State of employee volunteering 2025

EVP policies and budgets

Most companies (81%) had employee volunteering programmes (EVPs) in 2025, up slightly from 78% in 2024.
Of the 57 companies that reported having an EVP, 67% had a stated employee volunteering policy, while 32% had no policy and one company respondent (1%) was unsure.
Over half of companies with an EVP (32 companies, 56%) allocated a CSI budget to employee volunteerism. A third of companies with EVPs (31%) allocated between 1% and 5% of their CSI budget to employee volunteering, 7% allocated between 6% and 10% and 8% allocated more than 10% of their CSI budget to employee volunteering.
Among the 27 companies that provided detailed budget information, the average CSI allocation to employee volunteering was 7%, with a median of 5%. The lowest allocation was 1% and the highest was 30%.
The proportion of nonprofits with a budget for managing volunteers and volunteering programmes remained low (19 organisations, 17%) in 2025, similar to the 16% recorded in 2024.
Among the 16 nonprofits that provided detailed information on volunteering allocations, the range was 1% to 100% of budget, with an average of 20% and a median of 8%. A higher percentage of nonprofits (83%) than companies (44%) reported no budget allocation for employee volunteering.

In 2025, 85% of companies with EVPs had at least one internal staff member assigned to manage volunteering, either in a full-time or part-time role. Only 15% of companies had no dedicated employee volunteering manager.
By comparison, just 55% of nonprofits had one or more staff members, full-time or part-time, responsible for managing employee volunteering.

In 2025, companies offered three types of employee involvement initiatives on average, down from an average of four in 2024.
Most companies with EVPs offered company-organised volunteering initiatives (96%), fundraising/collection drives (61%) and time off for individuals to volunteer during work hours (58%).
In the US, 93% of all companies offered matching-gift programmes to their employees in 2024, compared to just 35% of South African companies in 2025.
Although most companies organised staff volunteering initiatives, as in 2024, far fewer nonprofits (40%) benefited from these. Company-organised volunteering also remained among the least-liked types of initiatives by nonprofits at 15%, second only to virtual volunteering (17%) in 2025.
The initiatives most liked by nonprofits involved funding – give as you earn, collection drives and matched funding. Give as you earn remained the most liked, preferred by 26% of nonprofits in 2025.
Fundraising/collection drives and pro bono services were the second most received types of initiative, by 39% of nonprofits each. But while fundraising drives were most liked by 18% of nonprofits, pro bono services were preferred by only 5% of nonprofits, down from 12% in 2024.