<p>The dynamic interaction between external peers and firms in corporate philanthropy has not been examined in the extant literature. Therefore, utilizing a sample of Chinese listed firms during COVID-19 crisis, this paper empirically tests the industry peer effect of corporate charity giving. Our empirical results show that a higher amount of donation at the industry level significantly promotes a Chinese listed firm’s magnitude of charity giving. Moreover, we find that the above relation is especially pronounced in highly competitive industries, in industries with a greater presence of industry associations and charitable organizations, and among firms without foreign investors. Furthermore, our further analysis shows that the peer effect of donations is more significant among firms located in areas with higher levels of marketization. Additionally, Chinese listed non-state-owned enterprises (non-SOEs) react more actively to the philanthropic actions of other non-SOEs within the same industry. These findings suggest that firms are donating in response to peer actions rather than to government pressures. Finally, our findings are robust to two-stage least squares regression model and other robustness tests.</p>