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This article discusses the importance of employee engagement and lists twenty tools your organization can use.

A Full Guide to Employee Engagement Tools + 20 Top Picks

May 26, 2023/in Corporate Consulting /by Adam Weinger

What comes to mind when you think about employee engagement? Excitement, enthusiasm, maybe meaningful team collaboration? All of those elements are the results of an effective engagement program. And they all contribute to an improved workplace culture where people not only have to work but enjoy doing so.

Employee engagement may make sense in theory, but how should your organization cultivate it on a daily basis? In this guide, we’ll explore the basics of employee engagement for your company and discuss 20 tools your organization can use to foster a positive work environment.

Employee Engagement Tool

Best Feature

Website

eCardWidget	Creative peer-to-peer recognition	Explore eCardWidget
Kudos	Gamification elements	Explore Kudos
Limeade Listening	Data filters and insights	Explore Limeade Listening
Reward Gateway	Immediate and trackable recognition	Explore Reward Gateway
Goody	Practical and meaningful gifts	Explore Goody
WorkTango	Customizable recognition option	Explore WorkTango
Motivosity	Automated gift card inventories and balances	Explore Motivosity
Awardco	Service to over 100 countries	Explore Awardco
Mo	Customizable habit tracking	Explore Mo
Bonusly	Monthly reward allowance	Explore Bonusly

Qualtrics CoreXM	Performance management tool	Explore Qualtrics CoreXM
Culture Amp	Custom driver analysis view	Explore Culture Amp
Officevibe	Custom polling option	Explore Officevibe
15Five	Scalability	Explore 15Five
Reflektive	List of company goals	Explore Reflektive
Monday.com	Automation tools	Explore Monday.com
Slack	Collaborative file and document sharing	Explore Slack
GoogleMeet	Video conferencing	Explore GoogleMeet
Asana	Progress visualization tools	Explore Asana
ClickUp	Virtual networking spaces	Explore ClickUp

Why Does Employee Engagement Matter?

Your organization is most likely juggling a lot of different tasks—you have performance metrics to hit, clients to impress, and meetings to manage. That said, should employee engagement really be a priority? Recent statistics definitely suggest so.

Here are some combined polls that provide insights into employee engagement, including the good, the bad, and the ugly:

The Good

Highly engaged businesses achieve 59% less turnover.
77% of employees agree a strong culture allows them to do their best work.
Highly engaged employees result in a 23% increase in profitability.

The Bad

85% of employees are not engaged at work.
Only 22% of companies know what’s driving their employee disengagement.

The Ugly

Actively disengaged employees cost their organizations $483 to $605 billion per year.

As you can see, employee engagement can make or break a workplace in more ways than one. If your employees aren’t motivated and engaged, at best, you’re not efficiently achieving your goals, and at worst, you’re wasting resources.

On the other hand, engaged employees can be the secret weapon that lets your organization hit more performance benchmarks at a faster rate. They also stay at your organization longer and do their best work every day. So, how can you prioritize employee engagement? By leveraging dedicated employee engagement tools!

How Can We Boost Employee Engagement?

While every organization is different, there are some tried-and-true techniques that you can implement to energize and motivate your employees, including:

Listening and responding to employee feedback. Encouraging employees to provide feedback on your company culture and business practices allows you to tailor your workplace for employee satisfaction. Of course, you don’t need to implement all recommended changes, but simply acknowledging your employees’ ideas demonstrates that you value their input.
Giving employee recognition awards. Both formal and informal recognition initiatives are crucial to making employees feel accomplished and inspiring them to achieve their goals. You could implement a Bravo system where peers can recognize each other for outstanding work and highlight strengths that management might have missed. Or, you could deem a team member Employee of the Month, complete with a plaque and a gift card.
Offering employee wellness initiatives. According to Gallup, healthier employees are more engaged employees, and vice versa. Your organization can cultivate a healthy company culture by actively facilitating wellness initiatives. For example, you could hold a steps contest where the employee who walks the most in a month gets a prize. Additionally, you could offer time off for mental health days and respect work-life boundaries.
Providing competitive compensation and benefits. While fair compensation is crucial, you should consider how your other benefits contribute to employee engagement. Consider offering benefits such as flex work, PTO, corporate giving, health insurance, bonuses, continued education, and upward mobility to boost employee satisfaction.
Engaging in team-building activities. Tackling team activities outside of work helps your employees work better in-office. For instance, volunteer outings are a great way to strengthen teamwork across your organization. Also, embarking on company retreats is helpful for giving employees a change of scenery while still honing their professional skills.
Establishing a corporate social responsibility (CSR) program. Employees want to know that they’re working for companies that support the greater good. When you establish a CSR program, you demonstrate that your business cares about the same causes as its employees and wants to make the world a better place. As a result, employees will feel more empowered to continue working at a company that does more than just provide a product or service. Common initiatives in CSR programs include matching gifts and volunteer grants, both of which involve companies donating to the nonprofits their employees care about. If you’re looking to engage your employees in workplace giving, it’s important to provide them with a positive user experience. Working with a CLMA-certified CSR platform (or Certified Leader in Matching Automation) is a great way to ensure your program is optimized for success by enabling auto-submission functionality and driving more matches to completion overall.

Now that you have some ideas for improving your organization’s employee engagement, let’s review some of the software solutions that can help you make it happen.

What is an Employee Engagement Tool?

Employee engagement tools are software applications that a company uses to increase internal communication and boost employee satisfaction. There are a wide variety of tools available and choosing the right one will depend on your organization’s needs. For instance, a company that wants to streamline its project management process between separate departments might look at an engagement tool like Asana. Or, an organization looking to track employee productivity more effectively may invest in a timesheet software solution.

Usually, human resources departments take the lead when introducing employee engagement tools and recognition platforms. Eventually, if the platforms succeed at providing engagement value to your organization, they’ll become a part of your new employee onboarding materials and day-to-day workflow.

Employee Engagement Tool Benefits

What can you expect from an employee engagement tool? Depending on which provider you go with, the benefits will vary. However, here are a few common advantages:

Enhanced teamwork and collaboration. Employee engagement tools open the door for more productive team projects and simplified collaboration.
Increased employee retention. Part of employee engagement is employee satisfaction, and a useful tool will add value to your company’s work experience.
Stronger company culture. Engagement tools open lines of communication and can help reinforce company values leading to a stronger, more vibrant company culture.
Increased productivity. With the right tools, your company can break down silos and work together more efficiently.
Improved feedback and communication. Using employee engagement tools to recognize and reward employees can make them feel more valued. Additionally, employees can offer and receive more useful and recent feedback.

To help you discover which employee engagement tool is right for your company, we’ve broken down our top picks based on employee recognition, feedback, and internal communication. You can adopt one of these tools or several at a time depending on your budget and needs. Remember that as your team expands, you’ll also need a scalable tool to keep new and existing employees engaged.

Top Employee Engagement Tool: CSR Software

One of the best ways to engage employees is to develop a CSR program that highlights your company’s values and gives back to the causes your employees care about. For example, your hiking supplies business may focus on helping organizations that encourage sustainability and protect wildlife. When employees see their company making a positive difference in the world, they’ll be more motivated to stay at the company long-term.

Corporate social responsibility programs can have a lot of moving parts. Here are just a few examples of initiatives your program may include:

Matching gifts. Matching gifts occur when companies match the donations their employees make to nonprofits. Typically, employees donate and fill out a matching gift request form to notify their employer. Then, the company contributes to the nonprofit, helping the organization boost its donation revenue.
Volunteer grants. Volunteer grants function similarly to matching gifts, except instead of donating based on employee donations, companies donate based on employee volunteer hours. Employees can track their volunteer hours with their nonprofit of choice and fill out a volunteer grant request so their employer can contribute.
Fundraising matches. Let’s say an employee participates in a walk-a-thon and collects pledges based on the number of miles they intend to walk. Companies that offer fundraising matches would match the amount the employee raises and contribute it to the same cause.
Automatic payroll deductions. To make it easy for employees to get involved in your CSR program, offer automatic payroll deductions. That way, employees can contribute to their favorite causes each month without having to manually navigate to nonprofit donation pages.
Learn more about how CSR impacts businesses!

You may be wondering how your company can juggle all of these components to properly engage employees. The answer is CSR software.

CSR software is specifically designed to help companies manage their CSR programs. With all the forms and information associated with your program in one place, you can keep track of all relevant data and make it easy for employees to get involved. Check out the CSR program elements that software can help you organize:

Employee donations
Automatic payroll deductions
Matching gift requests
Volunteer hour logs
Volunteer grant requests
Team volunteer opportunities
Company CSR metrics

The best CSR platforms go one step further in increasing employee engagement by integrating with nonprofit-facing tools. On the nonprofit side, many organizations use matching gift software to streamline matching gift requests, and some software providers even offer auto-submission functionality that submits matching gift request forms on the donors’ behalf. Look for CSR software that integrates with auto-submission tools to increase program participation and employee engagement.

Employee Engagement Tools for Employee Recognition

Annual or even biannual performance reviews are not enough to keep your employees active and engaged. They benefit from continuous feedback both from managers and peers. Managerial recognition helps directs know that they’re on target and keeps them motivated to keep going. Peer recognition boosts camaraderie and reinforces teamwork.

Additionally, employee recognition extends to celebrating milestones and anniversaries. If your employee has been working productively for five years, for instance, you can use an engagement tool to publicly applaud their impressive performance.

1. eCardWidget

eCardWidget is a powerful digital retention tool built to prove to employees that they are more than just a number. These digital eCards are easy to make, send, and receive, making it easy for businesses to fold into their existing employee recognition programs. To start your engagement campaign, simply add your custom company branding, sort by company value (or any other internal goal), and draft a quick recognition note! Check out this video to learn more about how it works:

What we love about eCardWidget

eCardWidget is the perfect peer-to-peer eCard site that lets employees share good news and quickly celebrate one another for their accomplishments.
They have extensive experience as they have helped over 3500 organizations retain top talent and create a welcoming environment.
This tool works on all major platforms and seamlessly plugs into any website or intranet, making it easy to add to your internal company portal.

eCardWidget stands out because it’s extremely easy and enjoyable to use. With the ability to customize eCards using different fonts, colors, and images, you can personalize your recognition efforts and invite employees to use their creativity.

Additionally, eCardWidget provides insights into which employees are sending and receiving eCards. That way, you can gauge which of your employees are contributing to your internal company culture and which are being commended most often by their peers. You may want to recognize these employees more formally for improving the workplace environment.

Pricing: eCardWidget includes free options to Enterprise Options ($200) to best fit your team’s size and internal engagement goals. See the pricing page for more information.

2. Kudos

Kudos is another workplace peer-to-peer recognition tool that provides actionable insights into employee performance and culture. You can also use Kudos to create rewards that reflect your company’s goals, values, and overall culture. That way, employees can feel motivated and acknowledged for their hard work.

What we love about Kudos

- Kudos easily integrates with apps your team might already be using like Slack, Mircosoft Outlook, and Teams, so you don’t have to spend time learning a whole new platform.
- Kudos uses fun gamification elements like badges, points, and rewards and can win real prizes like gift cards or even AirPods.
- With anonymous monthly, Sentiment Surveys, your organization can get a feel for overall employee morale and make critical adjustments.

Pricing: Visit Kudos’ website and talk to their sales representatives for more pricing information.

