Win Over Corporate Donors Amid Tax Changes
New tax rules are reshaping corporate giving. Experts offer strategies to strengthen partnerships this year.
By M.J. Prest
Senior Editor, Solutions
January 23, 2026 | Read Time: 7 minutes
Corporate giving is poised for a shake-up in 2026 as new tax rules kick in.
As of January 1, companies must donate at least 1 percent of their taxable income before they can qualify for charitable tax breaks. (Previously, there was no minimum contribution required for corporate donations to be deductible.)
The new 1 percent floor effectively eliminates the tax incentives for businesses to give smaller amounts. Yet economic volatility during the past year drastically deepened financial need among nonprofits, so many companies say they are reassessing their giving.
Corporate funders are likely thinking, “‘We can’t just push money out quickly and solve problems that are much bigger and deeper related to the federal funding cuts, related to environmental and natural disasters,'” says Kimberly O’Donnell, chief fundraising officer at Bonterra, which develops software that foundations and corporations use to track giving. “They’re so invested in philanthropy and in supporting the sector, but they’re taking a minute to really pause and be intentional in the ways that they give.”
Charities that rely on corporate giving will have to work smarter to attract new support and solidify existing relationships. The Chronicle spoke to a variety of experts to understand how nonprofits might do that. Here’s what they had to say.
Show how your mission enhances their bottom line.
When it comes to priorities, companies are sticking close to home — especially if it means the communities where they do business will benefit.
“They’re thinking about how they can support the short-term need for basic human services that some employees and some communities are desperately facing right now,” O’Donnell says.
The Split Second Foundation offers wellness services for people in New Orleans with paralysis and other mobility challenges. Improving health and quality of life has become the pitch, says Mark Raymond Jr., the charity’s founder and CEO: “When it comes to how we are identifying corporate partners, we are looking for people and organizations that benefit from what we do.”
You prevent somebody from spending one night in the hospital, that’s $40,000, right? But you give me 40 grand to invest in that one person and I can provide them services for a year.
For example, he says his largest corporate donors are health insurers. When speaking to them, he underscores the way his organization’s work boosts their bottom line.
“We’ve identified a huge problem, created a solution, proven that it works, proven that it reduces cost because we’re keeping people out of higher-cost health-care environments — the emergency department and hospitalizations,” he says. “You prevent somebody from spending one night in the hospital, that’s $40,000, right? But you give me 40 grand to invest in that one person and I can provide them services for a year.”
Be thoughtful about your online presence.
Corporate donors are vetting your organization’s digital footprint, so make a stellar first impression online.
Before they partner with you, companies want to make sure you’ve established a good relationship with your community, says Aimee Gilbreath, president of PetSmart Charities, which awarded $77.7 million in grants to pet-adoption and veterinary-care nonprofits in 2024.
“When you work with a brand or a company, your customer service and your reputation reflects on them,” she says — and vice versa. Before you approach a potential corporate partner, she recommends answering questions like, “Am I going to be comfortable that my values align with their values? Am I going to be comfortable that when their communications team looks at my Facebook page, I’m going to be proud of what I have out there? Because that matters.”
When you work with a brand or a company, your customer service and your reputation reflects on them.
When dissatisfied clients share criticism publicly, she stresses that you must address it quickly, clearly, and politely to earn the respect of a corporate partner. Remember that they’ve been in that position, too.
“There’s always going to be complaints and you can’t control that, but you can be professional in the way that you manage that,” Gilbreath says.
You also want to promote all the good you’re doing through digital marketing, such as newsletters to highlight authentic stories, says Raymond: “In today’s world, content is king, and the person that’s making the most content and putting it all out there and being vulnerable, those are the folks that are getting the eyes, the clicks, the dollars.”
It doesn’t have to be complicated, he says. At the Split Second Foundation’s wellness facility, he films social-media videos in front of a sponsor wall that includes the names and logos of the charity’s corporate partners: “They want to see that because that shows visibility to what they’re giving — and people notice.”
Hold events that forge and expand corporate partnerships.
Many nonprofit groups stopped hosting fundraising events during the Covid era, but companies are often eager to sponsor big gatherings for the positive publicity they generate.
“Because that is a channel that corporations can support organizations, we might see a return to more galas,” O’Donnell says. “Definitely there’ll be more corporate sponsorships.”
Seeking sponsors for an event can get your foot in the door with a company, tying your brands together and opening additional opportunities for investment down the road.
Seeking sponsors for an event can get your foot in the door with a company, tying your brands together and opening additional opportunities for investment down the road.
The REI Cooperative Action Fund, a nonprofit started by the retailer REI Co-op in 2021 to expand access to the outdoors, has nurtured a multiyear partnership with the financial institution Capital One — one that has been key to the retail charity’s success.
“We look for natural intersections with businesses that work with the co-op,” says Katherine Day Hase, its development director. “I reach out and say, ‘I’d be remiss if I didn’t invite you into this amazing impact work we’re doing. We’d love to see your logo as part of our corporate partners.'”
For the third year in a row, Capital One and REI are co-sponsoring Outside Days, a multiday music festival in Denver at the end of May.
In addition to its sponsorship of the festival, the bank donates $2 million each year to the REI Cooperative Action Fund’s local grant program that backs community nonprofits nominated by employees at REI stores and distribution centers. That support accounted for much of its latest round of grant making, when the fund awarded $4.7 million to 293 grantees.
As trust grows between partners, you can lean on a company to highlight your work. Capital One now promotes the REI Cooperative Action Fund with its customers, Day Hase says: “It’s a lovely example of how a corporate partner shares their pride in their community and uplifts our nonprofit.”
Persuade companies to realign when they fall short of your shared goals.
Sometimes businesses get cold feet and want to reduce their giving or back out of agreements. Keep the lines of communication open to keep them invested, Raymond says.
The Split Second Foundation raised $287,000 in corporate donations in 2024, but coming into the fourth quarter of 2025, revenue had plummeted to just $39,000 as its biggest corporate funders became skittish about the economy.
“It’s challenging with the current economic dynamics, where you have on-again, off-again tariffs,” he says. “People were getting really conservative because everything was changing every day.”
However, he was honest with his business contacts that the nonprofit would not be able to sustain its programs without their promised support — and he won them back.
“The challenge I find always is holding some of these corporations accountable when they pivot on making the philanthropic contribution, but then post same-year record profits,” he says.
Remind corporate leaders that a good partnership is a two-way street and that building a strong community to surround their business has mutual benefits, Raymond urges: “Supporting us supports the ecosystem. It also supports their philanthropic objectives, and it makes them look good as a corporation.”
