Czech Republic

Introduction to Philanthropy Research in the Czech Republic

By Vladimir Hyanek

Research on philanthropy and civil society in the Czech Republic remains relatively underdeveloped. Systematic academic interest began only in the early 2000s, and more than two decades later there are still relatively few specialised research centres and scholars primarily focused on philanthropy, civil society and the nonprofit sector. Nevertheless, these subjects are gradually gaining recognition and are increasingly incorporated into university curricula.

Two long-term initiatives have been particularly important in building the Czech evidence base. The Satellite Account of Non-profit Institutions has been maintained by the Czech Statistical Office since 2004 and provides macroeconomic data on nonprofit institutions, including donations received from households and corporations. The Survey of Public Funding for Non-governmental Non-profit Organizations, commissioned by the Government Council for Non-governmental Non-profit Organizations, produced longitudinal data between 1999 and 2016. A broader mapping of the nonprofit sector was also carried out by the Centre for Non-profit Sector Research between 2003 and 2008.

The Centre for Non-profit Sector Research at Masaryk University in Brno is one of the main academic institutions conducting continuous research on civil society and the nonprofit sector. Another important centre is the Department of Civil Society Studies at the Faculty of Humanities of Charles University in Prague. The Institute of Sociology of the Czech Academy of Sciences and the Centre for Social and Economic Strategies at Charles University also address civil society and nonprofit organisations as part of their wider research agendas.

The Czech Statistical Office is the principal public provider of systematic data. Its Satellite Account is based on annual surveys of larger nonprofit organisations and a rotating sample of smaller organisations. Aggregate information is publicly available, although detailed anonymised datasets must generally be requested from the Statistical Office.

The Ministry of Finance provides complementary information through personal and corporate income-tax records. These data show the number of taxpayers claiming deductions and the total value of donations declared for tax purposes. They do not identify the recipients or purposes of donations and exclude contributions for which no deduction is claimed.

The Czech Donors Forum is an important sector organisation representing more than sixty foundations and philanthropic funds. It contributes to policymaking, publishes rankings of major corporate and non-corporate foundations and operates the Donation Map, which brings together data on text-message donations, selected foundation contributions and public-opinion research.

Overview of Giving in the Czech Republic

Giving by individuals

Systematic information on individual giving remains limited, but the available indicators show substantial growth. According to the Satellite Account of Non-profit Institutions, household donations to nonprofit organisations increased from €82.54 million in 2011 to €187.63 million in 2020.

Tax data show a similar upward trend. The number of individuals claiming deductions for charitable donations increased from 122,597 in 2011 to 239,210 in 2022. The total value of declared donations rose from €59.94 million to €163.95 million over the same period. These figures cover only donations reported for tax purposes and therefore do not represent all individual giving.

The Czech Republic was the first country to introduce the Donor Message Service, known as DMS, in 2004. In 2022, individuals donated approximately €2.65 million through 969,000 text messages. The service permits both one-off and recurring small donations and provides one of the most easily monitored channels of individual giving.

Online fundraising has also become increasingly important. Darujme.cz, the country’s largest online donation platform, processed €30.92 million in 2022. The platform supported 1,031 organisations through 3,575 fundraising campaigns and 648 personal challenges. It processed 737,000 transactions, with an average donation of €41.96.

These administrative and platform data provide useful indicators but do not offer a complete picture of donor behaviour. Broader information on who gives, motivations for giving and supported causes is generally derived from occasional surveys commissioned by nonprofit organisations rather than from regularly repeated representative research.

Bequest giving

Charitable bequests remain relatively uncommon, and no official or comprehensive statistics are collected. Although people may legally leave assets to foundations and other nonprofit organisations, bequest giving is not widely regarded as a conventional way of distributing an estate. Nonprofit organisations therefore receive bequests infrequently, and public awareness is developing slowly.

The Coalition for Easy Giving coordinates the “A Will Helps” initiative, which brings together more than forty nonprofit organisations to promote charitable bequests. A 2019 survey of 507 people aged over 50 found that 47% planned to write a will and 29% were open to including a charitable donation.

