Giving Tuesday has become a global phenomenon, synonymous with a massive influx of charitable donations. However, savvy nonprofits know that this day of generosity offers more than just a financial boost; it is a prime opportunity for engaging corporate volunteers on Giving Tuesday. While individual donors are opening their wallets, many corporate employees are looking for meaningful ways to donate their time and skills. Tapping into this resource can unlock a “double impact” for your organization: the immediate value of volunteer labor, plus the potential for financial rewards through corporate philanthropy programs such as volunteer grants and Volunteer Time Off (VTO).
Despite the clear benefits, many organizations overlook the potential of corporate volunteering during the year-end rush. They focus heavily on fundraising appeals, leaving valuable volunteer hours—and the corporate dollars attached to them—on the table. By shifting your strategy to include a robust corporate engagement plan, you can diversify your Giving Tuesday success. This involves not only creating appealing volunteer opportunities but also actively educating these supporters about the corporate benefits available to them.
By integrating these strategies, you can transform Giving Tuesday from a one-day fundraising blitz into a catalyst for long-term corporate partnerships and sustainable support.
The Strategic Value of Corporate Volunteering
Before diving into tactics, it is essential to understand why engaging corporate volunteers on Giving Tuesday is a game-changer. Corporate philanthropy has evolved, and businesses are increasingly motivated to support the causes their employees care about. This aligns perfectly with the spirit of Giving Tuesday, creating a unique synergy between your needs and corporate CSR goals.
The “Double Impact” of Volunteer Grants
Volunteer grants, often called “Dollars for Doers”, are corporate giving programs where companies provide monetary donations to nonprofits based on the number of hours their employees volunteer. For example, a company might donate $25 for every hour an employee volunteers. This means that a corporate volunteer doesn’t just give their time; they essentially bring a check with them. On a high-volume day like Giving Tuesday, these grants can add up to thousands of dollars in unrestricted revenue.
Unlocking Volunteer Time Off (VTO)
Volunteer Time Off (VTO) is a policy where employers grant employees paid time off to volunteer. This removes a significant barrier to participation: the conflict between work and service. By targeting employees with VTO benefits, you can fill volunteer shifts during the workday—times that are typically hard to staff. Promoting VTO turns Giving Tuesday into a “day on” rather than a “day off” for professionals, bringing skilled labor directly to your mission.
Building Long-Term Partnerships
Giving Tuesday is an excellent entry point for new corporate partners. A successful volunteer event can serve as a “audition” for a deeper relationship. When employees have a positive experience, they are more likely to advocate for your nonprofit internally, leading to sponsorships, matching gift programs, and recurring volunteer events throughout the year.
Did You Know? Corporate engagement on Giving Tuesday has seen remarkable growth, with workplace giving programs reporting substantial increases in both employee participation and volunteer hours.
Strategies for Engaging Corporate Volunteers
To successfully attract corporate volunteers, you need to offer opportunities that fit their schedules and interests. A generic call for help might get lost in the noise; a targeted invitation stands out.
Create Group-Friendly Opportunities
Corporations love team-building activities. Design Giving Tuesday volunteer opportunities that accommodate groups. This could be a “kit-packing” event where teams assemble hygiene kits or school supply backpacks. These activities are scalable, social, and offer a tangible sense of accomplishment that corporate teams crave.
Offer Virtual and Skills-Based Options
Not every company can send a team in person. Offer virtual volunteering options, such as a “Wikipedia edit-a-thon” relevant to your cause or a remote mentorship session. Skills-based volunteering—like a marketing team auditing your social media or accountants helping with year-end financials—allows employees to use their professional expertise for good, which is highly valued by both the individual and their employer.
Sync with Corporate Calendars
Giving Tuesday falls at a busy time of year. Reach out to corporate partners early—ideally in September or October—to get on their holiday calendar. Many companies look for year-end service projects to boost morale. Position your Giving Tuesday event as the perfect solution for their holiday team-building needs.
Encouraging Volunteer Grant Participation
Getting volunteers in the door is step one. Step two is ensuring they submit their volunteer grant requests. This requires a proactive communication strategy that educates volunteers about their eligibility.
Pre-Event Education
Don’t wait until the event is over. Include a field in your volunteer registration form asking, “Does your employer offer volunteer grants?” Include a brief blurb explaining that many companies match volunteer hours with cash. This plants the seed before they even arrive.
On-Site Reminders
Make volunteer grants visible during your Giving Tuesday event. Place signage at the check-in table with a QR code linking to a “Check Your Eligibility” page. Make a verbal announcement during the orientation or wrap-up to remind everyone to log their hours and check their corporate portal. A simple reminder like, “Did you know your time today could be worth $100 to us?” can drive immediate action.
The “Double Thank You” Follow-Up
In your post-event thank you email, include a specific call to action for volunteer grants.
The Ask: “Thank you for your hard work! Please take 5 minutes to log your hours in your company’s giving portal. This simple step could double the value of your time.” Providing a direct link to a database or search tool that lets them find their company’s specific forms reduces friction and increases submission rates.
Promoting Volunteer Time Off (VTO)
Many employees have VTO hours they need to “use or lose” before the end of the year. Giving Tuesday is the perfect hook to encourage them to use those hours with you.
Targeted Outreach
If you have employment data on your current supporters, segment your email list. Send a targeted email to employees of companies known to offer VTO (like Salesforce, Deloitte, or Patagonia), reminding them to use their remaining hours.
The Message: “Don’t let your VTO hours expire! Spend Giving Tuesday with us and make a difference on company time.”.
“Lunch and Learn” Sessions
Offer to host a brief virtual or in-person “Lunch and Learn” for corporate partners in November. Use this time to explain your Giving Tuesday plans and explicitly highlight how employees can use VTO to participate. This direct connection with employees can bypass the inbox clutter.
Social Media Spotlights
Use LinkedIn to target professionals. Share posts highlighting the benefits of VTO and tagging companies with generous policies.
Post Idea: “Does your company offer Volunteer Time Off? 🕒 Spend your day making an impact! We have open shifts for #GivingTuesday. Tag your coworkers and sign up today!”
Quick Tip:Create a dedicated “Corporate Volunteering” page on your website. List upcoming opportunities and include a search tool where visitors can instantly check their VTO and volunteer grant eligibility. This serves as a central hub for all your corporate engagement efforts.
Customizable Volunteer Communication Templates for Giving Tuesday
To help you execute these strategies, here are ready-to-use templates for your Giving Tuesday campaign.
Email Template: The “Invite”
Subject: Join us for Giving Tuesday (and double your impact!)
Body: Dear [Name], This Giving Tuesday, we aren’t just asking for donations—we’re asking for you. We are hosting a special volunteer event to [briefly describe activity], and we’d love to see you there. Did you know your employer might pay you to join us? Many companies offer Volunteer Time Off (VTO), allowing you to volunteer during the workday without using vacation time. Plus, after you volunteer, your company might offer a volunteer grant—a monetary donation for every hour you serve!
Check your eligibility here: [Link to search tool or your website].
Sign up for a shift: [Link to registration].
Let’s make this Giving Tuesday our biggest yet!
Social Media Post: The “VTO Reminder”
“Don’t leave your benefits on the table! 📉 Many companies offer Volunteer Time Off (VTO) that expires on Dec 31. Use your hours to support [Nonprofit Name] this #GivingTuesday! It’s a great way to give back without spending a dime. 🤝 Sign up now: [Link].”
Post-Event Thank You: The “Grant Nudge”
Subject: You were amazing! One last thing…
Body: Hi [Name], Thank you so much for volunteering on Giving Tuesday! Your hard work helped us [mention specific impact]. Want to make your time go even further? Please check if your employer offers volunteer grants. It takes just a few minutes to log your hours, and it could result in a generous donation to our cause at no cost to you. Find your company’s form here: [Link] Thank you for being a champion for our mission!
Wrapping Up & Next Steps
Engaging corporate volunteers on Giving Tuesday is a powerful way to amplify your impact. By looking beyond simple cash donations and tapping into the vast resources of corporate philanthropy (specifically volunteer grants and VTO), you can secure vital funding and build a community of dedicated supporters.
To get started, review your volunteer registration forms to ensure you are capturing employment data. Then, draft your communication plan using the templates above, ensuring you mention VTO and grants in every email and social post. With a proactive approach, you can turn this Giving Tuesday into a milestone for corporate engagement.
Ready to streamline your corporate fundraising?Request a demo with Double the Donation Volunteering to see how our powerful tools can help you identify eligible volunteers, promote workplace volunteering, and maximize your revenue with minimal effort. It’s perfect for Giving Tuesday and beyond!
https://doublethedonation.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/Engaging-Corporate-Volunteers-On-Giving-Tuesday-Top-Tips.png6001600Julia Beltranhttps://doublethedonation.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/DTD-horizontal-logo-300x63.pngJulia Beltran2025-12-11 17:45:122025-12-11 17:45:12Engaging Corporate Volunteers On Giving Tuesday: Top Tips
Every nonprofit organization reaches a point where its vision outgrows its current capacity. Perhaps you need a new state-of-the-art facility, a substantial permanent endowment, or the resources to launch a massive program expansion that will transform your community. This moment, the leap from your current reality to your boldest future, is powered by a Capital Campaign.
A capital campaign is not just another annual appeal; it is the most ambitious and strategic fundraising effort a nonprofit can undertake. Successfully executed, it can permanently reshape your organization’s financial stability and physical infrastructure.
But where do you start? How do you ensure your multi-million dollar vision doesn’t turn into a multi-year headache?
In this comprehensive guide, we will walk you through every critical phase of the capital campaign process. From assessing readiness and securing your first major gifts in the quiet phase, to selecting the right consulting support and executing a flawless public launch, we’ll provide the roadmap you need to turn your organization’s biggest dreams into reality. This includes:
Let’s begin by answering a few frequently asked questions by nonprofits such as yours.
Capital Campaign FAQs
What Is a Capital Campaign?
At its core, a capital campaign is an extensive, drawn-out fundraiser.
But at a more complex level, a capital campaign is a concerted effort to raise substantial funds for a specific project or undertaking. According to Capital Campaign Pro, these campaigns typically take 2-3 years from start to finish, and most organizations conduct them every 10-15 years.
Because these are the most significant fundraising campaigns your nonprofit will ever take on, capital campaigns require coordination and cooperation from your entire organization and community. Without the support of board members, staff, and individuals who are dedicated to your cause, a capital campaign has little to no chance of succeeding.
Why Do Nonprofits Use Capital Campaigns?
As stated before, nonprofits generally use capital campaigns for large projects that require substantial financial backing. More often than not, capital campaigns are used to raise money for a new building or renovations to an existing building. But they can also be for:
Purchasing Lands or Buildings
The main reason many organizations wish to acquire land is the possibility of future expansion. Capital campaigns are thus used to help organizations raise enough funds to finance land purchases. Organizations may also campaign to buy a building they’ve rented for a long time when the space goes up for sale, to secure a safe future without rent increases.
Expanding an Existing Building
Large organizations such as hospitals and schools often need to regularly expand their facilities to accommodate a growing patient or student population. Such projects are massive undertakings that require substantial financial resources, which is why they are mostly funded through capital campaigns.
Funding New Programs or Increasing Staffing
Sometimes, in order to get a new program or initiative off the ground, your nonprofit needs an influx of funds to secure the necessary resources. You may even need funding to grow your team, ensuring your organization has the capacity to do more for its beneficiaries.
Building an Endowment
An endowment helps secure a bright future for your nonprofit, but it can be difficult to encourage giving to a capital campaign focused solely on an endowment, since the impact of that giving may not be immediate. This is why many organizations choose to include endowment funding as one element of a multifaceted capital campaign.
Purchasing Equipment or Supplies
Nonprofits sometimes need large-scale purchases to further their missions. A hospital, for example, may need to upgrade existing radiology equipment, or a university may require a high-powered telescope for the astronomy department. Capital campaigns can help fund these major purchases.
What Types of Organizations Run Capital Campaigns?
Any type of organization can run a capital campaign! Let’s highlight a few examples:
Hospitals
Many hospitals and healthcare nonprofits launch capital campaigns to raise funds for new wings or buildings, purchase new equipment, replace or repair outdated machines, or fund groundbreaking medical research.
Schools and Universities
Schools, colleges, and universities are another type of organization that frequently uses capital campaigns as a fundraising method. Education-related organizations use capital campaigns to raise funds for new buildings, scholarship programs, or equipment.
Community Organizations
These organizations often launch campaigns to build or expand physical centers that serve local residents, such as new food banks, youth centers, or recreational facilities. Their campaigns focus on scaling essential programs and infrastructure that directly improve the quality of life within a specific geographic area.
Civic Organizations
Civic groups often run capital campaigns to renovate or restore historical landmarks, establish memorials, or fund large-scale public works projects like parks and libraries. Their goals are usually tied to enhancing the public good and preserving shared community assets.
Environmental Nonprofits
Environmental organizations rely on capital campaigns to secure large tracts of land for conservation, establish permanent endowments for long-term stewardship, or build interpretive and educational facilities. These campaigns aim to protect natural resources and fund significant, enduring ecological projects.
Animal-Related Organizations
These nonprofits frequently seek capital funding to construct new shelters with modern veterinary facilities, establish sanctuaries for rescued animals, or expand kennel capacity. Their campaigns are often driven by the urgent need to upgrade facilities that provide direct animal care and housing.
Arts and Culture Nonprofits
Museums, theaters, symphonies, and galleries run capital campaigns to fund the construction of new performance halls, the acquisition or preservation of significant collections, or the renovation of historical venues. These efforts are crucial for expanding programming space and ensuring the long-term viability of cultural institutions.
Churches and Religious Organizations
Religious organizations commonly use capital campaigns to raise funds for major building projects, such as renovating or constructing new places of worship, expanding classrooms for faith-based education, or creating community outreach centers. These campaigns often tie the fundraising goal directly to the organization’s spiritual and community mission.
Who Can Help You Conduct a Capital Campaign?
Capital campaigns are significant undertakings, so nonprofits usually turn to professional fundraising consultants to help plan and execute them. A consultant or advisor can help with campaign planning, feasibility studies, prospect research, fundraising and solicitation, event planning, and more.
Our recommendation:
We suggest taking a hands-on approach to your capital campaign with our preferred expert: Capital Campaign Pro.
This innovative campaign support system gives you everything you need to plan and run your capital campaign: resources, expert guidance, templates, hands-on experience, and access to a community of other nonprofits also conducting campaigns.
