PayPal Exceeds $971 Million in Charitable Giving this Holiday
At
PayPal, we are committed to our mission to democratize financial services for people all over the world. At the heart of our efforts is the work we do to harness the power of our global payments platform to create a worldwide network of good. Through our
giving platform, we enable people to seamlessly support their communities and the causes for which they feel most passionate. In 2016, our customers’ generosity resulted in double-digit percent increases in charitable giving on the PayPal platform. During the course of the year, our customers made $7.3 billion in contributions, including over $971 million given during the holiday season alone.
Demonstrating an extraordinary spirit of giving during the 2016 holiday season, 8 million PayPal users in 181 countries donated $971,213,604 to 282,053 charities, making 2016 the biggest year yet for charitable donations through PayPal.
Throughout the holidays, PayPal tracked giving data on an
interactive tracker which provided insights on giving trends on a global scale.
- Democratizing Philanthropy on a global scale: While the largest single gift of the holiday season was more than $230,000, the average contribution of the nearly 8 million PayPal users who gave was $93, just slightly above the yearlong average of $89. Though many consumers save larger gifts for end-of-year contributions, hundreds of thousands of smaller donations added up to close to a billion dollars in giving over the holiday season -- showing that when people step up together, every donation has an impact. Donating smaller gifts digitally also benefits charitable organizations, as donations under $50 are 14% cheaper than paper checks for a charity to process ( Recent study).
- Mobile giving continues to climb: Charitable organizations are not just raising funds through galas, auctions, written appeals and paper checks anymore. With two transformative changes underway in the world – the digitization of cash and the mass adoption of mobile technology –21 percent of gifts were made via a mobile device this holiday season, with 12 percent more gifts from a mobile device when compared to 2015.
- Giving peaks at the end of the year: More donations were processed on December 31st than any other day in 2016, as consumers contributed over $77 million to thousands of charities globally. While the last week of the year saw a tremendous spike in charitable contributions, #GivingTuesday (November 29th) ranked as the third highest day for donations, demonstrating the continued expansion of this global giving movement.
We are so thankful for the continued generosity of PayPal users in 2016, and look forward to another year of making a difference as we all work together to bring charitable giving to unprecedented levels in 2017 and beyond.
Franz Paasche, SVP Corporate Affairs & Communications, PayPal