A separate 2017 survey of 83 nonprofit organisations found that 25.3% had received at least one bequest during the preceding ten years. Between 2006 and 2016, the participating organisations reported 141 bequests with a combined value of €5.98 million. Most organisations had little direct contact with prospective legacy donors, and only 11% had allocated even limited staff capacity to bequest fundraising.

Corporate giving

The Satellite Account of Non-profit Institutions recorded €221.50 million in donations from financial and non-financial corporations in 2020. This was lower than the €252.22 million recorded in 2019, but substantially higher than the €157.80 million reported in 2011.

Ministry of Finance data show that 32,120 corporations claimed tax deductions for charitable donations in 2022, out of 576,002 corporate tax returns. The total declared value of these donations was €342.76 million, compared with €111.24 million in 2011.

The difference between the Statistical Office and Ministry of Finance figures reflects their different methods and coverage. Tax records include eligible contributions to nonprofit organisations, public-administration bodies and public universities, while the Satellite Account measures transfers to nonprofit institutions. The figures should therefore not be treated as directly interchangeable.

Research on the motivations, forms and barriers associated with corporate philanthropy remains limited. A major study commissioned by the Office of the Government in 2018 invited approximately 8,000 organisations to participate, but received only 194 completed questionnaires. It also included 82 semi-structured interviews. The study provides useful insights but cannot be considered representative of the entire corporate sector.

Foundations

In 2022, the Czech Republic had 2,478 registered foundations and 569 philanthropic funds. The Czech Donors Forum estimated that these organisations distributed approximately €117.22 million for public-benefit purposes, compared with €72.76 million in 2020.

Information from the 25 largest corporate and non-corporate foundations indicates that education and research received 16% of their distributions in 2022. Children, young people and families received 14%, humanitarian aid and human rights 13%, healthcare and support for people with disabilities 12%, support for socially disadvantaged people 10%, and culture, arts and heritage 10%. These figures are based on a limited group of large foundations and are not representative of the entire sector.

The Czech Donors Forum publishes annual rankings based on annual reports, financial statements and information supplied directly by foundations. These rankings include the amount of grants distributed and the value of foundation capital. They offer important insight into institutional philanthropy but do not provide comprehensive coverage of all registered foundations and philanthropic funds.

Charity lotteries

Charity lotteries, as independent private organisations distributing revenues to charitable causes, do not currently operate in the Czech Republic. Under earlier legislation, lottery operators were required to allocate part of their revenues to public-benefit purposes. Concerns about misuse and a lack of transparency led to legislative reform in 2012.

Under the current Gambling Act, lottery and gambling revenues are taxed and distributed between state and municipal budgets. Operators are no longer permitted to allocate these funds directly to public-benefit activities. Lottery revenues are therefore treated as public revenue rather than private philanthropy, and no recent data on charity-lottery giving are available.

Sources of Contributions in the Czech Republic

The most comparable available estimates provide the following indicative picture:

Foundation distributions were subsequently estimated at €117.22 million in 2022. This newer figure is useful for showing growth but cannot simply replace the 2020 figure in the table without combining different reference years.

Available evidence points to an increase in giving by individuals, corporations and foundations. However, the data infrastructure remains fragmented. Different sources use different definitions, methodologies and reference periods, while charitable bequests and detailed foundation distributions remain particularly difficult to measure.

The Czech Statistical Office remains the only public institution collecting giving data systematically. Sector organisations and fundraising platforms provide valuable complementary information, but their datasets are generally narrower in scope and do not use standardised methods. A coordinated system combining official statistics, tax records, representative surveys and sector reporting would provide a more complete picture of philanthropy in the Czech Republic.

Source

Hyanek, V. (2026). Philanthropy in the Czech Republic. In B. Hoolwerf & J. Vamstad (Eds.), Philanthropy in Europe: Mapping Research and Data on Donations by Households, Bequests, Foundations, Corporations and Charity Lotteries (pp. 79–92). European Research Network on Philanthropy.

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