Annual donations in Czech Republic reach 647.5m euros

Czech donations in 2024 reached a value of 15.8 billion crowns (€647,507,700), according to the 2025 Donation Map from the Czech Donors Forum – a significant increase from 2023’s 14.1 billion.

Companies donated 7.7 billion CZK, up from 6.7 billion CZK in 2023), while individual donors gave 3.9 billion CZK (a slight increase from 3.6 billion in 2023), and foundations and endowment funds 4.2 billion CZK (a significant increase from 3.8 billion in 2023).

The 2025 Donation Map focuses on the scope and trends of philanthropy in the Czech Republic. According to the Forum, the data confirms a long-term growing interest in supporting publicly beneficial projects across society, from foundations and endowment funds to companies and individuals.

Donor SMS

Another noticeable increase was recorded in DMS (SMS giving), due to the 2024 floods, raising 64 million CZK by sending almost 800 thousand donor SMS messages.

Overall, the Forum shares, since DMS launched in 2004, approximately 27.2 million donation SMS messages have been sent, with the total amount raised now exceeding 1 billion crowns for the first time. As well as one-off donations, it is possible to donate regularly through DMS, and to choose from six price levels, with two new price levels for one-time and regular giving introduced in September 2025: 290 and 490 crowns.

Foundations and funds

The Donation Map shows that there are currently 3,427 foundations and funds in the Czech Republic, distributing 4.2 billion crowns, of which 467 (14%) were established by companies and 2,960 (86%) by other entities. They most often support education, science and research (21%), followed by children, youth and family (15%), followed closely by culture and monuments (14%), assistance to the sick and disabled (13%), assistance to the socially disadvantaged (13%), and humanitarian and human rights (7%).

The number of foundations and endowment funds is rising – up by 191 year-on-year. The volume of distributed endowment contributions also continues to increase, shown by support from foundation entities reaching CZK 4.2 billion. This increase, the report says, is mainly due to non-corporate foundation entities. Overall, Czech foundations and endowment funds distributed CZK 400 million more than in 2023 (an increase of approximately 10.5%).

Klára Šplíchalová, executive director of the Donors Forum, said:

“The foundation sector in the Czech Republic has long shown that it is a stable and reliable partner for publicly beneficial projects. This year, support for foundations and endowment funds rose to 4.2 billion crowns, which confirms their growing role and responsibility towards society. However, for philanthropy to truly bring long-term effects, it must be sustainable – strategically planned, connected across sectors and focused on real impact.”

Motivations for giving

The biggest motivation for donating funds is how doing so makes people feel, cited by 81% of donors, while before giving, donors mainly consider who the money will help (68%) and how it will be used (61%).

Trust is also an important factor, and is growing: in 2023 60% of Czechs trusted the public benefit sector, rising to 63% in 2024. Personal experience with a collection or platform is important for approximately a third of respondents.

However, fraudulent and non-transparent collections are a significant risk: 24% of donors encountered these in the past year, the same as in 2023, according to the report.

Economic impact

More than a quarter of donors in the Czech Republic say they are donating less than before. The main reasons cited are a decrease in income or living standards and general price increases.

A fifth believe that in the current economic situation, the state should rather help those in need. A similar proportion of those surveyed are bothered by the fact that there are too many collections. For one in ten, the reason for limiting donations is a bad experience with a specific collection or collection platform.

Similar to 2023, only one in ten donors say they currently donate more than before, and this tends to be among regular donors. Almost half perceive helping others as even more necessary in the current economic situation, and for a similar proportion of donors, the main reason is an increase in income in the last year.

The data also shows that the most popular way to donate is to purchase a collectible item (73%). This is followed by online payment (70%), cash donation (58%) and donation SMS (49%).

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