# Employer charity support increases worker loyalty but just 1 in 4 businesses give to good causes

- Link: https://fundraising.co.uk/2025/01/06/employer-charity-support-increases-worker-loyalty-but-just-1-in-4-businesses-give-to-good-causes/
- Published: 2025-01-06T10:40:43+00:00
- Author: Melanie May

**More than half of employees (54%) say having an employer that supports charities
increases their sense of pride in working there, while 51% say it encourages their
loyalty to the company.**

However, according to [Charities Aid Foundation](https://www.cafonline.org/) (CAF)
research, 75% of businesses in the UK don’t give anything to charity, whether in
the form of cash, in-kind donations or employee volunteering hours.

CAF surveyed 1,880 employees via YouGov and also found that for 47%, having an employer
that supports charities increases their willingness to go the extra mile for that
employer.

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The impact of employer support for good causes is highest among younger age groups:
more than three-fifths (63%) of 16-24-year-olds say their company’s charitable giving
increased both their sense of pride as an employee and their loyalty to the organisation.
More than half of 25-34-year-olds said the same (57% and 54% respectively). For 
45-54-year-olds, the percentage drops to just below half (47% and 48% respectively).
For over 55s, around a third of those surveyed saw a positive link.

Philippa Cornish, Head of Corporate Clients at CAF, said:

> “We are seeing a growing movement towards ‘responsible business’ and charitable
> giving should be considered a crucial pillar of these strategies. Giving to charities
> is good for business. It offers businesses the opportunity to demonstrate their
> commitment to their communities as well as their staff. Corporate giving has become
> an important when considering whether you want to work for somebody or not. Businesses
> should remember this when looking to attract and retain new generations of workers,
> particularly when competition for talent is high.”

The Skipton Group commits 1% of its pre-tax profits to charity, and has recently
designed a giving programme. Michaela Wright, its Head of Sustainability, said:

> “We are working to tackle significant challenges aligned to housing and money.
> Our colleagues and members helped to choose which charities to support, ensuring
> that we’re focusing on meaningful impact across areas that are important to them.
> Our charitable giving aims to help our members and wider society overcome barriers
> preventing people from having a home, accessing financial advice and education,
> and increasing awareness and action to support making our homes warmer and more
> energy efficient.”

#### Recommendations for businesses

CAF has provided some tips for businesses wanting to engage employees with their
corporate giving:

 * Commit to matched giving – such as via supporting colleague fundraisers by matching
   the money raised with a company donation, or by matching employees’ regular giving,
   via a payroll giving programme
 * Make sure employees can feed into a business’s corporate giving strategy, for
   example by voting for the charities the company supports.
 * Communicate with employees regularly about what the company is doing to support
   charities, how and why.
 * Enable employees to be good corporate citizens in the places where they live 
   and work by offering employee volunteer hours as part of a corporate giving strategy
   and incentivise their individual efforts through matching donations. 

 * **[CAF launches Charitynet](https://fundraising.co.uk/1995/10/04/caf-launches-charitynet/)**(
   4 October 1995)
 * **[CAF publish voluntary sector statistics](https://fundraising.co.uk/1996/08/09/caf-publish-voluntary-sector-statistics/)**(
   9 August 1996)
 * **[CAF launches Charities' Online Accounts Awards](https://fundraising.co.uk/2003/03/18/caf-launches-charities039-online-accounts-awards/)**(
   18 March 2003)