More than €350,000 donated last year in the “I love to help” environment, with average donation up to €44

Last year, people in Estonia donated a total of €350,267 through the “I love to help” environment, which unites dozens of charities. Projects related to children raised the most donations.

“Last year’s results show that the donation activity, which had set all-time records a year earlier, has levelled off,” said Katrin Arvisto, Communications Manager at the Heateo Foundation, who is in charge of the ‘I love to help’ environment. “As the environment includes a fairly representative sample of the organisations that collect donations in Estonia, their results speak for the wider donation landscape.”

The decline in donations is primarily due to a decrease in the number of donors. In 2022, more than 16,000 donations were made through the environment, compared to half that number last year. ” All the more pleasing is the slight increase in single donations. The average donation last year was €44,” said Katrin Arvisto.

The largest number of donations in 2023 was collected by organisations working for the benefit of children. A total of €131,024 was donated to them, which accounted for 37% of all donations made through the “I love to help” environment. The donations have enabled various organisations to provide much-needed support to seriously or chronically ill children, as well as children in need of emotional support.

The NGO Children and Youth Crisis Programme is one of the organisations that managed to raise more donations in 2023 than in the previous year. “The support of donors is especially important to us,” said Merike Sarapuu, member of the NGO’s board. “The year 2023 was the first for us to operate without government funding. Thanks to donors and local governments, we were able to continue providing professional support to children who are coping with the pain of losing loved ones. We would very much like to continue to provide counselling free of charge to children and families. Donations help us to ensure this. Thank you to all donors!” Sarapuu added.

24% of the donations ( € 84,492) were collected by health organisations. Around the same amount was raised by organisations in the strong society category, which stand for a caring and safe living environment. They received €76,744, or 22% of all donations. Organisations working in the field of animal welfare and nature conservation collected 12% of all donations (€43 332) and initiatives for education 4% (€14 674).

The largest one-time donation in 2023 was €25,000 to the Tallinn Children’s Hospital Support Fund to help ensure the best treatment conditions for premature newborns. The average single donation last year was €44 (€43 the year before). The most donations were made in December and the least in April.

The total amount of private donations in 2023 was supplemented by nearly €147,000 from Swedbank, which included leverage from the bank at fundraising events and contributions to other charity projects.

“I Love to Help” was founded by the Good Deed Foundation and Swedbank in 2008. Over the past 15 years, “I love to help” has grown to become the largest donation environment in Estonia, where everyone can find an organisation close to their heart to support. Over the years, more than 4.6 million euros have been donated through armastanaidata.ee.