The traditional consulting approach, while often effective, can be quite expensive and opaque, meaning your team won’t have access to all of the campaign tools or learn how all the pieces of the campaign fit together. Capital Campaign Pro offers an alternative approach that can yield immense benefits for your team, even long after your capital campaign comes to a successful end.
How Can You Market Your Capital Campaign?
A well-marketed capital campaign can launch big projects for your mission. Before entering the public phase of your campaign, make sure you have a well-thought-out marketing plan. Here are some core considerations as you brainstorm marketing strategies with your team.
Your Website
Your nonprofit’s website should serve as the single most critical communications hub for your entire capital campaign. For this reason, we suggest dedicating a prominent section or a separate landing page to the campaign, ensuring it clearly features the Case for Support, the running campaign total, a direct donation form, and compelling visuals of the project’s future impact.
Furthermore, for your top-tier major donors, it should be easy to launch challenge matches in support of your capital campaign straight from your website. Making this high-level participation seamless signals that you are prepared for transformational gifts and empowers leadership donors to instantly amplify the campaign’s public momentum.
Google Ads
Once your capital campaign information is live on your website, paid advertising is a wonderful way to get that content in front of potential prospects. Using the Google Grants program, you can receive up to $10,000 to spend on Google Ads for free each month. With careful keyword research, you can amplify your campaign’s landing page on Google Search and drive more traffic to it.
For the best results, we recommend working with a Google Grants consultant to create inspiring ads that target the right users on Google.
Brochures
A brochure gives you plenty of space to cover the key details of your capital campaign.
The most compelling brochures feature what your project will accomplish and who it’ll benefit, whether that’s building a shelter for the homeless, an animal sanctuary for endangered species, or something else. Paint a picture with words and images about how your work will create a difference. Then provide details on how to get involved, such as visiting your campaign page’s URL.
When you move into the public phase of your campaign, send regular emails to announce it. Then, provide updates along the way. You have seconds to get your point across, so keep your emails short and include a clear call to action in each one, giving the reader their exact next step. Then, top it all off with a subject line that encourages recipients to open the email.
What Does The Research Say About Capital Campaigns?
Especially if you’re preparing for your organization’s first capital campaign, you may be wondering, “What evidence is there that we can succeed?”
Capital Campaign Pro recently conducted a benchmark study, surveying nearly 300 U.S. and Canadian nonprofits with varying experiences with capital campaigns. Here are some of the insights from the study:
94% of organizations considered their capital campaign a success.
On average, nonprofits raise $8.9 million in a capital campaign.
For small organizations (nonprofits with < $1 million in annual revenue), campaign goals were smaller and raised about $3.5 million. These organizations typically had higher levels of major donor relationship building, fundraising system improvement, and more active executive directors and boards.
Other than raising money, nonprofits that had conducted a capital campaign cited the following benefits: strengthened relationships with major donors (72%), becoming more effective at soliciting large gifts (50%), increasing development staff effectiveness (39%), developing better fundraising systems (38%), and more board member engagement in fundraising (32%).
Your nonprofit needs to carefully plan its capital campaign before it begins fundraising to ensure the implementation process goes as smoothly as possible. Without a thorough plan in place, your team may not successfully anticipate issues before they arise and may realize too late that your fundraising strategy needs revision. Some tasks that should be completed in the planning phase include:
Determining objectives & working financial goal
The objectives of your campaign are the reasons you’re conducting your campaign. For instance, you may want to purchase new supplies and equipment or renovate your facility. Your financial goal will depend on the scope and size of the project your organization is undertaking. You should arrive at this number after careful calculation and accounting for hidden costs.
Conducting a feasibility study or report
We’ll go over the details of a feasibility report in a later section, but it’s vital to the success of your capital campaign. A feasibility report is essentially “product-testing” your campaign. You want to ensure the community will support your project, and a feasibility report helps you do just that.
Creating a gift range chart
Once you’ve tested the feasibility of your campaign and have a more solid financial goal, create a gift range chart. This visualization shows how many gifts your nonprofit needs to secure at different levels. You can take this a step further by developing a depth chart, which attaches specific prospect and donor names to each gift.
Establishing your communications strategy
Determine how you’ll get the word out about your campaign during both the quiet and the public phases. Review the strategies listed above, like using Google Ad Grants or creating a brochure, while also considering what you know about your community and the communications they’ve responded to in the past.
Developing your budget
Capital campaigns are used to raise money for large projects, but they also cost money to prepare and launch. You’ll need to account for marketing materials, event costs, and other fundraising expenses that may arise.
Setting a deadline
Your deadline will largely depend on your financial target and the pool of donors you expect to donate. You don’t want to make your deadline too soon and risk not reaching your goal. On the other hand, you don’t want to set a deadline that’s five years from now when it would only take two years to raise the money.
Implementing a Capital Campaign
After all of the hard work in the planning phase, it’s time to implement your capital campaign! There are two main segments within the implementation process:
The Quiet Phase
The quiet phase is not open to the public; instead, it relies on contributions from your major donors. During this stage, your committee members will reach out to your major donors and local businesses to solicit large donations. Usually, capital campaigns raise 50-70% of their total during the quiet phase, and it’s a great opportunity to kick off the prospect research and appending processes to learn more about your target donors.
The Public Phase
The public phase begins with a kickoff event, sometimes at the building site (when applicable). Once the public phase begins, donors can give as much as they want. Your committee can still solicit major gifts, but the focus should be on broad marketing to as many donors as possible.
Once you reach your goal in the public phase, it’s time to celebrate! However, don’t neglect important donor stewardship tasks, such as thanking your donors and continuing to communicate with them. Capitalize on the relationships you strengthened during your campaign in order to secure future engagement and support.
Essentials for a Successful Capital Campaign
A Feasibility Study
Feasibility studies are crucial to the success of any capital campaign. They essentially determine whether or not your donors and the community will be willing to support your organization’s project.
Think of your feasibility study as a critical must-have instead of an optional step. It will help you get a leg up on your campaign from the get-go. In fact, Capital Campaign Pro found that organizations that conducted a feasibility study raised, on average, 115% of their original campaign goal, compared with 101% for those that did not.
During a feasibility study, your organization’s leaders or an outside consultant will sit down and interview 30 to 40 individuals from the community. The experts at Capital Campaign Pro recommend taking a hands-on, guided approach in which your nonprofit’s leaders conduct the interviews personally with the support of a campaign advisor. You’ll then work together to distill insights and recommendations.
We recommend interviewing a combination of:
Community leaders: Mayors, local representatives, and company board members will have valuable insight into the feasibility of your capital campaign. Test the waters by talking to the movers and shakers of your local community. Make sure to get leaders from a variety of industries and sectors.
Current and past board members: Your current and past board members can offer valuable perspectives and opinions on whether the capital campaign will be successful. Previous board members can do the same, and they may also be able to offer good advice if they have experience with capital campaigns during their tenure.
Staff members: It’s important to gather their thoughts on your capital campaign before you launch it. They might have insights or reservations that you hadn’t thought of before. Depending on the size of your nonprofit, you might not be able to interview every single staff member. Instead, grab a leader from each department to talk to during your feasibility study.
Major donors: These donors will contribute the most to your capital campaign. It makes sense to interview them to get their input about your fundraising efforts. Talk to previous major gift donors as well as any prospects in your community who you think might want to donate to your capital campaign.
Questions to ask your interviewees during a feasibility study will range from personal (“What is your connection to the organization?”) to more broad (“Do you think this organization can raise the money for this project?”).
Here are a few questions to consider:
How do you feel about our case for support?
How do you feel about the project as a whole?
Do you think our goal and deadline are attainable and reasonable?
How do you think the community will respond to the project and campaign?
Who do you think will be the biggest supporters of this campaign?
By the end of the feasibility study, your organization should be able to determine whether or not you have the support needed to raise money for your capital campaign.
Powering your feasibility study with employment data
Modern fundraising best practices recognize that wealth indicators and philanthropic connections go hand in hand with professional background. Powering your feasibility study and quiet-phase outreach with up-to-date donor employment data is key to identifying top prospects and accurately assessing their capacity. Traditional wealth screening may only capture real estate or stock holdings, but sophisticated data tools, often powered by workplace giving providers, can pinpoint a prospect’s current employer, workplace giving potential, and more. This information is invaluable because it not only confirms their financial capacity but also reveals their eligibility for matching gifts and volunteer grants.
By combining internal giving history with comprehensive employment data, your team can prioritize outreach to individuals with the greatest capacity to make a transformational gift and simultaneously unlock matching funds from their employers.
A Capital Campaign Committee
Before you begin planning your capital campaign, you’ll first want to gather a committee of dedicated individuals around you to help with its planning and execution. People you should consider for your capital campaign committee include:
Board Members
Staff Members
Major Gift Donors
Challenge Match Leaders
Volunteer Leaders
Community Leaders
Don’t feel obligated to create a massive capital campaign committee that includes every board member, staff member, and major donor in your organization’s history. The committee should be big enough to handle the particulars of the capital campaign but small enough to give everyone an opportunity to voice their opinion.
Prospect Research
As a valuable tool you can leverage to better understand your donor base, prospect research can help you learn more about your donors. This includes their:
Past giving history to your organization
Previous donations to other nonprofits and political campaigns
Business connections
Employment information
Basic data like name, email address, and phone number
Having this information will help guide you toward your major donors. Because major gifts are going to drive the first half to two-thirds of your capital campaign, you’ll need to be well prepared to make those donation appeals.
With prospect research on your side, you’ll be more than ready to solicit those major donations from your supporters.
A Case for Support
A case for support is a document that outlines your nonprofit’s justification for hosting a capital campaign. It is useful for both your feasibility study and the quiet and public phases of the campaign.
For that reason, your case for support must be airtight and convincing! Convey a sense of urgency as concisely and clearly as possible. After all, donors want to know why they should support you and how they can help. Your case for support should include:
Your nonprofit’s background
Your cause and services
Your future goals
The reason for the capital campaign
An explanation of the capital campaign
A great case for support will be branded to your organization. Just take a look at this example from St. Ursula’s Academy.
As this example from Aly Sterling’s Capital Campaign guide demonstrates, nonprofits can creatively showcase their financial goals while capturing the spirit of their cause! Specifically, the branded colors, the heartfelt text, and the easy-to-understand fundraising goals make this case for support tangible.
The Right Tools + Technology
The complexity and scale of a modern capital campaign require specialized technology to manage donor data, automate outreach, and capture every available dollar. While human relationship building is always paramount, smart technology ensures that no opportunity is left on the table, especially when dealing with thousands of donors and a high financial goal. The good news? The right tools help you move faster and raise more by streamlining complex tasks.
One of the most critical and often overlooked components of a capital campaign is the potential revenue stream from corporate matching gifts, which can easily amount to a multi-million-dollar mistake if ignored. This is where a tool like Double the Donation becomes a non-negotiable part of your campaign technology stack. Not to mention, the platform serves a dual strategic purpose. First, it automatically identifies matching gift eligibility on your donation forms and thank you pages, ensuring donors can easily double their contributions toward your capital goal.
Second, Double the Donation’s data-appending capabilities can power your major gift prospect research by identifying an individual’s employer and associated corporate giving potential. This workplace data is key to calculating capacity, finding corporate grant connections, and confirming eligibility for those high-value matching gifts, giving your team the essential intelligence they need for successful solicitations.
How to Use Challenge Grants as a Capital Campaign Multiplier
Challenge grants offer a core strategy for maximizing campaign success and urgency in a way that just about no other fundraising vehicle can match. A challenge grant is a type of funding awarded by a grant-making entity, often a foundation or wealthy individual, typically after a nonprofit completes a specific fiscal challenge. This challenge typically involves raising a specific amount of money from other sources within a defined period.
Here’s how it works:
Creating Capital Campaign Urgency and Momentum
The primary advantage of a challenge grant is the instant urgency it creates for a capital campaign. The concept is simple yet profoundly effective: the challenge only exists for a limited time, and the matching funds are often framed in a “use it or lose it” way. This structure transforms a general plea for support into a time-sensitive opportunity for donors to double the impact of their gift.
For the public phase of a campaign, announcing a $1 million challenge grant, for instance, provides a massive, irresistible hook for all communications, galvanizing lower- and mid-level donors to participate right away.
Framing the Ask: Leveraging Major Gifts for Broader Participation
Challenge grants do not just pull in general donors; they also leverage the major gifts already secured during the quiet phase. As discussed previously, asking a lead donor to be the source of the challenge match is a powerful framing tool. The initial major gift is then publicly announced as the Challenge Match, inspiring others to follow suit. This strategy ensures that the quiet-phase gifts do double duty: they serve as the foundational funding and the motivational fuel for the rest of the campaign.
A challenge grant will sometimes match the challenge amount at a ratio of 0.5:1 to 2:1, meaning your nonprofit could stand to more than double the funds that you raise during your campaign simply by strategically applying this leverage. Do some research to find out whether there are any challenge grants available in your local area, or whether you have major donors with challenge match potential, to help your campaign reach its goal!
Here’s an example:
Did You Know? The challenge grant model is a psychological tool as much as a fiscal one. It reduces donors’ perceived risk because they see that a major gift has already been committed (the match), and it activates a sense of community achievement by requiring collective action to unlock the larger prize.
What to Know About Capital Campaign Consultants
How to Hire a Capital Campaign Consultant
Capital campaign consultants bring valuable expertise and a refreshing outside perspective to help you plan and execute your capital campaign. However, hiring a consultant can be rather involved. After all, you’re building a partnership and a long-lasting relationship with someone who can understand your mission, meet your needs, and get along well with your existing staff.
Here are some tips for making sure you get the right fit:
1. Determine your nonprofit’s needs.
Do you need a consultant to conduct a feasibility study, or to support your efforts throughout the campaign?
2. Do your research.
Look online for consultants who offer the specialty services that you need. Consider their location, cost, and core values. Ask other nonprofits in your network for recommendations.
3. Start a conversation with your top choices.
Speak with your top consultants on the phone or in person. Get a feel for their personalities and how they’d mesh with your nonprofit.
4. Request a proposal.
Request a proposal from your top choices. Look for a consultant who understands your nonprofit’s unique needs and brings new ideas to the table.
5. Check your consultant’s references.
Ask for former clients that you can speak with to better understand how each consultant can serve your nonprofit.
6. Finalize the details.
Once you’ve selected a consultant, you can discuss changes to their proposal and the engagement. Then, sign a contract that you’re both happy with and get to work!