3. Limeade Listening

Formally known as TinyPulse, Limeade Listening is a solution for enhanced listening, 1:1 coaching, and employee recognition. This data-backed tool provides opportunities for employees to provide regular, transparent feedback so that they can show up to work as their best selves every day.

What we love about Limeade Listening

You can easily discover and recognize your company’s cultural leaders with management-driven and cross-departmental recognition.
Limeade Listening lets you use data filters and insights to identify and reward those producing outstanding work.
Their tools help managers visualize problem areas and help facilitate regular one-on-one conversations.

Pricing: Visit the Limeade Listening contact page for more information or to book a demo.

4. Reward Gateway

Reward Gateway offers a tailored employee reward and recognition program that supports everyone. You can use their platform to quickly celebrate daily success through automation and endless redemption options. Their branded mobile app can even let you celebrate other employees on the go!

What we love about Reward Gateway

Reward Gateway offers on-the-spot rewards so managers can send immediate and trackable recognition that never lets good work go unnoticed.
With digital or in-person delivery, the sender can decide which method works best for their schedules and will make the recipient feel most valued.
Reward Gateway also offers employee wellness support content to support your company’s physical, mental, and financial goals.

Pricing: Browse Reward Gateway’s website and schedule a demo to find a pricing solution that suits your team.

5. Goody

Goody is an all-in-one platform for business gifting with no address needed. This simple solution lets recipients provide their shipping information once they accept your gift or they can easily swap it for something else if needed. Plus, with their regularly updated gift collections, you can choose from a selection of best-sellers or trending products.

What we love about Goody

Goody’s promise to provide “no tacky corporate gifts. Ever.” makes their gift selection unique and full of practical and meaningful gifts you can easily tailor to suit employee preferences.
With the ability to send gifts and gift cards to 140+ countries worldwide, Goody makes it easy to recognize global employees.
Goody also lets you access gift receipts, status updates, and thank-you notes in one platform so you can check and update your records accordingly.

Pricing: Goody’s plans vary from a free Starter Plan, a $20 Monthly Plan, or a customizable Team Plan for HR, Sales, and Marketing Teams.

6. WorkTango

WorkTango’s holistic employee recognition and rewards, employee surveys and insights, and goals platform provide an effective employee experience. Its recognition and rewards experience amplifies key organizational values and can help your organization foster connections across hybrid and in-person teams.

What we love about WorkTango

Worktango offers a customizable recognition option that your team can tailor to peer-to-peer, top-down, or bottom-up recognition initiatives.
You create and schedule custom nominations and rewards that reflect your company’s values and are budgeted within a single location.
Your team can use the metrics dashboards to identify key influencers and keep a pulse on culture with real-time analytics.

Pricing: Schedule a demo with the WorkTango team to learn more and see how their solution fits into your company’s budget.

7. Motivosity

Motivosity is a workplace solution built to help your team understand every stage of the employee journey. From recruitment to hiring to engagement and development, Motivosity helps your team understand your each of your employee’s career goals and make measurable progress by providing a meaningful growth path. Its employee rewards and recognition add-on helps your team make consistent employee appreciation a reality.

What we love about Motivosity

Motivosity’s automated gift card inventories and balances let your team participate in how employees are rewarded without having to keep track of bookkeeping.
Your team can automate company-wide initiatives with custom awards and badges like employee of the month.
Motivosity lets you easily implement spot recognitions for employee birthdays, milestones, and anniversaries.

Pricing: Contact Motivosity to get a pricing quote based on your team’s size and engagement needs. They promise to offer a 6-month money-back guarantee.

8. Awardco

Awardco is an employee recognition platform that promises to offer millions of employee rewards with free shipping and zero markups. This recognition solution has partnered with Amazon Business to make rewarding effective and easy for both the sender and recipient. That means that your company can feel good about gifting your employees something that they actually love.

What we love about Awardco

Because of Awardco’s partnership with Amazon, they can offer service to over 100 countries with reliable delivery.
Awardco’s custom, meaningful rewards catalogs let your company curate the perfect rewards selections for your specific employees.
Integration with Slack and Microsoft Teams means sending support, recognition, and encouragement does not take extra time or effort.

Pricing: Book a time with Awardco’s sales team to schedule a demo and discover a pricing quote for your company.

9. Mo

Mo’s platform is built to improve retention, increase engagement, and boost productivity. Their software can help your company “drive change faster” with a long feature list from employee engagement and rewards and recognition to communication and insights. Specifically, Mo’s employee recognition can help your team create sustainable engagement habits and celebrate meaningful moments.

What we love about Mo

Mo incorporates automated Boosts to nudge teams to share and celebrate moments that align with your goals and reinforce positive habits.
With customizable habit tracking, Mo empowers leaders to create habits built for their specific teams using readymade templates.
This tool offers access to a variety of gift cards from popular brands to reward employees. Budget controls and assistant distribution also keep teams in line with budget constraints.

Pricing: Mo provides a $3 Monthly Starter Plan, a $5 Level Up Plan, or a Custom Plan with advanced security and advanced customer support.

10. Bonusly

Bonusly provides a streamlined, all-in-one engagement platform that fosters candid, social, and expressive recognition. The platform’s global catalog lets you select gift cards from popular brands like Nike, Apple, and Starbucks. You can also display digital signage showing recent bonuses in your workspace.

What we love about Bonusly

Bonusly’s organized monthly allowance gives employees the chance to give each other small bonuses to recognize their peer’s contributions.
The platform’s public feed lets everyone see and celebrate employee wins in real time.
With custom rewards, your company can tailor rewards to your company’s atmosphere from selecting memberships to gifting athletics shoes or even adding a personal recognition note from the CEO.

Pricing: Bonusly offers $2.70 monthly Core, $4.50 monthly Pro, and Custom Plans for mid-size to large organizations.

Employee Engagement Tools for Feedback

Employees want to know what they’re doing well and where they can improve on a regular basis. And with 36.2 million Americans working remotely, it’s a must to keep this feedback loop open and accessible. Additionally, incorporating reliable feedback is a way to safeguard against quiet quitting or the common practice of employees leaving unexpectedly. Providing consistent and reliable feedback is the perfect way to mitigate that risk while nurturing positive and candid relationships with managers and directs.

Feedback-based employee engagement tools can help your organization cultivate a rhythm of regular feedback that can put both managers and employees at ease. Browse through our top picks to find a platform that best fits your company’s reporting and communication needs.

11. Qualtrics CoreXM

A leader within the employee feedback space, Qualitrics offers three suites to create exceptional customer frontlines, high-performing teams, and products. Qualtrics Core XM, or teams-based performance management, has scalable goal-setting functionalities with automated pulsing for regular feedback.

What we love about Qualtrics CoreXM

Qualitric CoreXM provides a useful tool that can help your team predict future satisfaction rates and adjust current processes accordingly.
This performance management tool can be tailored to every point along the employee journey from onboarding to development and exit.
The end-to-end 360 Development tool makes it simple to analyze feedback and construct a personalized development program for every employee.

Pricing: Contact the Qualtrics CoreXM support team or request a demo to find the right Qualtrics solution for your organization.

12. Culture Amp

Culture Amp’s employee engagement platform can help your organization build high-performing teams through an agile, trusted review process. Managers can review data based on the lifecycle stage of their employees, by demographics, or by time frame with customizable views. This tool is built to foster growth conversations for individual employees, teams, and whole companies wanting a culturally aligned performance process.

What we love about Culture Amp

You can access a custom “driver analysis” view to understand which employees are key contributors to office morale and engagement.
Account managers can set up specific surveys for teams to which only a designated manager has access to view the responses.
Culture Amp’s Skills Coach integrations with Slack, Email, and Teams make it simple to send daily micro-learnings for your team to develop new skills and foster positive habits.

Pricing: Culture Amp divides its pricing options between company sizes, from 25 to 1,000+ employees, so your organization can choose platform capabilities that align with your goals.

13. Officevibe

Officevibe is an intuitive platform that places managers at the center of their team’s success. Trusted by over 8,000 companies worldwide, Officevibe provides impactful performance and development tools that can be tailored to your team’s needs. Performance reviews, continuous performance monitoring, one-on-one meetings, and OKRs, and goal setting can be accessed and tracked in one place.

What we love about Officevibe

Officevibe gathers insights to identify both dissatisfaction sources and opportunities for increased efficiency, so your team can access a holistic view.
This tool offers a custom polling option to help you understand your team’s perspectives on current projects.
Your team can set weekly automated surveys to individual team members and package the results into a shareable report for the whole organization.

Pricing: Officevibe’s pricing ranges from a free package to a $5 per month package that can be billed annually or monthly.

14. 15Five

15Five is a performance management tool that provides simple and effective reviews for your team to maximize productivity. This tool specializes in actionable engagement surveys that employees actually want to complete and managers can easily understand. These surveys take only 6 minutes and can be completed from anywhere, making engagement as easy as possible.

What we love about 15Five

Managers can customize their survey questions using 15Five’s list of valuable prompts so that they can get specific answers to their most crucial questions.
Managers can also set different viewers for each employee, so the right eyes are recording employee responses.
15Five provides a scalable solution that enables managers to create groups related to achieving team-wide and company-wide goals.

Pricing: 15Five offers four pricing options which range from $4 per month to $14 per month depending on your company’s platform needs.

15. Reflektive

Reflective’s performance management platform helps companies scale constructive and ongoing conversations to increase employee satisfaction. This platform includes solutions for 1:1 conversations, reviews and check-ins, and feedback cadences. That way, high performers can get their voices heard and receive actionable development insights.

What we love about Reflektive

Managers can easily conduct yearly, quarterly, or monthly performance reviews through the platform.
Employees can add peer feedback within the platform in addition to top-down feedback through manager-controlled morale polls.
Reflektive includes a handy feature that lists out your company’s organizational goals and team goals so directs can always reference what they are working towards.

Pricing: Talk with the Reflektive sales team to schedule a performance management consultation and discuss your company’s engagement goals.

Employee Engagement Tools for Internal Communication and Project Management

With more and more projects to manage, employees to onboard, and growth goals to hit, the need for highly efficient internal communication has dramatically increased. Additionally, with every new communication touchpoint, your company needs a project management solution that grows with you. To find a technical solution that streamlines your team and your work, you’ll need to research the top players. To help you get started, we’ve drafted our top picks:

16. Monday.com

Monday.com is a well-known engagement tool to boost your team’s alignment, efficiency, and productivity. This highly customizable platform can be tailored to suit creative and design, software development, marketing, project management, sales and CRM, task management, HR, and so much more.

What we love about Monday.com

Monday.com provides customizable views that allow individual team members, teams, and administrators to select a view that’s most optimal for them.
The platform includes convenient automation features that notify team members when they need to complete flagged tasks.
Monday.com’s campaigns dashboards, status tracker, monthly planning, date column, and a slack plugin can help your team keep tabs on every project’s status.

Pricing: Monday.com’s pricing ranges from a free to a $16 seat per month Pro Package to a deluxe Enterprise Package for larger teams.

17. Slack

Slack is a channel-based communication tool with organized systems built to connect your teams across departments, offices, and time zones. This tool also allows you to build your own workflows enabling you to switch between fewer tabs during your routine tasks. Plus, with Slack’s immediate and straightforward internal communication systems, your team can enjoy sending and receiving fewer emails.

