Hundreds of institutions are gearing up for their yearly Giving Days, many of which are rapidly approaching come springtime. But what you might not know is that Giving Days and matching gifts go hand in hand.
This is especially true when nonprofit or university fundraisers are able to effectively align the two ideas—and that’s why we’ve created this resource to guide organizations like yours through the process of doing so.
Specifically, this guide will cover everything you need to know about Giving Days and matching gifts, the impact of each on overall fundraising, and what your team can do to set your cause up for success.
If your organization hosts an annual Giving Day (or is looking to organize one), you’d be remiss if you didn’t incorporate matching gift practices into your overall plan.
Ready to find out how? Let’s jump in.
Giving Days + The Importance of Matching Gifts
Giving Days are often some of an institution’s biggest money-makers. These campaigns enable fundraisers to collect large amounts of much-needed revenue that help sustain their missions throughout the rest of the year.
Matching gifts can work to elevate the ROI on these strategically planned efforts. At the same time, they provide a positive experience for donors and fundraisers alike.
Here’s what you need to know in order to make the most of each fundraising tool:
What are Giving Days?
A Giving Day is generally a 24-hour period in which an educational institution or nonprofit cause drastically ups its fundraising efforts in order to engage with donors and solicit a large amount of revenue in a short time. Giving Days typically rely heavily on online fundraising and may encompass a number of events as well.
Comprising a relatively small portion of the year (typically 1/365), Giving Days tend to see significant results—with some organizations collecting the majority of their fundraising revenue during the limited amount of time.
What organizations host Giving Days?
Although fundraising groups of all shapes and sizes might establish an annual Giving Day tradition, these tend to be particularly popular among school fundraisers. This typically includes:
Colleges and universities
K-12 schools
Private religious institutions
Traditional public schools
Charter and magnet schools
Higher ed institutions and K-12 schoools alike often produce incredible results with academic-focused Giving Day fundraising efforts. In fact, many education-based causes even utilize their Giving Days as one of their most primary sources of revenue each year. And doing so is a fantastic opportunity to engage alumni and leverage school spirit to drive a sense of community toward a common goal.
Where do matching gifts come in?
Corporate matching gifts enable organizations like educational institutions and other 501(c)(3) nonprofits to maximize existing support and increase revenue. And this happens without having to ask your donors for more of their hard-earned dollars. All you have to do is encourage them to participate in their employers’ workplace giving initiatives!
At a critical time like your annual Giving Day, support will likely be at an all-time high. That means getting those contributions doubled (and sometimes even tripled) is more important than ever.
Not to mention, fundraising studies report that the existence of matching gift opportunities is often a driving factor in donor decision-making. For example, 84% of donors stated that they’re more likely to give charitably if their employer offers to match their dollars. At the same time, 1 in 3 individuals surveyed indicated that they’d make a larger donation should a match be applied.
While each company that matches employee donations chooses which types of charitable efforts it will support, the good news is that education institutions (which are often the primary organizer of annual Giving Days) are almost always included as an eligible cause.
The bottom line is that you don’t want to miss out on the key benefits of matching gifts at any time—let alone your most important fundraising day of the year.
Raising More with Double the Donation Matching: A Feature Overview
The right software can be the difference between a fruitful, goal-surpassing Giving Day campaign and one that ultimately falls short—and surely, you’re looking to establish the former.
Find out what Double the Donation can offer, and see why it’s the leading solution in the education and nonprofit fundraising spaces.
Let’s walk through an overview of top features, functions, and benefits:
User-Friendly Company Search Tool
Millions of donors who work for companies with employee gift-matching programs are never made aware of the opportunities through their employers. One of the best ways to counteract this knowledge gap is by providing your supporters with Double the Donation’s intuitive matching gift company search tool.
This widget—which can be embedded within your online donation form, confirmation page, dedicated matching gift web page, Giving Day campaign page, and more—prompts donors to enter their employer’s name in an optional search box. As the donor begins typing, the smart tool auto-fills suggested company names, taking into account typos, spelling variations, and subsidiaries.
The donor selects the correct company from the search tool, which then pulls employer-specific matching gift program information from an extensive matching gift company database. Now, the individual has access to their donation eligibility criteria and online match request forms (if available) and is encouraged to take the next steps.
Double the Donation also provides nonprofit users with unique custom matching gift program functionality that empowers organizations to add and manage “one-off” match programs in their own database tool. So if your organization secures a custom matching gift partner ahead of your Giving Day (which we’ll cover in more depth below), you’ll be able to easily configure the program to populate when your donors search the company name.