Top Capital Campaign Consultants
The good news is that there are a ton of capital campaign consultants available to assist your organization with its upcoming campaign. Here are a few of our recommended firms and resources:
Averill Fundraising Solutions
For organizations seeking comprehensive, on-the-ground support, Averill Fundraising Solutions provides a highly experienced consulting model. Averill focuses on maximizing campaign potential through proven strategies and professional execution, offering a partnership that guides your team from the early feasibility study through final gift closing.
Averill’s approach emphasizes rigorous planning, tailored case development, and personalized coaching for your leadership and staff. Their consultants integrate directly with your internal teams, lending expertise in major donor identification, volunteer training, and meticulous campaign timeline management.
Aly Sterling Philanthropy
Organizations that require strategic guidance across various stages of growth often turn to Aly Sterling Philanthropy. While offering comprehensive capital campaign consulting, their focus is on building long-term organizational health that supports fundraising success. They work with nonprofits to ensure the capital campaign is not just a temporary project, but a launchpad for sustained major giving.
Aly Sterling Philanthropy’s campaign services begin with a deep dive into organizational readiness, ensuring your board, staff, and major gift pipeline are robust enough to support a large-scale campaign. Their consultants provide tailored advice on board engagement, case-for-support development, and integrating campaign goals with the nonprofit’s long-term strategic plan.
Capital Campaign Pro
For nonprofit leaders interested in taking a more hands-on approach to planning and running their campaigns, other capital campaign support options are available. For example, Capital Campaign Pro combines online campaign resources with expert advising for budget-friendly support that gives you the best of both worlds. By playing an active, direct role in your capital campaign, your team will learn invaluable skills related to campaign planning, donor stewardship, major gift solicitation, and more.
With Capital Campaign Pro, nonprofits are guided through an organized capital campaign plan. The step-by-step plan, resources and templates, and coaching calls all guide you to campaign success. Further, you’re able to have one-on-one advising with one of their expert capital campaign advisors for additional support.
Unique Capital Campaign Ideas
Capital Campaigns and Fundraising Events
Fundraising events can be a great opportunity for your nonprofit to directly interact with donors and build deeper connections. Because capital campaigns often run for months and even years, there is plenty of time for your nonprofit to host fun events that bring in more donations.
Obviously, the one event you’ll need to plan is the kickoff between the Quiet Phase and the Public Phase. But you can host all sorts of fundraisers to bring your community together and raise money for your campaign.
A capital campaign committee may elect to apply for a challenge grant to take its fundraising efforts to the next level. Challenge grants are funds released by a grant-making entity after a nonprofit completes a challenge, typically a fiscal one, making them perfect additions to capital campaigns.
A challenge grant will sometimes match the challenge amount at a ratio of 0.5:1 to 2:1. This means that your nonprofit could stand to triple the funds that you raise during your capital campaign with the help of a challenge grant.
Do some research to find out whether there are any challenge grants available in your local area, or whether you have major donors with challenge match potential, to help your capital campaign reach its goal!
Matching gifts can speed up your capital campaign by twofold. These corporate giving programs reward employee donations to nonprofits by doubling or, in some cases, tripling employees’ donations to eligible organizations.
Not every donor will work for a company that matches donations, and even if they do, every company has different guidelines and restrictions that must be followed before the matching funds are released. But your organization should still promote matching gifts to all of your capital campaign donors!
Why? Well, since 50-70% of your capital campaign funds will come from major gifts, those donations mean even more when they are doubled. It can’t hurt to remind your donors of matching gift programs.
Companies, big and small, are often willing to support nonprofit projects, such as capital campaigns. Not only does it allow them to be more philanthropic, but it also provides tax benefits and enables them to form meaningful partnerships with organizations.
Therefore, it’s a smart move for some members of your capital campaign committee to ask businesses for cash and in-kind donations for your capital campaign. Some companies will respond favorably and donate generously, while others will have guidelines on the types of nonprofits and projects they support. The best route to take is to research which companies offer grant programs and regularly donate to nonprofit organizations.
The journey through a capital campaign is perhaps the most ambitious, rewarding, and transformative endeavor a nonprofit can undertake. It requires meticulous planning, unwavering board commitment, and a willingness to embrace the strategic process.
The ultimate takeaway? Don’t go it alone. Use this guide as your roadmap, commit to thorough preparation, and step confidently into the process. The vision you hold for your organization’s future, that new facility, expanded endowment, or vital program expansion, is within reach.
Now, take this knowledge, choose your path forward, and prepare to make your organization’s boldest dreams a reality.
Interested in learning more with additional fundraising resources and guides? Here’s our recommended further reading:
Major Gifts: How to Unlock Your Donors’ Fullest Potential. A successful capital campaign will rely on a number of major gifts to reach its goal. Check out everything you need to know about major donor fundraising in this helpful guide!
https://doublethedonation.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/DTD_Capital-Campaigns-A-Groundbreaking-Guide-to-Success_Feature.png6001600Adam Weingerhttps://doublethedonation.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/DTD-horizontal-logo-300x63.pngAdam Weinger2025-11-19 18:23:032025-11-19 20:32:27Capital Campaigns: A Groundbreaking Guide to Success
In my years working alongside fundraising directors, annual giving teams, and volunteer coordinators, I’ve noticed a recurring theme: we all want to know more about our donors. We want to understand what drives them, how they were acquired, and crucially how their employers might be willing to amplify their philanthropy. However, there is a massive disconnect between the perception of workplace giving and the reality of the current corporate landscape. Too many nonprofits and universities are leaving significant revenue on the table because of outdated assumptions. You might be focusing on individual giving while ignoring the “invisible” corporate check that should be accompanying every donation. To fix this, we need to talk about employment data as fundraising intelligence. I’ve compiled the five most common myths I hear regarding workplace giving and used recent data to debunk them. If you are looking to grow revenue through workplace giving programs, this is your roadmap.
Myth #1: “Fewer than 10% of our donors are match-eligible.”
The Reality: The pool of eligible donors is growing faster than you think.
If you look at broad industry averages from five years ago, it’s easy to get discouraged. Historically, the sector cited that roughly 4–12% of a donor base was eligible for a matching gift program. Because of this, I often hear leaders say, “There is no way we can reach a 10% match-eligible rate. Our donors just don’t work for those kinds of companies.”
That is no longer the case. Companies are expanding employee engagement and corporate social responsibility programs at record rates to compete for talent. As a result, the density of match-eligible donors in your database is likely much higher than you realize.
The Data: In a recent cohort of organizations we analyzed for workplace giving insights, we didn’t just find a 10% eligibility rate; we found an average of 15.45%.
Why this matters for your strategy:
If you assume only 1 in 20 donors is eligible, you won’t prioritize matching gift marketing. But if that number is actually 1 in 6, the ROI on pursuing those matches changes dramatically. By utilizing workplace giving data enrichment, you aren’t just finding a few extra dollars; you are uncovering a dormant revenue stream significant enough to alter your annual goals.
Myth #2: “Employment data is only useful for matching gifts.”
The Reality: Employer data is a multi-purpose tool for fundraising intelligence, volunteerism, and advocacy.
This is perhaps the most damaging myth. Many teams view “employer name” as a field that only matters for a matching check. In reality, companies are giving employees choices, and your data should reflect that.
When I look at enriched donor data, I see a holistic engagement opportunity:
Volunteer Grants (Dollars for Doers): Thousands of companies offer grants based on volunteer hours. If your volunteer coordinator is struggling with a budget, this data is gold.
Payroll Giving: 50% of match-eligible supporters in my recent cohort were also eligible for payroll giving programs. These often result in higher lifetime value and better donor retention.
Corporate Sponsorship Pipelines: If 50 of your donors work for a specific regional bank, you have leverage. You can approach their CSR officer with data showing their own employees already support your mission.
Internal Champions: Using employment data, you can identify donors with influential titles (e.g., HR Director, VP of People). These are your “insiders” who can champion a partnership from within the company.
The Reality: Workplace giving has spread to Small-to-Mid-sized Businesses (SMBs).
There is an antiquated belief that unless your donor works for Google, Microsoft, or Coca-Cola, they aren’t eligible. Today, offering a giving program is a “need-to-have” for any company looking to retain top talent.
We are seeing robust programs emerging in sectors that were previously “dead zones,” including:
Pharmaceutical and Biotechnology
Banking and Financial Services
Healthcare Systems
IT and Telecommunications
The Strategic Shift: If you only screen your top 100 donors for recognizable brand names, you are missing the “long tail” of philanthropy. A donor at a mid-sized regional logistics firm might have a 1:1 match up to $2,500 that you are completely ignoring simply because you don’t recognize the company name.
Myth #4: “Young donors aren’t eligible for workplace giving.”
The Reality: Gen Z and Millennial donors drive the demand for these programs.
There is a stereotype that the “Match Eligible” donor is a mid-career professional in their 50s. However, young employees are the primary drivers of CSR. They want to work for companies that align with their values and offer philanthropic benefits from day one.
Insights from the University Sector:
In our work with large universities, we helped them target young alumni with workplace giving insights. The assumption was that yield would be low. The reality? Young alumni were sometimes more eligible than older demographics because they flock to modern, tech-forward companies with social impact programs baked in.
Myth #5: “It’s impossible to get accurate employer insights on my donors.”
The Reality: It is only “impossible” if you rely on a single, manual source of truth.
I hear this frustration constantly: “We don’t know where our donors work because they leave that field blank on the form.” If you rely solely on manual entry, your data will always be sparse. Successful organizations take a multi-pronged approach to data hygiene:
Integrated Donation Forms: Use tools like Double the Donation to capture employment data during the checkout process. If a donor types “Home Depot,” the system should instantly recognize the match eligibility.
Workplace Giving Insights: You likely have thousands of records (lapsed donors, event attendees) with no employment info. You can enrich this donor data with workplace giving insights to uncover eligibility.
This allows you to reach out to a lapsed donor not with a generic “We miss you” email, but with a targeted message: “Did you know your employer matches gifts? Your past support could go twice as far.”
Data is Your Competitive Advantage
The fundraising landscape is shifting. We can no longer rely on the same old tactics to hit aggressive goals. The organizations that will win in the next decade are those that treat employer data as a strategic asset.
Workplace giving isn’t just a “nice-to-have” bonus; it is a vital revenue stream waiting to be unlocked. By debunking these myths and embracing fundraising intelligence, you can stop leaving money on the table and start building deeper, more valuable relationships with your supporters.
Ready to see what you’re missing? Connect with our team to learn how to uncover workplace giving insights and transform your donor database into a revenue engine.
https://doublethedonation.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/5-Workplace-Giving-Myths-Debunked.png6001600Kyra Englehttps://doublethedonation.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/DTD-horizontal-logo-300x63.pngKyra Engle2025-11-18 17:19:392025-12-18 17:22:275 Workplace Giving Myths Debunked: Unlocking Hidden Revenue with Employer Data
Custom or exclusive matching gift partnerships are powerful fundraising opportunities—but only if your target audience knows about them. The solution? Marketing your organization’s one-off matching gift program well.
To make the most of the campaign, you’ll need a thoughtful strategy that reaches the right people at the right time with the right message.
In this post, we’ll break down tips and tricks to help your nonprofit successfully market your one-off matching gift program, boost donor participation, and build long-term value from short-term opportunities.
Let’s get started!
The Basics: What is a one-off matching gift program?
A one-off matching gift program is a customized partnership between a company and a specific nonprofit. Unlike ongoing corporate matching gift programs that apply broadly to employee donations made to any eligible nonprofit, one-off matches are tailored to support a single organization, typically for a limited time or tied to a specific campaign or event.
In this type of program, the company agrees to match employee donations exclusively to the selected nonprofit, often at a 1:1 ratio or higher. The timeframe can vary—it might be a single giving day, a multi-week campaign, or a long-term engagement.
These programs can be incredibly effective because they create a sense of urgency and focused support, while also generating excitement and engagement among employees. For nonprofits, they offer a unique opportunity to deepen a relationship with a corporate partner, raise more funds quickly, and increase visibility among the company’s workforce.
Why does marketing your one-off matching gift program matter?
Marketing your one-off matching gift program is essential because even the most generous offer won’t make an impact if no one knows it exists. These programs are often time-bound and specific, which means you have a narrow window to engage donors and maximize participation. Without strategic promotion, you risk leaving matching dollars on the table.
When you market a one-off matching gift effectively, however, you can:
Drive Immediate Action
One-off matches create shared purpose. A well-communicated match can motivate donors to give now rather than later, knowing their contribution will go twice as far.
Increase Total Revenue
Studies consistently show that donors are more likely to give—and to give more—when they know their gift will be matched. Marketing your program broadly helps you boost donation volume and average gift size during the campaign period.
Expand Visibility and Awareness
By thoroughly promoting the match, you not only increase donations but also raise awareness of your nonprofit’s partnership within the company. This strengthens your brand, highlights corporate support, and may even attract future opportunities. Plus, it gives you a chance to form relationships with individuals that can last beyond the dedicated partnership, too.
Deepen Donor Engagement
A one-off match can be a great moment to reconnect with lapsed donors or encourage new supporters to give for the first time. Promoting the opportunity gives you a compelling reason to reach out and spark engagement with clear, impact-driven messaging.
Ultimately, a strong marketing push ensures your one-off matching gift program lives up to its full potential, benefiting your organization, your supporters, and your corporate partner.
Marketing Tip #1: Create a dedicated landing page on your website.
One of the most effective ways to market your one-off matching gift program is to build a dedicated landing page on your nonprofit’s website. This page will serve as a central hub for all information related to the matching gift opportunity, making it easy for donors to understand the program and take action.
Here’s why it works:
Clear, Focused Messaging
A standalone page allows you to focus entirely on the details of the one-off match—who is matching, how long the program runs, which gifts are eligible, and how donors can participate. This keeps your messaging consistent and avoids confusion.
Increased Visibility in Campaigns
Be sure to link to the landing page in all related marketing materials, including emails, social posts, and blog content. This helps drive traffic to a single, reliable source of truth, and it gives your campaign a professional, cohesive feel.
Highlight Your Corporate Partner
Use the page to highlight your business partner, emphasizing their dedication to philanthropy and community engagement. Include their logo, a quote from a company representative, or a thank-you message to show appreciation.
Capture More Matches
You can also include helpful tools, such as donation forms, FAQs, and direct links to corporate giving portals, if applicable. If your organization uses Double the Donation’s tools, this is a great place to embed your matching gift search widget to help donors check their eligibility—by adding the program to your database specifically.
