Corporate Matching Gift Forms | The Ultimate Guide

Corporate Matching Gift Forms | The Ultimate Guide

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Most match-eligible donors rely on some kind of matching gift forms to complete their end of the matching gift process. However, these forms (and the steps taken to submit them) can look wildly different from one company to the next.

In order to best simplify and guide employee donors through the submission process, it’s important that you understand the ins and outs of paper, electronic, and e-submission match forms⁠—plus form alternatives.

From the nonprofit side, giving your supporters the tools they need to complete a match request helps maximize the matching gift revenue you ultimately collect.

On the other hand, as a company, considering all available options for submission forms can make a big difference as you work to develop and finetune your matching gift program.

In this guide, we’ll provide everything you need to know about corporate matching gift forms, including:

As a main source of corporate philanthropy, matching gifts are not an opportunity you want to miss out on⁠. That’s true regardless of whether you’re looking at it from the nonprofit or the business perspective.

The right matching gift forms⁠—and an understanding of how to use them⁠—can bring your team’s strategy to the next level.

Let’s get started!

What are matching gift submission forms?

Matching gift submission forms are a specific type of documentation used within the corporate matching gift process.

When a company launches a matching gift program, it typically provides employees with access to a blank form (note: while some companies may still offer paper options, these forms are most often made available online and hosted within a corporate matching vendor platform). This document typically incorporates a number of fields that share context into the individual donation, the receiving nonprofit, and the team member submitting the request.

The form is then completed by the donor after making their initial nonprofit contribution as a way to formally request a match from their employer.

Corporate matching gift form example

Then, the application is submitted to the company through the business’s specified channel. From there, the employer reviews the provided materials, verifies the initial donation, ensures the gift meets the company’s matching criteria, and approves the match.

Why matching gift forms matter

From start to finish, the matching gift process encompasses a few key phases⁠. These include the initial donation, the employee request, the match review, and finally, the corporate gift.

Of these stages, the majority of match-eligible gifts drop off before or during the employee request component. For nearly all companies, the request stage involves the employee donor filling out an online matching gift form. And the ease with which an individual can complete their match form directly correlates to fulfilled matching gift success.

In other words, the best matching gift forms result in more matching gifts.

If that’s not enough of an answer, let’s take a closer look at why corporate matching gift forms matter…

To Donors

From the donor’s perspective, a matching gift form comprises the vast majority of the matching gift experience. Without it, there’s no employer donation ultimately secured, thus inhibiting the amplified giving impact an individual is aiming to make.

Not to mention, the donor is the one who actively completes the form to request a match on behalf of their favorite organization. It makes sense that a positive user experience is a priority for this key stakeholder!

To Nonprofits

An estimated $4 to $7 billion in available matching revenue goes unclaimed each year. That’s funding that could be going to nonprofit causes but is ultimately left on the table by qualifying organizations and their donors.

In fact, most fundraising groups see only a fraction of the matching gift dollars available to them. Since one of the most significant roadblocks facing incomplete matches is the submission process, nonprofits understand that optimized matching gift forms can go a long way toward driving matches to completion.

To Companies

Companies invest time and effort into launching their matching gift programs. It goes without saying that they want employees to partake. After all, heightened staff participation levels result in better overall CSR⁠—and, with it, increased employee engagement, improved company culture, unique cause marketing benefits, elevated brand reputation, and more.

However, complicated request processes can be a significant hindrance to team-wide engagement with the offerings. Thus, companies want to establish easy-to-use corporate match forms that provide positive experiences for their employees.

Elements of a corporate matching gift form

Regardless of the type of form a company utilizes, most matching gift submissions request the same pieces of information. And this information generally falls into three overarching categories:

Components of a matching gift form

Donor Information

Companies typically request a number of personal data points relating to the individual employee within the matching gift application. Though it can vary greatly from business to business, this information might include:

  • The donor’s name
  • Employee identification number
  • Corporate email address
  • Personal mailing address
  • Phone number

Providing these details generally certifies that the donor is who they say they are (i.e., an employee of the company from which they’re requesting a match). Plus, it ensures the employer knows who is requesting the matching gift for their own records and to track participation and donation totals over time.

Nonprofit Information

Most match forms also ask specific questions pertaining to the organization an individual has supported. This might include:

Information about the nonprofit can help determine that the organization meets the company’s eligibility requirements (i.e., mission type). Not only that, but it also ensures that the person in charge of the corporate matching program has appropriate contact information for the nonprofit group, should they need to get in touch to verify the initial donation.

Donation Information

This final section is typically where the company asks employees to provide details regarding the original donation. Again, this enables the employer to determine whether the initial gift qualifies for a match (falls within the donation threshold, is submitted prior to the submission deadline, etc.).

Commonly required fields include:

  • Gift amount
  • Transaction date
  • Payment currency
  • Donation method

Many companies also request proof of the original donation, which nonprofits often provide in the form of tax-deductible gift receipts. And that’s where the individual donor’s side of the matching gift submission typically ends.

However, some employers require the recipient organization to verify the initial contribution themselves. In those cases, a vital step of the matching process falls into the hands of the nonprofit group.

After an employee completes the matching gift request, the nonprofit is typically notified (whether by mail or within a CSR portal) that an employee has requested a match. At this point, the organization must log into the company’s verification system to confirm that the specified employee made a donation to the cause. They may even be asked to provide a letter verifying the organization’s IRS-sanctioned 501(c)(3) status.

3 types of matching gift submission forms (and alternatives)

There are currently three main types of matching gift forms⁠. These include paper, electronic, and Double the Donation’s standard form. However, innovative corporate giving platforms are developing streamlined submission processes that allow donors to bypass the matching gift form altogether.

Each company that offers a matching program is able to establish its own match request process⁠. This includes selecting one or more matching gift forms and/or alternatives to accept.

Let’s take a closer look at each submission type, and the general process asked of donors to complete it.

Paper matching gift forms

Paper Matching Gift Forms

When it comes to matching gift forms, paper documents are where it all started. In fact, the first-ever matching gift program was developed before the internet was even invented!

Today, however, most matching gift donors prefer electronic forms; though some companies continue to accept⁠—or even require⁠—traditional paper documentation.

We don’t recommend companies use this type of outdated match form. After all, it’s a lot of extra work for the donor, the nonprofit, and the company itself. Still, it’s important to understand the process should you run into a situation involving paper submission forms in any case.

And here’s how it typically works. Employees at corporations with paper match forms go through the following steps to submit their match requests:

Match Eligibility Identification

The first step involved in any matching gift process is determining match program eligibility. And there can be quite a few factors at play here, including whether the company matches employee gifts at all, whether the employee in question qualifies for matching, whether the donation amount and recipient organization meet the company’s standards, and more.

This information can be uncovered in a few ways, from the company itself to a third-party tool such as Double the Donation.

Request Form Location

The next phase of the process involves locating the appropriate matching gift form. And unfortunately, this can be a bit trickier with paper forms compared to other types of matching gift submissions.

Double the Donation or the employer may provide access to printable versions of the forms online, or they may be requested in person from the HR department or company leadership.

Paper Matching Gift Form Submission

Once the match request forms have been accessed, donors are prompted to complete and submit the document via the channel established by the company. Some employers may accept the forms in person (again, likely to the HR office or manager), while others may require match forms to be submitted via mail to a provided address. Others yet can offer some sort of fillable PDF option, which may be completed and submitted online.

Sample paper matching gift form

Electronic matching gift forms

Electronic Matching Gift Forms

Technology is rapidly progressing, so it makes sense that many companies have transitioned to electronic forms. Doing so not only reduces programming costs and administrative lift but also simplifies participation for employees.

Electronic forms give donors a bit more freedom regarding when, where, and how easily they complete their requests.

Here’s what the process typically looks like:

Employee Sign-In / Registration

To access and complete electronic matching gift forms, employees usually have to log into the company’s CSR platform. This step typically involves creating or signing in with a username and password for the site.

Sample electronic match form login screen

In order to locate the login page, individuals may be directed from their company’s HR department or manager, or they might receive a link through the nonprofit to which they contributed⁠—specifically if the organization uses Double the Donation’s tools.

Match Request Submission

Once in, the employee is prompted to complete the actual request process.

Like paper forms, individuals are asked to register their match requests by providing key data points. Though the exact process can vary based on the CSR portal a company uses, donors generally begin by searching for (or adding) the nonprofit they’ve supported from the portal’s list of verified causes.

From there, individuals typically provide a number of data points pertaining to their recent gifts⁠—such as payment type, domain amount, currency, transaction date, and more.

Sample electronic match form donation informationThen the request is complete, and donors can submit their application with a click of a button!

Double the Donation's standard matching gift form

Double the Donation’s Standard Matching Gift Form

Somewhere between a paper matching gift request and a complete online submission portal is Double the Donation’s intuitive standard match form.

Companies can easily opt into accepting this online form, which then enables streamlined automated electronic submissions for their employees. With this offering, donors can more easily complete their matching gift requests, thus increasing program usage and impact overall.

Double the Donation aims to make matching gifts as simple as possible, and the standard form was designed for just that purpose.

Here’s what the process looks like for eligible donors submitting the standard matching gift form:

Employer Selection

As donors give to nonprofits that use Double the Donation’s matching gift software, they’re prompted to enter their employing company in an auto-completing search tool embedded in the donation form. This is done to uncover match eligibility and determine whether the company accepts the standard matching gift form.

Employer selection from donation page for standard matching gift form

Identity Verification and Authorization

If so, the donor is provided with an opportunity to submit their match automatically, directly from the organization’s gift confirmation screen. Typically, all they are required to do here is verify their identity by providing a corporate email address and check a box that authorizes Double the Donation to submit the match request on their behalf.

Identity verification and authorization from confirmation page for standard matching gift form

Behind-the-Scenes Submission

Once authorized, Double the Donation pulls necessary information from the donation process itself and automatically fills in the blanks on the premade standard matching gift form. Upon completion, the form is sent as a PDF document to the matching gift coordinator designated by the company to review and approve as usual.

Behind-the-scenes submission for standard matching gift form

Matching gift form alternative: auto-submission

Matching Gift Form Alternative ⁠— Auto-Submission

Online match portals that facilitate electronic request forms have long been working to streamline and improve the match submission process. And Double the Donation shares the same goal.

Now, Double the Donation is partnering with select CSR software providers to do exactly that. By providing an innovative matching gift form alternative, auto-submission allows qualifying donors to submit match requests without a matching gift form at all.

All they’re typically asked to do is enter their corporate email address on the gift confirmation screen and authorize Double the Donation to submit a match on their behalf. From there, the integrated software ecosystem collects necessary data points and funnels the information directly to the employer’s corporate giving platform behind the scenes.

Then, the company reviews and approves the match within the software system as usual.

Matching gift auto-submission process

This revolutionary new function benefits donors (with streamlined submission processes and fewer roadblocks), nonprofits (with increased match revenue), and companies (elevated program participation) alike. It’s a win-win-win!

And as more companies and CSR providers begin rolling out the feature in partnership with Double the Donation, an ever-growing number of nonprofit supporters will be able to leverage the matching gift form alternative.

Learn more about matching gift auto-submission here.

How a matching gift database fits in

Double the Donation has compiled the industry’s most in-depth source of matching gift information. Our comprehensive database provides access to details regarding more than 24,000 companies’ (equating to approximately 99.68% of all match-eligible donors) program guidelines and request processes.

By sharing a summary of each company’s matching gift program, we aim to make it increasingly easy for donors to complete their matches on behalf of the organizations they support.
When donors search for their employers using the associated database search tool, they’ll instantly receive any available guidelines for their employers’ programs. If available (which, over 91% of companies’ forms are), a direct link to online match forms and other related documents will be given to them, too!

Here’s an example of what you might see when searching for an employer with Double the Donation’s matching gift database search tool:

Locating matching forms with a corporate matching gift database

Donors will also be provided with other relevant information, such as:

  • The company’s match ratio;
  • Minimum and maximum match amounts;
  • Eligible employee groups (full-time, part-time, retired, spouses, etc.);
  • Qualifying nonprofit mission types;
  • Match request processes and forms (online or offline);
  • Submission deadlines;
  • Other available programs (i.e., volunteer grants).

Locating matching guidelines with a corporate matching gift database

A corporate database can provide powerful insights into thousands of companies’ matching gift programs and next steps. That can go a long way toward maximizing program participation for donors by simplifying the processes involved.

Nonprofits interested in benefiting from our innovative matching gift database and automation software can do so by requesting a demo here.

As for companies⁠, make sure your giving program is included in our comprehensive database of corporate match information. This enables employees to have quick and easy access to program guidelines and forms from their favorite organizations’ giving pages! Click here to add your company to Double the Donation’s matching gift database.

Wrapping Up

Matching gift forms play a crucial role in the overall matching gift process⁠—not to mention strategic corporate match fundraising.

At this point, your team should know all about the different types and components of corporate matching gift forms, the value for nonprofits, companies, and donors, and more. Now, it’s time to get out there and start maximizing your matching gift revenue!

Interested in learning more about matching gift best practices? Check out these additional recommended resources:

Take matching a step further with auto-submission functionality.