*As a note, this feature is designed specifically for fundraisers looking to manage custom matching gift initiatives—Double the Donation does not work directly with corporations. If you’re a company interested in creating a matching gift program, contact us, and we’ll share information about our corporate vendor partners.
Match-Eligible Donor Screening
Studies show that employing more than one approach to donor eligibility screening results in an average of 77% more identified match-eligible gifts. Luckily, Double the Donation Matching utilizes four main identification methods—donation form search tools, confirmation pages, donor communications, and email domain screening.
The more opportunities you have to determine whether a particular donor is eligible for a corporate match, the more likely you are to ultimately receive a match from that individual.
Automated Email Follow-Ups
Following up in the first 24 to 48 hours after a donor makes a gift can be a great way to inform or remind individuals about matching gift opportunities, share program guidelines, and keep your organization and its mission at the forefront of their minds. However, managing a ton of donor follow-up emails can be a huge undertaking on a typical day—let alone on a Giving Day when you’ll likely process multiple times the normal number of donations.
That’s where automated email communication comes in! With Double the Donation’s email streams, organizations can enable customizable follow-up messages that trigger at just the right time to drive matching gifts while ensuring no donations fall through the cracks.
Streamlined Data Management
Effective matching gift fundraising relies on the ability to collect, track, and analyze key data points. For this reason, Double the Donation allows organizations to view where donors are in the gift-matching process, determine percentages and totals of matching gift eligible dollars, forecast matching gift revenue for the future, and more.
This functionality provides users with real-time data that can be used to measure current success, identify areas with room for improvement, and locate the highest-value revenue opportunities going forward.
Top-Notch Customer Support
Any software can have a bit of a learning curve, and ensuring you have the help you need to learn the ropes effectively is of utmost importance. This is especially true when you have a huge upcoming fundraising initiative like a Giving Day.
At Double the Donation, each new client has an onboarding specialist of its own to get up and running quickly—sometimes in less than 24 hours! These matching gift fundraising experts are ready to guide you through the process of getting started, provide you with tips and tools for optimal practices, and be there to answer any questions your team may have.
Interested in learning more? Get in touch with the Double the Donation team today to request a personalized demo.
5 Key Tips for Matching Gifts on Giving Days
Looking for practical and actionable steps you can take to improve your nonprofit or school’s fundraising strategies regarding both Giving Days and matching gifts? You’ve come to the right place!
Here are some tried-and-true practices that we recommend for optimal engagement success:
1. Highlight matching gifts in all Giving Day communications.
More than likely, you’re already planning your upcoming Giving Day communication plan, which will comprise a number of different marketing channels and strategies to spread the word. Be sure to incorporate matching gift information in all of them!
Remember, donors are more likely to give—and to give in larger quantities—if a matching gift is available. Providing additional touchpoints about matching gifts during your Giving Day can be exactly what some of your supporters need to encourage them to make their donations.
This might include email blasts, social media posts, digital newsletters, blog posts, text messages, phone calls, fundraising appeals, and more.
2. Collect employment information during the giving process.
In order to provide donors with employer-specific matching gift guidelines, you’ll first need to have a record of the companies for which individuals work. And the best—and fastest—way to uncover this information is by simply asking them.
Donors already provide you with a ton of information during the donation process, such as their name, contact information, payment details, and more. What more is one additional, optional question?
When you prompt your supporters to provide the name of their employer directly within your online giving form, you can store that information with each donor record to use for effective matching gift communication strategies in the future. And if you already have access to this information for your school’s alumni, you can leverage those data points as well.
Then, you’ll be able to communicate to a donor not only whether their employer matches donations but whether their particular gift is eligible for the program and how soon they must submit a match request. And for companies whose matching gift request forms are available online, you can even provide the donor with the exact form they’ll need to complete!
3. Prioritize your highest-value prospective match donors.
When you automate your low and mid-level donor communications through Double the Donation, you allow your team to retain more time and effort to put toward your particularly high-value prospective matching gifts. That might mean making a personal phone call to explain the importance of matching gifts, walking through the process of requesting a gift match, writing a personalized thank-you letter that highlights the increased influence of matching gifts, and more.
