Matching Gifts in Practice: Tips, Strategies From Your Peers
The power of matching gifts is a well-kept secret in the world of nonprofit fundraising—and putting that power into practice can feel daunting. That’s why we’re excited to bring you key takeaways from the recent Virtual Workplace Fundraising Summit, where some of the brightest minds in nonprofit development came together to share real-world strategies, successes, and lessons learned around matching gift programs.
In this post, we’re distilling insights straight from the experts—development professionals and matching gift champions who are actively working in the field. This specific session, Matching Gifts in Practice: Tips and Strategies From Your Peers, featured…
- Ariana Romanelli, Lead Associate of Corporate Partnerships at Save the Children
- Alexandria Turnley, Director of Annual Fund and Alumni Relations at Duke School
- Kate Law, Assistant Director of Gift Administration at Air Force Academy Foundation
Whether your team is just beginning to explore matching gifts for the first time or you’re looking to refine your current program, these peer-driven strategies can help you unlock more funding and deepen donor engagement. Let’s get started!
How would you describe your institution’s current employer matching gift strategy and your journey to get there?
Across the board, institutions are moving away from passive engagement with matching gifts and toward more intentional, integrated strategies—and for good reason. As awareness of the untapped potential in matching gift programs grows, organizations are recognizing that a more active approach can yield significant returns.
For Save the Children, this realization sparked a shift toward a fully proactive strategy. Their team identified a critical gap in donor awareness and responded with a comprehensive public education campaign. By leveraging a variety of outreach channels—organic and paid social media, text messaging, and newsletter integrations—they’ve built consistent messaging around matching gifts. This omnichannel strategy reflects a deeper understanding of donor behavior: awareness alone isn’t enough; repeated exposure across touchpoints is key to driving action. It’s a shift not only in tactics but in mindset—from viewing matching gifts as a bonus to treating them as a core fundraising opportunity.
Duke School offers a contrasting but equally insightful example of how technology can drive transformation, especially for smaller teams. Historically limited by bandwidth and manual processes, Duke’s development staff struggled to prioritize matching gifts. The implementation of Double the Donation marked a turning point, enabling them to automate match identification and follow-up. This shift illustrates a broader trend: as tech tools become more accessible and powerful, even lean teams can operationalize matching gift efforts in ways that were previously out of reach. It’s not just about saving time—it’s about unlocking revenue that was previously left on the table due to capacity constraints.
The Air Force Academy Foundation highlights a third, often overlooked, pillar of a successful matching gift strategy: internal alignment. Their most significant progress came not from a new tool or campaign, but from organizational buy-in. By training gift processors, donor service teams, major gift officers, and annual giving staff on the value and mechanics of matching gifts, they’ve embedded it into their culture. This holistic approach ensures that matching gifts are championed at every level—not siloed within one department. It demonstrates that successful matching gift strategies require not just external outreach, but internal cohesion and ownership.
Together, these examples underscore a key insight: there’s no one-size-fits-all solution. But whether through awareness-building, automation, or internal advocacy, institutions that prioritize matching gifts—and treat them as strategic revenue drivers—are seeing meaningful results.
What tips, strategies, or tools have made the biggest impact on your matching gift efforts?
When it comes to boosting matching gift results, the most effective strategies aren’t just about increasing volume—they’re about working smarter with visibility, data, and storytelling. Across institutions, the biggest wins come from aligning these elements in ways that resonate with both internal teams and donors.
At Duke School, the power of visibility can’t be overstated. By embedding matching gift messaging into nearly every donor interaction—event signage, thank-you letters, and even QR codes—they’ve created a consistent drumbeat that keeps matching gifts top-of-mind. This strategy demonstrates an important lesson: repetition is key. Donors don’t always act on the first (or even second) exposure to a message. But by weaving the call to action into multiple formats and touchpoints, Duke ensures that the idea of matching is ever-present, subtly building urgency and familiarity over time.