By dedicating a space on your website to promote your one-off match, you boost engagement, streamline the donor experience, and demonstrate the value of your partnership.
Marketing Tip #2: Add the matching gift program to your Double the Donation database.
If your organization is partnering with a company on a one-off matching gift program, one of the most strategic moves you can make is to add the program to your Double the Donation search tool.
Here’s why this step is so valuable:
Surface the Match at the Right Moment
Double the Donation’s tools are integrated directly into many nonprofits’ donation forms and confirmation pages. When a donor identifies their employer, the system will instantly show whether a matching gift is available—including, with its dedicated custom match functionality, one-off programs. That means donors working for your partner company will see the promotion when they’re most likely to act: right after making a gift.
Streamline Donor Access to Key Details
Your listing can include all the relevant information about the one-off program: including match ratio, deadline, eligibility guidelines, and submission instructions. This saves your donors from having to dig for details and reduces friction in the matching process.
Enable Matching Gift Auto-Submission
Speaking of the matching process, Double the Donation’s exclusive matching gift functionality includes the ability to enable auto-submission for one-off matches. This means that qualifying donors won’t have to complete a separate matching gift request form, but instead can trigger a match straight from your gift confirmation page with a few clicks.
By adding your one-off matching gift opportunity to the Double the Donation platform, you enhance your campaign’s reach and efficiency—ensuring more donors are informed, eligible matches are claimed, and your organization receives the full benefit of the partnership.
Marketing Tip #3: Post about your one-off matching gift program on social media.
Social media is one of the most effective and accessible tools for spreading the word about your one-off matching gift program. It allows you to reach a wide audience quickly, generate excitement, and encourage action from your followers—especially those employed by your corporate partner.
Here’s how to use social media strategically to promote your limited-time match:
Target the Right Audience
Focus your messaging on engaging both current supporters and employees of the partnering company. Be clear about who qualifies for the match and how long it’s available. Tag the sponsoring business (with their permission), use relevant hashtags, and consider boosting posts to reach your partner’s network more effectively.
Post Regularly With Timely Updates
A single post won’t be enough—create a content schedule that builds momentum over the course of the match. Start with an announcement, then share reminders, encouragements, and a final push before the deadline. Visuals like countdown graphics and short videos can help drive engagement, too.
Make It Easy to Share
Encourage your followers, staff, and corporate partner to reshare your posts. Provide suggested captions or graphics that make it simple for them to spread the word. When employees promote the program in their own circles, you’ll reach more colleagues who are eligible to give and get their donations matched.
Marketing Tip #4: Send a tailored fundraising appeal to the company’s employees.
One of the most effective ways to maximize participation in a one-off matching gift program is to connect directly with the employees of your corporate partner. A targeted, thoughtful fundraising appeal can drive awareness, boost engagement, and inspire action—all while making the most of the limited-time match opportunity.
Employees are more likely to give when they know their company is actively supporting the cause—and even more so when their donation will be doubled. A tailored appeal reinforces the partnership, communicates the impact of their gift, and makes the process of giving (and matching) as easy as possible.
When writing your appeal, be sure to:
Personalize the message. Address employees directly and reference the partnership with their company by name.
Clearly explain the match—how long it lasts, what types of donations qualify, and how to make their gift count.
Share a story or example of the real impact their gift can have. Use emotion and specificity to bring your mission to life.
Include easy next steps with a direct link to your donation form, instructions for requesting a match, and any relevant deadlines.
All in all, a targeted appeal shows employees that their support matters—and that now is the perfect time to make a difference. When done well, this outreach can significantly increase donations and ensure your one-off matching gift campaign reaches its full potential.
Marketing Tip #5: Provide resources for your corporate partner to distribute.
One of the simplest ways to amplify your one-off matching gift campaign is by equipping your corporate partner with ready-to-use marketing materials they can easily share with their employees. By making it easy for the company to promote the initiative internally, you significantly increase your reach and participation rates.
Corporate partners are often enthusiastic about supporting their nonprofit partners, but they may not have the time or capacity to create their own promotional content. Supplying polished, branded materials ensures the message is communicated clearly and consistently—while saving your partner time and effort. It also helps you stay in control of the messaging, emphasizing the key details and urgency of the match.
Your promotional toolkit might include:
Email templates announcing the match and encouraging employees to donate
Social media graphics and suggested captions for internal company platforms or LinkedIn
Flyers or posters that can be displayed in physical office spaces
A one-pager overview of your organization’s mission, the impact of the partnership, and matching gift instructions
Talking points for HR leaders or team managers to use when discussing the match with employees
Be sure to brand all materials with your nonprofit’s logo and your partner’s logo, and clearly state the timeframe and match opportunity.
When you hand off these resources, you can even offer to meet briefly with your contact at the company to walk through how best to use them. Ask if there are other communication channels you can support—such as company town halls, onboarding materials, lunch and learns, or employee giving portals.
By arming your corporate partner with the right tools, you empower them to become active champions of your mission and help drive more traffic—and donations—to your campaign.
Marketing Tip #6: Share impact stats or donor testimonials.
When promoting your one-off matching gift program, real numbers and stories speak volumes. Donors want to know that their gifts make a difference—and nothing reinforces that message better than real-world impact and personal testimonials.
Why? Sharing compelling statistics or heartfelt testimonials builds trust, inspires generosity, and motivates action. When supporters see the tangible outcomes of giving—or hear from others who’ve donated—they’re more likely to feel confident that their own contribution will matter. It also reinforces the value of the matching gift partnership and showcases the company’s positive role in driving that impact.
Depending on the stage of your campaign, you might highlight:
The number of gifts matched so far or total dollars raised
Specific programs or communities impacted by the campaign’s success
Quotes from donors about why they gave and how the match inspired them
Statements from beneficiaries about how donations have changed lives
Comments from employees of the corporate partner about how proud they are to support the cause
Don’t be afraid to use graphics, short video clips, or personal stories (with permission!) to add a human element to your stats.
By spotlighting real results and authentic voices, you create a more emotional, meaningful connection that drives engagement and fuels ongoing support.
Marketing Tip #7: If applicable, establish urgency with upcoming deadlines.
One of the most powerful motivators in fundraising is a sense of urgency—and one-off matching gift programs are a natural fit for this tactic. These (often) limited-time opportunities are typically available for a defined period or tied to a particular campaign, event, or initiative. That means your supporters should act fast if they want their donation to go twice as far.
When donors know there’s a deadline, they’re more likely to act now rather than put off giving. Creating a clear sense of urgency drives immediate action and helps your nonprofit make the most of the matching gift window. It also keeps your campaign top of mind during a critical period of opportunity.
Here are a few ideas for integrating urgency into your marketing strategy:
Highlight any deadlines in bold, clear language: “All gifts matched through June 30!” or “Only 3 days left to double your impact!”
Use countdowns in emails or on your campaign landing page to show exactly how much time is left.
Send last-chance reminders: A final push as the deadline approaches can significantly boost participation.
While the final days of a campaign often see the biggest surge in giving, your messaging should mention the time limit early and often. Repetition reinforces urgency and ensures that no donor misses the opportunity due to lack of awareness.
By emphasizing urgency, you help donors understand the limited nature of your one-off matching gift opportunity—and inspire them to take action while they still can.
Marketing Tip #8: Celebrate milestones and successes publicly.
Sharing progress is more than just a nice gesture—it’s a strategic marketing move that can build momentum, deepen engagement, and drive additional donations. As your one-off matching gift campaign unfolds, make it a point to celebrate key milestones and successes in public, visible ways.
After all, recognizing campaign progress and achievements signals to supporters that their gifts are making a real difference. It fosters a sense of community and shared purpose, encourages continued involvement, and inspires new donors to get involved. Public celebration also gives your corporate partner positive visibility, which helps reinforce the value of the partnership for both sides.
Here are a few ways to celebrate and promote your success:
Share milestone updates across email and social media: “We’ve raised $10,000—halfway to our goal! Let’s keep going!”
Feature donor spotlights or shout-outs to recognize individuals or employee groups who participated.
Post real-time updates during events or campaign pushes, especially if you’re running a day-of-giving or time-bound challenge.
Create thank-you graphics or short videos highlighting the impact of the donations received and the matched total.
Tag your corporate partner in public acknowledgments to strengthen your relationship and encourage them to share the content as well.
When you celebrate milestones publicly, you not only honor the generosity of your donors. You also reinforce the value of the one-off match, elevate your nonprofit’s credibility, and create more opportunities for future engagement.
Wrapping Up & Additional Matching Gift Resources
One-off matching gift programs provide nonprofits with a unique opportunity to amplify the impact of their donors and strengthen relationships with corporate partners. But without a clear, strategic marketing plan, it’s easy to leave dollars on the table.
By aligning with your partner, using a multi-channel approach, creating urgency, and sharing real-time results, you can turn a time-limited match into long-lasting value for your mission. With proper preparation and promotion, your next one-off campaign can be a win for your organization, your supporters, and your corporate sponsor alike.
Ready to elevate your approach? Use these marketing tips to make every dollar—and each match—count.
Check out the following recommended resources to continue growing your knowledge of all things matching gifts:
Free Download: The Ultimate Guide to Marketing Matching Gifts. Looking for a strategy to promote your matching gift programs? This downloadable guide covers everything from messaging and design tips to timing and automation, helping you drive more participation.
https://doublethedonation.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/DTD_Marketing-Your-One-Off-Matching-Gift-Program-Tips-Tricks_Feature.png6001600Adam Weingerhttps://doublethedonation.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/DTD-horizontal-logo-300x63.pngAdam Weinger2025-04-30 18:42:542025-06-02 14:04:28Marketing Your One-Off Matching Gift Program: Tips & Tricks
Picture this: a new member joins your association, signs up for your mailing list, and attends your major annual conference. However, you don’t hear from them again until it’s time for next year’s event. With few activities between events, members eventually drop off, leaving your association inactive and with declining membership.
Avoid this scenario by keeping your members engaged all year round. With the right strategies and software, you can connect with new members and cultivate an active, loyal membership base.
To help your association build and maintain its community, this guide will explore top member engagement strategies. But first, let’s explore exactly what member engagement is.
What is member engagement?
The trade and association experts at Tradewing define member engagement as: “all the ways members interact with your association. When members attend events, comment on your blog posts, or message one another, they’re engaging with your association.”
Essentially, any activity or content your association provides members is an opportunity for engagement. When members engage with your association, they can expand their professional skills, make connections, and enrich your community.
Why is member engagement important?
Associations with engaged membership bases have dedicated communities they can count on to generate revenue, attend events, and spread positive word-of-mouth marketing. Specifically, by engaging members, your association can improve its:
Value offering. Ultimately, your association’s membership benefits are engagement activities and content. Finding new ways to engage your members improves your offerings and increases your membership’s value.
Retention. When members enjoy interfacing with your content and participating in activities, they are more likely to continue doing so in the future. Building relationships with your members and providing them with value can boost renewal rates and fight member lapse.
Recruitment. An engaged membership base is one of your strongest recruiting tools. Members who are connected to your association are more likely to recommend joining to their friends, family, and colleagues, boosting your member acquisition potential.
When your members are engaged, your association does what it set out to do: provide resources and opportunities to professionals in your field. By expanding your offerings and improving the membership experience, you can build a passionate community of talented individuals ready to help, educate, and uplift one another.
15 Member Engagement Strategies
1. Build and maintain an online community.
Many associations host just a handful of in-person gatherings a year. While these events are valuable, members may feel disengaged in between them.
Keep your community connected to your association and provide valuable benefits year-round by building an active online community. Invest in a community engagement platform where members can message one another and engage with your association online.
Community engagement platforms create social media-like microsites just for your members. Using this tool, you can engage members by:
Posting a range of content. Share research reports, opinion pieces, analysis videos, and other interesting content on your community platform. This gives members exclusive access to your high-value content and the opportunity to discuss it with other members.
Encouraging conversation. Your online community platform gives members the ability to freely network with one another in a casual, low-stress environment. Encourage members to make these connections by posting conversation starters, like open questions and debate topics. For example, you might ask members what is one thing they wish they knew when first entering your industry or their thoughts on a new trend in your sector.
Hosting virtual events. For members who can’t attend in-person events or wish to attend more events, you can meet their needs by hosting virtual gatherings through your engagement platform. These might be lectures or workshops hosted by a guest speaker or casual coffee hours where attendees can set the tone of the conversations.
If you’re looking for a community engagement platform, we recommend Tradewing, our favorite provider for trade and professional associations.
2. Promote relevant sponsor content.
Sponsors provide the funding your association needs to host major events, plan innovative activities, and provide a quality membership experience. As such, it’s easy to think of sponsors as merely a funding source rather than a potential value add for members.
Rather than viewing sponsored content as something your members would need to flip past in a brochure or scroll through online, cultivate relationships with sponsors who bring products and services that genuinely benefit your members.
To cultivate mutually beneficial relationships with sponsors that help boost member engagement, be sure to:
Consider your value alignment. Don’t simply partner with any organization that offers you money. Instead, consider each sponsor’s values and business goals and if they align with your association’s. For example, an association for high school teachers could benefit members by partnering with sponsors dedicated to education, like a textbook publisher.
Provide adequate sponsorship tools. Enable sponsors to get their content in front of members meaningfully without interfering with your other offerings. For instance, you might create a dedicated space in your online community for sponsored content and encourage sponsors to create profiles but disallow them from directly messaging members.
Set clear expectations. The key to a successful sponsorship deal is ensuring everyone understands what is expected of them and what they can gain from the partnership. Discuss how sponsors should engage with members to provide useful offerings without pushing their advertisements too heavily.
To brainstorm potential sponsors, survey your members about the types of products and surveys they would be interested in. This exercise can help you identify sponsors your members are interested in engaging with, benefiting both your members and business partners.
3. Keep your content up-to-date.
Members are more likely to engage with content that provides timely insight into relevant happenings in your industry. Ensure your content is valuable and up-to-date with current trends by:
Subscribing to industry publications. Peruse news publications, research journals, and other trusted news sources for your field. Read up on what professionals in your field are experiencing in their day-to-day lives, and consider how you can create content that speaks to them. For instance, you might discover that AI implementation is a major concern in your industry and publish a blog post about the ethics of AI and how members can use it to their advantage.
Attending conferences. Check in with other association leaders and industry experts by attending major conferences in your field. These are opportunities to promote your offerings and learn insights from others. For example, you might compare your membership sales pitch to a similar association’s or attend a workshop about the future of your sector.