What we love about Slack

Slack offers chat, audio, and video clips so your team can easily hop on a huddle or talk things out live.
Slack’s easy-to-use communication channels result in fewer meetings and faster team progress.
This communication tool has collaborative file and document sharing so that your team can seamlessly tell and show your work.

Pricing: Depending on your organization’s needs, you can select a Free Package or an Enterprise Grid Package for large-scale team collaboration.

18. GoogleMeet

GoogleMeet offers comprehensive video conferencing services ideal for remote, hybrid, and global employees. The video conferencing tools let individuals using different devices and screens connect from anywhere with a stable internet connection. Businesses can use GoogleMeet to conduct meetings with up to 500 internal or external participants.

What we love about GoogleMeet

Your team can access GoogleMeet from their phone, tablet, or laptop.
Anyone with a Google account can easily set up and access GoogleMeet, making it simpler than ever to attend meetings or hold conferences.
GoogleMeet provides live captioning, meeting host controls, screen sharing, and Google and Microsoft integrations to keep your meeting organized and efficient.

Pricing: GoogleMeet provides a $6 Business Starter Package, a $12 Business Standard Package, and a $18 Business Plus Package all billed monthly.

19. Asana

Asana is an effective platform for cross-functional work. With calendar tools, timeline charts, goal tracking, automation, and workload management, Asana offers a wide range of management and collaboration capabilities. You can also sync tasks across multiple projects, to see work in different contexts without creating duplicates.

What we love about Asana

Asana has Mind Maps, wireframes, and checklists to visualize progress for larger and more involved projects.
The real-time chatting features and task assignments can create clear management workflows and ensure everyone knows which objectives to focus on.
Asana’s time-tracking features and insights give your team an inside look into how your team divides time per project.

Pricing: Asana’s pricing plans range from a Basic free plan to a $24.99 Business Plan that includes advanced integrations with Salesforce, Adobe Creative Cloud, Tableau, and Power BI.

20. ClickUp

ClickUp is a work solution customizable to fit any type of work from personal tasks and team collaboration to company-wide organization. ClickUp’s nonprofit selection is especially useful for tracking funding and calculating budgets in addition to creating and sharing accessible volunteer schedules. ClickUp’s variety of project management, remote work, personal, CRM, and business operations make it really simple to find a solution that works best for your organization.

What we love about ClickUp

ClickUp’s virtual networking spaces make cross-departmental meetings a breeze.
Clickup offers beginner, intermediate, and advanced templates to structure your workflows the way you want.
Within the project management template, your team can create a sprint system that tracks performance with real-time reporting metrics.

Pricing: ClickUp’s pricing provides a Free Package that’s best for personal use along with four other pricing packages that range from $5 monthly to $19 monthly.

Employee Engagement Tools: Final Thoughts

Choosing the right employee engagement tool can be a powerful way to transform your organization’s recognition, feedback, communication, and project management. These tools help you also solve problems before they arise and maintain employee retention.

Did you enjoy this guide to employee engagement tools? Check out these resources to keep learning:

Top Corporate Giving Software to Drive Employee Engagement – Interested in engaging employees in corporate giving programs? Read this guide to discover a list of the top corporate giving software your company can use to build your corporate giving strategy.
Employee Gifts: A Complete Guide + Top 10 Gifts – Acknowledge and engage your employees with meaningful and practical gifts. Learn the most popular gifts and how your company can support a positive work environment with this ultimate guide.
11 Effective Employee Engagement Strategies for Businesses – Looking for more ways to engage your employees? Check out this list of employee engagement strategies!

This blog post explores the top exceptional capital campaign consulting firms.

10 Exceptional Capital Campaign Consulting Firms to Consider

December 14, 2022/in Learning Center, Corporate Consulting /by Adam Weinger

Planning for a capital campaign is a huge endeavor, and even the most experienced nonprofits need some assistance. Your nonprofit can get help by hiring a capital campaign consultant or a capital campaign consulting firm.

To make sure we’re on the same page, a capital campaign consultant is a professional adviser that can provide counsel on how to plan for your campaign. Consultants can help complete common capital campaign tasks, such as performing a feasibility study, writing a case for support, and training your leadership.

You can hire a consultant to assist you throughout the duration of the campaign or for just a few small tasks here and there.

If you’re not sure who to hire, we’ve compiled the top capital campaign consulting firms that you can consider.

Top Capital Campaign Consulting Firms	Distinguishing Feature
Donorly	First capital campaigns
BWF	Data-driven insights
Aly Sterling Philanthropy	Philanthropy Blueprint assessment
Averill Fundraising Solutions	Capacity building
Capital Campaign Pro	Digital Resources
Alexander Haas	Capital campaign counsel for churches
Brian Lacy	Wealth screening
J.F. Smith Group	Campaign outreach
The Curtis Group	Campaign design and branding
Gail Perry Group	Feasibility studies

In case you were wondering, we picked these top capital campaign consulting firms based on client satisfaction, knowledge of capital campaigns, and strength of approach.

1. Donorly – Top Capital Campaign Consultant for First Campaigns

Overview

Donorly was founded on the idea that small and mid-size nonprofits should have access to the same resources as larger organizations, especially when it comes to donor research.

The capital campaign consultants at Donorly specialize in helping smaller nonprofits launch their very first capital campaigns. And they’re good at it—they’ve helped organizations raise over $300 million and triple their fundraising revenue.

With their human-centered approach, the Donorly team can be by your side throughout every phase of your campaign, ultimately helping you kickstart your nonprofit’s long-term growth.

Services

Donorly’s main services include:

Fundraising feasibility studies
Ongoing capital campaign counsel
Prospect research subscriptions
Fundraising training
Transitional nonprofit staffing

Along with capital campaigns, Donorly specializes in major donor research and cultivation strategies. If you’re worried about finding enough major donors for your campaign, Donorly is the perfect choice.

Type of Client

Donorly’s capital campaign consultants work most often with small to mid-size nonprofits, especially those launching their first major campaigns.

Some of Donorly’s notable past clients include the New York Theatre Workshop, RIP Medical Debt, the Seattle Children’s Museum, and Playwrights Horizons.

Location

The Donorly team is headquartered in New York City, but they work with nonprofits across the country.

Partner with the consultants at Donorly

2. BWF – Top Capital Campaign Consultant for Data-Driven Insights

Overview

BWF is a trusted fundraising consulting partner for nonprofits in the higher education, healthcare, faith-based, public and human services, environment and animals, and arts and culture sectors. For over 40 years, BWF has worked with purpose-driven organizations to build capacity and achieve long-term goals.

Organizations turn to this fundraising partner when they’re ready to launch their most ambitious campaigns yet—and the results speak for themselves. With BWF’s help, one client saw year-end fundraising revenue increase by 51% and first-time donor retention increase by 25%.

Driven by values like tenacity, optimism, and collaboration, BWF’s team manages all partner relationships with transparency and respect.

Services

BWF’s core capabilities include:

Planning and managing campaigns and building fundraising strategies
Optimizing technology and operations
Enhancing the donor experience
Building sustainable enterprise solutions

BWF leverages capacity-building and data science services to help organizations get campaigns up and running smoothly.

Type of Client

BWF offers both a global and local perspective as well as extensive practical experience working with a variety of sectors, allowing them to partner with nonprofit organizations from diverse backgrounds. Hospitals, universities, foundations, arts and culture organizations, and other purpose-driven organizations have all found success from partnering with BWF.

Location

BWF is headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota, but they are proud to work with local, national, and international organizations.

Learn more about BWF’s campaign services!

3. Aly Sterling Philanthropy — Top Capital Campaign Consultant for Assessments

Overview

Aly Sterling Philanthropy is a full-service consulting firm, with years of experience guiding organizations through capital campaigns.

Their team is comprised of experienced professionals that understand the importance of strong leadership and a solid infrastructure.

When working with Aly Sterling Philanthropy, the consultants will conduct a Philanthropy Blueprint, which is a 6-step process that assesses your organization to pinpoint where you need the most help.

Services

Aly Sterling offers services, such as:

Performing feasibility studies
Writing a case for support
Training leadership
Researching prospective donors

In addition to the services listed above, their website includes resources to help nonprofits navigate the planning process for capital campaigns (and other fundraisers!).

Type of Client

Aly Sterling Philanthropy, a member of The Giving Institute, has worked with the Boys and Girls Club of Toledo, Ronald McDonald House Charities of Southern West Virginia, and Maumee Valley Habitat for Humanity.

They are proud to work with organizations of any size that serve a range of causes, including arts and culture, healthcare, and social justice advocacy.

Location

While headquartered in Toledo, Ohio, Aly Sterling welcomes clients located anywhere in the United States.

Learn more about the capital campaign services at Aly Sterling Philanthropy!

3. Averill Fundraising Solutions — Top Capital Campaign Consultant for Capacity Building

Overview

When you hire Averill Fundraising Solutions to serve as your capital campaign consultant, you can trust you’re gaining a partner that has diverse experience throughout the nonprofit sector.

Averill’s consultants can help your team during the pre-planning phase by developing key collateral (like case statements and prospect lists), or they can stay on for the whole campaign as your capital campaign’s director.

Since they have over 75 years of experience working with charities, faith-based organizations, schools, and other nonprofits, they’ll be ready to take on any challenge your capital campaign presents.

Depending on your needs, they may even embed a capital campaign consultant in your organization to provide extra guidance from the inside out.

Services

You can rely on Averill for:

Campaign direction
Campaign planning and feasibility studies
Annual fund direction
Executive search
Embedded staffing

With any of these services, Averill’s capital campaign consultants will stay with you every step of the way as partners.

Type of Client

Large organizations representing a wide variety of interests have consulted with Averill in the past, including the Salvation Army in Sierra del Mar, California, and the Boys and Girls Club in Newark, New Jersey.

Averill also partners with mature organizations at a smaller scale to help them grow into the institutions they want to become.

Location

Located in New York, Averill is in the neighborhood of some of the top major gift giving prospects in the United States. However, the firm works with organizations all across the U.S. and Canada.

4. Capital Campaign Pro — Our Top Pick for Digital Resources & Advising

Overview

We understand that not every campaign director will desire the assistance of traditional capital campaign consulting. For those nonprofit professionals, we recommend Capital Campaign Pro.

Capital Campaign Pro is the only fully online, virtual campaign resource for nonprofits.

Their system breaks capital campaigns out into a seven-phase plan, spanning from pre-campaign planning to post-campaign analysis. Along the way, it empowers nonprofit professionals with the knowledge, confidence, resources, and expert support needed to hold an effective capital campaign.

Services

Capital Campaign Pro includes the following features and services:

A step-by-step capital campaign plan
Campaign templates, checklists, assessments and worksheets
A Guided Feasibility Study
Expert capital campaign advisors

Capital Campaign Pro (as well as comprehensive free resources on its website, such as this guide to capital campaigns) empowers nonprofit professionals to successfully navigate their next capital campaign on their own terms. However, you can also work with their team of expert advisors for additional support.

Type of Client

Capital Campaign Pro was created for leaders of all size nonprofits who:

Are uninterested in traditional consulting.
Want to be empowered and learn successful campaign strategy and techniques.
Are seeking an online-powered approach.
Want a community of colleagues who are leading successful campaigns.
Are looking for budget-friendly support and advising.

Whether due to budgetary constraints or poor experiences with consultants in the past, this system was created for those seeking a refreshing campaign experience.

