Employee giving and volunteering hold ₹1850-crore potential in India: Give Grants report
Only 22% of surveyed companies match employee donations, while nearly half of structured giving programmes record participation below 5%, highlighting gaps in workplace philanthropy.
Sumit Tayal, CEO of Give, said mandatory CSR had established a compliance foundation over the past decade, creating scope for companies to address more complex social challenges.
NEW DELHI: Employee giving and volunteering among salaried Indians earning more than ₹5 lakh annually represent an estimated ₹1,850-crore annual opportunity, according to a Give Grants report that identifies low participation and limited employer support as barriers to workplace philanthropy.
The third edition of dus spoke India Inc 2026: Trends, Insights, & Voices, released on October 22, estimates this potential at approximately ₹1,000 crore in volunteering value and ₹850 crore in payroll giving. The combined figure includes the estimated value of volunteering time, rather than cash donations alone.
According to Give Grants’ announcement, the study draws on Ministry of Corporate Affairs filings from more than 29,500 companies, surveys of 67 corporate social responsibility leaders and 200 non-profit leaders, and publicly available leadership information for 100 leading CSR-spending companies.
Only 22% of surveyed companies offer donation matching, against a global benchmark of 93% cited in the report. The release did not specify the sample or methodology behind the international comparison.
Among CSR leaders surveyed, 49% said their organisations operated structured employee giving programmes. Of those programmes, 48% recorded participation by fewer than 5% of employees.
The report observes that participation remains low unless giving programmes receive sustained internal communication and become part of the human resources calendar, including employee inductions, festivals and workplace celebrations.
Sumit Tayal, CEO of Give, said mandatory CSR had established a compliance foundation over the past decade, creating scope for companies to address more complex social challenges. He called for closer collaboration with government, stronger employee involvement and support for initiatives that public budgets struggle to address.
The findings also show a concentration of corporate social spending. The top 200 companies accounted for 49% of total CSR expenditure in the dataset.
These companies supported approximately 12,500 projects with an average size of ₹1.6 crore. The next 300 companies ran about 6,600 projects averaging ₹61 lakh, while the remaining 29,046 companies supported more than 69,600 projects averaging ₹18 lakh.
The report argues that CSR can extend its influence by supporting early-stage ideas, strengthening institutions and generating evidence for programmes that governments and markets can subsequently expand.
Amit Chandra, Chairperson of Bain Capital India and Co-founder of the A.T.E. Chandra Foundation, urged large CSR portfolios to earmark capital for initiatives addressing root causes and systemic challenges, rather than relying entirely on routine project funding.
Corporate presence also shapes the geographical distribution of spending. According to the report, Tata Steel accounted for 41% of CSR expenditure in Jharkhand, while Reliance accounted for 21% in Gujarat. Five mining and metals companies together contributed 53% of Odisha’s CSR spending.
ONGC, REC, NTPC and GAIL collectively accounted for 30% of CSR spending in Delhi, despite their principal operating assets being located in other states.
The surveys revealed differing levels of interest in the Social Stock Exchange. Among non-profit respondents, 16% were already registered and another 35% were considering registration. However, only 3% of CSR respondents said they were likely to use the platform during the year, while 60% considered it unlikely.
CSR leadership is becoming more specialised, although dedicated roles remain uneven. Among the top 100 companies analysed, 44% had a dedicated CSR head, while the remaining 56% assigned additional responsibilities to the person overseeing CSR.
Development-sector qualifications were more common among dedicated CSR heads: 55% held such a degree, compared with 25% of those managing CSR alongside other functions.
The findings also point to a gap in perceptions of accountability. While 82% of CSR teams described projects as jointly developed with shared accountability, only 40% of non-profit respondents agreed. Half of the non-profits considered themselves solely accountable for implementation and outcomes, with corporate CSR teams playing a supporting role.
Access the full report here.