Bringing in external experts. Provide members with additional value and expand your offerings by inviting outside experts to speak to your members. You might ask them to write blog content, attend an event as a speaker, or host a Q&A with your members.
When you create new, valuable content, you can use it to not only engage your current member base but also recruit new members. Ensure all content is optimized for search enginesso pieces available to the general public can easily discover and engage with it.
4. Implement gamification.
Do you know anyone addicted to daily apps like Duolingo? These platforms keep users engaged by turning their content into a game. For instance, rather than simply taking language lessons, Duolingo users are challenged to earn points, compete against one another, and rank up in exclusive leagues.
This concept is known as gamification, and it can encourage your users to continually check in with your association. Use your association and community management software to gamify your member experience with features like:
Leaderboards
Point systems
Badges
Daily challenges
For many associations, the only reward for gamification-related activities is personal satisfaction, but some have tangible benefits. For instance, if members earn a certain number of points by participating in your community, you might award them a discount on your merchandise store or a ticket for an upcoming event.
5. Identify at-risk members.
The best way to prevent member lapse and keep engagement high is to spot members at risk of leaving. Follow these steps to pinpoint low-engagement members and bring them back into your community:
Identify at-risk markers. Use your community engagement tools to monitor member behavior and spot trends in lapsed members. For instance, you might notice members leave after completing a certain number of education courses or that lapsed members’ posting rate significantly decreases before their departure.
Send a re-engagement message. This message should include interesting content, a low-effort ask that encourages engagement, or a sense of urgency. For example, you might send an email with a subject line like, “Our community misses you!” with an attached message sharing highlights from your community and links to popular discussion posts.
Monitor engagement. After reaching out to an at-risk member, continue to monitor their engagement. If they respond positively, keep up your efforts until they resume normal engagement. If they do lapse, ask them to complete an exit survey so you can better understand their reasons for leaving.
Be aware that some of your members may be content with attending a handful of in-person events and otherwise not participating in your online community. However, if a previously active member suddenly misses their first membership renewal deadline, that is a strong cause to reach out and begin re-engagement efforts.
6. Launch a mentorship program.
New members may feel overwhelmed when they first join your association. Ensure they feel welcome and give them an opportunity to connect with your community by launching a mentorship program.
In this initiative, established members can volunteer to serve as mentors. They will guide new members assigned to them by reaching out via email or your community platform to share insights on engaging with your community.
Primarily, mentors can help new members start their networking journeys. They might facilitate introductions at events or share tips on navigating your member directory to find individuals with similar interests.
7. Use event engagement tools.
Online events allow your community to come together from the comfort of their own homes. However, it’s easy to become disengaged with webinars and lectures where the audience is expected to sit quietly and observe.
You can make your virtual events more valuable and connect with your members by using your event software’s engagement tools, such as:
Audience chat. Let members speak to one another during your event through a live text chat. Have active moderators there to answer audience questions, pose discussion topics, and ensure conversations are appropriate.
Polls and surveys. Make your audience a part of your events by issuing interactive polls and surveys. For example, a speaker might ask your audience how familiar they are with a specific topic to gauge knowledge levels or prove a point about general awareness.
Break-out rooms. Enable attendees to chat with one another by putting them in break-out rooms. This feature is particularly effective for associations hosting courses with live instructors, as it allows learners to work together and share their thoughts with others.
When researching event tools, consider looking for a community engagement platform with event hosting tools. While dedicated event software is likely to be more robust, associations on a budget can save money by buying a bundled platform.
8. Design an onboarding process.
Help new members start their experience with your association off on the right foot with an onboarding process. Onboarding can be as simple as an email cadence that introduces your association, highlights new content, and invites members to check out popular features.
For example, your first introductory email might provide background on your association’s mission and prompt members to join your online community by completing their member profiles. Then, a follow-up email would highlight popular offerings, such as your educational courses, and explain how to get involved. The next message after that might share links to popular new content, and so on.
9. Promote user-generated content.
Your association’s team works hard, but ultimately, between research, writing, and video production, they can only produce so much content. To ensure your members have a continual stream of content to engage with, empower them to create content themselves.
User-generated content is how popular social media sites thrive. For instance, LinkedIn’s team relies on its user base to create and share content with other users.
Inspire your members to create user-generated content, like:
Blog posts
Reviews
Photographs
Videos
Discussion questions
You can encourage user-generated content by maintaining an online community inviting members to post their creations, comment positively on original content, and even spotlight high-value content in your newsletter.
10. Practice member appreciation.
Businesses thank customers for purchasing their products and services, and your association should do the same for its members. When members renew their memberships, attend an event, or hit a membership milestone, thank them for participating in your community.
Free merchandise. Send members gifts of branded merchandise on special occasions. For instance, you might send gifts as part of new member welcome kits, when members hit membership anniversaries, during holidays, and to promote upcoming major events at your association.
Member spotlights. Build social proof and appreciate your members simultaneously with member spotlights. Select highly engaged members and ask them to share a quote or two about their experience with your association. Then, feature their stories and photos in your newsletter, online community, social media, or website to celebrate them publicly.
eCards. Make appreciation fast and memorable with eCards. Design custom eCards to show appreciation for big and small events, from buying your merchandise or completing a credential course to being a member for five years straight.
By showing appreciation, you communicate to members that you care about their experiences and encourage them to continue engaging with your offerings.
11. Host a range of activities.
Expanding your benefits can engage your current membership base and improve your value offering. The more activities you offer, the more opportunities members will have to engage with your association. Additionally, providing a range of content allows you to appeal to various audiences, growing your membership base.
For instance, you might offer:
In-person events
Virtual events
Educational courses
Webinars
Lectures
Workshops
Written content
Videos
When it comes to the topics your content covers, stay focused on your association’s main purpose. Avoid stretching yourself too thin or covering topics outside your expertise simply because they’re popular. Sticking to your association’s mission ensures that you will produce varied and valuable content.
12. Personalize the member experience.
Provide members with content they want to engage with by customizing their experiences based on their interests.
Leverage member management tools with algorithms and AI features that can analyze members’ past engagement to recommend content. For instance, after a member finishes an educational course, you might start promoting the next one in the series or suggest they attend an upcoming webinar on the same topic.
You can also personalize the membership experience through your messaging strategy. Segment members based on shared characteristics, such as career levels or professional interests. Then, create unique messaging cadences for each group to ensure they receive content relevant to them.
For example, you might create a member segment of individuals looking to break into your field. For these members, send them updates to your job board, invitations to networking events, and skill training workshops. In contrast, to senior members, you might still promote networking events but also articles about recent developments in your field and calls to join your mentorship program to welcome new members.
13. Offer volunteer opportunities.
Some already engaged members may be interested in getting even more involved with your association. For these motivated members, deepen their engagement by asking them to consider volunteering at your association.
Talk with interested association members to determine how they can best lend their skills. For example, members with strong communication skills might help create marketing materials, while those who speak other languages might be willing to do translation work.
14. Maintain a job board.
Ultimately, individuals join trade and professional associations to advance their career prospects. For many, this involves finding new employment opportunities. Engage these members by providing a curated job board.
While job hosting websites like Indeed and LinkedIn have their uses, they can be difficult to navigate or even host scam opportunities. By maintaining a job board of reliable positions at trusted businesses, you can help your members find secure employment.
Use your engagement platform to host your job board and promote new postings. For example, you might enable members to subscribe to your job board to receive alerts when new opportunities go live.
15. Collect member feedback.
If you’re unsure why members aren’t engaging with your association or what programming they would like to engage with, simply ask them. Send out surveys asking members about their experiences with your association. For example, you might ask:
What programs and content have you participated in over the last six months?
Were these programs and content easy to engage with? Why or why not?
How did you become aware of these programs and content?
What type of content would you like to see from our association?
What prevents you from accessing your benefits?
The responses can provide insight into your members’ specific interests, goals, and challenges regarding engagement. For instance, you might discover that members simply aren’t aware of new engagement opportunities or that they would prefer activities they can complete in a short time period to accommodate their busy schedules.
Our Favorite Member Engagement Tool: Tradewing
Maintaining an active online community is our top member engagement strategy. To implement this strategy, you’ll need a member engagement and community hosting tool. Our recommended platform for professional and trade associations is Tradewing.
Built for small and growing associations, Tradewing is an out-of-the-box ready online community engagement platform. By investing in Tradewing, your association will have access to a host of community management tools, including:
Online engagement platform. Tradewing provides associations with a social media-like microsite where members can connect. While some small associations may opt to host their communities on social media, Tradewing provides a secure and professional where the focus will be solely on your association.
Member analytics. Track how your members are engaging with your association. Dive into individual members’ engagement histories or get overviews of your entire community to identify trends in member behavior.
Event hosting. Save money by hosting your events through Tradewing rather than investing in a separate event management tool. Promote and launch virtual events on the same platform to keep members focused and make attending easy.
Sponsorship engagement tools. Sponsors are a core part of your association’s community. Provide them with the tools they need to connect with your members, promote their offerings, and have a valuable experience with your association.
Association integrations. Tradewing has an association management component. However, thanks to its numerous integrations, organizations solely interested in the online community software aspect can still use Tradewing. Plug Tradewing into your association’s tech stack to get your online community up and running in minutes.
Tradewing is the ideal community engagement platform for associations looking for a fast, user-friendly solution. Avoid the hassle of extensive development and high subscription costs with a platform that fits your association’s needs.
More Member Engagement Resources
By engaging your members, your association can retain them long-term and build a thriving community that attracts more supporters and establishes your organization as an industry leader. To raise your engagement rates, assess your membership base and consider which of our top engagement strategies will likely resonate with your audience.
For more help engaging your members and keeping your association organized, check out these resources:
6 Excellent Higher Logic Alternatives: Comparing Features. Higher Logic is a top community engagement platform, but it has an intimidating learning curve. To find an alternative solution for your association, check out these comparable platforms.
7 Leading Hivebrite Alternatives To Power Your Organization. Hivebrite is one of the most well-known member engagement platforms available. However, due to its cost and customization requirements, it may not be the best fit for every association. Check out these top recommended alternatives.
https://doublethedonation.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/member-engagement_Feature.png7502000Julia Beltranhttps://doublethedonation.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/DTD-horizontal-logo-300x63.pngJulia Beltran2025-03-20 22:29:002025-11-24 07:04:4415 Member Engagement Strategies for Growing Associations
A well-established board of directors can play a critical role in the success of a nonprofit. Not only through governance and strategic leadership but also by actively contributing to revenue-generation efforts through dedicated board member fundraising.
One powerful yet often underutilized way board members can amplify their impact is by leveraging corporate philanthropy programs like matching gifts and volunteer grants—including specific programs designed to celebrate board membership. These initiatives allow key individuals to maximize their personal contributions and service, encouraging greater community support and engagement.
In this post, we’ll explore how board members can take advantage of these opportunities and more to drive additional funding for their organizations. Specifically, we’ll cover the following:
By understanding and leveraging corporate philanthropy programs like matching gifts and volunteer grants, board members can significantly enhance their nonprofit’s fundraising potential. As we dive into the specifics, you’ll discover practical strategies and actionable insights to help board members unlock new funding opportunities.
Read on to learn how you and your fellow board members can make the most of these powerful giving programs and beyond!
What is board member fundraising?
Board member fundraising refers to the role nonprofit board members play in generating financial support for their organization. As key leaders and ambassadors, board members are often expected to contribute personally and encourage others to give through their networks.
This can include direct donations, securing major gifts, organizing fundraising events, leveraging corporate giving programs like matching gifts and volunteer grants, and fostering relationships with potential donors.
All in all, effective board member fundraising strengthens the nonprofit’s financial sustainability and demonstrates a commitment to the organization’s mission.
5 board member fundraising strategies to consider
While board member fundraising can seem daunting, there are several effective and accessible ways for organizations to rally their board members to get involved. Below are five key fundraising strategies that can help board members maximize their impact and strengthen their nonprofit’s financial sustainability.
1) Organize fundraising events.
Hosting fundraising events is a powerful way for board members to engage their networks and generate revenue for the nonprofit. Whether it’s a formal gala, networking reception, or intimate donor gathering, these events provide opportunities to cultivate relationships and secure donations.
Board members can take the lead by organizing, sponsoring, or inviting key stakeholders to these events. By leveraging their connections and expertise, they can create meaningful experiences that inspire giving and strengthen donor relationships.
2) Encourage giving by example.
Board members set the tone for donor engagement, and one of the most effective ways to encourage giving is by leading with personal contributions. When board members donate at a meaningful level, it signals confidence in the organization’s mission and motivates others to contribute.
Organizations should establish a culture where board giving is an expectation and celebrate members who go above and beyond in their financial support.
3) Implement peer-to-peer fundraising.
Peer-to-peer fundraising allows board members to leverage their networks for greater impact. By creating personal fundraising pages and reaching out to friends, colleagues, and family, board members can rally additional supporters around the cause.
Whether tied to a specific campaign, event, or milestone, peer-to-peer efforts help expand an organization’s donor base and bring in new funding. Providing board members with the right tools and messaging to do so ensures their outreach is both effective and seamless.
4) Thank and steward board members.
Recognizing and appreciating board members for their fundraising efforts is essential to maintaining engagement and motivation. Organizations should implement consistent stewardship practices, such as personalized thank-you messages, public recognition, and exclusive impact updates.
Celebrating board contributions not only strengthens their commitment but also reinforces the importance of their role in the nonprofit’s success.
5) Explore corporate giving opportunities.
Many board members have access to corporate giving programs through their employers, including matching gifts, volunteer grants, and other opportunities. To ensure you’re making the most of their support, nonprofit teams should educate board members on these programs—and encourage them to take advantage of available funding.
Whether by submitting their own donations for a match or securing grants for volunteer hours, board members can unlock significant financial support through their employers with minimal extra effort.
Board member fundraising & matching gifts
Matching gifts are one of the most effective ways to amplify board member fundraising efforts. After all, many companies have established corporate matching gift programs, where they match donations made by their employees to eligible nonprofits. Some even offer dedicated programs to match board members’ donations at an even higher rate or allowance!
As a result, board members can take advantage of these programs to significantly increase the impact of their personal contributions—and encourage others to do the same.
Check out these examples of companies with matching gift programs specifically for employees serving on nonprofit boards:
US Bancorp
US Bancorp is the parent company of the U.S. Bank National Association (based in Minneapolis, Minnesota), ranked the fifth largest bank in the U.S. based on assets ($670 billion), and the fifth largest based on total branches. The company currently employs over 70,000 people.
