2015 was the biggest holiday season for charitable giving in PayPal’s history, with $857 million given to charities through our platform from November 27 – December 31, 2015. This unprecedented level of giving was driven by the generosity of more than 7.24 million people from 183 countries who supported causes close to their heart through PayPal.
As a leader in enabling charitable donations around the world, PayPal achieved a few key milestones in charitable giving during the past holiday season. For the first time, we shared daily donation updates publicly via our
Holiday Giving Tracker, where you can see more details about giving through PayPal around the globe.
#GivingTuesday 2015 Was Record-Breaking
On #GivingTuesday, December 1st, PayPal users helped set the GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS® title for “Most money raised online for charity in 24-hours”. PayPal users donated $45.8 million in 24 hours, more than doubling the previous record of $19 million. Congratulations to everyone who gave with PayPal on #GivingTuesday and helped set this new world record!
Holiday Giving Grows 15 Percent
Over a busy holiday season, people were drawn to the convenience of donating online. We saw a massive surge in year-end holiday giving through our platform. Charitable giving via PayPal shattered records during the 2015 holiday season and exceeded our 2014 numbers by more than $113 million – an increase of 15 percent year-over-year. And this holiday season, we also saw an increase in the number of benefiting charities. A total of 258,759 charities received support this year, representing a 6% increase over 2014.
Mobile Donations Ring in a Happy Holiday Season
In today’s mobile world, people are ordering up lunch, taxis and beauty treatments in a few taps. As cell phone adoption continues to rise around the world, PayPal has been at the forefront of making mobile payments fast and simple. Leveraging our roots as a company in mobile payments, we’ve made donating just as easy. During the 2015 holiday season, charitable giving via mobile devices continued to reach new milestones. Of the 9.1 million gifts made using PayPal, 21% were made with mobile devices. The total number of donations made through mobile devices during this holiday season increased 26% over 2014.
Generosity of Global Donors
PayPal is committed to harnessing the power of our people, technology and scale to build a global network of good that inspires and empowers – people, charities and global brands – to take action.
This holiday season, 7.24 million people around the world gave an average gift of $93 to support all kinds of organizations that support causes like like children, seniors, veterans, education, healthcare, animal protection anti-poverty, financial inclusion and participation.
In the 183 countries where people gave using PayPal, bigheartedness reigned supreme. Americans gave more than half a billion dollars ($691,924,261) through PayPal this holiday season. The United Kingdom ($49,377,896), Canada ($42,959,820), Germany ($16,752,694), France ($14, 415, 355) and Australia ($13, 023, 564) followed next as the top countries ranked by the total amount given.
With Gratitude to the PayPal Community
We want to say a huge thank you to our users who opened up their hearts this holiday season to provide vital resources to causes that are making our world a better place. We are inspired by your individual acts of kindness, and humbled by your collective impact.