Location

Capital Campaign Pro is a fully online, virtual resource that is incredibly accessible for nonprofit leaders across the country and around the world. This means that regardless of location, your organization can make the most of the its resources.

Find out more about the resources offered by Capital Campaign Pro.

5. Alexander Haas

Overview

As one of the leading fundraising consulting firms in the nation and a member of The Giving Institute, Alexander Haas has years of experience planning capital campaigns.

In their own words, they “know what it takes to be successful in today’s philanthropic marketplace and how to help you get the results it takes to prosper.”

Services

Nonprofits interested in Alexander Haas will find services that include:

Pre-campaign counsel
Feasibility studies
Plan development

They provide services for more than just capital campaigns; nonprofits can get assistance with their annual fund or donor stewardship.

Type of Client

Educational and faith-based institutions are some of the common types of clients that the consultants at Alexander Haas work with. Plus, they work with any size organization, large or small.

Location

The Alexander Haas consulting firm is located in Atlanta, Georgia.

Check out more of the services on the Alexander Haas website.

6. Brian Lacy and Associates

Overview

Brian Lacy and Associates is a fundraising and data services consulting firm with 3 decades of experience providing “leading industry resources and veteran talent to maximize what your [nonprofit] team can do across the giving spectrum.”
They have helped over 400 organizations raise more than $1 billion in contributions.

Services

If you need help with your capital campaign, Brian Lacy and Associates offers many different services for your nonprofit.

They cover services like:

Prospect screening
Securing funds to reach fundraising goals
Marketing and communications

Type of Client

Some of their clients include Brooklyn College Foundation, Appalachian State University, and Mississippi State. In addition to educational institutions, they aid healthcare and art and culture organizations.

Location

Brian Lacy and Associates is located in Houston, Texas.

Visit Brian Lacy and Associates to learn more about their services.

7. J.F. Smith Group

Overview

The J.F. Smith Group has over 25 years of capital campaign experience to help guide nonprofits throughout their fundraising.

Their goal is “helping clients fulfill their dreams through a unique, professionally directed development partnership.”

Services

One of the most important parts of a capital campaign is the feasibility study, and J.F. Smith Group will conduct interviews with participants so you don’t have to!

Additionally, J.F. Smith Group can also help with:

Staff training
Campaign strategy
Wealth screening

Aside from capital campaigns, nonprofits can hire J.F. Smith for other fundraising projects as well.

Type of client

The J.F. Smith Group works with medium-sized organizations. They’ve worked with clients such as Auburn Humane Society, Jacksonville State University, and Auburn University.

Location

J.F. Smith Group is headquartered in Auburn, Alabama.

Check out more of J.F. Smith Group’s services on their website.

8. The Curtis Group Consultants

Overview

Founded in 1989, The Curtis Group has over 25 years of experience working with nonprofits to improve their fundraising.

Their philosophy is “To be there. For you. With you. Working alongside you in every phase of the campaign until you reach your goal.”

Services

The Curtis Group can handle many aspects of a nonprofit’s capital campaign, from the initial planning to training your board of directors.

Along with creating a unified brand for a capital campaign, The Curtis Group can help design and create:

Brochures
Case statements
Major donor presentation kits

Type of client

The Curtis Group has worked with over 150 arts and culture, educational, and healthcare organizations. While they work with any size organization, The Curtis Group finds that they can provide the best services to small and medium size nonprofits.

Location

The Curtis Group is located in Virginia Beach, Virginia.

9. Gail Perry Group

Overview

Founded in 1994, the Gail Perry Group has spent over 25 years helping nonprofits of all kinds reach their goals through effective capital campaigns, major giving programs, and fundraising strategies.

The Gail Perry Group uses a proprietary data-driven methodology, Campaigns by the Numbers, to identify hidden major gift opportunities for clients. GPG also helps clients learn the easy Conversational Ask method of securing transformational gifts from happy donors.

Services

Gail Perry Group offers services such as:

Feasibility studies
Training retreats for board members
Capital campaign planning and counsel

Type of client

The Gail Perry Group worked with nonprofits of all sizes. Former clients include schools and universities, health organizations, foundations, arts and culture institutions, and many other nonprofits.

Location

The Gail Perry Group is located in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, and works nationally.

Visit The Curtis Group website to learn more about their capital campaign services.

Additional Capital Campaign Resources

Guide to Capital Campaigns

Brush up on capital campaign basics and best practices before hiring a consultant. This guide provides the strategies to help you raise more money during your campaign.

Keep reading if you want to learn the ins and outs of capital campaigns!

Learn more about the basics of capital campaigns!

Planning a Capital Campaign

Launching a capital campaign requires a lot of planning. That’s why we’ve found this guide so helpful! It details every step to help you get through the planning phase.

Keep reading if you’re looking for a step-by-step guide to planning your capital campaign.

Plan your capital campaign with these expert steps!

Capital Campaign Consultant

Finding the best-fit capital campaign consultant for your nonprofit isn’t always easy, and you’ll want to know what to expect during this comprehensive hiring process.

Averill Fundraising Solutions has the guide you need to make your decision.

Learn more about hiring a capital campaign consultant!

This is a basic guide about how you can use corporate giving to increase employee engagement at your company.

Increase Employee Engagement with Corporate Giving

September 2, 2022/in Learning Center, Corporate Consulting /by Adam Weinger

The importance of employee engagement, which is defined as the emotional and functional commitment an employee has to their organization, cannot be overstated. According to Gallup, companies with engaged employees outperform those without by up to 202%.

As we discuss in another article, engaged employees are also happier, stay with companies longer, and are more philanthropically minded.

While the benefits are clear, employee engagement is a struggle for most companies, with over 71% of employees reporting that they are not fully engaged.

One effective way your company can increase employee engagement is through corporate giving. When companies offer accessible ways for employees to get involved in philanthropic endeavors, whether that’s through matching gifts, corporate volunteerism, or other forms of nonprofit support, employees will be more likely to participate. This in turn boosts their engagement level.

In this article, we’ll discuss some basics of employee engagement and dive into how you can use corporate giving programs to increase your employees’ engagement. This includes:

Three Key Drivers of Employee Engagement
How Companies Can Increase Employee Engagement
Using Corporate Philanthropy to Increase Employee Engagement
How to Implement or Enhance Your Corporate Giving Program
Conclusion: Why Corporate Giving Programs are a Win-Win for Everyone

Let’s get started.

Three Key Drivers of Employee Engagement

It’s said that employees don’t leave companies; they leave people, and it’s true. Many of the reasons employees claim they aren’t engaged in their company have to do with people.

Let’s take a look at these statistics and the key drivers behind employee engagement:

Employees’ relationships with their direct managers: 80% of employees who were dissatisfied with their direct manager were disengaged.
Employees’ belief in senior leadership: 70% of employees who lack confidence in the abilities of senior leadership are not fully engaged.
Employees’ pride in working for the company: 54% of employees who are proud of their company’s contributions to society are engaged.

Offering corporate giving programs can have a positive impact on all three drivers of engagement. When leadership takes an interest in corporate philanthropy and makes a point to focus on how the company can help the community, employees tend to view this in a positive light.

How Companies Can Increase Employee Engagement

There are many strategies companies can use to increase employee engagement. Dale Carnegie highlights five great reasons to do so, and we’ve added a few ideas that our own research has shown enhances employee engagement:

Senior leadership must articulate a clear vision to all employees. Without a clear goal, employees will not know what they’re working toward.
Employees should be encouraged to openly communicate and influence the company’s vision with their input.
Direct managers should foster healthy relationships with their employees.
Senior leadership should continuously demonstrate that employees have an impact on their work environment.
Managers should show employees that they are valued as true contributors, giving them a sense of empowerment.
Managers should organize and encourage team volunteerism in communities as a way of giving back and encouraging social interaction outside the office.
Companies should give back to local nonprofits. Corporate giving programs, like matching gift programs and volunteer grants, are a great way for corporations to support organizations that employees care about.

Management and senior leadership should take a hands-on approach to encouraging employees to engage with these opportunities at their company. Now that we’ve covered the basics of employee engagement, let’s jump into corporate giving specifically.

Using Corporate Philanthropy to Increase Employee Engagement

Keeping employees engaged and helping the community at the same time seems like a pretty great deal, right? That’s why many companies are investing in corporate social responsibility (CSR) to help improve the communities in which their employees live and work.

One major component of CSR is corporate philanthropy, and within that, there are several corporate giving programs companies can offer. When employees participate in those programs, this enhances their view of the company and gives them an opportunity to help nonprofit organizations that they care about. More and more companies are realizing these benefits, leading to an increasing trend of corporate philanthropy programs being implemented and expanded by businesses across the country.

In order to boost employee engagement, companies can:

Offer matching gift programs. Nearly two-thirds of Fortune 500 companies offer a matching gift program that makes employees’ charitable contributions go twice as far. Matching gift programs help engage employees by showing them that the company not only encourages donating, but takes part in it as well. Employees can feel proud knowing their employer gives back.
Encourage volunteerism. Whether a company offers paid time off for employees to volunteer or encourages employees to team up and participate in fundraising events, employee engagement can skyrocket when volunteerism is part of a company’s philanthropic culture. Allowing employees to band together to better the community helps them feel like the company supports them and will boost their dedication.
Offer volunteer grants. Volunteer grants are donations that companies make to nonprofits after an employee has volunteered for a certain amount of time. Volunteer grants demonstrate a company’s commitment to helping worthy causes and instills a shared sense of philanthropy among employees, boosting engagement and satisfaction.

When companies support the causes their employees care about, this helps strengthen the relationship between not just the company and its employees, but also between the company and the nonprofits they help. All of these effects come together to create a positive reputation for the company, happy employees, and a better community.

How to Implement or Enhance Your Corporate Giving Program

When it comes to corporate giving, managing your program can be overwhelming. After all, if your company offers a matching gift or volunteer grant program, you’ll need to track each employee donation and volunteer hour, as well as the requests that come through for matches or grants.

Corporate giving software for companies is an effective option that many corporations already take advantage of. These solutions allow companies to manage workplace giving, matching gifts, volunteer opportunities, and more.

For example, the right corporate giving solution equips your company to:

Set up and view employee donations, such as automatic payroll deductions.
Review and/or automatically approve matching gift requests.
List volunteer opportunities for employees.
Track employee volunteer hours.
Manage and approve volunteer grant requests.

Whether you’re setting up a new corporate giving program or trying to build on what you already have, corporate giving software can help you get the most out of your program. After all, the easier it is for employees to log in and participate, the more engagement you’ll get in the long run.

If you’re looking to get started with corporate giving or improve and better manage your company’s philanthropic programing, working with a software provider will allow you to incorporate all of the recommendations above and begin seeing real results as soon as possible.

Conclusion: Why Corporate Giving Programs are a Win-Win for Everyone

In summary, there are many benefits of incorporating giving programs like matching gifts, volunteer grants, and volunteerism. These include:

Employees getting to experience an enjoyable and rewarding team-building event.
The corporation giving back to the community.
The corporation’s reputation in the community being enhanced through positive press coverage and other channels.
The nonprofits receiving volunteer support and/or additional funding.

While there are a multitude of ways to increase employee engagement, utilizing corporate giving programs can be one of the most beneficial options for employees, companies, and nonprofits alike.