Learn more about streamlining matching gift forms with auto-submission.

Learn the essentials of employee engagement with our guide!

Employee Engagement: The Essential Guide for 2023

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As a company, managing employees and productivity can be a challenge. You want to keep your employees happy and feeling fulfilled in their work, and a lot of the time, their level of engagement with their job informs all of that.

That’s why keeping your employees engaged is so important.

High employee engagement is one of the top reasons employees stay at their jobs long term, are more productive, and feel fulfilled. In order to explore these ideas, we’re going to define employee engagement and dig deeper into why it makes a difference for your company.

What is employee engagement?

Employee engagement refers to the level at which employees are excited about and committed to their jobs. When employees are engaged, they are more likely to produce higher quality work and feel invested in what they do.

Employee engagement refers to the level at which employees are excited about and committed to their jobs.

Employee engagement is different from employee satisfaction, but these terms are interconnected. Satisfaction simply means an employee enjoys their job, but isn’t necessarily engaged with it. Employee engagement, on the other hand, means employees are emotionally invested in the work they’re doing.

Consider the following questions as you look into ways your company can boost your employee engagement levels:

  1. Why is employee engagement important?
  2. What are effective employee engagement ideas?
  3. How does employee engagement software help companies?
  4. What are some additional employee engagement resources?

There are many benefits of employee engagement and ways to enhance it at your company. Let’s jump in.

This is why employee engagement is important.

1. Why is employee engagement important?

According to recent statistics, 85% of employees are not engaged in the workplace—which means a large number of employees might leave their current jobs for another.

On the other hand, studies indicate that companies whose employees are engaged are 22% more profitable.

Put simply, employee engagement is important because it leads to higher retention rates and productivity. As is implied, a higher retention rate also means your company doesn’t have to deal with as much turnover, hiring, and training, which saves you a lot of money down the road.

Here are four top reasons why employee engagement matters.

The takeaway? Employee engagement leads to happy employees, longer tenures with your company, and higher productivity levels.

So, how can your company build up its employee engagement rate? There are many ways to do this, but we’re going to focus specifically on one avenue that has a huge impact: corporate social responsibility programs. Read on to learn more!

Here are some effective employee engagement ideas.

2. What are effective employee engagement ideas?

If you’re looking for effective employee engagement ideas, consider corporate social responsibility. Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is a term used to describe a company’s efforts to improve society. And with CSR comes many different initiatives companies take on to do just that.

Offering generous and inclusive CSR programs is one of the top drivers of employee engagement because employees are more likely to be happy working for a company that contributes to social good.

Employee Engagement and Corporate Social Responsibility

CSR is an umbrella term that covers everything from corporate philanthropy to positive economic and environmental efforts a company takes upon itself.

For the purpose of this article, we’re going to focus on some of the top philanthropic efforts a company can put forth that in turn boost employee engagement. These include:

Matching Gifts

One of the best ways to foster employee engagement is through corporate matching gift programs. Corporate matching gifts are a type of CSR initiative in which companies financially match donations their employees make to nonprofits.

Matching gifts drive a large component of employee engagement.

When it comes to workplace giving and CSR, matching gifts are a common offering, and it’s important for companies to actively promote these opportunities to their employees.

Employees who understand how to request a matching gift for their donation will be more likely to go through the process and feel good that their company made their gift go twice as far.

That said, it can be challenging to inform employees of your matching gift program. That’s why you should also make a point to promote matching gift opportunities throughout the year in a variety of ways, including:

  • New employee training materials
  • End-of-year campaigns
  • Internal employee communications

When you encourage employees to participate in your matching gift program, it not only benefits your company and helps you make the most of the giving program you’ve invested in, but also benefits the nonprofits those dollars go toward.

Volunteering

Now is the time to implement or enhance your employee volunteer program. That’s because offering volunteer opportunities within your company is a fantastic way to keep employees happy and fulfilled.

Whether you offer paid time off to volunteer, team-building volunteer opportunities, or a simple way for employees to access volunteer positions in your community, employees will be excited to step up and help the causes they care about.

When it comes to corporate volunteering and building up employee engagement, volunteering takes on a few manifestations:

Volunteer grants are another key driver of employee engagement.

  • Volunteer grants. Corporate volunteer grants are another form of corporate philanthropy in which companies provide monetary grants to nonprofits where their employees regularly volunteer. This means nonprofits get two forms of support in place of one: valuable volunteer hours and financial contributions.
  • Individual volunteer opportunities. Many companies offer paid time off for employees to volunteer at organizations they care about. This is a great incentive to boost employee engagement because they get paid while supporting an important cause. Add in a volunteer grant, and the benefits extend even further!
  • Team volunteer opportunities. As a team-building activity, companies often plan a day of service or similar event to get their employees together to give back to the community. This can also result in team volunteer grants, increased camaraderie among coworkers, and deepened relationships with the nonprofits in their community.

Companies also tend to use employee engagement platforms to organize their volunteer activity, as well as manage matching gifts and employee donations. This type of platform helps companies track volunteer opportunities in the greater community around their business, get employees signed up, and keep them engaged in the company’s culture of giving.

Looking to learn more about employee engagement software? Jump to that section now!

Other CSR Initiatives

Beyond matching gifts and corporate volunteerism, there are several other types of CSR initiatives that encourage employee engagement and participation.

Among the most common are workplace giving programs like automatic payroll deductions, annual giving campaigns, and other opportunities to donate to good causes. 

Through these company-sponsored programs, nonprofits are vetted and can build solid relationships with companies and their employees. Employees can rest assured that they’re donating to a worthy cause, and nonprofits get the support they deserve. Meanwhile, companies can get the most out of the giving programs they invested in.

Out of all the employee engagement ideas out there, focusing on corporate philanthropy and workplace giving, as well as other corporate social responsibility programs, will help your employees feel fulfilled and happy working for your company. Knowing that your company cares about the same causes they care about will keep them engaged and invested in the work they do for you.

Here's how employee engagement software helps companies.

3. How does employee engagement software help companies?

Having highly engaged employees is great, right? When you offer opportunities for employees to get involved in helping important causes, everyone will benefit.

But how can you effectively keep track of and manage all of these programs?

Tracking workplace giving programs and volunteer opportunities might sound like spreadsheets upon spreadsheets and lots of data entry. But there’s another way your company can manage your employees’ activity, as well as the programs you’re promoting: employee engagement software.

Employee engagement software helps you keep track of employee donations, volunteering opportunities, automatic payroll deductions, grant requests, and more.

Let’s turn back to those employee engagement ideas we discussed earlier:

Matching Gift Programs and Employee Engagement Software

When you invest in software that helps you regulate your matching gift program, you’ll make it easier for employees to get their donations matched for any eligible nonprofit. This makes them more likely to participate and feel engaged with your company as a result.

Employee engagement software helps manage your matching gift program by:

  • Allowing you to review or automatically approve matching gift requests that meet your company’s guidelines
  • Helping you track employee donations and measure overall impact
  • Tracking your goals and overall CSR-related progress

All of these features give your company a bigger picture of the impact you can make.

Corporate Volunteerism and Employee Engagement Software

Employee engagement software can also regulate your volunteer opportunities. The easier it is for employees to provide you with their volunteer activity information, the more likely they will be to participate in your volunteer program.

For example, employee engagement software helps manage your volunteer program by:

  • Allowing your company to find or create new volunteer events
  • Making it easy for employees to track their volunteer hours
  • Helping you track and approve volunteer grant requests

Volunteering consists of many juggling tasks, but when you use software to streamline the tracking and approval process, you’ll save your team and your company a lot of headache.

Here are some additional employee engagement resources.

4. What are some additional employee engagement resources?

Your employee engagement efforts shouldn’t stop here! Now that you have a basic understanding of how employee engagement works, check out these additional resources:

Find out how to drive corporate philanthropy at your company!

Innovative Discovery top matching gift company example with auto-submission

Company Spotlight: Maximizing Matching Gift Innovation with Innovative Discovery

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The list of matching gift companies is endless⁠—and not exclusive to one region, business size, or corporate sector. Instead, employers all over the world opt to match their employees’ charitable donations. Doing so results in elevated corporate philanthropy, team-wide engagement, and even positive brand image.

So what makes one company’s program stand out over another? There are a lot of factors that go into a top matching gift company, including donation (low) minimums and (high) maximums, open eligibility, seamless donor experiences, and more.

One that stands out in all areas is legal services company Innovative Discovery. And we’ll tell you why!

Read on to learn more about:

Ready to get started? Dive in and see what makes Innovative Discovery’s matching gift program top-tier.

What to Know About Innovative Discovery

Founded in 2005 in Arlington, Virginia, Innovative Discovery is a strategic consulting firm and legal services provider to a wide range of corporations and groups. The company partners with government agencies, construction and manufacturing businesses, energy and utility companies, financial services, healthcare and life sciences providers, and more.

Innovative Discovery employees—a combination of technologists, lawyers, and cybersecurity experts—work as strategic consultants to provide authoritative guidance throughout the litigation processes and information lifecycles. Specifically, the consulting group aims to offer unique insights into cybersecurity, data breaches, digital forensics, and high-stakes litigations to set their clients up for maximal success.

Innovative Discovery matching gift company screenshot

This corporation also places a significant emphasis on giving back to the communities in which they operate, including offering community service, nonprofit sponsorships, and more. Plus, they support nonprofit organizations of all shapes and sizes through their generous matching program.

Current Matching Gift Program Guidelines

Innovative Discovery employees have the opportunity to double their charitable giving impact by participating in the company’s matching initiative. Personal gifts made by Innovative Discovery team members of between $25 and $2,500 are eligible to be matched at a 1:1 rate.

Even better, nearly all nonprofits qualify for the program. This includes K-12 and higher education institutions, arts and cultural institutions, environmental nonprofits, and other registered 501(c)(3) organizations.

And the company makes it as easy as possible for employees to take part, driving participation and overall program usage with auto-submission.

Here’s a quick overview of the Innovative Discovery corporate matching gift program eligibility requirements:

  • Innovative Discovery matching gift program guidelinesMatching gift ratio – 1:1 (or dollar for dollar)
  • Qualifying employees – Current full-time and part-time Innovative Discovery team members qualify to request corporate matching donations.
  • Eligible nonprofit recipients – Most nonprofit mission types qualify for Innovative Discovery matching, which includes:
    • Educational institutions (K-12 included)
    • Health and human services
    • Arts and cultural organizations
    • Civic and community groups
    • Environmental nonprofits
    • And most other 501 (c)(3) organizations
  • Submission process – Employees may complete their match request directly following their initial donation on the organization’s giving form using auto-submission or navigate to Selflessly’s online matching gift portal to fill out a brief application.

Learn more about Innovative Discovery’s matching gift program guidelines here.

Standing Out With Matching Gift Auto-Submission Through Selflessly and Double the Donation

The #1 thing that makes Innovative Discovery’s matching gift program so innovative is its participation in newly developed matching gift auto-submission. By partnering with Double the Donation and corporate giving platform Selflessly, ID is streamlining the process for employees getting involved.

Enabling auto-submission significantly reduces the time and effort involved in completing a matching gift request⁠. And it can all be done directly from a nonprofit’s website⁠—driving more ID employees to participate. With increased program participation, more funding goes to the nonprofit causes their employees care about. Not to mention, the company itself receives elevated benefits from its corporate giving offerings. It’s a win-win-win⁠—and it’s easier than ever before!

Benefits of auto-submission with Selflessly

Here’s how the matching process works for Innovative Discovery team members using auto-submission:

  1. An ID employee makes a donation directly on their favorite nonprofit’s website and enters their company name⁠—Innovative Discovery⁠—in a donation form field.
  2. On the confirmation screen, the employee enters their corporate email address. They then check a box and authorize Double the Donation to submit the match request on their behalf.
  3. From there, the matching gift request is processed behind the scenes⁠—thanks to the integration between Double the Donation and ID’s corporate giving software Selflessly⁠—and the match funding is paid out to the organization.

Overview of matching gift auto-submission with Innovative Discovery

Learn more about matching gift auto-submission with Double the Donation here.

Innovative Discovery’s CSR Software Partner, Selflessly

Innovative Discovery facilitates its matching gifts and other corporate giving initiatives by leveraging a CSR management software company, Selflessly. Selflessly is framed as an “all-in-one giving platform for CSR,” offering both corporate giving and volunteerism features.

Selflessly logo

Through this software solution, companies like Innovative Discovery are able to:

  • Elevate corporate giving and employee matching with ease;
  • Simplify corporate volunteering and organize team and individual volunteer opportunities;
  • Increase employee engagement by participating in social good;
  • Make the most of purposeful reporting and impact assessments.

Recently, Selflessly was also one of the first providers to roll out new auto-submission functionality with Double the Donation, making corporate matching gifts easier than ever before.

Other Innovative Giving Initiatives

Innovative Discovery’s website shares that “the primary focus of ID’s corporate philanthropic efforts are nonprofit organizations valued by our employees.” This idea is reflected in the company’s matching gift program as well as additional team-wide efforts for various charitable causes.