Their approach to identifying and activating “unicorn” companies—those with unusually generous match programs—also reflects a sophisticated use of data and community insight. Instead of waiting for these high-leverage donors to self-identify, Duke proactively seeks them out, then taps into the power of peer advocacy.
Meanwhile, the Air Force Academy Foundation underscores how data quality can make or break a matching gift strategy. Their focus has been on enriching and maintaining employment data across their donor base—not just alumni, but also parents and friends of the institution. This commitment allows them to deploy highly targeted outreach, ensuring they’re not casting a wide net but instead reaching the right people with the right message.
Save the Children, on the other hand, showcases how technology can operationalize a matching gift strategy at scale. By fully embedding Double the Donation’s search and automation tools into their ecosystem—on donation forms, landing pages, and workplace giving content—they’ve created a seamless experience for donors. But they go further by tracking backend engagement data, using it to refine their outreach and measure impact. This level of analysis elevates their strategy from transactional to strategic; they’re not just enabling gifts to be matched, they’re learning what drives behavior and adapting accordingly.
What unites all these approaches is an underlying shift in mindset: matching gifts are no longer treated as a passive revenue stream. They’re being integrated into broader engagement strategies, backed by strong data infrastructure, and powered by storytelling and tech. The result? Programs that not only grow but evolve with donor behavior and organizational insight.
How do you measure the impact of your matching gift programs? Are there KPIs you track, and what do you do with the data?
Measuring the effectiveness of a matching gift program goes far beyond tallying revenue—it’s about understanding the full pipeline of opportunity, tracking conversion, and using data to guide strategy, optimize processes, and advocate for continued investment.
The Air Force Academy Foundation offers a great example of how a data-informed culture can elevate a matching gift program. One of their core KPIs is the ratio between match-eligible gifts and those that actually result in matching gift revenue. This metric functions as a performance gauge, spotlighting how effectively the organization is closing the gap between potential and reality. By sharing these numbers with senior leadership, they’re not just reporting—they’re telling a story of progress, missed opportunity, and future potential. This kind of internal transparency fosters accountability and ensures matching gifts remain a strategic priority.
Another smart move by the Foundation is tracking employer participation to see which companies are delivering the most value. But they don’t stop at identifying top contributors—they take it a step further by proactively studying these companies’ match processes. This allows them to reduce donor friction by offering tailored support, ultimately increasing the likelihood of successful match completion.
At Save the Children, year-over-year revenue growth remains a key benchmark. While it might seem basic on the surface, consistent growth signals strategic traction and provides a foundation for future goal setting. But the real nuance lies in how they segment this growth—particularly by sector. By zooming in on high-potential industries like tech and finance, Save the Children is able to evaluate the performance of specific corporate relationships and adjust outreach strategies accordingly. It’s a sector-based lens that recognizes not all industries contribute equally—and that certain verticals may offer more long-term value.
Duke School, still in the earlier stages of matching gift program maturity, is focused on building a culture of visibility and habit around measurement. Weekly internal reporting ensures that matching gifts stay top-of-mind for development staff and leadership alike. This regular cadence not only reinforces organizational buy-in but also draws attention to the role that Double the Donation plays in their early success—laying the groundwork for both future growth and sustained support.
Taken together, these strategies point to a key truth: impactful measurement isn’t just about dashboards and KPIs—it’s about how data is used to inform decisions, drive engagement, and advocate for program resources. Whether an organization is scaling up or optimizing an established program, the ability to track what matters—and act on it—can make all the difference.
Why and how do you engage other members of your team or volunteer advocates in your matching gift strategy?
A recurring theme among successful matching gift programs is this: they don’t operate in silos. The most impactful efforts are those that engage a broad network—internal teams, external ambassadors, and even volunteers—to embed matching gifts into every stage of donor engagement. These programs aren’t just run by a team—they’re championed across the organization.
