In the corona year 2020, the Netherlands gave 5.6 billion euros to charitable organizations. This is evident from the research Giving in the Netherlands by the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. Companies in particular have started giving more to charitable causes: they gave 2.2 billion euros. In 2018, that was still 1.9 billion euros.
In addition, households gave 2.1 billion euros in 2020, 300 million euros less than in 2018. Charities also received more donations from endowed foundations and from bequests.
The development corporate giving is striking because 45% of the companies in the Netherlands had less profit, dealt with temporary closures and/or had to let go some of their staff due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The companies affected by the corona crisis did not donate or and sponsor less compared to those who were not affected by the corona crisis. In 2020, companies gave more to charitable organizations active in health. They donated €395 million to health-related charitable causes, about the same as €387 million for sports and recreation. Both ended up being the main cause for corporate sponsorship and giving.
In 2020, donations from households were considerably lower than before. This is mainly because smaller households have started supporting a smaller number of charities. This decrease was already visible since 2011, but is accelerated by the corona measures in 2020. Charitable organizations could hold fewer fundraising campaigns due to the COVID-19 measurements. Among the households that donate to causes, the total amount of donations has remained about the same since 2018. The percentage of households that have supported charities online has hardly changed.
Due to the corona measures, volunteer work in the Netherlands also decreased: 44% of the population in 2020 engaged in volunteer work. This was 49% in 2018. The nature of volunteering has also changed during the pandemic. There were more online volunteers, but the increase in online volunteering was smaller than the decrease in volunteering on site. In particular, the number of volunteers for sports clubs, schools, and in care or nursing decreased. There were more volunteers in district and neighborhood associations.
An English summary of Giving in the Netherlands 2022 is available here.