This includes:

  • ID Civic Day ⁠— Innovative Discovery’s Civic Day offers an annual opportunity for team members to engage in their communities. Beyond typical PTO, the company offers an additional paid day off work for employees to volunteer with community service projects.
  • Employee volunteer grants ⁠— ID states that the company supports team member philanthropy through matching donations and investments of their time with corporate volunteer grants. When employees volunteer with various causes, the company pays out grants to the organizations to which they dedicate their time and efforts.
  • Steps for Autism team challenge ⁠— Every April, Innovative Discovery employees take part in a workplace giving campaign on behalf of the Autism Society. During World Autism Month, team members compete by department to see who can get the most steps. At the end of the month, ID makes a donation to the Autism Society on behalf of the winning group.
  • Sponsorship for Climbing Blind: Tibet Expedition ⁠— In 2004, Innovative Discovery aided groundbreaking Climbing Blind’s Tibet Expedition. The company sponsored the event by building essential technical infrastructure. With their newly developed interactive website and intuitive web content management system, Climbing Blind had access to the tools they needed to connect climbers with their growing online community.

Innovative Discovery leadership has made it a point time and time again to invest in giving back to their communities. We’re excited to see what they roll out next!

Wrapping Up

Companies like Innovative Discovery are paving the way for more businesses⁠—and the nonprofits, donors, and communities they support⁠—to benefit from groundbreaking matching gift programs with ease. As more and more corporations roll out innovative auto-submission functionality by leveraging partnerships between corporate giving and matching gift-specific technology, the results will continue growing to new heights.

Ready to learn more about standout matching gift companies and practices? Explore other Double the Donation resources here:

Learn more about Double the Donation auto-submission

Checkr top matching gift company example with auto-submission

Company Spotlight: Get Inspired by Checkr’s Groundbreaking Matching Gift Program

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Companies participate in corporate giving for a number of reasons. A corporate executive might be inspired to give back to a particular cause that resonates with them and their values. A different company might do so in order to engage with its employees on a deeper level, fostering a positive workplace culture and driving satisfaction and retention. Another yet may choose to give in order to receive tax benefits or boost their public image.

Tons of businesses partake in matching employee gifts, and most intend to reap all of the benefits listed above. But there are a few that truly stand out in their efforts⁠—specifically when it comes to corporate matching gifts.

One such company? Checkr!

Want to find out how? We’ve compiled information to provide you with a solid understanding of the Checkr corporation, its philanthropy and matching gift endeavors, and what makes it stand out from the crowd.

This includes:

Let’s begin with the basics.

Company Background: About Checkr

Checkr, Inc. was founded in 2014 with a unique idea to modernize and advance the traditional background check process—while removing common obstacles and enabling a fairer hiring process for all.

Today, this background check screening company aims to aid other businesses with the right technology to make the right recruitment and hiring choices. Checkr is built on the idea of fair chance hiring that works to make the hiring process as even as it can be for all candidates⁠—including those with criminal backgrounds.

Checkr matching gift company screenshot
And Checkr understands the importance of corporate philanthropy in an overall business plan⁠—especially pertaining to strategic recruitment and retention practices. They’ve even written several blog posts citing matching gifts and overall corporate giving programs as key components for How to Recruit Talented Leaders and How to Increase Employee Retention at Your Small Business. Not to mention, the Checkr team offers its own corporate giving initiatives—including, but not limited to, matching employee donations to charitable causes.

Current Matching Gift Program Guidelines

Checkr matches charitable gifts made by all full and part-time employees at a 1:1 rate. With no minimum donation amount and open match availability to nearly all nonprofit causes, Checkr aims to make its employee matching gift program as accessible as possible.

Not to mention, they utilize matching gift auto-submission functionality to enable one-click matching gift requests, which ensures the process is quick and easy for employee participants.

Let’s take a quick look at Checkr’s employee matching donation guidelines:

Checkr matching gift program guidelines

  • Minimum employee donation matched – None!
  • Matching gift ratio – 1:1, or dollar for dollar
  • Qualifying employees – Current full-time and part-time Checkr employees
  • Eligible nonprofit recipients – Nearly all nonprofit causes qualify to receive Checkr matches. This includes:
    • K-12 schools
    • Higher education institutions
    • Health and human services
    • Arts and cultural organizations
    • Civic and community organizations
    • Environmental nonprofits
    • And many more 501 (c)(3) organizations
  • Submission process – Checkr employees can leverage auto-submission to complete the matching gift process in seconds from their favorite organizations’ donation forms or submit their match requests manually by logging into the company’s CSR portal, Millie.

New Feature! Auto-Submission With Millie and Double the Donation

Checkr’s employee donation-matching program has many admirable features that make it one of our top matching gift companies. But what really makes this employer stand out in its offering is its matching gift auto-submission functionality.

Checkr employs corporate giving platform Millie to facilitate its matching gift program. Historically, that meant providing an employee-facing portal with which team members can log in, provide basic information about their recent donations, and submit their matching gift requests.

Now, thanks to a trailblazing integration between Millie and industry-leading matching gift software provider Double the Donation, the process for employee donors is easier than ever before.

In fact, all an individual has to do is enter their corporate email address from the confirmation screen of their favorite organization’s donation page. They won’t be rerouted to a separate submission platform or be required to reenter donation details. The software ecosystem handles it all seamlessly behind the scenes!

Overview of matching gift auto-submission with Checkr

In the end, consider these key benefits of breakthrough auto-submission for all parties involved:

  • Checkr benefits from increased usage of its matching gift program⁠—and the key advantages that go alongside it. This includes improved employee relations, elevated sales and brand image, substantial tax benefits, and much more.
  • At the same time, Checkr employees have the opportunity to double their impact on cherished causes without a complicated process for doing so.
  • And don’t forget about the nonprofits seeing significant growth in matching gift revenue⁠—and the communities that benefit from their services.

Benefits of auto-submission with Millie

Auto-submission has the potential to revolutionize matching gifts⁠, and it’s never been easier for companies like Checkr⁠—as well as the employees and nonprofits in their networks⁠—to make use of it.

Learn more about matching gift auto-submission with Double the Donation here.

What to Know About Checkr’s CSR Partner, Millie

In order to bring their philanthropy to the next level, the Checkr team chooses to leverage a social impact platform called Millie. Millie describes itself as offering a simple and flexible matching gift solution that’s budget-friendly for all companies. And for Checkr, Millie is able to help simplify the facilitation of their matching gifts and other corporate giving programs!

Millie logo

Here’s a look at Millie’s key offerings:

  • Essential matching donation management of programs that encourage both corporate and individual giving;
  • Campaign-hosting capabilities that enable companies to support and fundraise for various causes;
  • Remote and in-person corporate volunteer management tools;
  • Charitable gift cards, affinity groups, gamification campaigns, and more.

Plus, Millie has been at the forefront of corporate giving innovation with its new auto-submission partnership with Double the Donation. This allows businesses like Checkr and more to streamline and elevate philanthropy, ultimately bringing advantages to every party involved. We’re excited to see what they do next, and how they bring forward-thinking companies along with them.

Millie DTD Donor Amplification

Other Corporate Social Responsibility Initiatives

In addition to Checkr’s standout matching gift program, here are a few other CSR efforts that the background check company pursues:

Checkr corporate social responsibility example

  • Bounce Back program ⁠— Bounce Back is a unique program developed by Checkr with the help of its dedicated employees. By providing tools and resources to post-incarcerated applicants and companies looking to establish fair hiring practices, Bounce Back aids in securing a more optimal workforce for everyone involved.
  • Free reentry simulation ⁠— In order to provide insight into the various challenges involved with employment post-incarceration, Checkr has invested in developing an interactive virtual reentry simulator. This free and accessible tool aims to share perspective and understanding of those looking to reenter society after a criminal record.
  • Expungement assistance services ⁠— Checkr believes that a criminal record should not put an end to an individual’s employment potential. And when it’s possible to clear a candidate’s record and reopen opportunities, the company is dedicated to helping with a fast and affordable solution.

The Checkr website states that “Checkr has committed to the Pledge 1% corporate philanthropy movement, pledging to donate one percent of its employees’ time, one percent of its product, one percent of the equity, and one percent of the profits every year to the mission of enabling fair chances.”

But they often go farther than just one percent! In fact, much of Checkr’s corporate offerings revolve around its overall mission of fair chance hiring.

Concluding Thoughts

Matching gift programs continue to expand in terms of both prevalence and potential. And companies like Checkr are leading the pack. By enabling innovative auto-submission, Checkr is demonstrating matching gift programs of the future.

And while bringing inspiration to other corporate leaders, they’re also benefiting their employees by offering next-level engagement experiences, the nonprofits receiving increased funding through the matching programs, and even their own bottom line.

Dive deeper into corporate matching gifts! Learn more with these additional corporate giving resources from Double the Donation:

Learn more about Double the Donation auto-submission

How to start a matching gift program [for companies]

How to Start a Matching Gift Program [For Companies]

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Thousands of companies host matching gift programs that encourage and amplify employee giving to nonprofit causes. When an individual works for such a company, they are able to make a donation to their favorite charitable organization and request a corporate match as well. This stretches the impact of their initial gift further, allowing them to make a more significant difference with their dollars.

While these types of programs are continuing to grow in popularity among companies and their employees alike, unfortunately, not all businesses offer gift-matching. But it’s not too late to get started!

If you’re a corporate leader looking to find out how to start a matching gift program for your company, you’ve come to the right place. In this step-by-step guide, we’ll walk through the key actions that, when done right, will enable you to develop an effective matching program for your business. These steps include:

  1. Setting a budget and goals for your donation-matching program.
  2. Identifying matching gift threshold criteria.
  3. Determining eligibility for your matching gift programs.
  4. Deciding how your company will facilitate matching.
  5. Establishing your matching gift request process (and deadline).
  6. Exploring matching gift auto-submission to simplify participation.
  7. Crafting an employee-facing matching gift policy document.
  8. Informing employees about your matching gift initiative.
  9. Ensuring your matching gift program is added to the top matching database.
  10. Collecting data, tracking impact, and making program improvements.

Companies match gifts for a wide range of reasons. These typically encompass business-related benefits such as increased employee engagement, improved reputation, tax deductions, and more⁠. In fact, employees and consumers alike are now more than ever demanding corporate social responsibility from the brands they support.

Studies show that more than 77% of employees reported a sense of purpose as a part of the reason they selected their current employer, while 2/3 of young employees won’t take a job at a company with poor CSR practices, and 55% of employees would even take a pay cut to work for a socially responsible company. At the same time, 90% of consumers worldwide are likely to switch to brands supporting good causes, while 66% would pay more to CSR-focused businesses.

Reasons why companies should start matching gift programs

However, genuine altruism can be another key driver behind matching gifts and other workplace and corporate philanthropy programs. Corporate leaders know they have the opportunity to make a real difference in the world and utilize their businesses to do so. And launching a matching gift program is a particularly impactful way to go.

Let’s dive in with the first step.

1. Set a budget and goals for your donation-matching program.

Before you can (or should) launch any new corporate initiative, it’s important to begin with your budget and goals. The same is true for matching gifts. These two criteria will guide the rest of your efforts⁠—your budget because it allows you to determine your new program’s limits and goals to help prioritize objectives and establish what success looks like.

When it comes to budget, we recommend setting a figure that is on the higher end of realistic for your business. That is because, although not every employee will choose to partake, you want to be sure you have the funding should you end up with higher participation rates than you’d initially expected.

You’ll also need to determine where this money will come from. Keep in mind that, though some companies reallocate funding for their matching gift programs from an existing philanthropic budget, others opt to establish a match reserve that is above and beyond any prior giving.

Now, for your goals; two of the most common types of objectives that a company might set in terms of matching gift program success have to do with dollars donated or employee participation. For example, you may decide that your goal for the first twelve months of your program is to contribute $X thousand dollars through employee matching gifts. On the other hand, perhaps you set a primary objective to incite X% staff participation in your matching gift program’s foundational year.

For additional context, take a look at the participation rates from several top matching gift companies in the financial, technology, consumer goods, and pharmaceutical industries:

Employee participation rate is one of the more crucial matching gift statistics.

Regardless, either objective structure works; it’s just a matter of ensuring your team is on the same page.

2. Identify matching gift threshold criteria.

Once you have your budget and goals set, it’s time to establish the boundaries of your program. Essentially, this criteria determines the total amount of funding that is available to each employee on an annual basis and should include the following details:

  • Ratios ⁠— Your matching gift ratio is the rate at which you agree to match employee donations. 1:1 is by far the most common match rate, with 91% of companies match donations doing so at a 1:1 ratio. However, some companies (approximately 4%) choose to match at a lower rate, such as .5:1, while others (5%) match at a higher rate, such as 2, 3, or even 4:1. For context, if an employee were to make a $100 donation, a 1:1 match would involve a $100 corporate gift, while a .5:1 match would result in a $50 match, and a 2:1 ratio would produce a $200 match.
  • Minimum amounts ⁠— Next is the minimum amount that your company agrees to match. Minimums are typically set in order to ensure employees are requesting corporate funds for the organizations they truly care about and support with their own dollars. Overall, 93% of companies with matching gift programs have a minimum match requirement of less than or equal to $50, with the average falling at $34. However, minimums can be as low as $1, and some companies choose not to set minimum gift amounts in the first place.
  • Maximum amounts ⁠— On the other end of the spectrum, nearly all companies set maximum match amounts that they’re willing to pay. Maximum caps allow corporations to manage their budgets properly and ensure there is funding available for any eligible employee to participate. Our research shows that 80% of companies’ matching gift maximums fall between $500 and $10,000 annually per employee, the mean amount coming in at $3,728.

