What Is Workplace Giving? An Employer and Employee Guide

What is workplace giving?

Workplace giving is any program that lets employees donate to charitable causes through their employer. That can be as simple as an annual pledge drive or as connected as a year-round program with employer matching, volunteer opportunities, payroll deductions, and impact reporting in one place.

A modern workplace giving platform operates two experiences at once: the employer side (program setup, campaigns, matching rules, reporting) and the employee side (finding causes, giving, volunteering, and seeing impact).

How workplace giving works

Most programs follow the same loop: the employer sets up the program and any matching rules → employees discover causes and give or volunteer → gifts are processed and (where offered) matched → activity flows into reporting for both the employee and the program team.

• 1 · Employer sets up — Program rules, eligible causes, match policy, campaign calendar.
• 2 · Employees participate — Find causes, give one-time or recurring, sign up to volunteer.
• 3 · Gifts processed — Donations routed to nonprofits; matches applied where offered.
• 4 · Everyone sees impact — Employees see personal impact; admins see program results.

Common types of workplace giving

"Workplace giving" is an umbrella. The most common program types fall into several categories, and the strongest programs combine multiple types into a connected experience.

Employee giving

Direct donations by employees — one-time gifts during a campaign, recurring gifts to a chosen nonprofit, or participation in employer-sponsored drives (disaster response, Giving Tuesday, year-end). The best programs make discovery easy: employees shouldn't need the EIN of a nonprofit to support it.

Matching gifts

The employer matches employee donations according to a policy — commonly 1:1 up to an annual cap. Matching is consistently the biggest untapped lever in workplace giving: employees routinely leave match dollars unused simply because they don't know the program exists or the submission process is tedious. An estimated $4–7 billion in matching gift funds goes unclaimed each year, according to Double the Donation research.

See our full matching gifts guide and the momoGood matching gifts feature overview.

Payroll giving

Recurring donations deducted from an employee's paycheck. It's low-friction for the employee and produces steady, predictable support for nonprofits. Payroll, tax, and deductibility treatment vary by jurisdiction and program structure — employers should involve payroll and tax advisors when designing deduction programs. See payroll giving with momoGood.

Employee volunteering

Volunteer programs pair giving with time: curated opportunities, team service days, volunteer time off (VTO), and hour tracking. Some employers add "dollars for doers" grants that convert volunteer hours into donations. See employee volunteering with momoGood.

Campaign-based giving

Employer-organized campaigns around specific moments — Giving Tuesday, year-end drives, disaster response, or themed months (hunger awareness, environmental sustainability). Campaigns create urgency and shared purpose that ongoing programs lack. The best campaigns combine a boosted match, a clear goal, visible progress, and a tight timeline. Organizations that run 3–4 themed campaigns per year alongside a standing year-round program see meaningfully higher participation than those relying on a single annual pledge drive.

Dollars for doers

A distinct program type worth calling out separately: the employer makes a grant to a nonprofit based on the number of hours an employee volunteers there. Common structures include $10–$25 per volunteer hour, often capped at $500–$1,000 per employee per year. Dollars-for-doers programs reward employees who give time rather than money and are especially effective for reaching employee populations where payroll deductions or direct gifts feel less accessible. When tracked in the same platform as monetary giving, they also contribute to a more complete picture of employee social impact.

Employer grants and community investment

Some employers extend their workplace giving programs beyond employee-driven donations to include employer-funded grants to community organizations. These grants may be directed by employee nominations ("where should the company give?"), tied to strategic community priorities, or allocated through a company foundation. While technically corporate philanthropy, employer grants are increasingly administered through the same platform as employee giving to create a unified view of total social impact.

Workplace giving statistics

Workplace giving represents a significant share of total U.S. charitable giving. According to industry data, American employees give an estimated $5 billion annually through workplace giving programs, according to industry research from CECP. When employer matching is included, the total impact is substantially higher — yet an estimated $4–7 billion in matching gift funds goes unclaimed every year because employees don't know about their company's match program or find the submission process too burdensome.

Participation rates vary widely by program design. Legacy programs with annual pledge drives typically see 10–20% employee participation. Modern platforms with mobile-first UX, automatic matching, and year-round campaigns report participation rates of 40–70% in mature programs. The difference is almost entirely a product design and communication problem, not an employee engagement problem.

