Companies That Donate to Nonprofits: How to Find and Ask

Corporate giving is the most over-pursued and least productive fundraising activity at small nonprofits. Corporations gave $43.67 billion in 2025, 7.1% of all US charitable giving. Individuals gave 63.9%.

This page does not list named corporate programmes with their current terms. Those change, and a stale list sends people to something that no longer exists. What follows is how to find and approach them, which does not go out of date.

Start with matching gifts

The most under-claimed money available to a small nonprofit, and it requires no relationship with the company at all.

Many employers match charitable donations made by their staff, often at one to one and sometimes more. The employee gives, submits a form, and the company gives the same amount. Enormous sums go unclaimed every year, entirely because nobody told the donor the programme existed.

You will need your EIN and often your determination letter for the employee to complete the claim, so keep both somewhere you can send in a minute.

Some employers also match volunteer hours with a cash grant, which is worth asking about and almost never is.

Where corporate money actually comes from

The second row is how most corporate money reaches small organizations. A board member, volunteer or donor who works somewhere is worth more than any cold approach, because companies give where their people care.

So the practical first step is not researching companies. It is asking your own supporters where they work.

Finding programmes without a database

Three free methods.

Read the 990-PFs of corporate foundations. Every private foundation, including corporate ones, lists its grants with recipients and amounts. Free on ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer. That tells you who funds work like yours, at what level, and in what places.

Look at who sponsors organizations like you. Peer organizations list sponsors on their websites and in annual reports. Those companies have already decided to fund this kind of work locally.

Ask your community foundation. They know which local businesses give and often which contact to approach.

Approaching them

Short, specific, and through a person wherever possible.

Lead with the connection: an employee who volunteers with you, a customer base that overlaps with your community, a local presence near your work. A cold approach with no connection is the lowest-yielding fundraising activity available.

Say precisely what you are asking for and what they get. Companies fund things that are legible: a named programme, a specific event, a defined number of people served in a place where their staff and customers live.

Ask about in-kind alongside cash. A company that will not write a cheque may donate printing, space, equipment, professional services or products, and those often come from a different budget with an easier decision.

Sponsorship has a tax dimension

This catches organizations out and is worth understanding before you sign anything.

A qualified sponsorship payment, where the company receives no substantial return benefit beyond acknowledgement of its name, logo or product line, is generally not taxable to you.

Where you provide advertising, meaning qualitative or comparative language, price information or an inducement to buy, the payment may become unrelated business taxable income and reportable on Form 990-T.

The practical line: displaying a sponsor’s logo and name is acknowledgement. Saying their product is the best available, or including a discount code, is advertising. Structure the agreement with that distinction in mind and take advice on anything substantial.

Separately, if the company receives goods or services in return, such as event tickets or a table, only the excess over their value is a deductible contribution and your acknowledgement must say so.

What companies actually want

Understanding this changes the ask. Corporate giving decisions are rarely made on charitable merit alone.

The third row is why specific asks outperform general ones. A company can approve funding a named programme serving a stated number of people in a town where its staff live. It cannot easily approve supporting your organization in general.

The last row is why the unglamorous work matters. A company checking you before committing will look at your Form 990, your website and whether your filings are current, and a gap there ends the conversation without anyone telling you why.

Employee volunteering, which is often the way in

Many companies offer staff paid time to volunteer and struggle to find organizations that can host groups well.

That is an easier first ask than money, and it frequently leads to money, because it puts employees inside your work and those employees then advocate internally.

To host it well you need something a group of ten people can usefully do in a half day, with a named person running it and a clear outcome. Organizations that improvise this produce a bad experience and no second visit.

Ask about volunteer grant programmes at the same time. Some employers make a cash grant based on hours their staff volunteer, and it is claimed even less often than matching gifts.

Being realistic about the effort

Corporate fundraising takes as much relationship work as major individual gifts and returns less, at small scale, from a source that is 7.1% of the sector’s income.

Where it is worth the hours: matching gifts, which require almost none. In-kind, which is easier than cash and genuinely reduces your costs. Event sponsorship, where you have something specific to offer. And any company where a supporter already works.

Where it is not: cold approaches to national programmes, and building a corporate partnership function before your individual giving works. The people who already gave you money once are a better use of the same hours, and there is a shrinking number of them every year.

Questions people ask

What companies donate to nonprofits?

Many do, through several different routes, and the useful question is not which companies but which route.