You already know the effect that a major gift can have on your institution’s Giving Day. Now, just imagine that impact being doubled when a huge donor participates in their company’s gift-matching initiative. It’s certainly worth going a few steps further to ensure these individuals are aware of the programs in place and how they can plan a role in your success.
Thus, you’ll want to keep an eye out for major donors who work for top matching gift companies, and see what you can do to go above and beyond in driving those match requests to completion.
4. Identify corporate partners to organize custom matching gift programs.
Another often-underutilized type of matching gift initiative called a custom or “one-off” matching gift program, has the potential to bring your Giving Day matching strategy to new heights. After all, not all companies have widely available matching gift programs. However, many are willing to consider the practice, especially in a smaller-scale initiative.
In the months or weeks leading to your upcoming Giving Day campaign, consider reaching out to donors’ employers who don’t currently match gifts and propose the opportunity for a unique, limited-scale program instead. Rather than matching donations its employees make to any nonprofit or educational institution, the company would commit only to matching gifts made to your specific group.
Since custom match programs are generally time-limited campaigns in the first place, they work particularly well when aligned with Giving Day (or week, month, etc.) efforts. And if you use Double the Donation’s matching gift platform (as highlighted above)—or are looking to get running with it before your Giving Day (as recommended below)—there’s a built-in functionality for managing custom programs now available to all standard account users!
5. Get your fundraising tools set up ASAP.
It’s not too late to get set up with the matching gift tools you need, even if your organization’s Giving Day is quickly approaching. But you certainly don’t want to wait any longer! The sooner you plan to get your Giving Day software up and running, the more time your team will have to prepare for the big event and get acquainted with the solution.
The first step is to take a good look at your organization’s tech stack. If you’re lacking a matching gift software solution—such as the industry-leading platform described above—it’s time to make that investment. Even better, Double the Doantion integrates seamlessly with tons of top donation platforms, including some of the largest school and higher ed fundraising tools. This allows your institutions to get started easier than ever before!
(Tip: Many organizations have reported raising several times the initial subscription cost on their Giving Days alone, providing a positive ROI sometimes within the first 24 hours of purchasing!)
Once you have your matching gift solution in hand, ensure it’s live and functioning within your online donation pages by the time your Giving Day rolls around, and you’ll be all set for success.
Final Thoughts
Giving Days and matching gifts share a lot of the same goals: to raise substantial amounts of revenue, provide donors with new and exciting ways to support their favorite causes, and equip fundraising teams with more efficient practices, to name a few. When the two fundraising components are intertwined, education and nonprofit fundraisers tend to see better results than they could have imagined.
With so many dollars flowing to organizations like yours on these special days, it would be a huge missed opportunity not to get those gifts matched when eligible. And luckily, Double the Donation is here to help!
To learn more about Giving Days and matching gift efforts, check out some of our other resources below:
Top 30 Matching Gift Companies: Find Your Match. Thousands of companies offer gift-matching programs, but some are particularly generous with their contributions. Check out this list of 30 top companies to look out for.
215+ Amazing Fundraising Ideas for Your Organization. Diversify your Giving Day efforts with some of our other favorite fundraising ideas—just remember to incorporate matching gift opportunities in everything you do!
https://doublethedonation.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/DTD_Maximizing-Your-Giving-Day-Revenue-with-Matching-Gifts_Feature-1.png6001600Adam Weingerhttps://doublethedonation.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/logo-dtd.svgAdam Weinger2024-02-23 01:09:532025-01-30 19:06:17Maximizing Your Giving Day Revenue with Matching Gifts
According to America’s Charities, nonprofits raise about $5 billion from workplace giving each year. These funds are crucial in enabling charitable organizations to pursue their missions.
With so much donation revenue available through this channel, wouldn’t it be nice if there was a way to streamline these contributions? That way, companies could better manage them, donors would be more inclined to contribute, and nonprofits would ultimately earn more for their causes.
Enter payroll giving. This form of workplace giving makes donating as easy as possible for employees. In this guide, we’ll review what payroll giving is and just how beneficial it is for companies, donors, and nonprofits alike.
What is payroll giving?
Payroll giving, also known as automatic payroll deductions, allows employees to contribute to nonprofits right from their paychecks. Since these deductions come out of employees’ paychecks automatically, it’s an easy set-it-and-forget-it way to give back. In most cases, these contributions are a percentage of the employee’s pay, but corporations that use CSR software with employee self-service tools may allow team members to adjust their contributions as they please.
How does payroll giving work?