At Duke School, the power of peer advocacy has become a cornerstone of their strategy. When a donor family not only participated in the matching gift process but actively offered to help educate others, the school saw an opportunity to turn supporters into storytellers. By involving this family in outreach—writing letters, speaking to other parents, and piloting the donation process—they created a grassroots movement that lent authenticity and trust to the message. This approach reflects a broader insight: matching gift education doesn’t always have to come from staff.
Meanwhile, Save the Children demonstrates how internal alignment across departments can dramatically amplify matching gift efforts. Their strategy isn’t confined to one team—it’s built into the DNA of the organization. Through tight collaboration with marketing, communications, and major gift teams, they’ve ensured that matching gifts aren’t a niche topic—they’re a consistent, organization-wide priority. What’s especially powerful is their two-way information flow: the matching gift team alerts major gift officers to high-value workplace donors, while those officers educate donors on matching potential. It’s a feedback loop that enhances personalization and captures opportunities that might otherwise be missed.
The Air Force Academy Foundation takes this philosophy even further, emphasizing broad-based training and empowerment. They view every donor-facing team member—from development to IT to event staff—as a potential advocate for matching gifts. By equipping these teams with knowledge and tools, including Double the Donation’s search functionality and standardized messaging, they ensure that every donor touchpoint has the potential to spark a match. This distributed approach reflects a strategic understanding that consistency across channels isn’t just nice—it’s necessary. Whether a donor interacts with a form, an email, or a person at an event, the message around matching gifts remains clear and compelling.
What emerges across all three organizations is a powerful insight: successful matching gift programs are as much about people as they are about processes. Whether it’s a passionate donor, a major gift officer, or a frontline event volunteer, building a culture where everyone sees themselves as part of the effort is what ultimately drives growth.
What is the biggest challenge you face with matching gifts? How do you work to overcome it?
Even as matching gifts continue to present enormous revenue potential, organizations face several persistent roadblocks—ranging from internal resource constraints to donor friction. What sets successful programs apart is their ability to identify these barriers clearly and respond with scalable, strategic solutions.
At Save the Children, the challenge starts behind the scenes: limited resources. Like many nonprofits, the organization initially managed its matching gift efforts as one item on a long list of responsibilities for a single team member. While the program has since grown to a dedicated two-person team, the scope of their work—spanning both matching gifts and workplace giving—still stretches capacity. This illustrates a broader truth in nonprofit operations: high-potential programs often remain under-resourced until they’ve already proven their value. Save the Children’s proactive approach to growth, despite these constraints, highlights the importance of incremental scaling. By investing in tools and refining processes that support long-term efficiency, they’re building a foundation for sustained impact without burning out limited staff.
For the Air Force Academy Foundation, the biggest hurdle is awareness—specifically, donor unfamiliarity with the matching gift process. This isn’t just a marketing problem; it’s a behavioral one. Many donors simply don’t know that their gifts could be matched, and even when they do, navigating employer portals or submission requirements can be daunting. The Foundation’s solution is rooted in habit formation. By targeting recurring donors—those already engaged through monthly or annual gifts—they’re creating a match-minded culture among their most loyal supporters. This approach recognizes that education isn’t a one-time message—it’s a process of building familiarity, reducing uncertainty, and helping donors integrate matching gifts into their regular giving rhythm.
Interestingly, Save the Children also faces a second, more nuanced challenge: the “last-mile” problem. Even after successfully identifying match-eligible donors and raising awareness, the final step—getting donors to actually submit their match request—remains a significant friction point. This is where their team is investing in donor experience, not just donor education. Through tactics like personalized follow-up emails with direct links to employer portals, live support for confused donors, and thoughtfully timed reminders, they’re working to remove every possible barrier from the process. It’s a shift from outreach to enablement—recognizing that reducing friction is just as important as increasing exposure.
Taken together, these challenges and responses point to a core insight: the success of a matching gift program isn’t just about having the right tools or enough data—it’s about understanding human behavior, organizational capacity, and the small but critical steps required to turn intention into action. Whether it’s expanding team bandwidth, building donor habits, or simplifying execution, organizations are learning that strategic, empathetic solutions are key to unlocking the full potential of matching gifts.
