Corporate Citizenship in Transition: Lessons from 2025, Planning for 2026
Summary
This report summarises a survey of more than 80 corporate citizenship and philanthropy leaders at US and multinational firms and outlines how corporate giving evolved in 2025 and what leaders are planning for 2026. Key forces shaping corporate citizenship include stable but fragile budgets, a new tax deduction floor that changes deductibility dynamics, increased federal scrutiny of DEI-related programmes, tighter governance and legal oversight, and growing strains on nonprofit partners after public funding cuts.
Corporate programmes remain embedded but face fresh tests of resilience and reputational risk. Companies are shifting framing toward broad themes such as education, economic opportunity and disaster response, increasing legal and compliance involvement, and in some cases offering more flexible support to grantees facing funding shortfalls.
Key Points
- Budgets largely held steady in 2025 and are expected to stay flat in 2026, though about 19–21% of organisations report cuts or expect reductions.
- The 2025 budget reconciliation law introduced a 1% floor on deductible corporate charitable giving, complicating timing and structuring of donations and prompting scenario planning with CFOs and tax teams.
- Over half of citizenship leaders say federal scrutiny of diversity-related initiatives has altered giving decisions; many programmes are being reframed toward universal themes to reduce legal exposure.
- Governance tightened: one-third of companies now require senior or legal approval for contested grants and 60% report closer coordination with legal and compliance functions.
- Two-thirds of executives observed nonprofit partners losing government funding in 2025, causing layoffs and programme cuts; corporates responded with unrestricted grants, in-kind support and bridge capital in some cases.
- Corporate responses vary: some firms consolidated grantee portfolios to improve oversight, while others offered longer-term, flexible support or capacity-building assistance.
- Practical recommendations include scenario planning with tax teams, institutionalising legal review thresholds, providing multiyear commitments, streamlining reporting demands, and coordinating peer funding to reduce volatility for grantees.
Why should I read this?
Quick and useful — especially if you work in CSR, corporate foundations, tax, legal or nonprofit partnerships. This piece saves you time by pulling together survey evidence and practical steps: expect tighter tax rules, more legal scrutiny around DEI-linked grants, and pressure on grantees. If you need to plan budgets, governance or partner support for 2026, the takeaways here are immediately actionable.