US Bank Matching Gift Policy
US Bank offers a 1:1 matching ratio of gifts with a generous limit each year. When a board member makes a donation, however, this limit is tripled. US Bank matches donations made by full-time and part-time employees to most nonprofit organizations.
WestRock is an American packaging company based in Richmond, Virginia. It has approximately 56,000 employees.
WestRock Matching Gift Policy
WestRock matches all employee donations to educational institutions (K-12 included). However, it also matches donations from employees who serve on the board of directors (or other governing bodies) of the organization to which the contribution is being made.
Dominion Resources, Inc. (aka Dominion) is a power and energy company headquartered in Richmond, Virginia, which supplies electricity and natural gas across the nation. Today, the company employs an estimated 18,000 people.
Dominion Matching Gift Policy
When Dominion employees or retirees serve on the board of directors for a nonprofit organization, the company will make a 2:1 match (which is greater than its standard match offering of 1:1).
Schneider Electric is a France-based multinational corporation with nearly 10 U.S. business acquisitions. The company specializes in electricity distribution and automation management, and it currently employs more than 168,000 individuals.
Schneider Electric Matching Gift Policy
Schneider Electric, Square D NOAD & its subsidiaries provide a 1:1 match on all donations up to a lofty annual maximum. If an employee is also an active member of a nonprofit organization’s board of directors, the match ratio is increased to 1.5:1.
Additionally, volunteer grants are another often overlooked but powerful way for board members to support their nonprofit financially.
Many companies offer corporate volunteer grant programs, which provide monetary donations to nonprofits based on the volunteer hours their employees contribute. As highly engaged volunteers, board members may be eligible to secure these grants, turning their service into direct funding for your cause.
Check out these examples of companies with volunteer grant programs that nonprofit board members can leverage:
Takeda Pharmaceuticals Inc.
Takeda is the largest pharmaceutical company in Japan and Asia, boasting 49,000 employees worldwide. It is focused on metabolic disorders, gastroenterology, neurology, and inflammation.
Takeda Volunteer Grant Program
When an employee of Takeda Pharmaceuticals serves on the board of directors for eligible nonprofit organizations, said employee can request a generous volunteer grant for the organization.
Novartis is a Swiss multinational pharmaceutical company based in Basel, Switzerland. Currently, it’s ranked number eight in sales in the worldwide pharmaceutical industry ($201 billion) and employs nearly 120,000 people.
Novartis Volunteer Grant Program
Novartis offers Board Service Grants, through which employees who serve on the board of directors of an eligible organization can request a volunteer grant after one year of board service. These grants are renewable annually for up to three years.
PNM Resources, headquartered in Albuquerque, New Mexico, serves electricity to hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses across the southwest. Today, PNM is estimated to employ about 2,000 people.
PNM’s Volunteer Grant Program
PNM provides volunteer grants to the organizations its staff volunteer with. However, if an employee volunteers for a minimum number of hours and serves on the organization’s board of directors, the company provides an even larger grant amount!
With over 7,500 employees, Blue Shield of California is based in San Francisco, California. It is a nonprofit health plan provider that serves more than 3.4 million health plan members and almost 65,000 physicians across California.
BSOC Volunteer Grant Program
Blue Shield of California offers a few volunteer grant-giving programs.
For healthcare organizations, when a BSOC employee serves on the nonprofit’s governing board and makes a monetary donation, BSOC will match the donation at a 2:1 ratio. Meanwhile, for civic and community organizations. BSOC employee volunteers serving on the governing body can have their donations matched at a 1:1 ratio.
By tapping into corporate matching gift programs and volunteer grants, board members can significantly boost their nonprofit’s fundraising efforts with minimal extra effort. Whether by submitting their own donations for a corporate match or securing grants for their volunteer service, these initiatives can unlock substantial funding.
As key ambassadors of the organization, board members have a unique opportunity to set the tone for donor engagement and corporate partnerships. When fully utilized, these programs not only strengthen financial resources but also deepen the culture of giving within the nonprofit community. Talk about a win-win!
Interested in learning more about smart fundraising and workplace giving strategies? Check out these additional resources:
Become an Expert: Access The Ultimate Guide to Matching Gifts. Maximize the impact of every donation by leveraging matching gift programs. This comprehensive guide covers everything nonprofits need to know about corporate matching gifts, from identifying opportunities to engaging donors and increasing revenue.
Fuel Fundraising: Access The Guide to Corporate Volunteer Grants. Did you know that many companies provide grants based on their employees’ volunteer hours? This guide explores how nonprofits can tap into corporate volunteer grant programs, empowering board members and supporters to turn their time into funding.
Top Workplace Giving Companies: Leading Employers to Know. Some of the biggest companies offer generous workplace giving programs, from matching gifts to volunteer grants and more. This resource highlights top employers with strong corporate philanthropy initiatives, helping nonprofits connect with companies that align with their missions.
Securing grants is often a vital part of keeping a nonprofit organization up and running, let alone thriving. Whether you’re funding new programs, expanding services, or covering operational costs, grants can provide the financial support your nonprofit needs to make a more significant impact. However, learning how to find grants for nonprofits—and doing it efficiently—can feel overwhelming, especially with limited time and resources.
The good news? You don’t have to tackle the process alone or struggle to figure it out. In this guide, we’ll walk you through practical and effective strategies to find grants for your nonprofit as quickly and easily as possible. Specifically, we’ll cover:
From leveraging the best tools to simplifying your search process, these tips will help you focus on what matters most: creating change and achieving your mission. Let’s begin!
Understanding Nonprofit Grants: The Basics
Nonprofit grants are essential funding sources that empower organizations to achieve their missions, grow their impact, and sustain operations. For those new to the nonprofit world—or even seasoned professionals looking to refine their strategies—understanding the basics of nonprofit grants is crucial.
Let’s break it down now.
What are grants for nonprofits?
Nonprofit grants are financial resources provided by entities such as government agencies, private foundations, corporations, and individual donors. This revenue is generally used to support specific initiatives or general operations of charitable organizations. Unlike loans, grants do not require repayment, making them an essential funding source for nonprofits striving to make a positive impact.
Though the process can vary, funds are typically awarded based on the alignment between a nonprofit’s mission and the grant provider’s priorities. Additionally, organizations often are required to demonstrate their need and capacity to execute programs effectively. Grants can support a wide range of needs, from operational expenses to program development and capacity building.
What types of nonprofit grants are available?
Nonprofit grants can come in all shapes and sizes—and from numerous sources, too. The better you understand the types of grants available to organizations like yours, the more effectively you’ll be able to target the opportunities.
Check out the following kinds of nonprofit grants to learn more:
Government Grants
Federal Grants: Provided by national government agencies to support projects that benefit the public. These can include health programs, education initiatives, and disaster relief efforts.
State and Local Grants: Offered by state or local government offices for region-specific needs. These grants are often targeted at local community development or services.
Foundation Grants
Private Foundations: Dedicated nonprofits provide funds for projects in their area of interest, which can range from education to environmental conservation and beyond.
Community Foundations: Funded by donations from individuals, families, or corporations, these foundations typically focus on local or regional causes.
Corporate Grants
Corporations may allocate a portion of their profits to support charitable initiatives, often as part of their Corporate Social Responsibility (or CSR) programs. These grants can be for general support or specific programs that align with the company’s mission.
Individual Donor Grants
Philanthropists or wealthy individuals who wish to support specific causes may also offer grants to nonprofits. These grants often come with fewer restrictions than other sources, allowing nonprofits to use the funds more flexibly.
As you can see, nonprofit grants come from a wide range of sources, each with unique benefits and purposes. By understanding the distinctions between various grant opportunities, your organization can strategically pursue revenue that aligns with its mission and needs.
Whether you’re seeking large-scale funding for public initiatives or localized support for community projects, being informed about the various types of grants will empower you to make the most of available resources and drive your nonprofit’s success.
How do nonprofit grants benefit organizations?
Nonprofits often rely on generous funding to power their missions—from individual donors, corporate philanthropy programs, and grant opportunities alike.
Specifically, grants allow nonprofits to scale their operations, expand their reach, and execute important programs with hefty sums of money that otherwise might not be feasible. These funds can also help nonprofits maintain financial stability without relying too fully on any single revenue source.
Not to mention, grant-seeking can provide nonprofits with the credibility and recognition that come with being selected for funding, often increasing their visibility and attracting more donors and volunteers.
Preparing for a Successful Grant Search
Understanding how to prepare for a successful grant search is vital for nonprofits. After all, it lays the groundwork for an efficient and effective funding strategy.
Not to mention, proper preparation ensures that organizations approach grant opportunities with clarity, confidence, and the resources needed to stand out in a competitive landscape.
Clarify your nonprofit’s needs.
Before diving into the grant-seeking process, take the time to identify and define your nonprofit’s funding needs. Are you looking for support for a specific program, covering operational expenses, expanding your reach, or launching a new initiative?
The clearer you are about what you need, the easier it will be to find grants that align with your objectives. Start by setting measurable goals and determining the financial resources required to achieve them. This clarity not only helps you focus your efforts on the most relevant grant opportunities but also strengthens your ability to communicate your needs effectively in applications.
Gather key documentation.
One of the most essential yet sometimes time-consuming aspects of applying for grants is collecting the necessary documentation. By organizing these materials in advance, you can save time and avoid last-minute stress.
Essential documents include…
Your nonprofit’s proof of 501(c)(3) status
Recent financial statements
Tax records
Strategic plans
Reports demonstrating your impact
Having these documents readily available ensures that your applications are complete and professional, which increases your credibility with grantmakers.
Top tip: Consider creating a shared digital folder where your team can easily access and update this information as needed.
Create a compelling case for support.
A compelling case for support is the heart of any successful grant application. This is your opportunity to tell your nonprofit’s story, highlight the problem you’re addressing, and explain why your work matters.
For the best results, your case for support should include a clear description of the initiative you’re seeking funding for, the outcomes you aim to achieve, and the broader impact of your efforts.
Use data and testimonials to back up your claims and make your appeal more persuasive. And don’t forget to tailor your narrative to align with the priorities and mission of the grantmaker, demonstrating why your nonprofit is the ideal partner to advance their goals.
Quick and Easy Ways to Locate Grant Opportunities
For many organizations, time and resources are often limited. Luckily, efficient grant-seeking strategies can allow nonprofits to streamline their search efforts, focusing on the most promising opportunities.
Here’s what we recommend to get started!
Grant databases and tools
With so many grants being offered to nonprofits, it can be tricky (if not impossible) to keep track of them all on your own. Luckily, that’s where a grant database tool comes in!
Grant databases and other resources provide nonprofits with centralized platforms to identify funding opportunities that align with their mission and goals. These tools often allow users to filter grants by type, location, funder priorities, and deadlines, saving valuable time in the search process. Many databases also include helpful insights, such as past funding amounts, application guidelines, and contact information for funders.
Let’s take a look at some of the leading grant database tools for nonprofits:
Double the Donation is a unique platform that focuses on helping nonprofits maximize their funding through workplace giving and other funding opportunities (including matching gifts, volunteer grants, volunteer time off, sponsorships, grants, and more). Through its extensive database of companies with corporate giving programs, nonprofits can uncover and target potential support with ease.
Candid’s Foundation Directory Online is a comprehensive database that provides nonprofit organizations with access to detailed information about thousands of grantmakers. By providing detailed profiles, including funding history, eligibility criteria, and application guidelines, Candid helps nonprofits uncover opportunities tailored to their needs, making the grant-seeking process more targeted and effective.
Grants.gov is a centralized platform for finding and applying for federal grants. It serves as a one-stop resource for nonprofits seeking government funding opportunities, offering access to over 1,000 federal grant programs across various sectors, including education, health, and community development.
GrantWatch is a user-friendly online resource that aggregates a wide variety of grant opportunities from across the United States. The platform covers grants for nonprofits, businesses, and individuals, offering detailed listings that include eligibility criteria, funding amounts, deadlines, and contact information.
GrantStation is an online resource that provides nonprofits with access to a large database of grant opportunities from private foundations, corporate giving programs, and government agencies. The platform also offers research and training resources to help nonprofits improve their grant writing and increase their chances of success.
GrantScape is a subscription-based service that provides access to an extensive database of grant opportunities. Designed for both nonprofits and businesses, GrantScape helps users find available funding by offering detailed grant descriptions, eligibility criteria, and deadlines. GrantScape’s advanced features, including grant alerts and reporting tools, allow nonprofits to track the progress of their applications and stay informed about new opportunities as they arise.
Instrumentl is an innovative grant search platform that leverages data-driven insights to help nonprofits find and apply for grants more effectively. The platform provides detailed information on grantmakers, including past funding history, application deadlines, and funding amounts, enabling nonprofits to prioritize the most promising opportunities.
By streamlining access to grant opportunities and offering tools to manage the application process, these platforms empower nonprofits to pursue funding more strategically and efficiently.
Donor employment information
Companies want to support the nonprofits their employees care about. Lucky for you, that means your donor employment information has the potential to uncover hidden funding through workplace giving programs and other grant opportunities. Many businesses even offer grants tied to employee engagement, such as volunteer grants, matching gifts, or other employee-nominated funding initiatives.
By identifying where donors or volunteers work (hint: we recommend collecting employer data as individuals give, register for an event, or sign up for a volunteer opportunity), nonprofits can connect with corporate giving programs that align with their supporters’ activities. This targeted approach not only strengthens relationships with individual supporters but also opens doors to new grant opportunities that might otherwise go unnoticed.
Networking & local resources
Finally, networking and leveraging local resources (such as events, conferences, and associations) can offer invaluable opportunities for uncovering grants and building relationships with funders.
For example, community foundations, other nonprofits, and local government offices can often provide information about grants specific to the region or sector. Attending networking events, workshops, or webinars allows nonprofits to connect with grantmakers, gain insights into funding priorities, and learn about upcoming opportunities. Meanwhile, building personal connections with funders can make a significant difference in the competitive grant application process, as it helps establish trust and demonstrates a genuine commitment to collaboration.
Top Tips for Simplifying the Grant Search Process
Simplifying the grant search process empowers nonprofits to better navigate the often complex world of grant applications with greater efficiency.
By implementing the following strategies to streamline their search, nonprofits can maximize their resources, prioritize high-potential opportunities, and improve the quality of their applications. Here’s what we recommend:
1. Focus on alignment.
When seeking grants, one of the most critical practices involves focusing on alignment between your nonprofit’s mission and the funder’s priorities. After all, grants are generally awarded based on how well your organization’s work aligns with the objectives and values of the funding body. To increase your chances of success, take the time to thoroughly research the grants you’re applying for and ensure they match your nonprofit’s specific goals, geographic focus, and target population.