Some businesses even vary their guidelines depending on an individual’s employment status or job type. For example, executive-level team members may be eligible for a 2:1 match up to $20,000, while all other employees receive a 1:1 match up to $10,000. In the same vein, you may decide that part-time and retired employees can request a particular amount of match funding, while current full-time staff are eligible for a higher level.

3. Determine eligibility for your matching gift programs.

Beyond monetary amounts, many companies also set specific eligibility criteria regarding the employee types that qualify to request matches, nonprofit mission types that qualify to receive matches, and contribution types that qualify as initial donations. Let’s take a look at each in further detail as you decide which kinds of gifts your company is willing to match:

  • Employee participants ⁠— Most matching gift programs are divided into eligibility status based on employment with the company offering the program. Typically, any combination of current, full-time, current part-time, and retired employees will qualify to get involved. However, some companies take things a step further by offering program eligibility to spouses and other family members of current and former staff members as well.
  • Nonprofit recipients ⁠— Though many companies will match gifts to any nonprofit organizations, others will choose specific mission types to either focus on or exclude from the matching initiative. For example, churches and other strictly religious organizations are some of the most common exclusions from companies’ matching programs. On the other hand, some companies will choose a specific cause type (often educational institutions) to which they will exclusively direct matching gift funds. Overall, companies typically choose from organizations in categories such as higher educational institutions, K-12 schools, health and human services, arts and cultural organizations, civic and community organizations, environmental organizations, and more.
  • Donation types ⁠— By this point, you should have already determined the amounts you’re willing to match per employee in a pre-determined period. Now comes the question of which types of donations are eligible for corporate matching. Nonprofit donations can be made through a wide range of channels, including (but not limited to) an organization’s website, online donation tools, peer-to-peer giving campaigns, text giving, direct mail, recurring donations, phonathons, paycheck deductions, event pledges, stock donations and other gifts of securities, and more.

In order to ensure an optimal employee giving experience, experts recommend providing a large number of choices for employees to give⁠ and to get their gifts matched⁠. Similarly, your company will likely see significantly increased participation levels should you open the program to as many employees and nonprofits as possible.

4. Decide how your company will facilitate matching.

Even after launching your matching gift offering, maintaining an effective program will require some continuous upkeep from company leadership. However, you don’t have to do it all manually if you choose not to.

There are generally two key management methods you can choose from:

  • In-house program management ⁠— Many companies⁠—particularly small businesses⁠—start by matching gifts on their own. While this can keep program overhead costs low, it will require additional investments of time and effort from corporate management. After employees submit their matching gift requests, there must be a process in place to facilitate the review of employee submissions, verify initial donations meet matching criteria, approve corporate matches, and disburse match funding.
  • Outsourcing to third-party solution ⁠— The alternative to in-house management is outsourcing aspects of your matching gift program to a third-party solution. Though this path will typically involve paying fees to various software vendors, it ultimately saves your team time, effort, and resources. Working with a matching gift software vendor (we have reviews of several top providers for businesses of all shapes and sizes here) allows your company to take a more hands-off approach to matching gifts while streamlining the processes involved for employee participants.

Either practice works, and many companies find that they begin with an in-house management style but later upgrade with corporate giving technology to elevate their efforts. As you make your decision, keep in mind that CSR is an investment that tends to bring substantial benefits to your business as a whole.

5. Establish your matching gift request process (and deadline).

In order to participate in your newly developed matching gift program, employees need to know how to participate and how long they have after making their initial nonprofit donations to complete the request process. Regarding the latter, most companies set their program participation deadlines according to one of the following schedule approaches:

  • Number of months following an initial donation ⁠— Most commonly six or twelve months following the date of an employee’s initial donation, this type of matching gift deadline works on a rolling basis. If an employee donated to a nonprofit on a certain day one year, they might qualify to request their match until the same date the following year. Or, they might remain eligible for six, nine, or even eighteen months after their original gift, depending on the company offering the program.
  • End of the calendar year ⁠— For companies that utilize the calendar year to organize their matching gift programs, it’s simple to determine when a match request is due. Whichever year the initial donation was made, the match must be submitted by December 31st of the same year. This is true regardless of whether the gift was contributed on January 1st or December 1st. However, this can result in employees who give later in the year having significantly less time to submit their matches.
  • End of the calendar year + grace period ⁠— Similar to the previous type, some companies choose to enact a matching gift deadline based on the end of the calendar year and then add on a grace period. The grace period is typically a few additional months into the next year. This means that an individual’s match request would typically be due by February, March, or April following the year in which the initial donation was made.
  • End of the fiscal year ⁠— If your company operates on a schedule other than the calendar year, it might make sense for your team to set your matching gift deadline in relation to the end of that year instead. Drawbacks to this method may occur if employees are not aware of the fiscal year the company runs on, so be sure to proactively communicate your deadline to employees if so.

Other common stipulations include that the employee must be gainfully employed by the company at both the time the donation is made and the time the match request is submitted and paid out.

As you craft your submission deadlines, you’ll also want to determine which information you’ll request from employees looking to submit their match requests. Common requirements include the employee’s name, organization name, mailing address, and tax ID number, and donation amount and type. You may also ask for a copy of the individual’s donation receipt, and some companies choose to verify each donation with the organization itself (though that can be a hassle for all parties involved).

You’ll also need to establish and ultimately communicate the way in which employees will go about requesting their matches. If you choose to manage your program with a matching gift software vendor, be sure to direct team members to the company’s online match request portal. If you end up facilitating your program in-house, ensure individuals know how to complete the submission process and have the resources they need to do so.

6. Explore matching gift auto-submission to simplify participation.

When you offer a matching gift program for your employees, you want them to partake. Otherwise, you limit the benefits of the initiative that you’ve invested your time, energy, and resources into developing.

Thus, in order to boost participation in your program, it’s important that you make the process involved in doing so as quick, easy, and painless as possible. And the best way to do so is by enabling matching gift auto-submission!

Auto-submission functionality is a trailblazing initiative made available through Double the Donation and its innovative CSR platform partners—including Millie, Selflessly, POINT, and more.

When a company leverages one of these corporate giving solutions to facilitate its matching gift program, they automatically empower employees to get their gifts matched directly from their favorite nonprofits’ websites. Whereas previously, donors were required to complete a separate request process and provide nonprofit and donor information, all they need to do with auto-submission is provide their corporate email address (or another piece of identifying information).

Starting a matching gift program with auto-submission

From there, the software systems process the request seamlessly behind the scenes, reducing roadblocks for employees and resulting in elevated engagement in the programming.

7. Craft an employee-facing matching gift policy document.

Some of the biggest reasons employees fail to participate in their companies’ matching gift programs, even if they make qualifying donations, is that they are unaware of their eligibility or lack understanding of the match request process and, subsequently, end up missing the deadline. Therefore, it’s essential that you take steps to communicate your program’s guidelines and instructions for participation to eligible employees.

One of the easiest and most effective ways to do so is by producing employee-facing documentation with all the information your staff will need to get involved. This should include your company’s match criteria, such as:

  • Match ratio
  • Minimum and maximum donation amounts
  • Qualifying employees and nonprofit causes
  • Types of donations and submission deadlines
  • Matching gift request process and links to online forms
  • Participation in auto-submission

Once you have all the information in one place, it’s easy for employees to determine whether their most recent donations are eligible for matching and take the initiative to participate. Keep in mind that, as you make adjustments to your matching gift program, it’s important to ensure your policy documentation is as accurate and up-to-date as possible.

DOWNLOAD OUR FREE MATCHING GIFT POLICY TEMPLATE

8. Inform employees about your matching gift initiative.

Once your program is live, it’s time to begin promoting the opportunity to your employees. This is an essential, though often overlooked, step in the process. In fact, our research shows that despite 26 million individuals working for companies that match gifts, more than 78% of the group has never been made aware of the programs.

Unfortunately, many of those individuals never go to request corporate matches regardless of their eligibility to participate. In the end, that means companies are not reaping the maximum benefit of the programs they worked to establish.

Thus, in order to make the most of your business’ match initiative, it’s imperative that you take the time to ensure your workforce is aware. What this looks like specifically can vary from company to company.

You might:

  • Send out a team-wide email;
  • Announce the inception of your program at a meeting;
  • Add a section to your office policy handbook;
  • Incorporate matching gifts in your onboarding process going forward;

Or even all of the above.

The bottom line is that your employees should know about the program and be reminded of the opportunity multiple times throughout the year.

9. Ensure your matching gift program is added to the top matching database.

Directly informing your staff about your newly developed matching gift program is critical. Now your team should be aware of the initiative and ready to get involved. But you also want to ensure that employees are reminded of the program opportunities directly after making eligible nonprofit donations⁠—ideally from the organizations themselves.

For that to occur, you’ll need to first confirm that your matching gift program is added to the leading database of corporate matching gift program information: Double the Donation. Once added, employees will be able to search your company and receive program-specific details straight from the organizations they support, often within a donation confirmation screen widget or follow-up email.

Add your company to Double the Donation's database after starting your company's matching gift program

From there, employees can navigate to your company’s matching gift request forms online and complete their submissions while leveraging their post-donation momentum. It simplifies the process involved for team members and results in significantly more matches being completed⁠—meaning more nonprofits receiving funding and increased benefits for your company.

To add your company, follow this link and provide the information requested. This includes your company name, submission materials (such as links to online forms, PDF uploads), and eligibility criteria.

(Hint: the more information you share, the easier it will be for employees to participate in your program.)

10. Collect data, track impact, and make program improvements.

This last stage of the matching gift development process involves taking a look at the program you’ve created and determining whether it meets the criteria previously set in place during step #1. You should be collecting and analyzing data throughout the process (made particularly simple when utilizing program management software). Now, this data comes in handy to help determine program success.

For example, did you meet or exceed your goals? If so⁠—what happens now? Will you set loftier goals for the future and continue matching? If not, how will you adjust your program strategy to ensure your team is on track to reach your goals this time around?

You can also take a closer look at your company’s data to determine and communicate program impact. This should answer questions like how many and to which nonprofits did your company give? What amounts were donated through both employee gifts and corporate matches?

Finally, you’ll want to explore ways to continuously improve your matching gift program in the months and years to come. Consider ways to drive employee engagement in your programming. Elevate giving by increasing your match ratio or maximum donation cap. Or simplify participation in your program by enabling matching gift auto-submission for your employees! As your company grows, your matching gift initiative should grow alongside it.

It doesn’t have to be difficult to get started with matching gifts, and your company’s programming doesn’t have to be the most built-out initiative before you can make it available to employees. Everyone has to begin somewhere, and following the nine steps above will allow you to build a solid foundation for your workforce.

Good luck, and happy matching!

Interested in learning more about matching gifts and developing optimized employee giving initiatives? Check out these other educational resources for companies here:

Find out how to start a matching gift program and drive corporate philanthropy at your company!

How to advocate for a matching gift program to your employer

How to Advocate for a Matching Gift Program to Your Employer

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Matching gifts are one of the simplest and most impactful ways for nonprofit donors to amplify their support for their favorite causes. Unfortunately, not all companies offer these initiatives⁠—which is why you’re searching for best practices on how to advocate for a matching gift program.

You’ve come to the right place! Double the Donation is full of experts on matching gift programs, and we’ve compiled a list of easy tips for individual employees to take in order to effectively communicate the value of matching gift programs to the corporate leaders at their company.

Specifically, we recommend taking the following steps:

  1. Cover the basics of matching gift programs.
  2. Explain the benefits of matching employee gifts.
  3. Highlight similar businesses with matching gift programs.
  4. Share resources to streamline program development.
  5. Emphasize simplicity with auto-submission and CSR platforms.
  6. Use a template to communicate your request.

In this guide, we’ll walk through each practice in detail. Ready to learn more about how to convince your boss to build a matching gift program?

Let’s begin!

1. Cover the basics of matching gift programs.

First things first, it’s a good idea to begin with a solid foundation of knowledge regarding workplace giving programs and matching gifts. Not only will this help you to understand the value of the constantly growing opportunity, but it can also enable you to better advocate for the programs to your employer.

Matching gifts are one of the most popular forms of corporate philanthropy⁠—both in terms of the number of programs available and the high regard for the initiatives among companies, employees, and nonprofits alike.

This is typically an ongoing opportunity where a company agrees to match monetary donations their team members make to qualifying nonprofit causes. For example, Employee A decides to contribute $100 to Nonprofit B. Employee A then submits a match request to their employer, Company C. Company C reviews the submission, verifies the initial gift, and makes their own corporate donation to Nonprofit B. In the end, Nonprofit B receives double the funding, while Employee A is able to see their dollars make a larger impact and their employer support the causes that they care about.

