More than €1.6 million donated from the payroll in France in 2020

Payroll giving has continued to rise in France, with the latest salary donation barometer from microDON showing that almost 30,000 employees donated in this way in 2020.

Donations worth €1.69 million were collected over the course of the year – a 26% increase on the amount given in 2019. This takes the total amount donated since the scheme was first introduced in 2015 to over €5 million.

2020 saw 27% growth in the number of companies offering commission-free salary donation schemes to employees. 655 employers now make payroll giving available to their staff, enabling over 446,500 employees to give directly from their salary.

Currently, the large majority (70%) of companies that offer payroll giving match their employees’ donations, boosting the total amount given by between 100% to 300%.

As a regular giving mechanism, donation levels continued throughout the pandemic year, but microDON cautions that growth has slowed in the number of companies joining the scheme.

Lauriane Muraire, project manager at microDON, says:

“The payday donation continued during this somewhat hectic year 2020 since it is a device that is constant. On the other hand, we noticed at microDON a slowdown in the companies that could join the system this year. And then for the employees, we also identified a great mobilisation on the associations which responded to the various emergencies that we could see in 2020.”

Nonprofit organisations benefitting from payroll giving

176 nonprofit organisations received donations in 2020, with environmental charity Planete Urgence collecting the highest amount at over €180,000. Over a quarter of nonprofits benefitting from the scheme work in the field of health and wellbeing (28.5%), with almost a fifth tackling inequality (19%) and 13% supporting quality education. All benefitting charities align to the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) defined by the UN.

View the 2021 barometer report and key findings here or listen to Lauriane Muraire in this interview with France générosités [in French].

Photo by Freddie Marriage on Unsplash.