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Corporate citizenship budgets for 2026 will largely be stable, although 52% of leaders polled by The Conference Board said they expect to allocate more resources toward volunteering, while others anticipate reductions in cash grantmaking and sponsorships.
Many companies are preparing for greater discipline around allocation and timing of citizenship grants and expenditures, as the new U.S. 1% charitable deduction floor reinforces tighter portfolio management and more deliberate pacing of cash grants, according to Matteo Tonello and Andrew Jones, authors of the report “2026 Outlook For Corporate Citizenship And Philanthropy.”
Drawing on a recent survey of 70 corporate citizenship leaders, the report examines how companies are adjusting citizenship and philanthropy budgets, priorities, partnerships, and capabilities amid an evolving economic, policy, and reputational landscape.
Thematic priorities are narrowing toward broadly shared, economically grounded needs — notably food security, affordability, housing, and digital inclusion — while issues carrying higher political or reputational exposure show the steepest pullbacks, the responses from 70 corporate leaders.
On challenge for nonprofits is that fragility is emerging as a material execution risk. Only 15% of leaders described partners as very or somewhat stable, with most attributing fragility to federal funding cuts.
Delivering impact in 2026 is constrained by both internal and external pressures, as sustained expectations to demonstrate business value coincide with uncertainty around nonprofit capacity, political polarization, and media scrutiny.
AI adoption within citizenship teams remains early stage and exploratory (55% of respondents), with key priorities for 2026 focused on staff literacy, reporting and analysis automation, and building foundational readiness before extending AI into higher-impact or outward-facing applications.
Cash gifts might present the greatest downside risk. More respondents planned to decrease cash grants (21%) than increase them (19%). That is similar for sponsorships, where 17% of respondents expected resource reductions. This likely reflects tighter budget discipline, heightened economic uncertainty, and growing scrutiny of whether grantmaking has a clear connection to business objectives, according to the authors.
Read the full study at https://www.conference-board.org/publications/2026-outlook-for-corporate-citizenship-and-philanthropy
