Unprecedented research carried out by IDIS points out the organizations that allocated the most resources to social initiatives on the first year of the pandemic

IDIS – Institute for the Development of Social Investment, as a request from Itaú Unibanco, accomplished a survey on social investment carried out with companies around the world. The Corporate Giving Ranking reveals which are the 10 Brazilian and 10 international companies that contributed the most to socio-environmental actions, through donations and sponsorships, on 2020, first year of the pandemic.

In Brazil, the best-placed company is Itaú Unibanco, with a total invested amount of USD 350 million. The bank also stood out in the global ranking, classified in 8th, only behind US giants companies and a large Chinese organization. In the international ranking, the highlight was Microsoft, with USD 2.3 billion invested. Check out the rankings below:

Brazilian Corporate Giving Ranking in 2020

Font: IDIS – Institute for the Development of Social Investment

International Corporate Giving Ranking in 2020

Font: IDIS – Institute for the Development of Social Investment

The criteria for positioning the companies took into account the financial volume of donations and the percentage that this value represents in the net profit of each corporation. In addition to financial donations in cash, the ranking considers donations of products and services, sponsorships carried out through incentive laws (in the national case), donations reported together with other companies (provided that the value of each one is specified), and the portion referring to the contributions of the sponsoring company by income from the equity funds to the Business Institutes and Foundations.

In addition to the quantitative assessment, IDIS considered in the study the strategic alignment of the actions with the company’s business and also whether the amount made available to combat the pandemic was only on an emergency basis or if there was a history and forecast of maintenance of the contributions of resources.

All values ​​used in the research were obtained from public sources of information related to philanthropy. They are: Giving USA 2021, CANDID-Philanthropy and Covid-19 Measuring One Year of Giving, Foundation Maps – Philanthropy’s response to coronavirus, Foundation Directory Online, Investor Relations Reports, ABCR Giving Monitor, GIFE, Tax Incentive Laws and Integrated Annual Reports – Sustainability, Corporate Responsibility and ESG.

This Corporate Giving Ranking complements the recently released findings of the GIFE Census and BISC Report. The studies, which include a considerable part of the most important companies in the country, estimate a volume of USD 1.3 billion related to private social investment in 2020. Considering methodological and sample differences, the total investment of the 10 companies that make up the ranking by IDIS is USD 1 billion, showing a high concentration of investments in a few companies.

“Data is essential to guide our action. It is clear that corporate social investment is still very concentrated and that it is necessary to engage more and more organizations. This is a journey that begins with the understanding that companies are part of the solution to our socio-environmental challenges and continues through a long-term commitment to transformation. Another important point to consider will be the behavior of these companies in the coming years, how much the increase seen in 2020 will influence their corporate social investment strategies and policies, as well as the effect on the sector in general”, comments Renato Rebelo, IDIS Consulting unit director.

Download the full publication here (content available in Portuguese only)