Employee matching gift programmes, where a company matches donations its staff make, are the most accessible because they require no relationship with the company at all.

Beyond that: local branch or store budgets, event sponsorship, in-kind donations of goods and services, and corporate foundation grants which have formal application processes.

This page does not list named programmes, because their terms change and a stale list sends people to something that no longer exists. Check the company's own giving page, and read corporate foundation 990-PFs free on ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer to see who they actually fund.

What is a matching gift programme?

An arrangement where an employer matches charitable donations made by its employees, often at one to one and sometimes more.

The employee gives to your organization, submits a claim to their employer with details of the gift, and the company gives the same amount. Very large sums go unclaimed every year, almost entirely because nobody told the donor the programme existed.

Ask on your donation form whether the donor's employer matches, mention it in the thank you, and remind your whole list once a year.

Keep your EIN and determination letter to hand, since the employee usually needs both to complete the claim.

How do we ask a company for a donation?

Through a person, and with a specific ask.

Lead with the connection: an employee who volunteers with you, a customer base overlapping your community, a local presence near your work. Companies give where their people care, and a cold approach with no connection is the lowest-yielding fundraising activity available.

Say precisely what you want and what they receive. Companies fund things that are legible: a named programme, a specific event, a defined number of people served in a place where their staff live.

Ask about in-kind alongside cash. Printing, space, equipment or professional services often come from an easier budget than a cheque does.

What percentage of nonprofit funding comes from corporations?

Corporations gave $43.67 billion in 2025, 7.1% of all US charitable giving.

Individuals gave $394.20 billion, 63.9%, with bequests adding a further 10.1% which is also individuals. Foundations gave 19.0%.

The practical implication is that corporate giving is a small share of the total and absorbs a disproportionate share of small-organization fundraising effort.

Where corporate money is genuinely worth pursuing at small scale: matching gifts, in-kind donations, event sponsorship, and any company where one of your supporters already works.

Is corporate sponsorship taxable for a nonprofit?

Usually not, where it is a qualified sponsorship payment, meaning the company receives no substantial return benefit beyond acknowledgement of its name, logo or product line.

Where you provide advertising, meaning qualitative or comparative language, price information or an inducement to buy, the payment may become unrelated business taxable income reportable on Form 990-T.

The practical line: displaying a sponsor's logo and name is acknowledgement. Saying their product is the best available, or including a discount code, is advertising.

Structure the agreement with that distinction in mind, and take advice on anything substantial before signing.

How do we get in-kind donations from businesses?

Ask specifically, locally, and for something they already have.

A printer donating printing, a restaurant donating catering, a law firm donating a few hours, a supplier donating goods they stock. These come from an easier budget than cash and the decision is often made by one person on the spot.

Say exactly what you need and when. Vague requests for support are difficult to act on; a request for two hundred printed programmes by a specific date is not.

Acknowledge it properly. Describe the goods received without stating a value, since valuation is the donor's responsibility, and be ready to sign Form 8283 where they claim a deduction above the threshold.

And apply your gift acceptance policy. It is acceptable to decline goods you cannot use, store or dispose of.

Should we approach national corporate giving programmes?

Rarely, as a first move, and they are highly competitive.

National programmes receive very large numbers of applications, usually have specific stated priorities, and frequently favour organizations they already know or that operate at scale.

What works better for a small organization: the local branch or store, where a manager may hold a modest community budget and can decide quickly, and any company where one of your supporters works.

If you do approach a national programme, read the guidelines properly first and check you are eligible on geography, field and organization size. Most rejections are fit rather than quality, and the check takes twenty minutes against an application that takes days.

What should a corporate sponsorship agreement include?

Put it in writing, however friendly the relationship.

The amount and payment schedule. Exactly what the sponsor receives, listed: logo placement, mentions, tickets, naming. The period it covers. What happens if the event is cancelled. And who approves any use of your name or logo, and theirs.

Include the tax point. State whether they are receiving goods or services and their value, because only the excess is a deductible contribution and your acknowledgement must reflect it.

Keep the acknowledgement within qualified sponsorship territory: name, logo and product line, not qualitative claims, prices or inducements to buy. That distinction is what keeps the payment out of unrelated business taxable income.

This is reference information, not legal or tax advice. Rules vary by state and change over time. For a decision that carries real consequences, check the current text at irs.gov or your state registry, and talk to a nonprofit attorney or CPA.