Meanwhile, tailoring your application to reflect how your mission and project align with the funder’s goals demonstrates a strong fit and shows that your nonprofit will be a responsible steward of their funds.
2. Create a detailed grant calendar.
A well-organized grant calendar is essential for staying on top of application deadlines and managing the grant-seeking process efficiently. Nonprofits often face a high volume of grant applications, and keeping track of each opportunity’s deadline, requirements, and submission guidelines can be overwhelming without a plan.
Thus, a detailed grant calendar should include all relevant deadlines, follow-up dates, and key milestones, such as when letters of intent, full proposals, and supporting documents are due.
By planning ahead and organizing grant timelines, nonprofits can avoid last-minute scrambling and ensure that each application receives the necessary attention and quality.
3. Delegate tasks.
Grant writing and submission can be a time-consuming process, and having a team approach can help streamline the work. Delegating tasks to the appropriate team members will improve efficiency and ensure all aspects of the application are thoroughly addressed.
For example, one team member might be responsible for gathering financial documents, while another may focus on drafting the narrative sections of the proposal. By distributing tasks based on strengths and expertise, nonprofits can ensure that the application process is well-managed and that nothing is overlooked. Clear communication among team members is crucial to ensure a cohesive and polished final proposal.
4. Don’t overlook smaller grants.
Large, high-profile grants are often the focus of many nonprofits. However, smaller grants can be equally valuable—and often more accessible.
Many local foundations, corporations, and government agencies offer grants with lower funding thresholds, making them more attainable for smaller organizations or specific projects. Additionally, smaller grants can serve as stepping stones to larger funding opportunities and can help build a track record of success that strengthens your nonprofit’s credibility.
The bottom line is this: Never underestimate the value of smaller grants. They can be a crucial part of diversifying your funding sources and meeting immediate program needs!
5. Use rejections as learning opportunities.
Rejection is a natural part of the grant-seeking process. However, it’s important to approach it with a growth mindset in order to drive the best results overall. When your nonprofit’s application is not selected, use the experience as an opportunity to learn and improve.
Many funders even provide feedback on why a proposal was not successful. This can offer valuable insights into areas that may need strengthening. For example, the clarity of the application, the project’s alignment with the funder’s priorities, or the budget justification.
By analyzing rejection and applying those lessons to future applications, your nonprofit can increase its chances of success in subsequent funding rounds or within the realm of other opportunities.
6. Consider outsourcing expert help.
Grant writing can be a complex and specialized skill. Sometimes, it makes sense to outsource certain aspects of the process to experts. Hiring a grant writer or consultant can be a smart investment.
After all, an experienced professional can help your nonprofit craft a compelling, well-written proposal that is more likely to stand out from the competition. Additionally, outsourcing expert help can free up internal staff to focus on other areas of the nonprofit’s work.
If your organization is struggling with writing quality proposals or simply lacks the time to dedicate to grant applications, bringing in outside expertise could significantly improve your outcomes.
7. Use a Dedicated Database.
One of the most efficient ways to streamline your grant search is by using a dedicated database. Double the Donation’s platform is a powerful resource for nonprofits, offering not only a comprehensive list of workplace giving programs, including corporate grant information.
With our database, you can track eligibility, discover new funding opportunities, and focus on what matters most – growing your mission. Plus, our platform integrates seamlessly with your systems, making it easier than ever to manage your grant efforts. Check out the video preview below to see how Double the Donation’s database can simplify your search and enhance your fundraising strategy.
14 Leading Companies With Online Grant Applications
Companies supply some of the best grant opportunities for nonprofits. To provide you with a headstart in your search, we’ve selected a few examples of businesses with generous grant potential.
Check out the following list, and start applying today!
SC Johnson
SC Johnson, a global leader in household cleaning products, offers grant opportunities that align with their commitment to sustainability, community impact, and innovation. Through their charitable giving programs, SC Johnson supports nonprofit organizations that focus on environmental protection, improving quality of life, and advancing science and education. They often collaborate with local community-based organizations, as well as larger environmental groups, to promote initiatives that create positive environmental change.
Nonprofits interested in applying for SC Johnson grants should focus on projects that align with these core values and demonstrate measurable impact in the communities they serve.
Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company is deeply committed to making a difference in communities across the country. Through the Nationwide Foundation, they offer grants in areas such as education, financial literacy, and community development. Nationwide prioritizes programs that aim to create financial stability, reduce inequality, and foster economic empowerment.
Nonprofits interested in funding can focus on educational programs, youth empowerment initiatives, and efforts to improve the financial well-being of individuals and families. The Nationwide Foundation also funds programs that support disaster relief efforts and initiatives that enhance community safety and security.
Target is well-known for its commitment to supporting community-driven projects that focus on education, homelessness prevention, and diversity and inclusion. The Target Foundation offers grants to nonprofits that work to provide access to education, reduce inequality, and support underserved communities. They prioritize initiatives that impact youth and families, particularly those in communities where Target operates.
Nonprofits focused on expanding educational opportunities, increasing access to social services, or promoting diversity and inclusion can explore Target’s grant opportunities for funding support.
Bank of America supports nonprofits through its philanthropic arm, the Bank of America Charitable Foundation. The foundation focuses on improving economic mobility, addressing critical community needs, and advancing environmental sustainability. They provide grants in areas such as workforce development, affordable housing, and community revitalization.
Nonprofits can benefit from Bank of America’s commitment to creating inclusive economies by applying for grants that support initiatives aimed at improving access to financial resources, education, and job opportunities for underserved communities.
Cisco is a global leader in technology and innovation, and its corporate philanthropy efforts reflect its mission to drive social change. Cisco’s grant opportunities are focused on education, technology access, and social inclusion. The Cisco Foundation offers grants to nonprofits that empower individuals through technology, promote digital skills training, and bridge the technology gap for underserved populations. They also support initiatives that drive economic development, improve healthcare access, and foster social innovation.
Nonprofits working on projects that harness technology for positive community impact are well-aligned with Cisco’s philanthropic goals.
Walmart’s philanthropy is centered on supporting the communities in which its stores operate. The Walmart Foundation offers grants to nonprofits working in areas such as hunger relief, sustainable agriculture, and workforce development. Walmart prioritizes initiatives that improve food security, advance sustainability, and provide employment opportunities for individuals facing barriers to the workforce.
Nonprofits can apply for grants focused on reducing food insecurity, enhancing economic opportunity, and driving environmental impact in local communities.
Wells Fargo is dedicated to supporting nonprofits that drive economic advancement and create positive social change. The Wells Fargo Foundation offers grants in areas such as education, community development, affordable housing, and small business support. Wells Fargo focuses on initiatives that promote diversity and inclusion, financial literacy, and workforce development.
Nonprofits seeking grants should focus on projects that help strengthen local economies, empower individuals, and ensure that underserved communities have access to financial opportunities and support services.
Truist, formed through the merger of financial institutions SunTrust and BB&T, is committed to fostering economic mobility and community well-being. Truist’s philanthropic focus is on education, health and human services, community development, and financial literacy. The Truist Foundation provides grants to nonprofits that work to improve economic inclusion, enhance educational opportunities, and promote financial empowerment.
Nonprofits addressing social equity and economic disparities, particularly those that empower underserved populations, align with Truist’s funding priorities.
Liberty Mutual’s charitable giving focuses on building safer, more resilient communities and providing support to those in need. Through the Liberty Mutual Foundation, they offer grants to nonprofits working in areas such as safety, education, and disaster relief. Liberty Mutual prioritizes initiatives focusing on reducing injuries and accidents in communities and improving access to education and social services.
Nonprofits that emphasize safety awareness, disaster preparedness, and community resilience are well-positioned to benefit from Liberty Mutual’s funding.
Google is one of the leading technology companies with a strong commitment to supporting social impact initiatives worldwide. Through Google.org, the company offers grants to nonprofits that focus on education, economic opportunity, technology access, and social innovation. Google places a strong emphasis on projects that use technology to drive positive change. And there’s a particular focus on those that address global challenges such as poverty, inequality, and climate change. Plus, the company offers up to $10,000 in advertising space for organizations through its Google Ad Grants program!
Nonprofits that integrate technology into their work or that aim to create a more sustainable and equitable world can benefit from Google’s philanthropic efforts.
Kroger, one of the largest supermarket chains in the U.S., is dedicated to supporting communities and promoting sustainability. The Kroger Foundation offers grants to nonprofits focusing on food security, health and wellness, and environmental sustainability. Their initiatives include providing access to healthy food, supporting hunger relief programs, and promoting sustainable agriculture practices.
Nonprofits that work to reduce food insecurity, promote healthy living, or engage in environmental conservation are prime candidates for funding.
State Farm Insurance is committed to improving communities and creating safer environments. Through the State Farm Foundation, they offer grants to nonprofits that focus on community development, safety, and education. State Farm emphasizes projects that promote safe driving, disaster preparedness, financial literacy, and youth education.
Nonprofits focusing on safety initiatives, educational programs, or natural disaster recovery can access funding through State Farm’s grant programs.
Whole Foods Market supports nonprofits dedicated to creating a positive environmental impact and promoting sustainable food systems. The Whole Foods Market Foundation offers grants to organizations focused on environmental sustainability, food access, and promoting healthy living. Whole Foods prioritizes projects that advocate for organic farming, reduce food waste, and improve the overall health of communities.
Nonprofits working in areas such as nutrition, community gardens, and sustainable agriculture can explore Whole Foods’ grant opportunities.
Costco is known for its commitment to supporting local communities and promoting social responsibility. Through the Wholesale Community Giving Program, Costco offers nonprofit grants focused on hunger, education, health, and disaster relief. The company supports its local communities where it operates and prioritizes basic needs such as food, healthcare, and education.
Nonprofits with projects aligned with these goals can apply for funding through Costco’s grant programs.
Finding grants for your nonprofit doesn’t have to be a time-consuming or daunting task. By focusing on your nonprofit’s unique needs, utilizing available resources, and staying organized, you can streamline the process and maximize your chances of securing the funding you need.
Remember, persistence is key—every application and connection brings you closer to success. Start implementing these strategies today, and you’ll soon find yourself navigating the grant landscape with confidence and ease. Good luck!
Interested in learning more about smart fundraising, grant-seeking, corporate giving, and more? We recommend checking out these additional resources:
Corporate Philanthropy: Benefits, Tips, Examples, and More. Understanding corporate philanthropy is essential for building strong partnerships. This resource covers the advantages of corporate giving, strategies to engage companies effectively, and real-world examples of successful collaborations.
https://doublethedonation.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/DTD_How-to-Find-Grants-for-Nonprofits-Quickly-Easily_Feature.png6001600Sydney Fayehttps://doublethedonation.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/DTD-horizontal-logo-300x63.pngSydney Faye2025-01-03 17:20:512025-11-24 06:46:03How to Find Grants for Nonprofits [Quickly & Easily!]
https://doublethedonation.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/DTD_How-to-Get-Sponsors-for-an-Event-A-Fundraisers-Guide_Feature.png6001600Julia Beltranhttps://doublethedonation.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/DTD-horizontal-logo-300x63.pngJulia Beltran2024-12-12 18:46:502025-11-26 04:39:37How to Get Sponsors for an Event: A Fundraiser’s Guide
Incorporating matching gifts into your nonprofit’s marketing strategy can unlock significant fundraising potential year-round. However, timing is everything when it comes to making a matching gift impact. By aligning your campaigns with key dates, seasons, and donor behaviors, you can ensure your message resonates at just the right moments. And lucky for you, a matching gift content calendar can help you stay organized, intentional, and proactive in promoting these valuable opportunities.
That’s why, in this blog post, we provide a year-round guide to crafting a strategic matching gift marketing calendar. This includes key promotional opportunities, such as:
From New Year’s resolutions to year-end giving, we’ll explore how to integrate matching gifts into your outreach efforts, ensuring your nonprofit maximizes donor participation and doubles impact throughout the year.
Let’s get started—at the beginning!
Start-of-year follow-ups
When: January
The beginning of the year is a golden opportunity to follow up with donors from the previous year, especially those who contributed during the busy holiday giving season. Many donors may not have submitted their matching gift requests yet, and corporate deadlines for these submissions often fall early in the year.
(Fun fact: Companies like Best Buy, A&E Television Networks, H&R Block, Home Depot, and Fifth Third Bank have established matching gift deadlines the following year after a gift is made, allowing for a few-month grace period.)
By encouraging donors to act promptly at the start of the new year, nonprofits can tap into unclaimed matching gift revenue while it’s still accessible.
Here’s an example social media post you can use to get started:
To make the most of this opportunity, nonprofits should send personalized emails to donors who gave in the last year. For the best results, these messages should include clear instructions for submitting matching gift requests and provide links to tools that simplify the process. Highlighting the additional impact their match could create—such as doubling the number of meals provided or trees planted—can also inspire action.
Matching Gift Month
When: February
February is recognized as Matching Gift Month, which offers a perfect platform to amplify awareness of corporate matching programs. This dedicated month gives organizations an opportunity to focus their messaging on educating donors and building momentum around matching gift opportunities.
Many donors remain unaware of their employers’ programs, making this an ideal time to bridge that knowledge gap.
Here’s an example email header you can use to get started:
To leverage Matching Gift Month effectively, nonprofits can host educational initiatives like webinars or Q&A sessions to demystify the matching gift process. Sharing success stories and testimonials from past matches can also inspire donors by showing the tangible results of their contributions. Meanwhile, creative campaigns using themed hashtags, such as #MatchingGiftMonth, can expand reach on social media and encourage sharing among supporters.
Match Madness
When: March
March is synonymous with the excitement of college basketball’s March Madness, and nonprofits can use this energy to create their own “Match Madness” campaigns. These themed initiatives add a sense of urgency and fun to matching gift outreach, appealing to donors’ competitive spirits and encouraging them to take action.
Here’s an example social post you can use to get started:
An effective Match Madness campaign involves setting a fundraising goal and tracking progress in real time, creating a dynamic and engaging experience for supporters.
Not to mention, borrowing sports-inspired messaging and graphics can make the campaign visually appealing and memorable.
Spring matching gift reminders
When: April-May
Spring is a season of renewal—and an excellent time to remind donors about matching gift opportunities. Donors may still be eligible to submit matching gift requests for contributions made in the previous year, and you’ll likely have received a good amount of new-year gifts, too. This makes spring an ideal period to encourage matching gift follow-through.