At this point in the event, the team moved on to audience-submitted questions. The first one is as follows:
My organization has been collecting employer information, but we haven‘t done anything with it. What would you advise as a first step?
If your organization has been collecting employer information but hasn’t yet tapped into its potential, Duke School suggests starting with a simple but powerful move: make time to strategize. One of the most effective things their team did was carve out space on the calendar to dive deep into the data and discuss how to act on it. From there, it’s all about creating a thoughtful plan. Start by segmenting your data—perhaps by identifying donors who have already made a gift or by focusing on the “unicorns,” the employers known for robust matching gift programs.
Next, Save the Children acknowledges a challenge many organizations face—being understaffed or under-resourced—especially when it comes to managing matching gift efforts. Their solution? Lean on other teams. Rather than trying to do everything solo, they recommend collaborating across departments. For example, they often partner with their employee engagement team, recognizing the natural overlap between workplace giving, matching gifts, and employee engagement.
Finally, the Air Force Academy Foundation emphasizes the power of data-driven advocacy and organization-wide buy-in when managing matching gifts. By using insights from tools like Double the Donation, they calculate the amount of potential matching dollars left unclaimed and share that data with senior leadership—who, in turn, pass it on to the board. This transparency helps create a culture that values matching gifts as a strategic priority and “low-hanging fruit” for fundraising.
So you recognize that all these dollars out there could be doubled. What are you actually doing to get more matches in the door?
To turn awareness into revenue, Save the Children recommends identifying employee champions—or individuals within companies who are passionate about the cause and can rally their colleagues to donate and pursue matching opportunities. These internal advocates help spark a domino effect of giving and matching, driving greater momentum for the organization.
Meanwhile, at Duke School, the approach to matching gifts is rooted in stewardship. Rather than seeing matching gift outreach as an extra task, they integrate it into their overall donor stewardship strategy. Donors are already being thanked for their contributions, so the goal is simply to add the matching gift opportunity to that communication, making it seamless and easy for them to take action.
At the Air Force Academy Foundation, the key to success in matching gifts is starting small and focusing on consistent donors. It can be overwhelming to think about educating a large audience all at once, so the Foundation recommends beginning with donors who already give regularly. By targeting these consistent contributors, the goal is to build a habit of matching gifts over time. From there, these advocates can help spread the word to colleagues, creating a ripple effect within organizations.
Do you have any suggestions for navigating or differentiating between challenge donor matches and employer matches?
Duke School has found that clear and consistent language is key to navigating the distinction between challenge gifts and employer matches. To reduce confusion, they use specific terminology as much as possible, referring to them as “challenge matches” and “employee matches” when discussing these options. One key suggestion is to define these terms clearly within your team and ensure everyone is using the same language when communicating with donors. This helps avoid confusion and ensures that both types of matches are understood correctly by those involved.
At the Air Force Academy Foundation, they approach challenge gifts and employer matches with distinct strategies, leveraging their communications and marketing teams to ensure clear messaging. Challenge gifts are typically used during specific, high-impact times of the year, such as end-of-year giving or a major day of giving. In contrast, employer matches are part of their ongoing, year-round messaging, with consistent reminders and communication to encourage donations eligible for matching gifts.
At Save the Children, one key strategy they employ is to get in front of donors as much as possible, especially during designated giving periods.
We’ve talked a lot about stewarding individuals. But are there any practical tips for stewarding the companies that are committed to matching?
At the Air Force Academy Foundation, stewarding the companies that support matching gifts is crucial, especially with a donor base connected to major corporations in industries like airlines and defense, which often have robust matching gift programs. Overall, the key takeaway is to get familiar with the matching gift policies of your most frequent corporate partners and ensure that the process for verifying and acknowledging donations is as efficient and personalized as possible.
