Future of Giving 2020

By sparks & honey

In the year 2020, there has never been a better time to unravel the cultural landscape of giving. As we write this, the coronavirus pandemic is raging throughout the world, inequalities that have long been in the shadows are now in the limelight, our environment is burning, and economic chaos is causing uncertainty for people around the world. We need giving now more than ever. Giving is about preserving the resources of our collective future.

Last year, 181 business leaders around the world gathered to sign the “Statement on the Purpose of a Corporation” to redefine the purpose of a company: how it’s meant to function and who it is designed to benefit. Corporate social responsibility is no longer in a silo or something to mark off a list, but rather, it is now fundamental to an organization’s role in society. Giving points to imagining a world that treats stakeholders of all kinds — everyone, from communities to families, suppliers, and customers — as beneficiaries of shared growth.

In this report, we explore the seismic cultural changes that are shaping the future of giving, where technology, changes in human behaviors, and evolving consumer expectations collide with new business models and data sets, and strategies that reconsider how we work together to solve some of the biggest challenges out there. Corporations, nonprofits, individuals, leaders and your neighbors all have a role to play. This very moment of crisis is daring us all to do it better.