With the help of workplace giving software, payroll giving simplifies the donation process. These steps illustrate how payroll giving works:
The company implements workplace giving software with payroll giving capabilities.
The company chooses which nonprofits they’d like to support through payroll giving.
Employees enroll and select the charity they’d like to support and how much they’d like to contribute.
The software deducts the donation like any other deduction—such as a 401K contribution or healthcare premium—and sends it to the nonprofit.
While most payroll deductions are pre-tax, payroll giving contributions are after-tax deductions. As a result, employees can claim these donations as deductible when they file their personal taxes. Companies that offer payroll giving should reflect employees’ contributions in their W2s.
What are the benefits of payroll giving?
While it’s clear that payroll giving benefits nonprofits since they receive the resulting donations, this form of workplace giving is also beneficial for participating companies and donors. Let’s dive into the benefits of payroll giving for each group.
Benefits of Payroll Giving for Companies
Not only is payroll giving easy for companies to manage, but it also offers a variety of other workplace benefits for companies. Payroll giving helps companies to:
Engage employees. Workplace giving methods such as payroll giving increase employee engagement. When employees feel that they are working together with their employer to make the world a better place, they’re more likely to find meaning in their roles and stay actively engaged in the workplace.
Keep employees around. Employees engaged in workplace giving have higher retention rates. In fact, employees who participate in workplace giving have 75% longer tenures with their companies than those who don’t.
Attract mission-driven employees. Payroll giving helps companies recruit employees who share their values and want to make a difference. Studies show that 71% of employees want to work at a company that gives back to charitable causes through philanthropy and volunteering. By offering payroll giving and promoting it during the hiring process, companies can attract mission-driven team applicants.
When companies offer payroll giving, they demonstrate their commitment to corporate social responsibility (CSR) by helping employees find reputable nonprofits to contribute to and facilitating the giving process. As a result, they’ll build a workforce of like-minded, engaged employees who will stay long-term.
Benefits of Payroll Giving for Donors
There are so many different ways donors can contribute to their nonprofits of choice, so what makes payroll giving stand out? Payroll giving is an excellent donation method for donors because it’s:
Easy to participate in. Once donors enroll in payroll giving, they’re set to continue contributing indefinitely. The automatic donations make it extremely easy for donors to participate without taking time out of their busy schedules to make repeat gifts.
Inclusive. While these days nonprofits accept donations in cash, credit, PayPal, Apple Pay, Venmo, and more, not all employees have these payment methods at their disposal. However, all employees receive a paycheck, so payroll giving allows them to make a difference.
Tax-deductible. As mentioned before, payroll deductions come out of donors’ after-tax earnings, making these contributions tax-deductible. Donors can write off these costs and will owe less when they file their taxes.
Additionally, if donors don’t have the means to contribute a large sum at once, payroll giving enables them to break up their donation into smaller, more manageable amounts that they can gift to nonprofits on a recurring basis.
Benefits of Payroll Giving for Nonprofits
Payroll giving is one of many ways for nonprofits to generate donation revenue, so it benefits them by simply providing them with more funds. However, there are some less obvious benefits of payroll giving for nonprofits as well, including:
No transaction fees. Traditional online donation methods may require payment processing fees that lessen the value of each donation. Since payroll giving comes right from donors’ paychecks, there are no transaction fees, meaning the entire donation amount goes directly to the nonprofit.
Predictable funding source. Payroll contributions are a form of pledged donations. Nonprofits can plan for these gifts in advance, allowing them to better allocate their budgets.
Potential for long-term donor relationships. Donors who contribute to nonprofits through payroll giving do so on a recurring basis. Charitable organizations can identify regular payroll giving participants and establish long-lasting relationships with them.
Nonprofits can also analyze their donor data to determine which employers are most frequent among their payroll givers. Then, they can reach out to these companies to forge corporate partnerships that benefit both parties.
What are some companies that offer payroll giving?
Because payroll giving programs are facilitated by a donor’s employing company, it’s a good idea to familiarize yourself with top businesses offering the opportunity.
Here are some leading employers with payroll giving programs. Do your donors work for these companies?
Costco Wholesale
JPMorgan Chase
CVS Health
3M Company
Warner Bros. Discovery
Eli Lilly and Company
Navy Federal Credit Union
Amazon.com Inc.
Advocate Aurora Health
Close Brothers
Gray TV
Adobe Inc.