Knowing the basics of matching gifts can help advocate for a matching gift program.

It helps to make your request as detailed as possible so your employer knows exactly what your matching gift program entails and isn’t surprised down the line. A helpful timeline to include is the general steps of starting a matching gift program. Consider these essential steps from re: charity’s Guide to Starting a Corporate Matching Gift Program:

  1. Establish your minimum and maximum giving amounts
  2. Determine which types of causes and which employees are eligible for participation 
  3. Create a submission process
  4. Launch your program

Most matching gifts go unclaimed due to employees being unaware that their company offers a matching gift program. Thus, your company should prioritize promoting your program to employees so it can achieve its maximum potential.

You may also want to take the opportunity to highlight typical matching gift parameters. Each company that builds a matching gift program has the chance to set its own matching gift ratio, minimum and maximum match amounts, submission deadline, and more. They can even determine which types of employees and nonprofits are eligible to participate, thus tailoring the program to meet the company’s specific needs and abilities.

In order to provide some more context into what existing companies are doing, we also have key statistics and benchmarks that can be shared. For example, 93% of companies have a minimum match requirement of less than or equal to $50, with the average landing at $34. On the other end of the spectrum, 80% of companies’ matching gift maximums fall between $500 and $10,000 annually per employee, for a mean of $3,728. And when it comes to ratios, 91% of companies match at a 1:1 rate, while 4% match at a lower rate (such as .5:1) and 5% match at a higher rate (such as 2:1, 3:1, or even 4:1).

2. Explain the benefits of matching employee gifts.

Once you have the basics of matching gift programs down, it’ll be essential to understand and communicate the range of ways in which a company can benefit from offering employee matching gifts. As your employer considers developing a matching program, it’s important to continuously highlight the value that will be derived from it.

Use these stats to advocate for a matching gift program at your company.

Specifically, we can break things down into both internal and external advantages.

Internal

People want to work for companies that support the greater good. That’s why businesses that give back to the community tend to see:

  • Increased levels of employee engagement. When employees feel good about the companies they work for, they’ll be more likely to be highly engaged in their jobs. By matching employee donations, a company can elevate engagement levels while simultaneously giving back to their communities and society as a whole.
  • Higher rates of team member productivity. This piggybacks off of employee engagement. Highly engaged employees are more likely to see high levels of productivity in their roles, having been increasingly inspired to drive forward the company and its success with their own efforts.
  • Longer staff tenures overall. More and more, individuals are looking for companies to work for that make a difference. When businesses offer socially responsible benefits such as matching gift programs, employees will have fewer reasons to seek employment elsewhere.
  • Opportunities to attract new talent to the workforce. Individuals looking for employment with companies that benefit nonprofits, and specifically the causes their employees care about, will be more likely to apply and accept positions with CSR-focused businesses.

In fact, research shows that over 77% of surveyed individuals report a sense of purpose as part of the reason they selected their current employer, while more than 54% of employees who are proud of their company’s contributions to society report being fully engaged in their job. Even more, 55% reported being willing to take a pay cut to work for a socially responsible company.

Corporate leaders know that a positive work environment is essential to running a successful business. Thus, philanthropy is key⁠—and giving directly to employees’ favorite causes through matching gifts can produce even greater results than supporting nonprofits in a more general sense.

External

The reasons to launch a matching gift program don’t stop at internal benefits, either. Companies can also see substantial advantages when it comes to their consumers.

Research into CSR, and specifically matching gifts, reports that 77% of consumers are motivated to purchase from companies committed to making the world a better place and that over 90% of consumers are likely to switch to brands supporting good causes. Plus, 66% of consumers would pay more to socially and environmentally responsible businesses.

Thus, if businesses are looking to best appeal to their buyers, they know to contribute to nonprofit causes and that matching gifts are an effective way to do it. Because consumers are now expecting⁠—and even demanding⁠—social responsibility from their favorite brands, not participating in such programs can even cause businesses to lose out on a major competitive advantage.

3. Highlight similar businesses with matching gift programs.

One of the most impactful ways to persuade your employer to launch a matching gift initiative is to show them a number of well-known businesses that are already doing so. It’s its own kind of social proof! They’ll see other companies, perhaps even their competitors, benefiting from matching employee donations and be increasingly inspired to get involved.

You can even provide examples based on the industry in which you’re employed. For instance, let’s say you work for a bank. You may consider the following companies’ match programs as a model:

  • Truist Bank ⁠— matches full-time employees’ donations of between $50 and $2,500 at a 1:1 ratio to most nonprofit organizations
  • PNC Financial Services Group ⁠— matches full-time employees’ donations of between $50 and $2,500 at up to a 4:1 ratio to many nonprofit organizations
  • Bank of America ⁠— matches current employees’ donations of between $24 and $5,000 at a 1:1 ratio to nearly all nonprofit organizations

Meanwhile, if you work for a retailer, you might highlight programs from companies like these:

  • The Home Depot ⁠— matches current employees’ donations of between $25 and $3,000 at a 1:1 ratio to most nonprofit organizations
  • Gap Corporation ⁠— matches current and retired employees’ donations of between $10 and $10,000 at a 1:1 ratio to most nonprofit organizations
  • Macy’s ⁠— matches current and retired employees’ donations of between $25 and $500 at a 1:1 ratio to most nonprofit organizations

Perhaps you’re employed by an airline. In that case, get inspired by Alaska Airlines’ matching gift program. Work for a hotel? Check out Choice Hotels’ standout program!

Or, if you want to provide a few matching gift companies in the same area as your employer, we’ve produced several geographic-based lists to help. Encourage your company to look at examples of powerful matching gift programs in Boston, Atlanta, Philadelphia, New York, Seattle, Dallas, Denver, Detroit, Miami, Baltimore, Los Angeles, and so on. Just search “matching gift companies in [the city of your choice]” to locate even more inspirational programs.

The bottom line is that there are tons of existing matching gift companies to aspire to. By sharing sample programs with your employer, you can help inspire them to take steps to develop their own initiative.

4. Share resources to streamline program development.

One of the most significant roadblocks for many companies interested in matching gifts is that they simply don’t know where to start. You can help remove obstacles before they occur by sharing useful resources from the beginning.

For example, we created a step-by-step guide on how to establish a matching gift program for companies in situations just like this. This resource covers key undertakings, which include setting a budget and objectives, determining eligibility criteria, promoting the program to employees, tracking data and making improvements, and more. Or we’ve also created a free downloadable template that companies can use to customize their program policies.

If you’re interested in other corporate-facing assets, we have these resources as well:

Feel free to forward the guides to your employer to help kick things into action.

5. Emphasize simplicity with auto-submission and CSR platforms.

A common hindrance for new companies considering exploring matching gift programs is that it can seem like a significant undertaking—both in terms of getting the program off the ground as well as managing matching gifts in the long run. Luckily, dedicated technology known as CSR or corporate giving platforms enable businesses to launch and facilitate matching programs with ease.

In order to overcome this potential roadblock with your employer, we recommend coming prepared with information about such solutions and how they can help. For example, some corporate giving technology empowers companies and their employees to give quickly and easily with new matching gift auto-submission abilities made available through tightened integrations between nonprofits, donors, companies, and employees.

This innovative functionality allows employers to decrease time spent on matching gift requests for themselves and their employees, consequently resulting in more completed matches, and amplifying the ROI of these programs.

Advocating for a matching gift program with auto-submission

6. Use a template to communicate your request.

Now, it’s time to put everything together and begin actively advocating for a matching gift program at your company. During this stage, you want to ensure your matching gift program request is as well-thought-out and well-written as possible. You also want to make sure you can hit all the points discussed above.

Get a headstart on drafting a message to your employer by utilizing a customizable template like this:

Subject line: Request for a corporate matching gift program

Hi [manager or HR representative name],

I am writing to request the addition of a corporate matching gift program at [company name].

If you weren’t aware, thousands of companies across the globe have begun establishing employee matching gift programs as a way to support their staffs and the nonprofit causes they contribute to. Companies that offer these programs essentially agree to match gifts made by their employees to qualifying nonprofit causes with their own corporate donations.

This is an extremely beneficial program to host for every party involved⁠—including the company, its employees, and the nonprofits they support. For the companies specifically, matching gift programs tend to result in substantial advantages in terms of employee engagement and retention, opportunities to attract competitive candidates, improved brand image, and even increasing sales.

And on the employee’s end, team members love knowing that their employer is willing to contribute to their favorite causes; hence, why they end up having longer tenures in the business and seeing higher levels of engagement than ever before.

In order to best understand the impact that matching gifts can have on [company name], I recommend checking out matching programs from well-known businesses such as General Electric, Gap Corporation, Coca-Cola Company, and the Home Depot.

If you’d like to take steps to establish a matching gift program for the company, Double the Donation has provided a detailed guide that walks corporate leaders through the process. You can access this resource here in hopes that it will help simplify the creation of such a beneficial program and use this free template to kickstart your policy creation.

Thank you for your consideration,

[Your name]
[Job position]
[Contact information]

If you choose to go with a face-to-face meeting with management, feel free to use the above template as conversation talking points or a presentation follow-up message instead. Overall, a combination of verbal and written communication touch-points is likely going to produce the greatest results.

More and more companies are developing matching gift programs, and your employer just might be one of them. By promoting the opportunity to the decision-makers at the company you work for, you can help communicate the increasing demand for this type of socially responsible corporate initiative.

Best of luck!

Interested in diving deeper into matching gifts and other corporate philanthropy initiatives to help prepare your company for success? Explore our other educational resources here:

Double the Donation can help individuals advocate for a matching gift program.

Corporate Philanthropy + Employee Retention: The Connection

Corporate Philanthropy + Employee Retention: The Connection

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Did you know that 71% of surveyed employees stated that it’s very important to work at a company that supports giving to and volunteering with nonprofit causes?

Or that 77% of millennials reported a sense of purpose as part of the reason they selected their current employer?

Or that employees who engage with corporate giving programs tend to have 75% longer tenures with the company?

Or that 55% of employees would even take a lower salary in order to work for a socially responsible company?

These facts⁠—and more⁠—help demonstrate the powerful internal benefits that corporate philanthropy and CSR can have on a business. And when it comes to corporate philanthropy and employee retention, the impact is substantial.

In this guide, we’ll provide companies with everything there is to know about corporate giving, staff retention, and the overlap of the two key concepts. If you’re looking to better engage your employees and keep them around for as long as possible, let’s dive in with the following topics:

Effective corporate philanthropy initiatives and high levels of employee retention year over year can each play significant roles in a company’s overall success. But many business owners fail to realize that the two ideas actually go hand in hand!

Let’s see how it works.

An Overview of Corporate Philanthropy

Corporate philanthropy is a key component of CSR (or corporate social responsibility), in which businesses dedicate time, money, and resources to promote the welfare of others. This often occurs through charitable donations to nonprofit organizations looking to drive a particular mission forward. Some of the most common examples of corporate philanthropy offerings are community grants, matching gifts, team volunteerism, event sponsorships, and more.

Thousands of businesses opt to partake in corporate philanthropy in one form or another, in no small part due to the substantial benefits that participating companies see. These advantages include⁠—but are not limited to⁠—an improved brand image, increased marketing opportunities and sales, heightened levels of team member engagement, attraction of new candidates, and (of course) elevated rates of employee retention.

What To Know About Employee Retention

Every company wants to have high levels of employee retention. Not only is it more cost-effective to maintain the same high-performing team members year after year, but it also demonstrates a positive work environment that will be attractive to new potential employees as well. This will enable your business to onboard more top team members who will, ideally, also stay at the job for years to come.

And it all comes down to this: employees who are highly engaged in their roles are more likely to be retained at a business for longer periods. Not to mention, you’ll require less time and energy devoted to hiring and onboarding new individuals, develop an inviting employee culture, and see higher levels of productivity among team members.

The Overlap Between Philanthropy + Staff Retention

Companies tend to see a significant positive correlation between investments in corporate philanthropy and employee retention results.

But why? It’s simple: corporate philanthropy initiatives lead to higher levels of employee engagement. High levels of engagement lead to lengthened employee tenures at the business.

This is because people (especially those of younger generations) like working for companies that promote social good. In fact, 54% of employees who are proud of their company’s contributions to society report being engaged in the workplace. As a result, these individuals are significantly less likely to leave their employers.

Tips for Driving Corporate Philanthropy + Employee Retention

Ready to see these benefits for your own team? Check out our top three tried-and-true practices for companies looking to increase philanthropy and retention:

1. Enable employees to play a significant role in your company’s giving.

Giving to any nonprofit will have a number of benefits to your business and its team. But when you allow employees to play a hands-on role in your corporate philanthropy initiatives and decisions, you’ll receive multiple times the impact on your engagement and retention strategies.

And that’s where workplace giving comes in!

Workplace giving is a particular form of corporate philanthropy where individual employees are encouraged to take the driver’s seat in their employers’ philanthropic initiatives. In these programs, team members are able to direct the company’s dollars toward their favorite nonprofit causes. For example, matching gifts and volunteer grants are offered when a company provides additional support to organizations that their employees are already supporting, whether through time or dollars.