At Duke School, their development team is taking proactive steps to build strong relationships with the companies that support matching gifts. Their approach includes tracking which employers are involved in matching gifts, thanking these companies at the end of the year, and building long-term partnerships that lay the groundwork for further collaboration.
Meanwhile, Save the Children emphasizes the importance of keeping their corporate partners informed and engaged through several key strategies, such as implementing regular communication, acknowledging support, and even building case studies to showcase successful partnerships.
How often are you all reaching out to matching gift donors?
Duke School has experimented with different approaches to reaching out to matching gift donors. In the past, they targeted two groups: those who donated last year but haven’t yet this year and those who gave during the year-end giving season. This year, however, the school is focusing on a more immediate approach, reaching out to donors as soon as a gift is made and they are identified as eligible for matching. After the initial contact, the team waits about three months before following up again.
Meanwhile, the Air Force Academy Foundation has streamlined its outreach to matching gift donors by leveraging Double the Donation. After a donor makes a gift, they receive an automated email through the platform informing them of their match eligibility and offering assistance. A follow-up email is sent within 72 hours, with a final reminder about 30 days later, nudging donors to initiate the matching gift process. While automation handles the bulk of communications, the Foundation still prioritizes personalized outreach for its highest-value individuals.
Save the Children also makes extensive use of Double the Donation’s automated emails, which handle the timing of outreach and reduce the manual workload. However, when it comes to more targeted communications, the organization focuses on creating personalized outreach for employees of their top 20-30 workplace giving and matching gift partners, especially in industries like finance and tech where they see significant growth.
What do you see as the future of employer matching gifts, and how can we prepare today?
Save the Children predicts that the future of employer matching gifts will increasingly involve the migration of large companies to third-party platforms like Benevity and YourCause. Additionally, the organization expects to see a rise in donor-advised fund (DAF) giving, with platforms becoming more accessible to smaller donations and making it easier for a broader range of donors to engage.
Meanwhile, the Air Force Academy Foundation envisions a future where corporate matching gift policies become more inclusive, extending eligibility more and more to part-time workers, retired employees, and other groups that are sometimes excluded. This inclusivity would encourage broader participation in matching gift programs. Another exciting possibility is the automation of the matching gift submission process, eliminating the manual work involved in verifying and submitting matches and greatly reducing the workload on gift administration teams. Additionally, the Foundation is intrigued by the potential of AI in this space. As AI becomes more integrated into nonprofit work, it could help identify employees who are eligible for matching gifts through data analysis, such as company affiliation or wealth scoring.
In the immediate future, Duke School recognizes the importance of adapting to the uncertainties of the economy. Employer matching gifts can be viewed as a supplemental stream of revenue that can help offset challenges that donors might face due to economic fluctuations. The focus will be on messaging that highlights the value of matching gifts, encouraging donors to leverage these programs to enhance the impact of their contributions.
Wrapping Up & Additional Resources
Matching gifts are a proven way to multiply impact without increasing donor spend—but it takes intention, coordination, and the right tools to make it work. Thanks to the generous insights shared during the Virtual Fundraising Summit, we now have a clearer picture of how nonprofits are successfully implementing these programs every day.
We hope this summary leaves you inspired and equipped with practical ideas to enhance your own matching gift strategy. From peer-tested outreach techniques to smart automation, there’s something here for every organization ready to level up their fundraising results.
Ready to learn more? Check out these additional resources:
- Free Download: Access The Ultimate Guide to Matching Gifts. Learn everything you need to know about matching gifts with our ultimate guide! From leading programs to recommended tools, we cover it all.
- Matching Gift Best Practices | Actionable Insights & Examples. Bring your matching gift strategy to the next level. See how you can implement these actionable practices into your efforts.
- 10 Examples & Insights from the Matching Gift Idea Exchange. Looking for more peer-driven tips and tricks? Check out this blog post that’s chock-full of examples and insights from our matching gift idea exchange.