Brit Insurance
Keep in mind, however, that this list is just the tip of the iceberg. There are a ton more businesses offering payroll giving initiatives, and you can encourage your donors to check with their employers directly, too!
How can you increase payroll giving at your org?
Focusing on payroll giving opportunities can lead to a substantial increase in donations for your organization. Doing so effectively involves a combination of strategic communication, proactive arrangements, and ongoing engagement efforts.
Here are several actionable steps your team can take to boost participation in the programs:
Drive awareness of payroll giving opportunities across your audience. To increase participation in payroll giving, it’s essential to first ensure that your audience is aware of the opportunity. This should involve regularly sharing information about payroll giving through newsletters, social media, your website, and more.
Register as an eligible cause for companies’ payroll giving systems. For your nonprofit to benefit from payroll giving, it’s crucial to be listed as an eligible cause within companies’ payroll giving systems. To do so, start by researching CSR platforms and seeing how your organization can register. This guide provides step-by-step instructions on how you can apply for a free nonprofit account!
Plus, be prepared to provide any necessary documentation, such as proof of 501(c)(3) status, financial records, or impact reports, to meet the requirements of corporate partners.
Incentivize participation among qualifying supporters. To boost payroll giving participation, consider offering incentives to encourage more supporters to sign up. This could include recognition for payroll givers, such as listing their names on your website or in your annual reports or providing exclusive updates on the impact of their donations. You can even consider offering exclusive events, webinars, or other perks that show appreciation and make the act of giving more rewarding. By marketing the opportunities well, you can increase program engagement and participation.
Thank payroll giving donors for their generous contributions. Expressing gratitude to your payroll giving donors is critical for retaining their support and encouraging long-term participation. This can include personalized thank yous, such as handwritten notes or emails to acknowledge their contributions. Be sure to mention the specific impact their donations are making and how they align with your nonprofit’s mission.
How do payroll giving and matching gifts connect?
Matching gifts are a type of corporate giving program where a company agrees to match their employees’ donations to nonprofit organizations, usually at a 1:1 ratio. By implementing matching gifts, companies can encourage their employees to donate to their favorite causes, with 84% of matching gift survey participants saying they’re more likely to donate if a match is offered.
When companies apply matching gifts to payroll contributions, they can amplify the impact of their employees’ donations and allow nonprofits to earn even more for their causes. Some workplace giving platforms let companies apply matching directly through the software. Donors can also use a matching gift database to research their matching gift eligibility and fill out a matching gift request form to send to their employers.
Check out how our matching gift software, Double the Donation Matching, helps organizations boost donation revenue:
By combining the efficiency of payroll giving and matching gift software, donors can easily make an impact on their favorite causes and help nonprofits increase their revenue. Payroll giving and matching gifts go hand in hand to expand companies’ CSR efforts, allow donors to make a greater impact with the same donation amounts, and enable nonprofits to earn the funds they need to support their beneficiaries.
Final Thoughts and Additional Resources
When it comes to corporate philanthropy, payroll giving stands out due to its extreme efficiency in nature. That means it’s easier for companies to manage the programs, donors to participate in them, and nonprofits to access necessary funds. The simplicity of payroll giving removes common barriers to engagement, allowing for seamless integration into the daily operations of both businesses and nonprofits.
As a fundraising professional, understanding and leveraging the power of payroll giving is crucial. The more you target this opportunity, the more payroll giving funds you can expect to receive. By actively promoting payroll giving opportunities and educating donors about its ease and impact, you can tap into a consistent, reliable source of funding. Good luck!
To learn more about payroll and other forms of workplace giving, check out these resources:
Top Corporate Giving and Matching Gift Statistics to Know. Get familiar with the corporate philanthropy landscape! Uncover inspiring matching gift and corporate giving statistics to become better acquainted with the opportunity in this blog post.
https://doublethedonation.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/DTD_Payroll-Giving-Drive-Employee-Donations-For-Your-Cause.png3861030Adam Weingerhttps://doublethedonation.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/logo-dtd.svgAdam Weinger2024-02-06 20:35:302025-02-12 15:09:28Payroll Giving: Drive Employee Donations For Your Cause
February is a time to celebrate love and happiness—and matching gifts. That’s why it’s been dubbed the official Matching Gift Month. This year, we recommend taking the opportunity to scale up your matching gift promotional efforts accordingly.
We’ll cover everything you need to know to celebrate corporate giving and drive action (and matches) this February.