Here’s an example social post you can use to get started:
To capitalize on this season, nonprofits should send bright, cheerful reminders to donors, encouraging them to “spring into action” and double their impact.
Plus, newsletters and event follow-ups can be great places to incorporate matching gift messaging. Collaborating with companies to host spring workplace giving or volunteer events can further engage donors and employers in the matching gift process, too!
Summer matching gift reminders
When: June-August
Summer may be a slower season for fundraising, but it offers an opportunity to maintain donor engagement when they may have more downtime.
Reminders sent during the summer months can keep matching gifts at the top of mind and ensure nonprofits remain part of their supporters’ giving priorities.
Here’s an example social post you can use to get started:
Summer campaigns can stand out by incorporating fun, vacation-themed messaging, such as “Make a splash this summer by doubling your gift!”
Multi-channel outreach, including social media posts, postcards, and emails, can effectively engage donors who may not be checking traditional communication channels as frequently during this period.
Fall matching gift reminders
When: September-October
As the year transitions into fall, donors begin preparing for year-end giving. This makes it an ideal time to educate them about matching gifts and how they can get involved.
Here’s an example social post you can use to get started:
Nonprofits can maximize this opportunity by hosting donor appreciation events that include discussions about matching gifts. These events, whether virtual or in-person, provide a platform to educate donors while thanking them for their support.
End-of-year matching gift follow-ups
When: November-December
The end-of-year giving season is a critical time for nonprofits, and matching gift follow-ups can significantly boost revenue during this period. Many donors give generously in December, making it essential to remind them to submit matching gift requests while the contributions are still fresh in their minds.
As the year comes to a close, time-sensitive reminders should emphasize submission deadlines and the potential for doubled impact of their gift.
(Fun fact: Companies like UnitedHealth Group, CVS Health, 3M, AAA, and Subway all have enacted end-of-year matching gift deadlines, adding a layer of urgency to year-end submission reminders.)
Here’s an example email header you can use to get started:
Nonprofits can also highlight the tax benefits of year-end giving and matching gifts, providing donors with an extra incentive to take action.
Giving Tuesday matching gift outreach
When: Giving Tuesday and Matching Wednesday
Giving Tuesday is a global day of generosity—and one of the most important days for nonprofit fundraising. Pairing matching gifts with Giving Tuesday outreach is a powerful way to encourage donors to maximize their impact. Not to mention, the day following Giving Tuesday has been dubbed Matching Wednesday, a powerful opportunity to get the previous day’s gifts matched while momentum is high.
Here’s an example email header you can use to get started:
Nonprofits can promote matching gifts through Giving Tuesday (and Matching Wednesday) emails, social media posts, and campaign landing pages. Meanwhile, real-time impact updates and countdowns can establish a sense of urgency and excitement, driving donors to act.
Partnering with corporate sponsors to offer special (or one-off) matches on this day can further amplify results, inspiring supporters to give and share the campaign with their networks.
Bonus: Affinity day/week/month messaging
When: Your organization’s affinity day, week, or month
Affinity days, weeks, or months, such as Earth Day or Pride Month, provide nonprofits with a unique opportunity to align matching gift messaging with causes that resonate deeply with their donors. These special occasions create a natural connection between corporate giving and a specific mission, inspiring supporters to participate.
To make the most of these opportunities, nonprofits should tailor their messaging to the themes of the event. For example, during Earth Day, a nonprofit focused on environmental causes could highlight how matching gifts double the number of trees planted or acres of land restored.
Meanwhile, partnering with corporate sponsors that share the same values can also increase visibility and participation in matching gift programs.
Wrapping up & additional resources
A well-executed matching gift content calendar empowers your nonprofit to stay ahead of the curve. This allows organizations to make the most of every opportunity to promote corporate matching programs. Start planning your matching gift content strategy today, and watch as your nonprofit’s impact grows month by month.
Remember, each reminder, campaign, or social media post is a chance to connect donors with the power of doubling their contributions—and fueling your mission more.
Interested in learning more about matching gift strategies? Check out these recommended resources to continue growing your knowledge:
The Ultimate Guide to Marketing Matching Gifts. Take a deep dive into everything you need to know about marketing matching gifts. This comprehensive guide covers strategies for promoting matching gift opportunities through email, social media, direct mail, and more.
How to Get Matching Gifts Trending at Your Organization. Looking to boost matching gift awareness within your nonprofit? Learn to engage staff, educate donors, and leverage technology to create a culture of matching gifts that drive long-term results. Get the guide to learn how!
Top 20+ Matching Gift Companies: Leaders in Corporate Giving. Discover the companies setting the standard in corporate philanthropy. This resource highlights over 20 top employers with generous matching gift programs, including program details, eligibility requirements, and key insights.
https://doublethedonation.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/DTD_Matching-Gift-Content-Calendar-Marketing-Through-the-Year_Feature.png6001600Julia Beltranhttps://doublethedonation.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/DTD-horizontal-logo-300x63.pngJulia Beltran2024-11-22 17:05:542025-11-24 06:48:14Matching Gift Content Calendar: Marketing Through the Year
In the world of fundraising, one of the most effective yet underutilized tools for maximizing donations is the power of social proof. People tend to follow the lead of others, especially when making decisions about giving. That’s why showcasing existing support through matching gifts with social proof can be a game-changer for nonprofits like yours.
In this post, we’ll explore how organizations can encourage donors to take advantage of matching gift programs, demonstrating how social proof can turn a single matching gift into a chain reaction of doubled giving.
Social proof is the psychological concept that people are influenced in their decision-making by others, compelling them to act within societal norms or expectations. In the context of marketing, social proof provides evidence of the popularity or usability of a brand among consumers to influence the purchase decisions of prospective and returning customers.
In other words, social proof is the idea that people are more likely to make choices or take actions when they see others doing the same.
In terms of fundraising, it means supporters (prospective and existing ones alike) are increasingly inclined to get involved when their peers are doing so, too. This can take a lot of forms, from giving to participating in matching gifts and beyond. And it’s beneficial for fundraising organizations, as social proof can help build trust and momentum around their causes.
How to increase matching gifts with social proof
For many donors, matching gifts are a completely new concept. In fact, research shows that despite 26 million individuals working for companies with matching gift programs, an astounding 78% have no idea that they’re eligible.
The solution? Marketing matching gifts to your audience. And for the best results, incorporating social proof throughout your efforts can go a long way. Lucky for you, there are quite a few ways that your team can do so. These include:
Sourcing matching gift facts & figures
It’s hard to argue with facts. That’s why matching gift statistics (whether industry-wide or within your organization) can be a valuable tool in establishing social proof. After all, accurate and relevant facts and figures about matching gifts—and your supporters’ behavior regarding the programs—can be crucial for communicating the benefits of these programs to donors and other existing stakeholders.
Example:
More than 580 donors have had their gifts matched to our organization in the last year. That’s a lot of support!
How to Get Started:
Check your Double the Donation Matching dashboard and reporting module to uncover valuable insights you can use to demonstrate matching gift impact.
Not a Double the Donation user yet? Click here to get a personalized demo and see how your organization will benefit from our tools—including tracking and reporting on donor involvement!
Promoting matching gift donor testimonials
Often, there’s nothing more powerful than hearing a story in a donor’s own words. For supporters considering matching gifts, hearing about the experience from a peer who has successfully completed the process can go a long way. After all, promoting matching gift donor testimonials is an effective strategy to enhance awareness, encourage participation, and build trust in your organization’s matching gift programs.
For an added personal flair, aim to include photos or videos of the donor whose testimonial you share!
Example:
Meet Sarah. Sarah is a generous donor to our organization, and she recently took the extra step to have her already significant gift doubled for our cause. Here’s what Sarah has to say: “I loved having the opportunity to double my impact on my favorite organization while getting my employer involved in the causes I care about. The whole process was quick and easy, too!”
How to Get Started:
In Double the Donation, first, navigate to the “Donations” tab. From there, filter the statuses to include those marked as “Match Complete” to identify your best prospects for matching gift testimonials. Then, reach out to your list of supporters to solicit feedback and collect testimonials from those interested in sharing their experiences.
Not a Double the Donation user? Sift through your existing data in your CRM to manually uncover potential testimonial providers. Just make sure you’re contacting individuals who have successfully completed a match in the past!
Encouraging social sharing of matching gift content
When your organization posts something on its social media pages, it’s likely able to reach your network of supporters. If you’d like to extend your reach to new audiences, however, social sharing can be the key. All it takes is getting your existing supporters to interact with and share (or re-post) the content you publish on your social channels.
Encouraging social sharing of matching gift content is an effective strategy to amplify awareness, drive participation, and leverage social proof in fundraising efforts. When supporters share information about matching gifts on social media or within their networks, it not only broadens your outreach but also reinforces the message that matching gifts are a valuable part of giving.
Example:
Over 65% of Fortune 500 companies match employee donations. Share this post with a colleague or peer to encourage them to check if their employer matches, too!
How to Get Started:
Create and share eye-catching graphics, visuals, or video content that quickly and easily explains the basics of matching gifts. You can even provide supporters (or advocates) with pre-written messages they can use when sharing, making it even easier for them to promote your cause—and the matching opportunity—to their own audiences.
P.S. Double the Donation provides free, customizable Canva templates that users can access from within their accounts. Just head to the “Resources” and select “Marketing Assets!”
Incorporating matching in peer-to-peer fundraising
Incorporating matching gifts into peer-to-peer fundraising is an impactful way to drive increased donations through social proof. When donors see others matching contributions within peer fundraising campaigns, it reinforces the idea that matching is a standard part of giving, encouraging additional supporters to look into matching opportunities through their own employers.
Example:
Thanks for giving to our peer-to-peer fundraising campaign! Did you know your gift can have twice the impact on our cause with a match? Contact your fundraiser to learn more about the benefits of matching gifts and how you can get involved.
How to Get Started:
Equip your peer-to-peer fundraisers with matching gift resources so that they’re well-prepared to promote the opportunity to their donors. This can include email and social media graphics (such as those provided by Double the Donation), templated messages, and more.
From there, it’s crucial to have a matching gift search tool embedded in your peer-to-peer giving forms, too, so all donors can interact with the widget.
Highlighting matching companies supporting your efforts
Many donors remain unaware that their employers offer matching gifts. By highlighting companies with matching gift programs (particularly those that are actively supporting your mission), you educate donors on the availability of these benefits—and encourage them to explore their own employer’s matching options.
Meanwhile, recognizing companies that support matching gifts demonstrates how accessible and straightforward the process can be. Seeing well-known companies participate reinforces that matching gifts are widely available and beneficial to both employees and nonprofits.
Example:
This year, companies like Home Depot, Apple, State Farm, Verizon, Bank of America, and more are supporting our organization through matching gifts. And that’s thanks to generous donors like you who work for these employers!
How to Get Started:
Check out the “Top Companies” report within Double the Donation to access insights about the companies most highly represented in your donor base. Then, spotlight those leading employers on your dedicated Match Page along with other matching gift materials!
Implementing public recognition for matching gifts
Implementing public recognition for matching gifts is a strategic way to harness the power of social proof and encourage more donors to participate in the programs. Publicly recognizing donors who engage in matching gifts signals to others that matching gifts are valued, achievable, and impactful, often resulting in similar action.
This not only celebrates donors but also educates prospects about matching gifts, showcasing that they are a common, achievable, and powerful way to increase impact.
Example:
We want to give a big shoutout to a donor who has gone above and beyond for our mission: John Doe! John recently contributed a generous amount that was then doubled by his employer through a matching gift program.
How to Get Started:
Implement a strategy for tracking matching gifts to completion. We recommend having donors indicate when they’ve submitted a match, such as with a built-in button within Double the Donation’s email streams. This way, your team can be prepared to reconcile the records in your system when the match ultimately arrives.
Then, take to social media, email newsletters, donor walls, or other recognition channels to highlight your completed matches!
Case study: Phillips Exeter Academy’s Match Like Megan
About the Organization
Phillips Exeter Academy, commonly known as Exeter, is a prestigious, private co-educational boarding school in Exeter, New Hampshire. Known for its rigorous academic programs, Exeter has a distinguished history of preparing its students for success in higher education and beyond.
Uncovering the Matching Gift Need
Recently, the school’s development team was tasked with doubling its annual fundraising revenue in order to better support its academic and other programming. As part of determining how to do so, the team ultimately decided to revitalize its corporate matching gift efforts, as they realized they were not fulfilling their matching gift potential as-is.
When the director located the school’s matching gift software, the team began to play around with it, looking to identify new ways to bring matching gifts to the forefront of their fundraising strategy. And what they came up with was Match Like Megan.
About the Campaign
Match Like Megan was born from a single matching gift donor, Megan, who gave generously to her alma mater. From there, she also got her gift matched by her employer (Macy’s), doubling her impact and bringing her total annual giving to the next society level.
As a result, the Exeter team decided to launch an initiative around the idea that just about anyone can “Match Like Megan.” This came following a number of other alliteration-style campaigns, including Donate Like Dave and Lead Like Lawrence. The school then spotlighted Megan’s matching gift participation across its marketing and educational efforts, including social media posts, email campaigns, and more.
When supporters see how easy it is for someone like Megan to get her gift matched for her school, they’re more likely to take the steps themselves to do so. Hence, the concept of social proof.
Wrapping Up & Additional Resources
When it comes to amplifying support for your cause through matching gifts, social proof is a powerful catalyst. The “Match Like Megan” campaign shows that leveraging real-life examples of matching gift donors can drive others to join in, boosting overall participation and revenue.
By placing a spotlight on your own donors, your organization not only strengthens relationships with existing supporters but also cultivates a giving culture that feels accessible, inspiring, and community-driven. As more donors participate in matching gifts, their impact grows exponentially, creating a lasting influence on your mission.
Let social proof be the spark that fuels your matching gift success—and watch your community rally around your cause, one match at a time.
Ready to learn more about innovative matching gift tactics your team can adopt for big results? Check out the following resources:
How ACS Doubled More Donations with Matching Gifts. The American Cancer Society took a smart approach to marketing matching gifts—starting with its internal fundraising team. Dive into the blog post to learn more.
https://doublethedonation.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/DTD_Match-Like-Megan-Driving-Matching-Gifts-with-Social-Proof_Feature.png6001600Kyra Englehttps://doublethedonation.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/DTD-horizontal-logo-300x63.pngKyra Engle2024-11-22 13:08:402025-11-20 21:13:03Match Like Megan: Driving Matching Gifts with Social Proof
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