8 Employee Giving Program Mistakes (and How to Fix Them)

Main Takeaways:

• Most giving programs underperform because of how they are structured, not because employees aren’t interested
• The biggest barriers to participation include limited choice, poor communication, and one-time-only campaigns
• Companies that combine giving and volunteering see 3x the engagement of giving-only programs
• Matching gifts are one of the most underused opportunities to increase participation and impact
• Small fixes like integrating ERGs into the giving process can significantly improve employee participation and connection to causes

Table of Contents:

• Why most employee giving programs underperform
• Assess your current giving program
• Common giving mistakes and how to fix them
• Employee giving mistakes at a glance
• Frequently asked questions
• How to start fixing your program today

Why Most Employee Giving Programs Underperform

Employee giving programs should be one of the most rewarding parts of a CSR leader’s role. They’re meant to bring people together around causes they care about, strengthen team culture, and make a positive difference in peoples’ lives. And for the most part, they do…at least at first.

But across organizations of all sizes, we often see a familiar pattern:

• Engagement spikes during a big campaign, then slowly drops off.
• Incentives exist, but few people use them.
• Global teams feel disconnected from the causes they’re asked to support.
• And impact is only shared as a total dollar amount, with little detail beyond that.

When participation lags, it’s easy to think that employees simply aren’t interested. But the truth is, low giving participation is rarely about a lack of care. More often it’s the result of small, structural issues that affect the way employees experience corporate giving.

These barriers can take many forms: lack of awareness around incentives, infrequent one-off opportunities to give, lack of choice or relevance in causes to support, or confusion around the act of donating itself. And over time, they quietly compound, making it harder to sustain engagement.

If any of this sounds familiar, don’t worry. You’re not alone. In fact, many of these challenges show up in even the most mature, well-run programs. The important thing to remember is that they are fixable.

That’s why we’ve analyzed data from hundreds of companies and millions of employees around the world to bring you the most common employee giving pitfalls; as well as practical steps to help you address them.

But First, Let’s Assess Your Current Giving Program

Before we get into what might need fixing, let’s take a moment for a quick sense check.

Use this easy self-assessment tool to establish exactly where your program falls against industry standards and identify any gaps that need to be filled. Then, simply keep reading to discover how you can make meaningful improvements.

Common Giving Mistakes (and How to Fix Them)

1.Running a once-a-year campaign

For many companies, employee giving lives as a single date on the calendar, usually in the form of an end-of-year fundraising campaign. While this is a great way to rally colleagues and make an impact, particularly around the holidays – it creates a very narrow window for participation and limits opportunities for reengagement to the following year.

So, what do high performing programs do differently? They take an “always‑on” giving approach, supported by a series of planned activations throughout the year. Instead of one big annual push, they give employees multiple, relevant moments – which, in turn, leads to higher engagement and overall business value.

2. Limiting charitable choice

Research shows today’s employees (47% of Gen Zs and 49% of Millennials) have left or rejected a job that doesn’t align with their value — and the same logic applies to charity choices. When employees can’t support causes they personally care about, it stops feeling meaningful and employees are far less likely to participate. To ensure colleagues engage (and keep engaging) with your program, consider:

• Giving employees the flexibility to support causes that matter to them
• Pair open choice with curated spotlights to showcase relevant causes (i.e. disaster relief efforts, employee assistance opportunities, important awareness or service days, etc)

3. Forgetting to promote matching gifts

Did you know that 65% of Fortune 500 companies offer matching gift programs, yet $4-7B in gift funds is estimated to go unclaimed each year because employees don’t know about them?

Incorporating your matching gift program directly into the giving process is one of the quickest and easiest ways to boost giving participation. In fact, research shows that simply communicating this incentive during a campaign can increase response rates by 71% and average donation amounts by 51%.

We’ve seen this play out in real programs. When Cohen & Co launched an employee giving and matching program rooted in employee choice, they raised $12,000 in just one week. By giving employees a clear, centralized way to donate (while amplifying those gifts through matching) the firm was able to make giving a natural extension of their people-first culture and values – and an activity their team wanted to participate in.