Additional Employee Engagement & Corporate Giving Resources

If you’re interested in learning more about corporate giving and employee engagement, we’ve compiled some excellent resources for you:

Corporate Giving Programs: The Ultimate Fundraising Guide. Want to learn the basics around corporate giving programs? Check out our ultimate guide!
Corporate Philanthropy: The Ultimate Guide to Giving. Corporate philanthropy is huge these days. Learn more about it with our comprehensive guide.
Employee Engagement: The Essential Guide. If you’re just getting started with employee engagement for your company, we’ve broken it down here!

How to Start a Matching Gift Program [For Companies]

August 3, 2022/in Learning Center, Matching Gift Companies, Corporate Consulting, Learning Center /by Adam Weinger

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:

Setting a budget and goals for your donation-matching program.
Identifying matching gift threshold criteria.
Determining eligibility for your matching gift programs.
Deciding how your company will facilitate matching.
Establishing your matching gift request process (and deadline).
Exploring matching gift auto-submission to simplify participation.
Crafting an employee-facing matching gift policy document.
Informing employees about your matching gift initiative.
Ensuring your matching gift program is added to the top matching database.
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.

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:

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.
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.
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.

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.

However, if your company does not have the budget or the bandwidth to introduce a fully-fledged matching gift program, another option to consider would be a custom matching gifts program. What’s the difference? Rather than matching gifts to any or all nonprofit causes, a custom matching gift initiative involves a more direct partnership with a single fundraising organization. From there, a time constraint is typically established (for example, doubling all staff donations to a breast cancer research center made throughout Breast Cancer Awareness Month). You’ll want to encourage employees to support the selected nonprofit during the span of the campaign, then your company will match the total given to make each dollar go farther toward the organization’s mission.

While more limited in scope, custom matching gift programs can be an excellent way to forge mutually beneficial nonprofit-corporate partnerships, rally employees around a particular cause, and gain critical experience in matching gifts. When you see the impact you can make with a custom program, you might even decide to go all in with a traditional matching gift offering!

*While 360MatchPro offers custom matching gift management functionality, this feature is designed specifically for fundraisers looking to manage custom matching gift initiatives—360MatchPro does not work directly with corporations. If you’re a company interested in creating a matching gift program, contact us, and we’ll share information about our corporate vendor partners.

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).

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

Working with a matching gift vendor that offers auto-submission will also allow your company to become a Certified Leader in Matching Automation (CLMA). That means you’ll be recognized for offering the most universally accessible, easy-to-complete matching gift process for your employees.

Remember: the more easily your staff can participate in matching gifts, the more likely they’ll be to complete their end of the process. Fortunately, offering auto-submission (and becoming CLMA-certified) is the best way to do so.

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 corporate giving 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.

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! You can even use dedicated employee recognition platforms to call out those who participate. 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:

How to Offer the Ultimate Employee Giving Experience. Find out what your employees want in a workplace giving program with this insightful guide! Follow the provided tips and suggestions to develop a top-notch philanthropy initiative.
The Impact of CSR on Businesses: A Guide For Corporations. Why do companies match gifts, let alone participate in any CSR efforts? Explore this resource and dive into the key benefits of corporate giving to businesses like yours.
Why Workplace Giving Matters for Nonprofits + Companies. Learn more about workplace giving programs, the benefits of these initiatives, and how they help build mutually beneficial relationships between nonprofits and corporations.

How to Advocate for a Matching Gift Program to Your Employer

August 2, 2022/in Learning Center, About Double the Donation, Corporate Consulting /by Adam Weinger

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:

Cover the basics of matching gift programs.
Explain the benefits of matching employee gifts.
Highlight similar businesses with matching gift programs.
Share resources to streamline program development.
Emphasize simplicity with auto-submission and CSR platforms.
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.

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:

Establish your minimum and maximum giving amounts
Determine which types of causes and which employees are eligible for participation
Create a submission process
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.

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.

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:

Why Workplace Giving Matters for Nonprofits + Companies. Matching gifts are just one form of workplace giving. Learn more about why workplace giving programs matter and how your company can benefit while also supporting nonprofit causes.
Double the Donation’s New Matching Gift Auto-Submission Functionality. Auto-submission functionality makes matching gifts easier (and more impactful) than ever before, and employees, donors, companies, and nonprofits love the simplicity it offers. Learn more with this guide!
Corporate Giving and Matching Gift Statistics [Updated 2022]. Check out these matching gift and corporate philanthropy statistics to learn more about industry trends and current availability. See how your company can play a role here.
The Ultimate Guide to Corporate Giving Programs. Beyond matching gifts, corporate giving can include volunteer grants, community donations, in-kind support, co-hosted fundraising events, and more. Dive into the opportunities in this complete guide.

Corporate Philanthropy + Employee Retention: The Connection

March 30, 2022/in Corporate Consulting, Learning Center /by Adam Weinger

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:

An Overview of Corporate Philanthropy
What To Know About Employee Retention
The Overlap Between Philanthropy + Staff Retention
Tips for Driving Corporate Philanthropy + Employee Retention

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:

Why Workplace Giving Matters for Nonprofits + Companies. Workplace giving is a form of corporate philanthropy that is highly favored by businesses, employees, and nonprofits alike. Find out how matching gifts, volunteer grants, and more can benefit your team.
How to Offer the Ultimate Employee Giving Experience. In order to drive employee participation, engagement, and retention through your giving initiatives, make sure the experience is a positive one for your team. Learn more about how to do so with this informative guide.
Top 20 Matching Gift Companies: Leaders in Philanthropy. Looking to be inspired by some of the most charitable-minded businesses in the corporate giving space? Check out this list of top companies leading successful matching gift programs, and seek inspiration from the experts!

Check out the top matching gift software vendors for nonprofits and companies!

Matching Gift Software Vendors: The Comprehensive List

December 6, 2016/in Learning Center, Corporate Consulting /by Adam Weinger

Whether your company is managing a corporate giving program or your nonprofit is seeking matching gift revenue, corporate philanthropy can be tricky to master.

For businesses, creating an effective matching gift program entails substantial hard work that will ultimately pay off. For nonprofits, it takes ongoing research to acquire much-deserved matching gift revenue. Nonetheless, corporate social responsibility is a growing, impactful phenomenon.

Matching gift programs are naturally complex, but fortunately, there are several technology solutions on the market. To kick off your research, let’s go through each of these major areas:

Top software providers for nonprofits
Top software vendors for companies

If you’re not already familiar with these philanthropic programs, take a look at this comprehensive guide on corporate giving. Otherwise, let’s jump straight into the top matching gift software providers!

1. Top Matching Gift Software Providers for Nonprofits

Corporate giving represents a major revenue opportunity for nonprofits, but researching your donors’ employers can be fairly difficult and time-consuming. Plus, for nonprofits, this process never ends.

Once you initially gather information on local companies’ matching gift programs, your team has to stay up-to-date on the changes made within these programs. You also have to be constantly on the lookout for new employers each time a donor submits a gift.

This may be doable for very small nonprofits, but as their donor bases grow, staying updated without effective software is virtually impossible.

Why It’s Important for Nonprofits to Use Matching Gift Software

Many donors don’t know how to navigate their employer’s corporate giving process—and some are unaware that their employers even offer matching gift programs at all. For that reason, nonprofits tend to leave a substantial amount of revenue on the table every year.

In fact, an estimated $4-$7 billion in matching gift funds goes unclaimed annually.

Matching gift software not only helps spread awareness around matching gift programs, but also helps guide donors through the process in an easy and intuitive way. Any size nonprofit can benefit from a matching gift database—no matter how small or large. Without a comprehensive system, your nonprofit will inevitably overlook these major revenue opportunities.

So how do you choose the right matching gift software? Be sure to invest in a solution that’s frequently updated, comprehensive, and easy to use, such as the leading matching gift solution: 360MatchPro by Double the Donation.

360MatchPro by Double the Donation

360MatchPro by Double the Donation is the complete end-to-end matching gift solution that automates the majority of the process. The platform pulls directly from Double the Donation’s extensive matching gift database, giving you the most comprehensive coverage of matching gift programs.

Here’s how it works to simplify corporate giving for nonprofits:

An individual submits a donation. When donors enter their information into your donation forms, the platform automatically identifies their matching gift eligibility by searching for the details they provide in a database of corporate philanthropy programs. This may include email domains or employer information.
360MatchPro automatically follows up. Depending on the donor’s eligibility, the platform automatically triggers customizable follow-up emails to these donors. If they’re eligible for a matching gift, they will be prompted to submit a request. If their eligibility is unknown or they are ineligible, they will be prompted to double check using the search tool.
The platform tracks matches to completion. 360MatchPro enables customizable tracking so you know where your donors are in the match process.

Benefits of using 360MatchPro by Double the Donation include:

More matching gift opportunities. 360MatchPro allows you to automatically determine matching gift eligibility among your donors, which means more matching gift requests will be successfully submitted.
More matches driven to completion. The platform directs donors to their company’s matching gift forms right after the donation has been made and continues to follow up afterward. This means more submissions will be completed and bring in exponentially more matching gift revenue for your organization.
More time to focus on top opportunities. Because 360MatchPro automates every matching gift opportunity, big or small, your organization can focus its efforts on the most valuable match-eligible donations.
Closer relationships with corporate partners. Double the Donation’s 360MatchPro is also the only matching gift software that offers custom matching gift program management functionality (where a company commits to matching donations made by employees to a specific nonprofit). This feature empowers organizations to facilitate unique or one-off match opportunities directly with the companies in their network, and the ease with which the programs are managed from both sides leads not only to more matching gift opportunities but to increasing donor reach, positive fundraising outcomes, and deepening long-term partnerships!
*As a note, this feature is designed specifically for fundraisers looking to manage custom matching gift initiatives—360MatchPro does not work directly with corporations. If you’re a company interested in creating a matching gift program, contact us, and we’ll share information about our corporate vendor partners.
Less effort for donors to get involved. Donors love elevating their giving impact with matching programs, but complicated processes can lead to eligible matches going unclaimed. 360MatchPro helps simplify the experience for qualifying donors, including with new streamlined auto-submission functionality.

360MatchPro by Double the Donation will ensure your organization doesn’t leave large sums of matching gift revenue on the table. The platform essentially serves as your own matching gift team, automating the process so your staff can focus on the most important thing: serving your mission.

What to look for: Fundraising integrations

Unlike many matching gift software solutions for nonprofits, 360MatchPro integrates with more than 50 of the leading fundraising platforms. In other words, if your organization already leverages specific donation or CRM software, you won’t have to worry about transferring your donor data between platforms.

The system also has state-of-the-art security (as illustrated by its SOC 2 Type II Compliance) that will protect all of your donors’ data and help your team gain better insight into your revenue opportunities.

360MatchPro’s integrations include:

CRMs, such as Blackbaud (Raiser’s Edge NXT) and Salesforce
Peer-to-peer fundraising platforms, such as Classy and DonorDrive
Donation software, such as Luminate, Convio, Funraise, and iModules
Corporate giving software, such as Millie, POINT, and Selflessly

These integrations allow you to continue using the fundraising software you already leverage while also sending the data through 360MatchPro’s platform so you can automatically identify new matching gift opportunities.

360MatchPro is the next evolution of advanced matching gift tools for nonprofits. If your organization isn’t using dedicated matching gift software, there’s no doubt that you’re missing out on major opportunities.

Interested in learning more about smart matching gift fundraising and best practices for leveraging 360MatchPro to your greatest potential? Check out Double the Donation’s Matching Gift Academy here!