With workplace giving and other employee-led programs, employees have a larger say in the businesses’ overall CSR and can feel the impacts of their employers’ giving on a more personal scale.

2. Provide many ways for employees to participate in philanthropic efforts.

Corporate philanthropy⁠—and even workplace giving⁠—is not a one-size-fits-all solution for employee retention or overall CSR. There are tons of powerful ideas for companies and their employees to get involved.

A few of our favorite ways for companies and their employees to participate in philanthropy include:

  • Matching gifts
  • Individual volunteer grants
  • Team volunteer grants
  • Group volunteer opportunities
  • Payroll deductions
  • Cause marketing campaigns
  • Employee giving stipends

In addition, the more you simplify involvement with your company’s giving programs, the higher levels of participation, engagement, and retention you’ll likely see. For example, one of the most important factors for providing employees with an optimized giving experience is the requirements of eligible contributions.

If you’re matching employee donations, it’s a good idea to match all kinds of donations⁠—such as website, in-person, direct mail, text, and peer-to-peer gifts. The more involvement options you provide, the more likely an individual is to get their gift matched.

Keep in mind that not every employee will want to engage with nonprofit causes in the same way. For some, matching gifts are an amazing opportunity⁠—especially if an individual already gives to a qualifying organization.

On the other hand, some employees will prefer to assist nonprofits with their time instead. For these team members, volunteerism-based initiatives such as group volunteer events and dollars for doers grants will have a larger impact on their likelihood of participating and overall engagement levels.

3. Effectively communicate the impact of your philanthropy to employees.

Beyond simplifying the process, one of the best ways to drive employee participation (and increase the benefits of your efforts) is to focus on the positive impact that your philanthropy has on the world.

Here are a few common ways that companies can do so:

  • Previous Giving Statistics: Picture this⁠—Company A is looking to utilize its philanthropic success in the previous year in order to drive the current year’s giving initiatives. In 2021, Company A donated more than $2 million to mission-driven nonprofits between individual contributions and company matches. This included donations to over 150 nonprofit causes, serving organizations in education, arts and culture, health and human services, environmental sectors, and more. The company decides to highlight these facts and communicate to employees that their participation in the program can make a difference toward total success.
  • Mission Impact: Partaking in a workplace giving program enables individuals to make a larger impact on a cause that they care about. Companies looking to drive participation in matching gift programs, for example, can highlight that an employee’s gift has the potential to do twice as much for the organization’s mission. For example, instead of feeding 10 families for a month with their generous contribution, a donor is able to leverage their company match to feed 20 families or more.

And these don’t have to be solely internal strategies, either. Prioritizing your company’s philanthropic impact can be a great way to drive team-wide engagement in the programs and, thus, increase retention rates. But these same ideas can also be used to elevate your brand in the public eye as well.

Without an effective strategy in place to communicate the value of your company’s giving initiatives, on the other hand, your team is not likely to receive the greatest benefits possible. Your philanthropy won’t keep employees at your company if nobody⁠—team members included⁠—know about the efforts.

The more a company participates in corporate giving initiatives, the higher the level of pride employees have in the business, and the more its employees will be engaged in their role. Each of these ultimately leads to significantly higher rates of retention, which, in turn, enables the corporation to invest more into its philanthropic efforts.

So if you’ve been looking for new ways to keep your high-performing employees with the business for longer, getting started with corporate philanthropy might be just what you’re looking for. Good luck!

Learn more about the benefits of corporate philanthropy and how to get involved with these other company-specific educational resources:

Find out how to drive corporate philanthropy at your company!

How to Offer the Ultimate Employee Giving Experience

How to Offer the Ultimate Employee Giving Experience

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Picture this: you’re the owner of a mid-size technology company that employs around 100 staff members. You’ve been brainstorming ways to boost employee morale and show your target customers that you run a value-driven business making its mark on the world.

You stumble across the idea of corporate philanthropy and, more specifically, employee giving. Quickly, you realize that this one concept can help you meet your previously stated goals⁠—and the tax break would be an added bonus!

You decide to take the plunge and invest in developing a workplace giving initiative that will simultaneously benefit your company, your employees, and a wide range of charitable organizations.

But how can you ensure your staff will actually want to participate? By offering them an employee giving experience that prioritizes their wants and needs and is as simple a process as possible!

Here’s how you can do that:

  1. Inform employees of available workplace giving opportunities.
  2. Provide employees with ample ways to give.
  3. Make it simple for employees to determine eligibility guidelines.
  4. Ensure your company is listed in corporate giving databases.
  5. Incentivize participation in employee giving programs.
  6. Simplify requests with auto-submission functionality.

In this guide, we’ll dive into these valuable tips for employers like yourself looking to make the most of their workplace giving programs.

Ready to get started with our first step? Let’s begin!

Make sure employees are informed about your employee giving experience.

1. Inform employees of available workplace giving opportunities.

Before you can expect employees to participate in your workplace giving initiatives, you’ll need to ensure your staff is made aware of these programs in the first place. Prior to that, you’ll need to determine which types of giving programs you’ll be offering:

Here are a few of the most common examples:

  • Matching gifts: Your company matches employee donations to qualifying nonprofits, often dollar for dollar.
  • Volunteer grants: Your company provides nonprofits where employees regularly volunteer with monetary grants.
  • Employee stipends: Your company allocates a dollar amount to each employee annually, which they donate to the nonprofit of their choice.

Regardless of the combination of giving programs you choose, informing your staff about the new offerings and how to get involved is of utmost importance.

According to matching gift research, 78% of individuals eligible for corporate giving programs are completely unaware. As a result, they’re not able to make the most of these philanthropic initiatives.

We recommend providing informational materials that outline your corporate giving programs to all existing staff to get started. For example, you might hold a meeting, send a company-wide email, share a pamphlet, and add an explainer to your employee handbook. Then, be sure your staff knows where to go to seek additional details on the program!

Going forward, you’ll want to educate all new team members about workplace giving opportunities as well.

An optimal employee giving experience means offering multiple ways to give.

2. Provide employees with ample ways to give.

There are tons of ways that individual donors can support nonprofit causes⁠. So when you create your workplace giving program, your offerings must be inclusive of all types of employee giving.

Top donation channels might include (but are not limited to):

  • Nonprofit websites
  • Online giving tools
  • Peer-to-peer campaigns
  • Text-to-give
  • Direct mail
  • Recurring gifts
  • Phonathons
  • Paycheck deductions
  • Event pledges
  • Workplace giving or CSR platforms

The opportunities are endless⁠—and each staff member at your business might have a different favorite way to give.

According to the same matching gift studies above, “96% of employees at companies with matching gift programs have a strong or very strong preference for their company to match donations made directly to a nonprofit (such as through the nonprofit’s website, peer-to-peer fundraising platform, or mail) rather than only matching donations through a workplace giving software platforms. The more options an employee has to give and to get their gift matched, the more likely they are to utilize available company matching opportunities.”

To offer the best employee giving experience, 96% of employees prefer their company to match donations made directly to a nonprofit.This means that, in order to provide a positive employee giving experience for everyone, be sure to keep your giving (and matching) channels open.

Make your program guidelines accessible to improve the employee giving experience.

3. Make it simple for employees to determine eligibility guidelines.

As you work to ensure your company is well-informed about the existence of your employee giving programs, it’s equally critical that your programs’ eligibility guidelines are readily apparent as well. But what are these so-called guidelines?

Let’s take matching gifts (i.e., one of the most-used forms of workplace giving) as an example. In order for employees to participate in your company gift-matching initiative, you’ll need to provide your staff with the following information:

  • Donation minimums and maximums: This is the range within which you’ll match employee donations (e.g., $50-1,000).
  • Match ratios: This determines the rate at which you match employee donations. This is typically dollar for dollar (1:1) but can go up to 2:1 or 3:1 as well.
  • Qualifying types of nonprofits: You might choose a particular type of mission (e.g., environmental organizations) or exclude categories of recipients (such as houses of worship).
  • Qualifying types of employees: Most companies match gifts made by all full-time employees, while others may open the programs up to part-time workers, retirees, and even employee spouses
  • Submission deadlines: Your submission deadline is the date by which employees must submit a matching gift request to your company in order to be eligible to receive a match. This may be a certain number of months or align with your calendar or fiscal year.

Because these criteria are necessary for employees to determine their eligibility for a company match, it’s important that you communicate this information effectively. Ensure your guidelines are provided in any previously mentioned explainer materials and even on your business’ website. Even interested employees won’t likely be willing to search high and low for this information. If it is hard to find, you’re likely creating an unnecessary obstacle to program success.

Here’s an example of what these criteria can look like:

Providing employees with accessible guidelines improves the employee giving experience.

Plus, as a general rule, keeping your guidelines as open as possible will provide an optimal employee giving experience for your staff. For example, when you set low minimums, high maximums, and generous deadlines, more individuals’ gifts will qualify for your programming. The more employees who qualify, the more will participate. And you know that higher your levels of participation, the more advantages brought to your company.

Ensure your company is listed in corporate giving databases to simplify the employee giving experience.

4. Ensure your company is listed in corporate giving databases.

One of the easiest ways employees can uncover your aforementioned program guidelines is by accessing a corporate giving database. This is essentially a compilation of information on thousands of businesses and their available corporate giving programs.

For example, Double the Donation offers the industry-leading database for matching gifts and volunteer grants. Thousands of nonprofits utilize this comprehensive tool⁠—likely many of the same ones your employees will support.

Double the Donation help ensure a positive employee giving experience.

For organizations that leverage Double the Donation’s embeddable search widget, donors are typically prompted within the donation experience to enter their employer information in search of matching gift eligibility.

If your employees follow this process, you don’t want them to search your company name, only to be met with “no results found.” This can cause discouragement in the process, even if they know how to locate your program guidelines elsewhere. Plus, many well-intentioned donors simply forget to follow up after losing their initial giving inertia.

So what can you do to avoid this scenario? Make sure your business is listed in corporate giving databases, complete with your programs’ eligibility criteria and links to submission forms.

Luckily, Double the Donation accepts submissions for new companies to add to their most comprehensive database, making it as easy as possible for your business to increase its program reach. And as a result, you provide the simplest, most optimal employee giving experience while actively supporting their favorite charities.

Incentivize giving to improve the employee giving experience.

5. Incentivize participation in employee giving programs.

By now, your employees should be aware of your employee giving initiatives in place and understand how they can participate. But what if your staff requires a little extra push to get involved with your philanthropic efforts?

That’s where strategic incentivization comes in!

If you want to encourage individuals to partake in new employee giving experiences, consider motivating the team with giving goals⁠—either in terms of percentage of overall participation or in total fundraising goals.

Once your team reaches the predetermined objectives, you might treat the company to rewards like these:

  • Catered lunches
  • Additional PTO
  • Casual dress days
  • In-house masseuse services
  • Gift card rewards
  • Professional development opportunities
  • Company apparel and/or swag

Be sure to remind your employees that the ultimate benefit of a well-run workplace giving program revolves around providing mission-based organizations the funds they need to change the world. But some extra motivation never hurts, either!

Improve your employee giving experience with auto-submission

6. Simplify requests with auto-submission functionality.

Want to increase employee participation⁠ in (and satisfaction with) your workplace giving programs? Make it as easy as possible to get involved. And it’s never been easier than with auto-submission!

Here’s what you need to know;

The Historic Submission Process

Once an employee determines that they qualify for a workplace giving program⁠—such as matching gifts⁠—they’ve traditionally been required to complete a request process put in place by the company they work for. Typically, the individual will be asked to provide basic information about their donation (e.g., amount, method of giving, date the gift was made, etc.) and the organization to which they contributed (such as its mission, mailing address, tax ID number, and more).

New Auto-Submission Functionality

Now, some companies are offering matching gift auto-submission functionality, which substantially streamlines the process for donors and increases the likelihood that matches will be submitted. Instead of asking for all of the above-listed information, companies taking part in auto-submission simply request the individual’s corporate email address. The software ecosystem will take it from there to process, approve, and disburse funding for the match.

How matching gift auto-submission works

Leveraging Auto-Submission Providers

If you’re interested in getting started with auto-submission capabilities, the easiest way is to partner with a CSR management platform that already offers the functionality through a seamless integration with Double the Donation’s innovative technology. These currently include the following providers:Companies and vendors offering an optimal employee giving experience

If you already work with a CSR platform that doesn’t yet offer this functionality, consider reaching out to your provider to advocate for the technology. After all, auto-submission is available with no added cost⁠—it’s free for both the matching gift company and the software vendor they use⁠—so you can offer the ultimate employee giving experience to your team.

Keep in mind⁠—the more employees who take part in your company’s matching program, the better the results you can expect to see in terms of team member engagement, brand reputation, and more. And auto-submission abilities set your team up for continued success on all accounts!

There’s little to no purpose in investing in an employee giving program if nobody at your workplace will participate. To drive participation, you need to look at your employee giving experience from a staff member’s perspective and determine whether it’s a positive one.

