Serbia

Introduction to Philanthropy Research in Serbia

By Bojana Radovanovic and Vuk Vukovic

Research on civil society in Serbia has developed since the 1990s, particularly around the capacity of civil society organisations, their operating environment and their role in democratisation. Philanthropy itself has received substantially more research attention only during the past decade. Much of this work has been conducted by Serbian nonprofit organisations, often with support from international donors.

Catalyst Balkans has played a central role in building the evidence base. Since 2014, it has systematically monitored philanthropy across the Western Balkans using electronic, print and online media. The Trag Foundation conducted national surveys on individual and corporate philanthropy in 2009 and 2012, while the Coalition for Giving carried out national research on public attitudes and philanthropic behaviour in 2018 and 2020. Other studies have examined community foundations, corporate support for women’s empowerment, diaspora giving and major donors.

Philanthropy has not yet developed into a distinct academic discipline in Serbia. An important institutional development was the creation of the Laboratory for Philanthropy, Solidarity, and Care Studies at the Institute for Philosophy and Social Theory, University of Belgrade, in 2020. Its interdisciplinary research covers philanthropy, solidarity and care, including work on community foundations and medical crowdfunding.

The principal source for national estimates is the Giving Balkans database maintained by Catalyst Balkans. It covers 2014–2023 and combines media monitoring with online research and structured interviews. Because the database is primarily media-based, its unit of analysis is a reported donation instance or campaign rather than an individual donor transaction. One reported instance may therefore represent hundreds or thousands of individual contributions.

The estimates focus on giving by individuals, corporations and foundations to nonprofit organisations. No data are available on charitable bequests, and there were no operating charity lotteries in Serbia in 2022.

Overview of Giving in Serbia

Giving by individuals

Catalyst Balkans distinguishes between mass individual giving, such as SMS campaigns and fundraising events, and donations initiated by identifiable individuals. Both are included under individual giving.

In 2022, individuals accounted for 1,576 reported donation instances when considering giving by individuals, corporations and foundations. This represented approximately 66.6% of all instances in these three donor categories. Of these, 993 were classified as mass individual donations.

The average reported amount raised per individual donation instance was €59,499. Health-related giving had by far the highest average value, at €91,583 per reported instance. However, these averages should be interpreted carefully because high-value campaigns are more likely to attract media coverage and many reports do not disclose the amount raised.

Health dominated individual philanthropy. Approximately 57.8% of reported individual donation instances related to health, and 88.5% of these supported medical treatment. Medical crowdfunding foundations such as Budi Human often act as intermediaries between donors and individual patients.

Public and social-benefit causes accounted for another 22.1% of donation instances, primarily supporting marginalised groups and poverty alleviation. This pattern corresponds with survey research showing that support for sick children, medical treatment and poverty relief are among the strongest motivations for philanthropic participation in Serbia.

Religion accounted for only 1.9% of media-recorded donation instances, but this almost certainly underestimates actual religious giving because much of it takes the form of informal cash or in-kind donations at churches and other places of worship. Earlier national survey evidence found that 21.5% of respondents had donated to religious institutions.

Individuals donated a reported €21.78 million to nonprofit organisations in 2022. Of this amount, €17.31 million, or 79.5%, went to health-related causes. Approximately €3.79 million, or 17.4%, supported domestic public and social-benefit causes. All other areas combined accounted for only around 3% of reported individual giving.

Almost all reported individual health giving was directed towards medical treatment. This makes medical crowdfunding the dominant form of individual philanthropy captured by the available Serbian data.

Bequest giving

No systematic data are collected on charitable bequests in Serbia. Bequests are therefore not included in the national estimate of philanthropic giving.

Corporate giving

In 2022, the Giving Balkans database identified 344 businesses engaged in some form of philanthropic activity. Of these, 151 companies and SMEs made monetary or in-kind contributions to nonprofit organisations. Together, they accounted for 410 reported donation instances, with an average recorded value of €12,482 per instance.