2. Matching Gift Software Vendors for Companies

If your company doesn’t already have a philanthropic program in place, there’s no time like the present to get started! After all, there are innumerable benefits to having these programs, including heightened employee engagement and a positive company reputation.

If you already have a match program in place, your company may be considering switching to an electronic matching gift system. Not only does that save valuable time, but it also ensures there aren’t any gaps in your guidelines.

Let’s go through each of the leading software vendors for companies:

America’s Charities
Benevity
Bright Funds
Charityvest
CyberGrants
Millie
POINT
Selflessly
SmartSimple
YourCause

These vendors deliver everything a company needs to outsource the employee matching gift administration process, volunteer grants, disaster relief, and broader workplace giving programs. And for your convenience, we’ve separated them out based on a key distinguishing factor⁠—whether they offer auto-submission functionality.

What to look for: Is the matching gift software CLMA-certified?

For the best results, companies in the matching gift software buying process should prioritize CLMA-certified solutions in order to provide optimal encounters for their employees and the organizations they support. What does that mean?

Platforms with the official CLMA Certificate have been deemed Certified Leaders in Matching Automation, providing the most streamlined and intuitive matching gift experience for their users. This, in turn, encourages higher rates of employee participation and reduces the administrative burden for companies and nonprofits alike.

What to look for: Does the matching gift software offer auto-submission?

Traditionally, donors looking to participate in matching programs have been required to submit their donation to a nonprofit organization, then complete a separate request process with their employer to secure the corporate match. This separate request often asks for information about the receiving organization, specific donations, and even the employee themselves, and it’s often a critical roadblock keeping employee donors from completing their matches.

Today, many companies are rolling out matching gift auto-submission abilities, which allow donors to submit their match requests directly from their favorite organizations’ donation confirmation pages with a single click.

Let’s take a look at some of the breakthrough matching gift software providers that are empowering companies and their employees with this functionality;

Millie

Millie provides workplace giving tools for all by allowing companies to create simple and flexible social impact programs on a budget. Their platform brings the power of a giving wallet to everyday donors by providing financial tools that allow for easy, simple, and strategic giving.

Millie allows companies to:

Match employee donations
Manage employee volunteerism by creating events and tracking impact
Build giving campaigns
Gift charitable dollars to employees and customers

Millie’s workplace giving platform is designed to provide a comprehensive and affordable solution for companies of all sizes so that reaching CSR goals is achievable for all. Plus, they integrate with Double the Donation’s 360MatchPro to offer innovative auto-submission for their corporate clients.

Learn more about Millie on their website here or check out our case study to see their matching gift auto-submission in action!

POINT

POINT is the ready-to-go social impact platform for companies serious about impact. Manage employee volunteering, giving, and nonprofit partnerships on one platform employees actually want to use.

As an innovative corporate giving provider, POINT enables businesses to:

Manage matching donation campaigns and initiatives
Manage employee volunteerism
Organize virtual volunteer opportunities
Co-host volunteer opportunities with local nonprofits
Fulfill tangible nonprofit needs through in-kind giving
Automatically track volunteering and giving statistics and reporting
Track impact of workplace giving initiatives

Plus, when companies purchase a subscription to POINT, they can gift the nonprofit POINT platform to nonprofits for free. Companies can collaborate with nonprofits on the same platform and give nonprofits the tools they need to find and manage volunteers seamlessly, saving them up to 15 hours per week.

Not to mention, POINT now offers matching gift auto-submission to make matching gifts as simple as possible for companies, donors, and nonprofits alike.

Learn more about POINT!

Selflessly

Selflessly is a comprehensive matching gift and corporate philanthropy management software. Developed in 2018, they aim to provide small and mid-sized businesses with the resources needed to launch and maintain their philanthropic initiatives effectively.

Selflessly helps businesses:

Donate to millions of local and national charities
Provide simple employee giving processes
Match employee donations
Report on giving and impact
Promote employee engagement
Locate and manage volunteer opportunities
Track volunteer time off

If you’re looking for a powerful yet affordable matching gift solution for your business, Selflessly is a great way to go. As an added bonus, they even partner with our matching gift automation tool, 360MatchPro, to further streamline the giving and matching processes for employers and employees alike through matching gift auto-submission abilities!

Learn more about Selflessly on their website here or read our case study to see how this matching gift vendor is changing the game with auto-submission!

Does Not Yet Offer Matching Gift Auto-Submission

These other CSR platforms can offer excellent features and functionality regarding matching gift program management for companies, though they have not yet built out auto-submission capabilities with Double the Donation. This means that employees will be required to complete separate request processes to participate in their companies’ giving initiatives.

However, matching gift auto-submission is the future of corporate gift-matching, so keep an eye out as more of these providers shift to automatic submissions as well.

America’s Charities

America’s Charities offers an entire suite of tools for companies. Their most comprehensive solution, Engage, is an end-to-end giving and corporate social responsibility (CSR) solution that offers a holistic view of your global impact.

The platform provides a comprehensive and flexible solution to help your company streamline community programs and maximize your social investment. Best of all? You can manage all of your corporate philanthropy and giving programs from one place.

Engage helps organize:

Corporate philanthropy, grants, and sponsorships
Donation matching
Employee workplace giving
Employee engagement
Volunteer programs

You can also track your goals easily and share eye-catching reports and dashboards using real-time data. Unfortunately, however, Engage does not currently offer matching gift auto-submission capabilities.

Learn more about America’s Charities!

Benevity

Originally founded in Canada in 2008, Benevity has rapidly developed a major presence with companies based in the United States as well.

This workplace giving platform strives to create compelling corporate giving programs that help companies attract, retain, and engage employees. In addition to a matching gift program, the vendor allows businesses to implement other philanthropic programs, such as volunteer grants and charitable gift cards to motivate employees to generously give.

Through Benevity, corporations can evaluate their success in making a positive impact on their communities. That way, they can adjust their efforts to create the best possible giving program. However, Benevity has yet to offer matching gift auto-submission functionality.

Learn more about Benevity!

Bright Funds

Bright Funds is a leading provider of corporate giving software as a service for workplace giving, volunteering, and grants management. With nearly a decade of experience, Bright Funds helps companies of all sizes multiply their impact through an intuitive, comprehensive corporate social responsibility platform.

Companies can build a culture of giving and grow their employees’ impact with a matching gifts program on Bright Funds. Matching rules can be set up with a single click from the admin dashboard. The platform automatically enforces matching rules and budget limits, while ensuring that employees can only donate to vetted, eligible organizations. That gives companies more time to focus on engaging employees to participate and give back to the causes they care about.

With Bright Funds, companies can scale their impact from a single, flexible platform that includes:

Employee giving (one time and recurring donations)
Support for 1.8 million global nonprofits and 100 countries
Donation matching
Employee engagement
Full volunteer program management with a preloaded list of over 8 million opportunities
Integrated grants management
Managed donations disbursement
Real-time impact reporting
Integrations with many payroll, HRIS, volunteering, and other systems

Empower today’s purpose-driven workforce to do good through Bright Funds’ all-in-one corporate responsibility platform. As of yet, however, Bright Funds has not established an auto-submission functionality.

Learn more about Bright Funds!

Charityvest

Charityvest simplifies the giving process for both donors and charities alike. By allowing users to create personal charitable giving funds, donors can securely and freely donate stock and cash to charities without losing a percentage to transaction fees.

Charityvest for Workplaces provides employees with tax-deductible giving accounts and unlocks automatic charitable matching, reporting, and administration for companies. Their workplace giving programs are trusted and utilized by companies nationwide.

With Charityvest for Workplaces, your company can implement fully automated, rules-based grant matching, provide employees with unlimited zero-fee giving to millions of charities, and view real-time reporting on charitable impact. In the future, Charityvest for Workplaces may develop auto-submission functionality, but for now, employees are resigned to partake in manual submission processes.

Learn more about Charityvest!

CyberGrants

For over 20 years, CyberGrants has been a leader in the online grantmaking space. Over time, the company has recorded many firsts through its initiatives, including:

Developing the first online application
Providing the first online grants administration tools
Creating the first online workplace giving and volunteering systems for corporations

A few years ago, CyberGrants merged with the JK Group, which owned the Consiva and Easymatch platforms. Today, it manages employee giving programs for many global companies.

As a flexible philanthropic software platform, CyberGrants provides numerous innovative ways for companies to develop their workplace giving programs. CyberGrants has yet to roll out auto-submission features, still relying on manual requests from employee donors through the system.

Learn more about CyberGrants!

SmartSimple

SmartSimple offers companies robust tools for grant management, employee giving, matching gifts, volunteer management, and more.

When companies use SmartSimple to manage their workplace giving strategies, they can:

Approve matching gift requests while following their company guidelines
Manage volunteer programs and award grants
Manage in-kind giving
Monitor impact through detailed reporting

SmartSimple streamlines nearly every aspect of your company’s workplace giving program, making it incredibly easy for employees to participate and boost your CSR impact in the greater community. However, they’ve yet to offer auto-submission functionality, which may be enabled in the future.

Learn more about SmartSimple!

YourCause

Through its dedicated corporate social responsibility platform, YourCause helps corporations of all sizes. This platform, called CSRconnect, is a customizable community tool that centralizes employee engagement.

When businesses invest in the CSRconnect platform, they can enable year-round matching gifts, annual pledge campaigns, and more. Additionally, the platform leverages peer-to-peer fundraising. In other words, employees will raise money on behalf of the nonprofits they care about, and companies can match those donations⁠—though they’ve yet to establish a process for matching gift auto-submissions.

As a business professional, you’ve likely heard of the leading CRM platform Blackbaud. YourCause integrates with this major CRM software, meaning you won’t have to spend time transferring your employees’ data. If that’s not convincing enough, the customizable software allows companies and employees to access 300,000+ global nonprofits from 170 countries!

Learn more about YourCause!

For nonprofits and companies alike, corporate social responsibility is highly influential and catching on rapidly. From the nonprofit perspective, corporate philanthropy means boosting revenue. Not leveraging a matching gift database equates to not fulfilling your matching gift potential.

From the business perspective, corporate philanthropy means developing a brand, promoting a generous workplace, and giving back to the community. However, developing and maintaining a giving program is nearly impossible without the right software.

Now that you know more about specific software solutions, start leveraging this technology in your corporate giving strategy today!

Additional Resources for Nonprofits

Corporate Matching Gift Programs: Understanding the Basics. Matching gift programs are one of the most common forms of corporate philanthropy. That’s why understanding the basics is essential. Learn more here!
Corporate Giving Programs: The Ultimate Fundraising Guide. Corporate giving encompasses more than just matching gifts. Find out about other types of corporate philanthropy with this comprehensive guide.
Top 30 Matching Gift Companies: Find Your Match. Wondering if your donors are linked to any of the top matching gift companies? Check out this comprehensive list.

Additional Resources for Corporations

Announcing New Matching Gift Auto-Submission Functionality. Make the most of your company’s matching gift programs by enabling auto-submission functionality! The easiest way to do so is by partnering with a corporate giving software provider that integrates with Double the Donation. The simpler the process, the more likely your employees are to get involved.
Matching Gifts: The Definitive Guide for Employers. A surprising number of companies have not yet started a matching gift program, even though these programs are proven to help retain and engage employees, showcase CSR, and make a positive impact in the community. This guide from America’s Charities will break down the basics and benefits of matching gift programs, explain how to set one up, offer advice from America’s Charities’ team of experts, and more. Take advantage of their years of experience, research, and expertise, and download this guide!

