How to Choose the Right Workplace Giving Platform for Your CSR Programs

As more companies realize the value of CSR (corporate social responsibility) programs, many executives are realizing that cutting-edge software is necessary for efficient program management. 

While spreadsheets and sporadic emails to HR may have been enough in the earlier days of your business, you’ve recognized that it’s time to level up to a purpose-made digital platform. Fortunately, there are more choices today than 10 (or even 5) years ago.

With so many choices, though, it can be hard to discern which workplace giving platform is best for your team. We’ll go through some options below to help you choose the best workplace giving platform to meet your CSR goals.

Table of Contents:

• What is a Workplace Giving Platform?
• 4 Important Workplace Giving Platform Features
• 3 Legacy Workplace Giving Tools and Platforms
• How Do I Choose the Best Workplace Giving Platform for My Team?
• Find Out if Groundswell Is the Best Workplace Giving Platform for You

What is a Workplace Giving Platform?

A workplace giving platform, also called an employee giving platform, is digital software that helps create, execute, manage, and evaluate charitable campaigns within a company or organization.

Corporate giving, along with employee donation matching, is a pillar of many companies’ CSR initiatives. It’s arguably the oldest form of CSR. With its various tax advantages, workplace giving has become a more complex endeavor, making CSR software especially beneficial.

4 Important Workplace Giving Platform Features

Corporate donations involve much more than simply mailing a check to a local nonprofit and circulating a memo about it. Executives and investors are increasingly interested in analyzing the ROI of CSR programs; similarly, a greater share of workers now prioritize a company’s ethics and social consciousness when deciding on a place of employment.

To stay on top of these increasingly complex sets of expectations, it helps to have a workplace giving platform with the following features. 

1. Dashboards with Timely Data

The data behind your workplace giving programs is crucial in helping justify CSR expenses to your higher-ups. With that in mind, you should strongly consider selecting a digital platform with robust, customizable reporting capabilities. If you’re relatively new to the CSR game, KPI dashboards that work right out of the box can also be a big help as you work to customize your employer’s giving programs. 

2. Mobile-Optimized User Experiences

CSR software that doesn’t skip out on features on its mobile apps is imperative. Engaging as many employees as possible is often a challenge for CSR professionals, and it’s not made any easier by the fact that many companies are shifting to remote and hybrid working arrangements. 

If employees feel like they must be tethered to a desktop computer in order to access a workplace giving platform, engagement will stay relatively low. With native apps, you can meet your workers where they are.

3. Support for Donor-Advised Funds (DAFs)

Instead of donating cash or a portion of their paychecks, employees might want to donate other types of assets such as stock or cryptocurrency. To that end, donor-advised funds, or DAFs, have come into favor.

DAFs allow donors to contribute money to an account and immediately take the full tax deduction. However, the funds can sit in the account for a considerable amount of time before actually getting disbursed to recipients. This arrangement allows donors time to consider where they want their money to go. It also lets the funds grow in value, which maximizes the eventual donation.

Allowing more ways for employees and workplaces to donate assets increases participation.

4. Access to a Vetted Nonprofit Network

In today’s digital world, bad news about companies, organizations, and even nonprofits can spread in moments. Companies that engage in workplace giving programs naturally need assurances that donation recipients are legitimate and free of scandal. Workplace giving platforms that have built-in nonprofit vetting capabilities provide an invaluable service.

3 Legacy Workplace Giving Tools and Platforms

For years, a select group of legacy companies had a stranglehold on the CSR software market. While these legacy players still have a significant amount of clients, companies are starting to look elsewhere for efficient, user-friendly workplace giving platforms.

1. Benevity. Benevity’s name recognition is high in the CSR world. Since its launch, though, the platform has received criticism for its limited workplace giving options (only allowing credit and debit giving) and long distribution timelines, sometimes taking 90 days to match employee donations.
2. YourCause. Another legacy CSR software provider, YourCause, has been slower to optimize its platform for mobile users. To date, iOS still does not list a YourCause app. Clients also report many of the same issues as Benevity, including long distribution timelines and complicated workflows.
3. Deed. While Deed does offer a mobile app and slightly faster distribution timelines, the platform leaves a ton of administrative paperwork for clients’ HR staffers. Customer service can also be slow to respond to clients’ needs.

How Do I Choose the Best Workplace Giving Platform for My Team?

While no two CSR software clients are identical, you and your company’s decision-makers may want to address the following considerations before signing a contract with a platform provider.

Analyze Your Company’s Internal CSR Management Capabilities

Many larger companies have in-house CSR professionals who manage giving campaigns. Others might ask HR personnel to take up such duties. It’s critical to understand the time and resources required to get the most out of specific CSR platforms as you make your decision.

Ask Employees What They Want out of a CSR Platform

An effective workplace giving program is one in which employees take the lead. Along those lines, your CSR platform should allow users the flexibility to create and manage their own campaigns. Involving employees in the decision-making process may also help increase engagement rates after adoption.

Look for a Workplace Giving Platform that Doesn’t Create More Paperwork

In our view, there’s simply no reason that workplace giving platforms in 2026 should be playing by the old rules for administrative tasks. Software providers that make HR perform monthly invoices and payment reconciliations are not serving their clients well. 

Workplace giving platforms that integrate with HR systems are more accessible and affordable than ever. Automation is key to today’s business environment that demands employees accomplish more with less.

Find Out if Groundswell Is the Best Workplace Giving Platform for You

For years, the Groundswell team heard the same complaints from clients of legacy CSR software providers:

• The fees are too high
• The software is too difficult to master
• The customer service takes too long to answer questions
• The administrative burden puts too much on our employees’ plates

We understood the need for an intuitive, mobile-optimized workplace giving platform that scales with companies as they grow. Furthermore, we know your company needs CSR software that employees are excited to use. With DAFs, users get the flexible donation options that maximize tax advantages, as well.

Schedule a demo to see how Groundswell offers such a platform while keeping its subscription fees affordable for companies of all sizes.