See how Cohen & Co built a scalable giving and matching program that put employees’ causes first.

4. Offering only giving or only volunteering

Some companies focus exclusively on employee giving. Others put all their energy into volunteering. But our findings show that focusing solely on one approach can leave opportunities for engagement on the table.

After reviewing data from 300+ companies and 7+ million employees worldwide, we’ve found that companies that offer both giving and volunteering consistently see stronger overall engagement (16.8%) across their CSR efforts, compared to 5.1% for giving‑only programs.

Remember: When organizations offer only one path to entry, they can unintentionally exclude people who would otherwise participate. Open more doors and you might just find that more people walk through one of them.

5. Underutilizing Employee Resource Groups (ERGS)

Top‑down campaigns can only take a giving program so far. The most meaningful participation actually happens when people see colleagues they relate to leading the way.

That’s where ERGs come in. These employee‑led groups are built to create connection and belonging; and give employees a voice in what matters most to them. Therefore, when ERGs are invited to shape cause moments, lead giving activities, or share why a cause matters, it becomes easier for others to connect their own experiences to the programs…and buy in.

Looking for easy ways to incorporate ERGs into giving? Here are a few tips:

• Partner with ERGs to identify causes their members care about
• Give ERGs ownership of a giving or volunteering moment
• Highlight ERG‑led impact stories so participation feels real, not corporate

6. Not considering the global or remote work force

For organizations with remote/hybrid teams spread across regions, time zones, and countries, a single English‑only message or country‑specific campaign can unintentionally exclude large parts of the workforce.

Accessibility (whether that’s language, currency, or timing) can be a key factor in how your participation interacts with your program – particularly today, when global employee disengagement is at an all-time high and programs are competing for limited attention.

Programs that succeed globally are the ones that meet employees where they are. That means:

• Communicating in multiple languages
• Supporting local currencies and charities
• Creating giving moments that feel relevant across regions

7. Making the giving experience too complicated

Take a moment to think about your program from an employee’s perspective. What does the process look like?

Every extra step is a decision point:” Do I finish this now, or come back later?” And all too often, “later” never happens (especially if they have to navigate manual processes or unclear next steps).

AI-powered solutions for social impact are a great way to curate a seamless giving experience. Look for options that offer simple ways to give using familiar payment methods (including credit cards and apply pay), options that fit real life (whether that’s one‑time, recurring, or offline giving), and clear visibility into where a donation went and when it made an impact.

When the experience feels straightforward and transparent, employees are far more likely to participate, and to come back the next time.

8. Failing to show impact (and not measuring what matters)

Employees want to know their donation made a difference. When programs don’t report on impact, giving can start to feel like money disappearing into a black box and people are less likely to continue participating.

This reporting challenge isn’t limited to employees; however. It can also impact program growth over time. Many organizations only track total dollars raised, without looking at who is participating and how engagement is distributed.

Limited visibility into program patterns can make it easy to miss early warning signs. For example, our 2025 CSR Industry Review uncovered a widening gap between the average and median annual donations per donor. This suggests that while larger donors continue to give at the same rate, smaller donors may be pulling back – but more than that, it acts as a marker to inform how a giving program should respond. Companies can then use this kind of data to spot where engagement is thinning, focus on re‑engaging everyday givers, and pair impact stories with changes that make giving feel accessible again.

Pairing this sort of impact measurement with storytelling would ultimately put programs in a far better position to grow participation year over year.

Employee Giving Program Mistakes at a Glance

How to Start Fixing Your Program Today

• If you haven’t already: Audit your current program against the mistakes above.
• Pull your participation data and look at the gap between average and median donations.
• Talk to 5 employees who do not participate and ask why.
• Pick an easiest fix from this list – like promoting matching gifts more clearly or adding an additional giving moment – and commit to testing it this quarter.
• Download the 2025 CSR Industry Review for the latest industry benchmarks and set a baseline for giving engagement within your program.