Public donations drop and corporate giving tumbles in Sweden

Swedish charities reported an average 12% drop in donations in 2023, while corporate giving dropped by more than three times that rate, according to a new annual giving report by Giva Sverige.

The report finds that total giving to Giva Sverige members in 2023 was SEK 11.5bn. That followed 2022’s record total of SEK 13.1bn, with the rise mainly due to support for Ukraine in the wake of its invasion by Russia.

Long-term trend for public donations remains positive

Giva Sverige says that the long-term trend is still positive – in 2021, total giving was SEK 9.7bn ­– although charities are reliant on a smaller number of donors who give larger amounts. In 2016, two-thirds of Swedish adults donated money to charity, while in 2023 it was just 50%.

Drop in corporate giving

Giving by corporates in 2023 dropped by 37% from SEK 1.8bn to SEK 1.1bn, meaning it returned to essentially the same level it has been for most of the past decade.

The number of companies giving money also appears to have decreased from around 33,000 to closer to 25,000 – although Giva Sverige says that these numbers are not definitive due to the way in which some members record donations.

This drop will have been a surprise to charities, Giva Sverige says ­– in late 2022, only 22% of its members said they expected corporation donations to decrease, while 41% assumed they would rise. This meant there had been much more optimism towards corporate giving than there had been around public donations, foundations and legacy income.

Legacy income rises

Meanwhile, legacy income increased by 15% to a total of SEK 1.9bn in 2023. As in previous years, research and animal charities were the biggest beneficiaries of legacies.

Most popular charities 

Overall, the charity receiving the most donations in 2023 was cancer charity Cancerfonden (SEK 1bn, up from SEK 975m); followed by Läkare Utan Gränser (Doctors Without Borders), which significantly increased its income from SEK 651m to SEK 951m.

Third-placed UNICEF Sverige saw its donations drop to half the 2022 level, at SEK 669m, which Swedish giving to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees dropped even more dramatically, from SEK 1.8m to SEK 587m.

Charlotte Rydh, general secretary of Giva Sverige, comments:

“There was great uncertainty ahead of 2023. Inflation with subsequent interest rate increases has meant that households’ ability to consume has decreased significantly. With hindsight, we can see that the public’s gifts are relatively strong given the conditions.

“Giving to support Ukraine has continued to be large, but nowhere near the levels achieved in 2022.”

Picture by Christoph Meinersmann on Pixabay