So provide ample opportunities and avenues for giving, make available programs known, simplify the processes involved, and incentivize participation. This can make a world of difference⁠—to your workforce, your community, and even your company’s bottom line.

Interested in learning more about employee giving? Check out our other educational resources:

Find out how to drive corporate philanthropy at your company!

The ultimate guide to workplace giving platforms and trends

The Ultimate Guide to Workplace Giving Platforms (+ Trends!)

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Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is on the rise, which means workplace giving across companies all over the world is growing in popularity.

That said, many employees aren’t aware of their employers’ giving programs. Or in other cases, it’s difficult to participate in workplace giving because of how the program is set up.

That’s where workplace giving platforms come into play.

Using workplace giving tools, companies can efficiently manage their philanthropy programs, keep their employees engaged through easy participation, and boost the impact of their CSR initiatives.

In this article, we’ll outline the many ways in which workplace giving software can help companies like yours make the most of the giving programs you’ve already invested so much into. After all, when it’s easy for employees to participate, you’ll not only boost employee engagement levels and your CSR reputation but also benefit nonprofit causes all over.

More specifically, we’ll discuss how workplace giving platforms assist with:

  1. Matching Gift Program Management
  2. Volunteer Program Management
  3. Other Workplace Giving Program Management
  4. Bonus! Workplace Giving Platform Trends

When you implement an organized and streamlined process for managing workplace giving, you’ll set your company and its brand up for success. Let’s get started.

Workplace giving platforms help manage matching gift programs.

1. Matching Gift Program Management

Matching gift programs are one of the most common offerings companies have in terms of workplace giving.

By essentially doubling the donations their employees make to eligible nonprofits (based on the company’s guidelines), companies benefit nonprofits and help their employees make a difference in the causes they care about.

Workplace giving platforms can help your company manage its matching gift program.

But running a matching gift program takes a lot of organizational power, especially if your company has several participating employees and many donations to keep track of.

In order to make it easy for employees to take part in your matching gift program, choose a workplace giving platform that allows you to:

  • Track employee donations. Keep track of all employee donations in one central location so you can manage all of your incoming data more easily.
  • Approve matching gift requests. Approve match requests automatically or with a single click based on minimum/maximum match amounts, eligibility requirements, and other guidelines your company has put in place.
  • Engage your employees in giving. Engage your employees in the causes they care about by using workplace giving technology that’s easy to navigate, flexible, and shows your company cares about giving back.
  • Track your impact. Workplace giving platforms should offer robust, real-time reporting so you can keep track of the social good your company is doing.
  • Enlist matching gift auto-submission. Instead of requiring employees to complete a separate request process for matching gifts, some CSR platforms now offer innovative auto-submission functionality through an integration with Double the Donation’s tools. All it asks for is a corporate email address from the employee donor, and the software system processes the request from there!
    Here's how auto-submission works with top workplace giving platforms

The right workplace giving platform should help your company manage its matching gift program with ease, streamline your overall giving process, and encourage employee participation. 

Workplace giving platforms help manage volunteer grant programs.

2. Volunteer Program Management

In addition to matching gift programs, corporate volunteerism is becoming a larger component of workplace giving. There are many forms that volunteerism can take, and as companies develop or expand their volunteer programs, the right workplace giving software can keep them on track for success.

In order to dive deeper into corporate volunteerism, we’re going to break it down into three categories: volunteer opportunities, volunteer tracking, and volunteer grants.

Volunteer Opportunities

The first hurdle your company may encounter when developing a corporate volunteering program is actually finding volunteer opportunities for your employees.

Using a workplace giving platform that offers a database of both virtual and in-person volunteer opportunities can help you jump that hurdle easily and efficiently.

Workplace giving software vets the nonprofits they’re considering for their database, which means your employees can rest assured that they’ll be working with reputable causes and organizations.

Beyond sifting through nonprofit organizations for you, workplace giving platforms also help you create custom volunteer events for your employees, including planned shifts, event capacity, and registrations.

It’s great to get employees involved in your volunteer program, but it’s especially important that volunteers get to have a say in the opportunities available to them. That’s why offering a database of volunteer events is essential. Many companies also offer paid time off for volunteering, which gives employees a direct incentive to participate and increases employee engagement levels.

Volunteer Tracking

Once your volunteer opportunities have been confirmed, workplace giving software goes further and allows you to track all elements of your employees’ volunteer efforts. This includes:

  • Volunteer signups
  • Logged volunteer hours
  • Your overall impact

Employees can easily track their hours for any kind of volunteer event, while you can view all the wonderful work they’re doing from one central location.

Volunteer Grants

Another way to engage employees in corporate volunteerism is by offering volunteer grants—monetary grants awarded to nonprofits where employees regularly volunteer.

Workplace giving platforms can help your company manage its volunteer grant program.

Workplace giving platforms can also help your company manage your volunteer grant program.

Like with matching gift programs, workplace giving software helps you monitor volunteer grant requests that come through. As employees track their hours and request grants, you can easily approve and process each request in the same central system—much like you would with matching gifts.

All of these components of volunteer programs are important. Whether you’re offering paid time off to volunteer, trying to make it easy for employees to find volunteer opportunities, or processing volunteer grant requests on a regular basis, workplace giving platforms take the extra legwork out of the equation.

Workplace giving platforms help manage other types of giving programs.

3. Other Workplace Giving Program Management

Of course, workplace giving is made up of more than just matching gifts and volunteer programs.

There are tons of different programs that contribute to CSR, and choosing the right workplace giving solutions can help streamline all of them.

Workplace giving platforms can help with all types of giving programs for companies.

Other prominent workplace giving programs include:

Automatic Payroll Deductions

Automatic payroll deductions are a type of program that allows employees to deduct a small amount or percentage of each paycheck to a nonprofit of their choice. While the giving occurs in smaller increments, these donations add up over time and can have a huge impact on the nonprofit organizations they go toward.

Workplace giving platforms with payroll integrations and features allow employees to select a nonprofit from a large database of pre-vetted 501(c)(3) organizations. From there, they can choose to set up a recurring deduction through the platform for as long as they’d like.

Disaster Relief

When disaster strikes, companies need a quick and efficient way to organize their relief efforts so employees can contribute and corporations around the world can provide assistance.

Workplace giving solutions oftentimes offer tools to create new disaster relief campaigns right away. After all, the faster companies can launch a campaign, the faster they’ll be able to collect and disburse funds to nonprofits in need.

Look for a workplace giving platform that allows your company to build campaigns like these and mobilize employees around urgent causes.

Grant Management

Many companies and foundations provide annual grants to important causes and organizations around the world. Workplace giving platforms can help them manage all aspects of the grantmaking process.

For example, you can easily track and review:

  • Grant proposals and submissions
  • Approvals for grants
  • Budgets and goals
  • Reporting and dashboards

Grant management can be complex, especially when hundreds of applications come in from organizations everywhere. Using workplace giving technology makes it easier to track applications, review information, and approve the grants and disbursement.

General Campaigns

Want to rally your employees around a specific cause or event?

Workplace giving platforms also help companies build a community within their teams by supporting causes that are important to them.

Use a workplace giving platform to set goals, select nonprofits, spotlight volunteer opportunities, and more. These tools allow you to create a sense of urgency and keep your employees engaged around causes and events all year long.

Whether you’re running a grant program, campaign, payroll deductions, or other types of workplace giving programs, choosing the right solution to meet your company’s needs will benefit more than just your team and your brand. It will also provide thousands of nonprofits around the world with the funds they need to continue serving their missions.

workplace giving platform trends

Workplace Giving Platform Trends

Interested in exploring new and up-and-coming trends surrounding workplace giving and the technology that empowers it? Staying on top of changes in the industry can ensure your team is equipped with the best tools possible.

Here’s what we’ve seen recently;

1. More mid-sized and smaller businesses are rolling out CSR programs.

Historically, workplace giving programs such as matching gifts, volunteer grants, and more have been primarily offered only by the largest businesses in the space. For example, over 65% of Fortune 500 companies have participated in matching employee donations for years. But for a smaller-scale business, their options to get involved required either shelling out huge amounts of funding for usage of the technology or to handle management of the programs all on their own⁠—and either one was a large undertaking.

Now, these types of programs are becoming more accessible than ever for mid-sized and small businesses as well! Why? For one thing, the sector’s been seeing increasingly flexible pricing scales for workplace giving platforms, making streamlined management more attainable for companies of all shapes and sizes.

And not only that, but new corporate giving vendors are entering the game with a specific focus on targeting mid-level businesses. This takes a lot of the administrative burden away from company leadership itself, meaning more corporations are willing and eager to roll out the programming.

More companies offering workplace giving programs through accessible workplace giving platforms

If you’d like to be inspired by some small and mid-sized businesses with big workplace giving programs, take a look at these examples:

We love seeing new companies establishing and growing their workplace giving⁠—whether through matching gifts, volunteer grants, or other engaging initiatives for employees. In the end, it means more nonprofit funding, more workplace engagement, and more socially responsible businesses powering good in our communities. And we’re excited to find out which companies are next!

2. Platforms are making the process easier via tighter integrations with nonprofits.

Corporate philanthropy programs essentially form partnerships between companies and nonprofits. Workplace giving programs take things a step further, empowering companies to directly support the organizations that their employees are already giving to.

Because a significant prerequisite to workplace giving success has to do with employees engaging with the nonprofits⁠—and submitting their workplace giving requests with their employer⁠s—in the first place, it’s essential that companies focus on ensuring a seamless process for doing so.

Workplace giving platforms know this, and that’s why they’re aiming to make the process of using their software as quick and easy as possible for both their corporate clients and, particularly, for their clients’ end users: employees. A huge part of that involves developing tighter relationships with the nonprofits on the receiving end of the programs.

For example, though workplace giving software providers are focused on selling their tools to corporations offering workplace giving programs, most have built out separate nonprofit management portals⁠—such as CyberGrants’ FrontDoor, Benevity’s Causes Portal, and YourCause’s NPOconnect⁠—with which organizations can facilitate their end of the workplace giving process. Within these nonprofit-specific portals, organizations can easily go in and verify individual donations, volunteer hours, etc., in order to move the requests to the next step. And this end of the platform is typically free for nonprofit causes, helping to further build those relationships through streamlined and accessible technology.

Plus, offering tighter integrations with nonprofits helps make the employee and donor experience more optimal as well. When an organization has already established an account with the workplace giving platforms their supporters use, individuals can typically complete their request process more easily⁠—for instance, having the ability to select from a search of pre-approved organizations (such as in the example provided below) rather than having to input all the information for the cause from scratch.

Here's what a workplace giving platform portal can look like.

3. Vendors can now offer auto-submission, which fully streamlines match requests for donors.

In order to provide workplace giving technology that truly streamlines and simplifies matching gift programs for donors, nonprofits, companies, and employees, some providers have rolled out brand-new auto-submission functionality. And it’s exactly what it sounds like⁠! Individuals can now submit their matching gift requests to their employers with a single click directly from the donation confirmation pages of the organizations they support⁠. All they have to do is enter their corporate email address and check, “Yes, submit my matching gift request!”

A comparison between the historic employee giving experience and innovative auto-submission process through workplace giving platforms

Now, this helps in a few key ways. For one, it enables organizations to capitalize on donors’ giving momentum right when they’re at their highest level of engagement with the cause: while giving. It minimizes the risk of them saying, “Oh, I’ll do that later,” and then never coming back to it.

Not to mention, it also significantly decreases the amount of time and effort required of a donor to complete the process. Whereas a donor may have previously been asked to provide information about themselves, their donations, and the organizations to which they give, now, all they need is an email address. The software ecosystem handles the rest of the data behind the scenes!

At this time, auto-submission functionality is made available through workplace giving platforms that integrate with Double the Donation’s matching gift tools. Currently, this includes these corporate giving software providers:

That means that when an employee works for a company outsourcing their workplace program management to a CSR vendor like Millie, Selflessly, or POINT, they are already eligible to participate in auto-submission. That is, as long as the organizations they’re giving to also employ Double the Donation’s software (and good news: 75% of the largest fundraising organizations already do so).

But auto-submission remains a rapidly growing innovation, which will likely soon incorporate many more corporate vendors (and their clients), companies (and their employees), and nonprofits (and their donors). And we can’t wait to watch all the matching gift requests being processed when they do!

Here are additional resources about workplace giving platforms.

Additional Workplace Giving Resources

If you’re looking for more information about workplace giving and the platforms that can help you be successful, check out the additional resources below:

Find out how to drive corporate philanthropy at your company!

Here are our picks for the top corporate giving software.

Top Corporate Giving Software to Drive Employee Engagement

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When it comes to engaging the employees at your company in your workplace giving programs, it can be challenging to find the right tools that promote participation. But the easier it is for your employees to take part in your giving programs, the more likely they are to do so—and the more nonprofits benefit as well.

For companies all over, finding the right software that helps you manage your corporate giving online is essential.

That’s why we’ve compiled a list of the top corporate giving software to drive employee engagement, keep track of each component of your giving program, help your company promote corporate philanthropy, and finetune your corporate giving strategy.

