landscape that’s more divided than it first appears. While median Total Community Investments increased from $21.9M in 2024 to $23.5M in 2025 in a matched set of companies, more than half of companies cut back on giving in 2025. Overall, total giving across all companies stayed relatively flat. The takeaway is that a smaller group of companies increased their investments enough to pull the overall numbers up, masking the fact that pullbacks were the more common story on the ground.
Now in its 25th year, CECP in partnership with companies, has built the largest and most comprehensive historical dataset on corporate social investment trends, drawing on participation from more than 650 multi-billion-dollar companies and representing over $519 billion in giving over the life of the survey.
For the first time, companies with $500M to $1.5B in revenue can take part through a dedicated mid-market tier with benchmarking built for their scale. CECP is also welcoming GroundSwell as a new Innovation Partner, joining Benevity, YourCause from Blackbaud, and Bonterra. Companies on any of these four platforms can use built-in Giving in Numbers reports to pull their survey responses directly from the platforms, cutting out manual data pulls.
“The headline number tells you giving went up, but that’s not really the story,” said Kate Stobbe, Director, Corporate Insights & Research, CECP. “What we’re actually seeing is a widening gap between companies that are leaning into their community investments and companies that are pulling back. The median only rose because the increases from one group were large enough to outweigh the decreases from another. Companies need to look past the topline number to understand where they actually stand.”
Three key takeaways from among the 139 companies that reported Total Community Investments (TCI — Direct Cash, Foundation Cash, and Non-Cash giving) in both 2024 and 2025:
- The median company’s TCI climbed from $21.9 million to $23.5 million, a 7.5% increase after adjusting for inflation.
- The top quartile told a similar story, up 10.6% (from $60.6 million to $67.0 million). But those gains weren’t shared broadly.
- Total giving across all survey participants was essentially flat, down 0.2%, and 52% of companies spent less in 2025 than the year before.
Companies over $500M in revenue can still participate in this year’s survey; see the survey here and email insights@cecp.co for more information. The full Giving in Numbers report will be available in October 2026.
CECP Media Contact
Katie Leasor
kleasor@cecp.co
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About Chief Executives for Corporate Purpose (CECP)
Chief Executives for Corporate Purpose® (CECP) is the only nonpartisan business counsel and network dedicated to driving measurable returns on purpose. We promote responsible purpose-driven business as it increases customer loyalty, builds employee engagement, improves brand trust, attracts top talent, connects with strategic investors, and contributes to the bottom line.
More than 200 of the world’s leading companies seek to improve their return on purpose through access to CECP’s solutions in research and insights, strategy and benchmarking, and convening and communications. With our companies, we harness the power of purpose for business, stakeholders, and society.
For more information, visit http://cecp.co.