- FTSE 100 donations totalled £1.85 billion last year, falling 10% in real terms in two years.
- GSK’s donations make up a fifth of total FTSE 100 contributions.
- 25% of FTSE 100 executives say the macroeconomic environment will make it harder to make charitable donations
- Three quarters of British businesses do nothing for charity.
Charitable giving has stagnated, with signs it is slipping down the priority list for the UK’s largest corporations, according to a new report by the Charities Aid Foundation (CAF).
CAF’s Corporate Giving Report 2025 reveals that an estimated £4.2 billion was donated by British business in 2024, with nearly half donated by FTSE 100 companies. Just 25% of British businesses say they do anything to support charities.
Charitable donations by FTSE 100 companies totalled £1.85 billion last year, just £3 million more than the previous year. However, if donations had kept up with inflation, they would be worth an additional £185 million, the equivalent of a year’s funding for 3,364 small charities.
There is a huge disparity in how much FTSE 100 companies are giving; GSK contributes 19.6% of the whole of the FTSE 100’s charitable giving. Healthcare companies are the most generous sector, whereas Technology and Industrials are the least generous.
Only 24 companies met best practice by giving at least one percent of their pre-tax profits to charity, declining from 28 the previous year. Of these, only 11 companies have consistently met this benchmark over the past three years.
It appears that corporate giving is slipping down the priority list. A quarter of FTSE 100 corporate responsibility executives believe that the present macroeconomic environment will make it harder to secure budget for charitable donations. Nearly one in five (18%) say they are concerned about budgets moving away from charitable giving towards other social good initiatives, such as carbon reduction and equality, diversity and inclusion projects.
Only one in six FTSE 100 companies plan to give more to charity next year. This is despite 70% of UK employees saying it is important for their employer to address social challenges.
Neil Heslop OBE, Chief Executive, Charities Aid Foundation, says:
“Corporate giving is not an optional extra. It is a cornerstone of responsible business that employees and customers expect. Yet, at a time when charities continue to face severe funding challenges, our research reveals that most British businesses are disengaged from meaningful community investment.
“Best practice for business is to commit to donating at least one percent of pre-tax profits. With growing economic and geopolitical uncertainty, businesses should apply the same strategic and long-term lens to their corporate giving as they do to their financial objectives.
“Government also has a crucial role to play in fostering a renewed culture of giving and encouraging community investment from businesses to the places and communities they are a part of.”
CAF is calling for the Government to reintroduce the mandatory requirement to report corporate giving to improve transparency and motivate businesses to donate to good causes and invest in communities. If all FTSE 100 businesses gave at least 1%, it would double the amount of funding given by this group and mean an extra £1 billion for charities every year.
Top 5 FTSE 100 companies by sum given:
- GSK
- Tesco
- Anglo American
- AstraZeneca
- HSBC Holdings
Top FTSE 100 companies by percentage of pre-tax profit:
- J Sainsbury
- GSK
- Endeavour Mining
- Tesco
- Barratt Redrow