Here are our top picks:

Use this list to find the best corporate giving software for your company and start boosting employee participation in your workplace giving programs.

Plus, read on to explore top trends seen among corporate giving software and how it impacts companies, employees, nonprofits, and donors. Let’s begin.

Millie is a top corporate giving software provider.

Millie

Overview of This Corporate Giving Software

Millie is one of the top corporate giving platforms, offering corporate matching gifts, volunteer management, campaign management, and more.

Using Millie, your company can create volunteer events, search for volunteer opportunities, match employee donations according to your budget, and build campaigns around an event or cause.

Millie gives your company the opportunity to create a social impact program that’s easy to use, flexible, and budget-friendly.

Why This Corporate Giving Software Stands Out

Millie offers the option for companies to give charitable dollars to their employees and customers. Recognize outstanding employees or develop deeper relationships with customers or prospects by sending charitable gift cards that can be used to donate to one or more nonprofit organizations.

Millie DTD corporate giving vendor partnership - Donor Amplification

Offers Matching Gift Auto-Submission?

Yes! This corporate giving software can be integrated with Double the Donation, the industry’s leading matching gift tool to enable matching gift auto-submission functionality. Employees of companies that use Millie will be prompted to enter their corporate email addresses from the nonprofit gift confirmation page to automatically submit their matching gift requests⁠—making it easier than ever for team members to get involved with matching programs.

Check out the case study here to see how Millie is changing the game with matching gift auto-submission.

Pricing

Visit Millie’s pricing page to view their monthly fees based on the number of employees you have.

Learn more about Millie, one of the top corporate giving software providers.

Learn more about Millie!

POINT is a top corporate giving software provider.

POINT

Overview of This Corporate Giving Software

POINT is a collaborative volunteer platform that connects communities with local causes. Their mission is to bring local nonprofit leaders the tech tools they need for free, while companies can use the platform to engage employees and boost their CSR programs.

Using the POINT app, companies can manage volunteerism, giving, and partnerships all in one platform that’s easy for employees to use.

When local nonprofits post volunteer opportunities, your company can easily reserve spots or send the information to employees. You can also easily send donations through a simple donation tool, strengthen partnerships with nonprofits, and leverage automatic reporting. 

Why This Corporate Giving Software Stands Out

When companies buy a subscription to POINT, they give the nonprofit POINT platform to a registered 501(c)(3) organization for free. This allows nonprofits to easily find and manage volunteers, saving them time so they can focus their efforts elsewhere.

Offers Matching Gift Auto-Submission?

Yes! POINT integrates with Double the Donation to enable auto-submission functionality. Corporate employees using POINT can then enter their email addresses, which then provides a list of organizations associated with their app profile with which to choose to submit their match request. From there, the request is processed automatically!

Pricing

Pricing for POINT depends on the number of employees in your company. Visit their website to book a demo.

Learn more about POINT, one of the top corporate giving software providers.

Learn more about POINT!

Selflessly is a top corporate giving software provider.

Selflessly

Overview of This Corporate Giving Software,

Selflessly is an all-in-one giving platform for corporate social responsibility that is designed to empower small and medium-sized businesses with effective corporate philanthropy efforts.

This tool offers a range of solutions, including for giving, volunteering, gift matching, reporting, and assessing their contributions.

With Selflessly’s corporate giving software solution, businesses are able to better engage their employees, improve their image among consumers, and support philanthropic efforts that they care about.

Why This Corporate Giving Software Stands Out

Selflessly’s donation matching tools are one of its greatest assets, as corporate gift matching is a key component of many companies’ giving efforts. Plus, a partnership with Double the Donation’s 360MatchPro allows Selflessly to continually streamline the giving process for both businesses and their employees!

Offers Matching Gift Auto-Submission?

Yes! Selflessly features innovative auto-submission technology made available through a seamless integration with 360MatchPro. All employees have to do is provide their corporate email address from the nonprofit confirmation screen, and the rest of the process will be completed automatically.

Check out the case study here to see how Selflessly is revolutionizing matching gifts with auto-submission.

Pricing

Their dedicated team will work with you to make sure pricing fits your needs. Visit their website to request a demo or custom pricing.

Selflessly is one of our favorite corporate giving software providers.

Learn more about Selflessly!

America's Charities is a top corporate giving software.

America’s Charities

Overview of This Corporate Giving Software

America’s Charities offers a variety of CSR tools for companies looking to grow their workplace giving and philanthropy programs.

Companies can choose from several options, including three workplace giving technology solutions, special funds management (like employee assistance funds and disaster relief), and standalone services like charitable funds management and payment processing.

One of the most popular solutions, America’s Charities Engage, is an end-to-end giving and CSR solution that helps manage grantmaking, donation matching, workplace giving, employee engagement, and volunteers.

Why This Corporate Giving Software Stands Out

One size does not fit all, which is why America’s Charities offers a broad selection of employee workplace giving technology solutions. They have also had 40 years of experience in this field, and have raised more than a half-billion dollars for tens of thousands of charities through various workplace giving programs.

Offers Matching Gift Auto-Submission?

No, this platform does not yet offer matching gift auto-submission functionality.

Pricing

Contact America’s Charities for specific pricing information and to request a demo.

Learn more about America's Charities, one of the top corporate giving software providers.

Learn more about America’s Charities!

Benevity is a top corporate giving software.

Benevity

Overview of This Corporate Giving Software

Benevity is one of the leading providers of corporate giving software, offering employee engagement tools that companies can use to do social good. 

Benevity’s platform helps companies find volunteer opportunities, set up and run volunteer grant programs, manage matching gifts and payroll donations, and more.

Using Benevity, your company can create a purpose-driven culture for employees, engage employees in current issues, and make it easy to participate in all of your social good programs with the Benevity app.

Why This Corporate Giving Software Stands Out

Benevity automates every part of your employee engagement program. This provider also offers integrations with Workday, VolunteerMatch, and Okta to provide better access for employees—with less effort needed overall.

Through the Benevity Causes portal, nonprofits can gain access to corporate and individual donors and volunteers, leading to even more support from companies in the nonprofit space.

Offers Matching Gift Auto-Submission?

No, this platform does not yet offer matching gift auto-submission functionality.

Pricing

Contact Benevity to learn more about their services and pricing.

Learn more about Benevity, one of the top corporate giving software providers.

Learn more about Benevity!

Bright Funds is a top corporate giving software.

Bright Funds

Overview of This Corporate Giving Software

Bright Funds is a leading provider of corporate giving software as a service for workplace giving,
volunteering and grants management.

With a personalized, intuitive experience, Bright Funds makes it easy to do good with an experience that employees love.

Companies can set it up in less than a day with all the features they need to get their program going including matching gifts, volunteer events, custom campaigns, real-time reporting and more. The fund model allows companies to create funds for disbursement to one or more nonprofits for maximum flexibility.

Why This Corporate Giving Software Stands Out

With nearly a decade of experience, Bright Funds helps companies of all sizes multiply their impact through a comprehensive corporate social responsibility platform. In addition to a seamless user experience, the platform supports global giving and helps companies save time with simple program administration, employee engagement tools and managed donations disbursement. Integrations with many other systems such as ADP, Okta, Workday, Zenefits, VolunteerMatch and more provide a better experience while simplifying deployment. The Bright Network is a free portal for nonprofits allowing them to optimize workplace fund-raising with digital tools such as electronic payments and donor reports.

Offers Matching Gift Auto-Submission?

No, this platform does not yet offer matching gift auto-submission functionality.

Pricing

Bright Funds supports companies of all sizes. Fees start at $2 per month per employee for companies under 300 employees and scales based on employee count. Contact Bright Funds for more details and register for a free 30-day trial (no credit card required).

Learn more about Bright Funds, one of the top corporate giving software providers.

Learn more about Bright Funds!

CyberGrants is a top corporate giving software.

CyberGrants

Overview of This Corporate Giving Software

CyberGrants is another top corporate giving software solution that offers fully integrated tools for grants management, employee giving, volunteerism, disbursement, disaster relief, and more.

Using CyberGrants, you can create innovative programs from matching gifts, to political action campaigns, to charitable spending accounts. 

Their real-time reporting, automated payroll, and rules-based approvals make it easy for your company to roll out your social good programs and manage them efficiently.

Why This Corporate Giving Software Stands Out

CyberGrants specializes in two areas: employee giving and grants management. That means if you’re looking for an all-in-one solution for managing your grant applications, disbursements, matching gifts, employee donations, and volunteer programs, CyberGrants is a great option.

Offers Matching Gift Auto-Submission?

No, this platform does not yet offer matching gift auto-submission functionality.

Pricing

Contact CyberGrants for a demo and to learn more about pricing.

Learn more about CyberGrants, one of the top corporate giving software providers.

Learn more about CyberGrants!

SmartSimple is a top corporate giving software.

SmartSimple

Overview of This Corporate Giving Software

SmartSimple is a robust corporate giving software solution that offers grant management, employee giving, matching gifts, volunteer management, volunteer grants, and more.

Using SmartSimple’s tools, you can streamline every step in your workplace giving programs, easily manage volunteering, administer your matching gift programs while following your guidelines and match ratios, and focus on in-kind giving.

Beyond their many corporate giving tools, SmartSimple offers detailed reports, dashboards, and maps using real-time data. 

Why This Corporate Giving Software Stands Out

Beyond its many robust corporate giving solutions, SmartSimple also offers a goals tracking feature, which allows your company to track your goals against all of your CSR and giving initiatives. Define your goals across all of your efforts, which can in turn be shared with the rest of your company and its stakeholders.

Offers Matching Gift Auto-Submission?

No, this platform does not yet offer matching gift auto-submission functionality.

Pricing

Visit SmartSimple’s website for pricing information and to request a demo.

Learn more about SmartSimple, one of the top corporate giving software providers.

Learn more about SmartSimple!

YourCause is a top corporate giving software.

YourCause

Overview of This Corporate Giving Software

YourCause is a top corporate giving software solution for managing workplace giving, employee volunteering, grants, and more.

Boost participation and employee engagement using their CSRconnect solution, which allows your company to manage disaster relief, seasonal campaigns, year-round matching, peer-to-peer fundraising, and volunteer events.

Aside from tracking donations and hours, YourCause offers robust reporting features that allow your team to track data and recognize outstanding employee participants. You can also boost employee participation by offering incentives.

Why This Corporate Giving Software Stands Out

YourCause offers a free portal that allows verified nonprofit organizations to create and manage volunteer events, access donor information, and engage with companies and their employees. This can in turn help your company form stronger relationships with nonprofits that are working toward worthy causes.

Offers Matching Gift Auto-Submission?

No, this platform does not yet offer matching gift auto-submission functionality.

Pricing

Contact YourCause to request a demo and get more information about pricing.

Learn more about YourCause, one of the top corporate giving software providers.

Learn more about YourCause!


corporate giving software trends

Corporate Giving Software Trends | What We’re Seeing

Corporate giving software plays a significant role in nonprofit-corporate partnerships, and it’s come a long way in terms of user experience, accessibility, functionality, and more. And we’re still seeing and expecting big shifts as innovation continues.

Let’s walk through a few key trends pertaining to corporate giving software and how it impacts the industry here:

Increasing ease of use for companies, employees, and more

As corporate giving technology continues to develop, both the corporations and the nonprofit organizations they support can benefit exponentially. Meanwhile, continuously developing solutions are making it easier than ever before!

And recently, corporate giving software providers are increasingly focused on elevating the user experience for the backend users (i.e., the companies purchasing the tools) as well as the front end (i.e., corporate employees) to optimize program participation.

More programs and tools catering to small and mid-size businesses

Corporate giving has historically been an initiative fairly exclusive to the largest of corporations. There are many reasons why this is assumed so, with one of the most significant being that the technology infrastructure used to manage the programs was designed with Fortune 500 and other mega companies in mind.

Now, however, more and more providers are prioritizing tools that are both accessible and affordable for smaller and mid-level companies as well. By doing so, this opens up corporate giving participation to businesses of all shapes and sizes, enabling a wide range of employers to take part with ease.

Tightening nonprofit partnerships with workplace giving auto-submission

One key form of corporate giving that each vendor listed above offers is matching gifts. That’s for a good reason⁠—employer matching gifts are one of the most popular corporate giving programs among companies, nonprofits, donors, and employees alike. And whereas individual participants previously had to complete a separate request process with their employer’s corporate giving portal to complete their matches, more and more software providers are rolling out auto-submission functionality to further streamline the experience from start to finish.

Auto-submission process for corporate giving software

Specifically, matching gift auto-submission enables employees to submit their match requests to their employers directly from the nonprofit’s website that they’ve supported. Typically, all they have to do is provide their corporate email address (and perhaps one additional form of verification) on the donation confirmation page, and the software ecosystem processes the submission from there! This makes participating in matching gift programs easier than ever and removes several roadblocks that often result in eligible matches going unclaimed.

Here are additional resources for corporate giving software.

Additional Corporate Giving Resources

If you’re looking to learn more about corporate giving, employee engagement, or the tools that can help you expand your CSR program, check out these resources below!

Find out how to drive corporate philanthropy at your company!