This guide will cover why employee engagement is important and the top ten benefits of employee engagement.

Why is Employee Engagement Important: 10 Top Benefits

September 2, 2015/in Learning Center, Corporate Consulting /by Adam Weinger

Author Simon Sinek once said, “When people are financially invested, they want a return. When people are emotionally invested, they want to contribute.” This quote perfectly illustrates how vital it is to engage your employees. By doing so, they will be happier and perform to the best of their abilities.

Unfortunately, employee engagement is sometimes an afterthought in both the for-profit and nonprofit sectors. However, many of these organizations might wonder: why exactly does employee engagement matter?

In this guide, we’ll answer that question by covering the following topics:

What is employee engagement?
What are the levels of employee engagement?
10 Benefits of Employee Engagement
5 Tips for Improving Employee Engagement

By the end of this guide, you’ll see that employee engagement is not only beneficial for your organization in the short term but also necessary for its continued success. So let’s dive in!

What is employee engagement?

In general, employee engagement refers to the level of mental and emotional connection an employee feels toward their work, their team, and their organization. It represents employees’ commitment to staying involved with their organization and helping it achieve its goals.

Keep in mind that employee engagement doesn’t just refer to an employee’s overall enthusiasm—it has to relate to your organization. An individual can have a positive attitude, yet not be very engaged as an employee.

What are the levels of employee engagement?

While it’s possible for all of your employees to have similar engagement levels, it’s more likely that their attitudes are at different locations on the engagement spectrum. Usually, they will fall into one of the following levels of engagement:

Highly engaged. These employees have very favorable opinions of their work and their organization. They’re passionate, enthusiastic, and more likely to go above and beyond to push forward their company’s goals. They also motivate the employees around them to do their best.
Engaged. Engaged employees like their work, their team, and their organization. However, they may feel less satisfied about certain aspects of the organization, leading to a slightly lower level of engagement. These individuals may sometimes go above and beyond their call of duty, but for the most part, they will simply fulfill their responsibilities.
Unengaged. When your employees are unengaged, they feel unattached to their work and their organization. They’re not unhappy, but neither are they happy. They put time into their work, but not their energy or passion. Individuals in this category usually fulfill little more than the bare minimum of their responsibilities.
Disengaged. Disengaged employees are actively unhappy with their work and their organization. They may even be resentful that their engagement needs aren’t being met. These individuals not only underperform in their roles but may also undermine what their coworkers accomplish.

Having unengaged or disengaged employees is not necessarily indicative of an issue with your company culture—it’s difficult to capture the enthusiasm of everyone who works at your organization, and sometimes engagement is impacted by factors outside of your control, such as major events in your employees’ lives. However, if the majority of your employees fall in the unengaged and disengaged categories, then you may need to re-evaluate your existing employee engagement strategies.

10 Benefits of Employee Engagement

To give you a concrete idea of why employee engagement is important, we’ll cover the top ten benefits of employee engagement.

1. Productivity

According to Gallup’s employee engagement survey, businesses with engaged employees were 18% more productive than companies with unengaged teams. When employees are engaged at work, they feel a connection with the company. They believe the work they’re doing is important and therefore work harder.

By establishing engagement initiatives that improve your employees’ connection to their work, you’ll foster a more positive relationship between your organization and your employees.

2. Profitability

With increased productivity comes increased profitability. When comparing organizations with unengaged versus engaged employees, Gallup found that the latter group was 23% more profitable.

However, not only do unengaged employees not contribute to increasing profitability, but their presence actively increases costs as well. Gallup’s State of the Global Workplace report asserts that unengaged and disengaged employees cost the world about $8.8 trillion in lost productivity, the equivalent of 9% of global GDP.

3. Employee retention

When your team members are engaged and feel appreciated, they will be less inclined to look for other employment opportunities. Fostering a culture of employee engagement can be the key to reducing turnover and boosting retention.

Retention has an impact on your organization’s bottom line, too. The Work Institute estimates that losing an employee costs about $15,000 per employee. This estimated loss includes costs such as unemployment tax, lost business, and interviewing and training replacements.

If employees feel wanted when they go to work each day, they’re likely to form strong connections with the company and other employees. By cultivating and maintaining these relationships, you reduce the risk of employee turnover and the costs associated with it.

4. Creativity

Innovation is the key to growing your business. Engaged employees find creativity to be essential. They thrive on knowing they can find new ways to complete projects and are always looking for fresh takes on old ideas. Plus, if they discover a way to improve your existing processes, they’ll be more likely to advocate for them to improve your organization’s operations as a whole.

On the other hand, disengaged employees rarely produce new solutions or bring fresh ideas to the table simply because their passions don’t lie with their work. They have little interest in contributing to the bigger picture or being creative with their job.

5. Satisfaction and positivity

Remember that boosting engagement isn’t simply about creating more productive employees and increasing profits. Employee engagement is advantageous for both parties and should be treated as a two-way street.

Employees who are engaged at work feel satisfied with their careers and are generally happy individuals. Their positive energy will suffuse your workplace, creating a more positive culture that empowers high performers to create high-quality work.

This is particularly important for remote employees. Since they’re physically distant from their workplace, it’s more difficult for them to form positive relationships and connections with coworkers. Find engagement strategies employees can participate in from home to bring them into your company’s culture.

6. Mental wellness

Stress is an inevitable part of a working professional’s life. However, too much of it can lead to burnout, decreasing productivity, work quality, and eventually profitability. That’s why it’s essential to minimize stress and promote mental wellness for your employees. Additionally, stress is detrimental to both physical health and mental health, making mental wellness even more important.

With the right employee engagement initiatives, your team members will be more self-aware of their stress levels. Plus, they’ll be more likely to seek support from their coworkers and managers if they need it. This leads to a more supportive and positive work environment that everyone benefits from.

7. Decreased absenteeism

Absenteeism in the workplace refers to when employees fail to show up for work or fail to complete their job responsibilities regularly. This should not be confused with taking paid time off or one-off situations such as family emergencies—the key to absenteeism is its frequency and unplanned nature.

According to Gallup’s employee engagement survey, organizations that scored in the lowest quartiles of employee engagement were also 81% more likely to experience employee absenteeism. By focusing on employee engagement, your employees will be more satisfied with their work and less likely to be absent.

8. Brand advocacy

Satisfied employees will help to boost your organization’s reputation—and best of all, it’ll happen without any prompting from you! Happy employees will likely brag about their jobs to customers or tell friends and family how much they enjoy working at your organization. By doing so, they’ll spread good news about your company and improve your overall reputation.

On the other hand, workers who feel disconnected and disengaged are more likely to have negative things to say about your company. If disengaged employees leave or are fired, they may vent their frustrations publicly. Because negative feedback tends to be magnified more than positive, your company’s reputation and credibility could be damaged due to disengaged, disgruntled employees.

You can measure the brand advocacy that employees bring to your organization through an employee net promoter score (eNPS). Ask your employees: “On a scale of 0-10, how likely are you to recommend this company’s products and services to others?” If they answer 9-10, they’re a promoter, and if they answer 0-6, they’re a detractor. Calculate eNS by deducting the percent of detractors from the percent of promoters, and ignore those who score 7-8. This will give you a good idea of how strongly your employees advocate for your organization.

9. Recruitment

Attracting top talent is important to any organization that has open roles or hiring opportunities. This is especially true if the job market is saturated with openings, allowing candidates to more freely pick and choose which organizations they’d like to work for.

When a majority of existing employees at your organization are engaged, they’re more likely to speak positively about their work and the benefits you offer. This helps attract top talent as they’ll have heard about the positive points of your organization through word of mouth.

When potential employees apply to your organization, make sure to leave a positive impression. This could mean responding to their emails in a timely manner, promptly following up about interview times, and sending respectful and appreciative rejection letters.

10. Philanthropy

Corporate citizenship is a growing trend for companies of all sizes and industries. This trend asks organizations to consider themselves as citizens, a singular individual existing in a larger community, and to ask: “Am I a good citizen?” One of the ways businesses and corporations have chosen to give back to their community is through philanthropy.

If corporate citizenship is one of your company’s priorities, try engaging your employees with it. Employees want to know that the company they work for cares about the community. If your company offers volunteer grants or matching gifts, engaged employees are likely to take advantage of these opportunities to donate their time and money toward worthy causes. This helps your company be a better corporate citizen in your community.

5 Tips for Improving Employee Engagement

Now that you know the benefits of employee engagement, let’s move on to actionable advice for improving engagement at your organization.

1. Survey existing levels of employee engagement.

The first step to establishing employee engagement initiatives is to assess the existing engagement levels at your organization. If you already have established programs and want to examine their efficacy, this is also a great place to start.

It’s difficult to approach employee engagement quantitatively, so lean into qualitative data collection by sending out a survey. Here are a few examples of questions you can include in your survey:

How satisfied are you with your work?
How satisfied are you with the direction [Organization Name] is taking?
Do you feel your opinions and ideas are valued by your manager and leadership?
How satisfied are you with your work-life balance?
What do you think could be improved about your work?
What challenges do you face in your day-to-day tasks?
How likely are you to recommend [Organization Name] as a place of work to friends or family?

Collect the results of the survey and consolidate the information. Review the general level of employee engagement, but also examine the long-form answers on the survey. If there are any common challenges that your employees face, endeavor to address them to create a better work experience.

Upon review, if you find that the majority of your employees are unsatisfied with their work and feeling unengaged, then you may need to make operational changes to improve employee engagement. However, even if most of your employees are engaged, you should still do your due diligence and review how you can improve existing engagement. For example, if multiple employees express interest in a structured recognition program, look into starting one.

2. Approach compensation holistically.

To keep your employees engaged, re-examine the root of their work: compensation. With the proper compensation, employees will be happy to work and perform at their best.

Take a total rewards philosophy to compensation, where you characterize compensation as either direct or indirect. Direct compensation is financial and can include salary, bonuses, and overtime pay. Indirect compensation, on the other hand, encompasses the non-financial ways an employer gives back to their employees.

Support employee engagement with the following methods of indirect compensation:

Paid time off. Outperform the competition by offering more time off than other businesses in your sector. By allowing your employees to take breaks, they’ll be able to rest and recharge, ensuring they come back refreshed and ready to work.
Workplace giving. More than ever, employees expect their employers to give back to the community and support social good. Support this desire by allowing them to decide which causes receive your funds through workplace giving programs and campaigns. Plus, word of your philanthropy will result in an improved reputation for your company.
Wellness programs. Help your employees stay physically and mentally healthy by incorporating wellness programs into their compensation. This can range from a monthly gym membership stipend to discounted massages to catered healthy work lunches.

By re-evaluating compensation for your employees and taking a total rewards approach, you’ll show team members that their happiness and well-being matter to you. When employees’ well-being and financial needs are secure, they’ll have the mental space to focus on their work and engage with your organization.

3. Prioritize employee recognition.

Everyone, especially high performers, wants to be complimented on their good work. If they don’t receive the praise or recognition they’re expecting, they may feel overlooked or disregarded by their managers and leadership. This can lead to resentment and disengaged employees.