Public and social-benefit initiatives were the most frequent destination for corporate philanthropy, accounting for 44.6% of donation instances. These contributions primarily supported marginalised populations. Health represented another 21.5% of instances, often through support for medical crowdfunding foundations.

International aid represented only 2.4% of corporate donation instances but had the highest average value, at €37,412. This was strongly influenced by a joint initiative of the Serbian Chamber of Commerce and the Serbian Philanthropy Forum in support of people affected by the war in Ukraine.

Larger companies contributed much more than SMEs. Companies accounted for 79.8% of recorded corporate donation instances and 95.1% of the reported monetary value. Larger companies were particularly prominent in international giving, while SMEs were relatively more active in environmental causes.

The reported monetary value of corporate giving to nonprofit organisations was at least €3.38 million in 2022. Approximately €1.54 million, or 45.4%, went to public and social-benefit causes, while €1.37 million, or 40.4%, went to health.

This figure is clearly a lower-bound estimate: 33.9% of corporate donation instances contained no information on the amount donated. Corporate contributions made directly to public institutions such as hospitals, schools and municipalities are also outside the scope of the estimate.

Foundations

Catalyst Balkans recorded philanthropic activity by 13 foundations in 2022, consisting of nine private foundations and four corporate foundations. Together, they initiated 47 reported donation instances.

Public and social-benefit causes accounted for 48.9% of foundation donation instances. These grants frequently supported organisations serving marginalised communities or provided seed funding for the economic empowerment of micro and small enterprises. Environmental and animal-related causes accounted for 17%, while culture and the arts accounted for 12.8%.

Private foundations were more active than corporate foundations, representing 69.2% of donor foundations and generating 76.6% of reported foundation donation instances. Two particularly active private foundations were responsible for more than half of all recorded foundation-giving instances.

The reported monetary value of foundation giving was approximately €240,000. However, 78.7% of foundation donation instances did not include information on the amount donated, making this a substantial underestimate. Moreover, 91.1% of the reported monetary total originated from a single private foundation supporting two projects affiliated with the Serbian Orthodox Church.

Community foundations are also becoming more visible. Since 2019, the Trag Foundation has supported the creation of local foundations through its “Our Local Foundation – Community Has a Say!” programme. Seven local foundations have since been established, providing a growing infrastructure for locally rooted philanthropy.

Charity lotteries

There were no operating charity lotteries in Serbia in 2022. Charity-lottery giving is therefore not included in the national estimate.

Sources of Contributions in Serbia

Reported philanthropic contributions by individuals, corporations and foundations amounted to approximately €25.4 million in 2022. Individuals were by far the largest source, contributing €21.78 million, followed by corporations with €3.38 million and foundations with €0.24 million.

Health received approximately €18.68 million, equivalent to 73.6% of the recorded total. Public and social-benefit causes received another €5.34 million, or around 21%. Together, these two categories therefore accounted for almost 95% of reported philanthropic funding to nonprofit organisations.

The €25.4 million figure should be interpreted as a minimum rather than a comprehensive estimate of philanthropy in Serbia. In 2022, 58.2% of recorded donation instances did not disclose the amount donated. Media monitoring also tends to overrepresent larger, highly visible and urgent causes while missing smaller, informal or anonymous forms of giving.

Medical crowdfunding is especially prominent. Six foundations currently manage more than 1,500 active medical fundraising campaigns, illustrating the increasing formalisation of a form of giving that was previously organised more informally through direct transfers to people seeking treatment.

Research on Serbian philanthropy is becoming more diverse, but data remain fragmented. Catalyst Balkans provides the only consistent longitudinal dataset, and its reliance on media monitoring makes direct comparison with countries using tax records or representative national surveys difficult.

Source

Radovanovi?, B., & Vukovi?, V. (2026). Philanthropy in Serbia. In B. Hoolwerf & J. Vamstad (Eds.), Philanthropy in Europe: Mapping Research and Data on Donations by Households, Bequests, Foundations, Corporations and Charity Lotteries (pp. 261–274). European Research Network on Philanthropy.

You can download the full publication here: Philanthropy in Europe.