The year 2020 was special in many aspects. The COVID-19 pandemic brought the state of emergency and a completely altered way of life.

The state of emergency also inspired different ways of care, expressing empathy and giving. Donors and recipients were fast and efficient in understanding and responding to the situation. In 2020, the philanthropic community significantly helped the Government of the Republic of Serbia in the fight against the pandemic.

The total value of donations for tackling the effects of the pandemic considerably exceeded donations for any other individual theme, comprising 42.1% of the total recorded value of donations in 2020.

If we disregard the fact that tackling the effects of the pandemic had the largest share in the number of instances in 2020, the key themes remained the same as in 2019 and in the same order – healthcare, support to marginalized groups, poverty relief and education. However, as expected, they had a smaller share than in the previous year because of the giving for tackling the effects of the pandemic.

The pandemic also brought a change in terms of donors. After several years of citizens being more active donors than the corporate sector, in 2020 the corporate sector provided slightly more than a half of the total donated sum through 38.1% of instances. Citizens, who for several years had been the most active and largest donors, took the second place in 2020, providing support unrelated to the pandemic.

Who has been donating for the mitigation of the effects of COVID-19?

The year was also marked by significantly larger donations to state authorities. The increased powers of the state during the state of emergency, which was declared for the purpose of implementing epidemiological measures, caused as much as 43.4% of the total sum to be directed to the state (local and national governments and institutions). Given the fact that assistance to the state was also provided through non-profit organizations as intermediaries, this percentage is probably even higher.

Who are the COVID-related donations in Serbia for?

Discover key data on the fight against COVID-19 in Serbia through our interactive online report.

We would like to remind you that you can support your communities in the fight against COVID-19 by making an online donation at covid19.donacije.rs, or by sending an SMS to 7300.

Non-profit organizations from Serbia that have an idea of how to help the groups most affected by the COVID-19 pandemic can, at any time launch their crowdfunding campaign at Donacije.rs.