In December 2015, Silicon Valley Community Foundation (SVCF) awarded $50 million in matching grants to support 24,450 nonprofit organizations in the United States and 45 other countries, according to CSRwire.
This is the largest total to date, beating out last year’s total of $23 million in matching grants. SVCF gives matching grants through its partnership with YourCause, which is the leading Software as a Service provider of employee engagement resolutions.
YourCause provides companies with a variety of employee engagement techniques including volunteering and charitable giving.
Maeve Miccio, Vice President of Corporate Responsibility for SVCF, said, “SVCF is proud to say that we sent more than $50 million in matching grants to nonprofit organizations around the world in 2015. We applaud our corporate clients and their employees who have made philanthropy a priority through employee engagement programs in their workplaces. Their gifts support everything from education to the arts to hunger relief programs, and their generosity is inspiring.”
Matching grants come from corporate funds, matching the amount of money donated to a charity by an employee of that company.
According to CSRwire, nearly one-fifth of the total matching grants SVCF awarded by December 2015 came from PepsiCo employees and matching grants from the PepsiCo Foundation.
“PepsiCo believes in investing in our people and in the communities where we operate,” according to Andrea Seek, Director of Global Citizenship for PepsiCo. “It is gratifying that our partnership with SVCF and YourCause has allowed us to help improve and strengthen our communities around the globe.”
Around 65 percent of Fortune 500 companies have programs to match employees’ donations with corporate donations, according to CSRwire.
Approximately $2.1 billion was donated by the U.S. in 2014 by companies around the world through matching corporate gift programs.
SVCF is the largest community foundation in the world and continues to work toward innovative philanthropic solutions to challenging problems.
– Jordan Connell
Sources: CSRwire, Silicon Valley Community Foundation
Photo: Silicon Valley Community Foundation