Key participation data points

Several data points help frame the participation challenge and opportunity:

• Average gift size: The average workplace gift is typically $300–$700 per employee per year, according to CECP data — comparable to what those same employees give independently. The difference is that workplace gifts are more likely to be sustained (payroll deduction creates a recurring habit) and amplified (matching doubles the impact).
• Matching drives behavior: 84% of donors say they're more likely to donate when a match is available, according to Double the Donation. And 1 in 3 donors say they'd give a larger amount if matching were part of the equation. The match isn't just amplification — it's motivation.
• Generational differences: Younger employees (Millennials and Gen Z) are more likely to participate in workplace giving programs when the experience is mobile-first and the causes feel relevant to their interests. They are also more likely to volunteer through employer programs than older cohorts, making connected giving-and-volunteering platforms especially effective for engaging younger workforces.
• Tenure effect: Participation tends to increase with employee tenure. First-year employees participate at roughly half the rate of employees with five or more years at the company — which makes onboarding communication and early engagement critical. Programs that introduce giving during the first week of employment (rather than waiting for the annual campaign) see higher first-year participation.
• Remote and distributed workforces: The shift toward remote and hybrid work has made digital workplace giving platforms more important than ever. Organizations with distributed workforces report that a well-designed digital giving experience is the primary way employees connect with company social-impact efforts — replacing the in-person pledge drives and volunteer events that once served that function.

How workplace giving has evolved

Workplace giving began with the United Way campaigns of the mid-20th century — paper pledge cards passed around the office once a year. For decades, that model held: one campaign, one charity partner, one ask. The rise of online giving platforms in the 2000s brought more choice to employees, but most platforms were still desktop-first portals buried behind HR system logins.

The current generation of workplace giving software treats the employee experience as the product. Giving is mobile-first, matching is automatic, cause discovery is personalized, and volunteering connects directly to giving. AI is beginning to power recommendations, campaign optimization, and program insights. The shift mirrors what happened in consumer fintech: the interface became the differentiator, and the companies that treated UX as a core competency won.

Workplace giving vs. corporate philanthropy

Workplace giving and corporate philanthropy are related but distinct. Workplace giving is employee-initiated — the employee decides to give, and the employer may match. Corporate philanthropy (also called corporate giving) is company-initiated — grants to nonprofits, sponsorships, foundation gifts, and community investments funded from the company's own resources.

The best programs run both, connected. An employer might fund a corporate foundation that makes grants to community organizations while also running a workplace giving program that lets employees give and volunteer with employer matching. When both streams flow through one platform, the company gets a unified view of total social impact — employee-driven and corporate-directed — which is increasingly important for ESG reporting and stakeholder communications.

Benefits for employers

• Engagement and retention — giving programs are a visible, participatory expression of company values. Employees who participate in workplace giving programs report higher job satisfaction and are measurably more likely to stay.
• Recruiting — candidates increasingly evaluate social-impact programs alongside compensation and benefits. A well-run giving program is a tangible differentiator in offer conversations, especially with younger employees.
• Culture — campaigns and team volunteering create shared moments across departments and geographies. Workplace giving is one of the few programs that naturally connects people who wouldn't otherwise interact.
• ESG and stakeholder reporting — a connected program produces credible, auditable social-impact numbers for leadership, board reports, annual ESG disclosures, and investor communications. Programs that track giving, matching, and volunteering in one system make reporting straightforward instead of a quarterly scramble.
• Tax benefits — employer matching contributions are generally tax-deductible as charitable contributions, though treatment varies by jurisdiction. Consult tax advisors for specifics.

Benefits for employees

• Amplified impact — matching can double or triple a personal gift. An employee giving $50/month with a 1:1 match generates $1,200/year for their chosen cause — without spending more.
• Convenience — give, volunteer, and track impact in one place instead of managing scattered receipts, separate donation platforms, and manual match requests.
• Discovery — find vetted causes and local volunteer opportunities without research. The best platforms surface relevant causes based on employee interests, not just a static directory.
• Visibility — a personal record of giving and volunteering across the year, including match status, tax receipts, and cumulative impact.
• Community — team campaigns and volunteer events connect employees around shared purpose. Participation is visible (when the employee chooses) and creates a sense of belonging that goes beyond daily work.

How to start a workplace giving program

Start smaller than you think: pick a clear first campaign, decide whether you'll match, choose a platform that employees will actually open, and plan communications before launch. Our companion guide on building a program employees will use walks through each step, and the buyer's guide covers software evaluation.