To avoid this, implement employee recognition programs such as the following:

Employee of the month. Every month, choose a top-performing employee to feature in your company newsletter. You can also give them a trophy or a certificate for the employee wall of fame so that they have a tangible reminder of their accomplishments.
Social media shoutouts. Don’t be afraid of telling your customers and your greater community about your high-performing workers! Shoutout your employees on social media for a job well done. This can be done as part of your employee of the month program or as a way to celebrate a particular achievement.
Employee Appreciation Day. National Employee Appreciation Day falls on the first Friday of March every year. Show your appreciation for all your employees by hosting an office party on this day with catered food and drinks. Go above and beyond by preparing small gifts for all attendees.
Peer-to-peer recognition. Although leadership appreciation may be highly impactful, your company’s leaders aren’t tapped into the day-to-day responsibilities of all employees. That’s why peer-to-peer recognition is so important for ensuring all your employees receive the appreciation they deserve. Plus, it’ll create a more positive work environment that encourages engagement.

Not only does proper employee recognition prevent resentment, but it can support your goal of creating more engaged and productive employees. By recognizing high performance, you incentivize employees to do their best work. And this, in turn, will improve the profitability of your business.

4. Offer professional development opportunities.

With about 76% of employees looking for opportunities to expand their careers, professional development is an essential offering. Plus, 58% of employees say professional development contributes to their job satisfaction.

You may be thinking: If I offer my employees more training, then they’ll leave for better employment opportunities after the training is complete.

Studies have found that’s not true. 94% of employees won’t quit if they’re offered training and development opportunities, and retention rates are 34% higher among organizations that offer development programs.

To reap these benefits, offer professional development through mentorship programs, training and resource databases, networking opportunities, and more. You might even pay for employees to attend industry-related conferences to broaden their horizons and expand their knowledge about cutting-edge industry innovations.

5. Implement corporate philanthropy initiatives.

54% of employees in the United States said that they would be willing to take a pay cut to work at a company that shares their values. And 56% of them say they wouldn’t even consider a job at a company that has values they disagree with.

A value that’s increasingly significant to employees is philanthropy. In fact, 71% of employees indicate that it’s very important to work at a company that partakes in philanthropy. Show employees that you share their values by investing in corporate giving initiatives.

Common workplace giving programs that you can implement include:

Matching gifts
Volunteer grants
Employee grant stipends
In-kind donations

When developing your company’s charitable giving policy, prioritize convenience for employees. To facilitate a streamlined corporate philanthropy process, consider investing in workplace giving software. The right platform will allow you to:

Manage employee donations and matching gift requests.
Track employee volunteer hours and volunteer grant requests.
Arrange automatic payroll deductions so employees can donate a portion of their paycheck to a nonprofit of their choice.

By creating an atmosphere of corporate philanthropy, you’ll not only help employees contribute to nonprofit organizations but also help them feel more engaged and fulfilled at work. And when it’s easy for them to take part in workplace giving, you’ll get more out of the programs you’ve already invested in.

Additional Resources

By prioritizing employee engagement, you’ll not only boost productivity and your company’s profits but also help your employees reach their full potential and look forward to coming to work each day.

Looking for more engagement strategies? Check out the resources below:

From Disengaged to Inspired: A Guide to Employee Engagement. Want to learn more about employee engagement? Check out this essential guide to get you started!
What is Corporate Social Responsibility? Guide & Examples. Discover the basics of giving back to your community and improving society with corporate social responsibility in this guide.
Why Workplace Giving Matters for Nonprofits + Companies. Interested in exploring workplace giving to improve employee engagement? Start with the basics in this guide!

Here is some key info about Benevity's workplace giving platform for corporations.

Benevity: Workplace Giving Tools for Corporations

November 25, 2013/in Learning Center, Corporate Consulting /by Adam Weinger

Looking for information on Benevity, or trying to figure out which companies use Benevity’s corporate giving software?

Good news! While Double the Donation is a separate company (we provide employee matching gift tools for nonprofits, whereas Benevity provides services to corporations), we can share much of the information you’re looking for.

It’s important for companies to put an emphasis on workplace giving programs—especially corporate matching gifts—and do what they can to encourage employees to participate. Benevity is one of the leading corporate giving vendors that can help companies do just that.

About Benevity’s Workplace Giving Software

Almost all major companies have philanthropic giving programs in place. Sometimes they’re managed internally, but many use a corporate giving vendor for their program’s administration.

One such corporate giving vendor, Benevity, was founded in Calgary in 2008 by Bryan de Lottinville. Since then, it has become one of the leading providers of CSR software in both the U.S. and Canada.

Benevity offers a full suite of technical solutions to help companies power their corporate giving programs. These include:

Centralized donation management & payroll deductions
Custom cause portfolios & disaster response
Company & user-generated volunteering opportunities
Dynamic news & blog content
Charitable rewards & matching incentives
Comprehensive reporting capabilities
International capabilities

It’s also worth noting that Benevity is a registered B Corp (meaning, they use the power of business to solve social and environmental problems). Benevity helps companies make a difference while achieving greater business impacts from their cause marketing, community investment, workplace giving, and volunteering programs.

Companies That Use Benevity

Benevity provides corporate giving software to many U.S. and Canadian-based corporations. A few clients include:

Here’s what the Benevity portal for Nike looks like:

Benevity offers employees an easy way to access their company’s workplace giving program and log their donations online. If you want to make it easy for employees to participate in your corporate philanthropy efforts, consider using a vendor like Benevity!

Benevity Causes for Nonprofits

Benevity Causes is a portal that Benevity runs for nonprofits. It offers organizations direct access to customize their interactions with companies around the world.

Some of the benefits Benevity Causes provides include:

Gaining exposure & connecting with businesses
Updating your cause profile
Accessing detailed donor reports
Receiving funds faster & more efficiently
Adding volunteer opportunities

Since Benevity provides the software that powers many large companies’ corporate philanthropy efforts, we recommend that all nonprofits register with Benevity Causes.

Double the Donation’s Relationship with Benevity

Benevity and Double the Donation are separate businesses, but both serve corporate philanthropy efforts.

While Benevity provides workplace giving tools to companies, Double the Donation helps nonprofits raise money from the employee matching gift programs offered by companies across the world.

Double the Donation’s database of matching gift companies includes matching gift programs either managed internally at companies or outsourced to one of the many corporate vendors, including:

Benevity
America’s Charities
AmeriGives
Bright Funds
Causecast
CyberGrants
FrontStream
Millie
Point
SmartSimple
YourCause

These workplace giving solutions help companies manage their matching gift and volunteer programs, while streamlining the entire process so their employees can easily participate.

How Do I Contact Benevity?

If you’re a corporation interested in learning more about Benevity’s workplace giving software solutions, you can contact the company in one of three ways:

By email – Use the company’s contact form
By phone – (403) 237-7875
By mail – Benevity, #700, 611 Meredith Road NE, Calgary, AB T2E 2W5

Reach out to learn more about Benevity’s services!

About Double the Donation’s Matching Gift Software

Double the Donation sells an easy-to-use tool to nonprofits to help them promote matching gifts to donors (if you’re a nonprofit rather than a company, check out our service to see if it can help your organization increase its matching gift revenue). Our database of matching gift companies includes those administered by Benevity, as well as those managed by other corporate giving vendors.

Double the Donation’s team researches and manages a database of matching gift company guidelines, forms, and contact information that nonprofits and their donors can access. If you’re a nonprofit looking to improve your matching gift fundraising, test out our service.

Additional Workplace Giving Tool Resources

There are many resources at your disposal when it comes to corporate giving. Check out these additional articles to find out more!

Matching Gift Software Vendors: The Comprehensive List. Looking to learn more about matching gift software vendors for nonprofits and companies? We’ve compiled a list here.
Corporate Giving Programs: The Ultimate Fundraising Guide. Interested in leveraging corporate giving programs? Here’s our ultimate guide.
Workplace Giving: The Guide for Nonprofits and Companies. If you’re a company or nonprofit looking to learn more about workplace giving, this is the place to start!

Spotlight on YourCause: Manage Matching Gifts

August 11, 2013/in Learning Center, Corporate Consulting /by Adam Weinger

Looking for information on YourCause or companies which use YourCause’s corporate philanthropy platform?

Good news! While Double the Donation is a completely separate and non-related company, we can share much of the information you’re looking for on YourCause.

What Does YourCause Do?

YourCause is the provider of the CSRconnect Employee Engagement Platform. CSRconnect is an online platform for corporations to manage one or multiple philanthropic programs (including employee matching gift and volunteer grant programs).

Almost all major companies have philanthropic giving programs in place, but many use a vendor for the corporate philanthropy software and administration. YourCause was founded by Matt Combs in 2008 and has become a leader in the CSR space.

YourCause provides companies with the ability to:

Set up and manage multiple forms of employee giving.
Establish matching gift guidelines.
Provide an electronic system for employees to submit matching gifts and log their volunteer hours.
Verify that nonprofits are eligible for each company’s corporate giving program.
Process donations from employees.
Process payments to nonprofits.

Who Uses YourCause’s Corporate Giving Platform?

YourCause provides corporate philanthropy, matching gift, and volunteer grant tools to many of the world’s leading companies.

A few of its clients include:

What’s the difference between YourCause and CSRconnect?

YourCause L.L.C. is the official company name while CSRconnect is the name of their corporate employee giving and volunteering platform.

The CSRconnect platform provides functionality for corporations including:

Grant management
Matching gift administration
Volunteer grant administration
Payroll giving
Disaster relief
And many other services

CSRconnect is a highly customizable tool for corporations of all sizes. Businesses big and small can easily adopt this tool to help streamline fund management, corporate philanthropy tools, and more.

The CSRconnect Employee Engagement Platform is YourCause’s online giving system for corporate employees.

How Do Nonprofits Benefit From YourCause?

YourCause provides a Nonprofit Portal which has free tools to help organizations leverage YourCause’s network of corporate clients. By registering on the Nonprofit Portal to become the administrator, you can increase your organization’s exposure to the donations and volunteer hours being transacted on the platform.

The tools include:

Unlimited Access to Donation History
Ability to Input Volunteer Opportunities for Corporate Employees to Join
Signing Up for ACH Payments for the easy Transfer of Funds

How Do I Contact YourCause?

YourCause is happy to help you with any question or concern you might have!

If you fall into one of the following three categories, you should contact the company’s matching gift and volunteer grant hotline for assistance:

Nonprofits looking to verify matching donations or those with questions regarding the status of a donation
Employees looking for assistance with their employers’ matching gift programs
Retirees with questions about their former employers’ retiree giving programs

There are three ways to contact YourCause:

By email – Please email support@yourcause.com
By phone – Please call (972) 755-3950
By mail – YourCause, LLC, 2508 Highlander Way – Suite 210, Carrollton, TX 75006

Double the Donation’s Relationship with YourCause:

YourCause and Double the Donation are two completely separate businesses.

While YourCause provides tools and manages matching gift programs for companies, Double the Donation helps nonprofits raise more money from the matching gift programs offered by companies across the world.

Double the Donation’s database of matching gift companies includes matching gift programs managed either internally at companies or outsourced to one of the many corporate vendors such as:

Click here for more information on these matching gift vendors.

Double the Donation sells an easy-to-use tool to nonprofits to help them promote matching gifts to donors (check out our service to see if it can help your organization increase matching gift fundraising). Our database of matching gift companies includes those administered by YourCause as well as those managed by the many other matching gift vendors.