Looking for new and exciting ways to amplify your nonprofit’s matching gift efforts leading up to Match Month? You’ve come to the right place. At Double the Donation, we’re experts at matching gifts, and we’ve compiled a list of suggestions sure to elevate your engagement efforts this February.
Ready to bring your matching gift fundraising to the next level? Let’s explore top recommendations for making the most of Match Month—and see what your team can do to bridge the knowledge and funding gaps alike.
What is Matching Gift Month?
Matching Gift Month is an annual celebration of corporate donation matching, often used to increase awareness and usage of match programs. Held in February each year, Match Month is an opportunity to recognize the extensive impact that corporate philanthropy programs, like matching gifts and more, can have on nonprofit fundraising groups.
And what is that impact? Research indicates that an estimated $2 to $3 billion is donated through matching gift programs each year. That’s a substantial source of funds provided to charitable causes like yours. Not to mention, the mere existence of a match incentivizes individual donors to give at new heights, too. The same reports state that 84% of donors are more likely to give if a match is available, while 1 in 3 would give a larger amount if a match were to be applied.
However, an additional $7 billion goes unclaimed by qualifying nonprofits and their donors each year—largely due to a lack of information surrounding the programs. That’s why many mission organizations and schools are taking the opportunity to elevate their matching gift fundraising and push the initiatives forward this year. And Match Month is the perfect chance to begin.
10+ Powerful Ways to Celebrate Matching Gift Month This Year
These smart marketing and engagement ideas inhabit a fun sense of novelty this month. But they’re also impactful for long-term engagement in your organization’s overall strategy.
For the best results, we suggest integrating multiple of the following methods—both this month and beyond.
1. Give your internal team a refresher course.
Before ramping up your organization’s matching gift efforts for Match Month, it’s a good idea to take a look inward. Hopefully, your internal fundraising team should be well-versed in matching gift information. But perhaps you’ve had a few new team members join since your last group training. Or maybe your staff (and volunteers!) could just use a refresher.
The solution? Start the month off right with your own team. Take the time to reiterate the importance of corporate matching gift programs. Practice asking common matching gift questions, ensuring that all individuals have the knowledge and assets to answer them.
You can even provide your team with access to educational resources and other materials to help grow their knowledge and preparedness for the celebrations ahead.
We have some fantastic free eBooks, blog posts, templates, webinars, and more at Double the Donation.
Plus, we offer the industry’s first-ever Matching Gift Academy—an online learning hub encompassing 45 lessons and more than 7 hours of informational video content across 10+ modules.
When it comes to driving matching gift revenue, your internal team encompasses your greatest assets. Make sure they’re equipped to advocate for the opportunities as best they can!
Top tip:
Though the Academy is valued at $199 per year, current 360MatchPro clients can access the learning system at no cost. Just head to the back-end of your matching gifts portal to locate your organization’s unique coupon code!
2. Share on social media.
Your organization likely has at least one, but likely a number of profiles on popular social media sites. Whether it’s a Facebook page, an Instagram profile, or even a TikTok account, your strategic web presence can go a long way toward marketing matching gifts online.
And what better time is there to begin (or to elevate your strategy) than a month dedicated to all things matching gifts?
To get started, consider sharing the following types of content on your nonprofit’s social profiles:
Images and videos
Social media platforms are increasingly visual-focused. If you want to grab—and maintain—your audience’s attention as they scroll through their feeds, research indicates that incorporating eye-catching images and videos is the way to go. In fact, studies show that image-based social posts receive 2.3 times more engagement than those without, and posts with video content can see up to 10 times higher engagement levels.
That said, Match Month is an optimal time to produce and share matching gift marketing videos and imagery. Or get started with our pre-made social media graphics here! (Hint: click each image to enlarge the attachment and download a copy.)
For more templates and sample matching gift posts, head to “Marketing Assets” within the “Resources” tab in your matching gift portal. Then, explore our customizable social media designs for Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, and more—including graphics specifically for celebrating Match Month.
Not a client yet? Get a demo to see if Double the Donation is right for your team and gain access to a range of tools and resources!
Industry research
Highlight key statistics that effectively demonstrate the potential that corporate matching brings. Double the Donation has compiled some of our favorite metrics here, including an overview of unclaimed funding and a wide range of participating companies.
Check out these examples:
65%
of Fortune 500 companies offer matching gift programs.
26 million+
individuals work for companies with matching gift programs.
11%
of corporate cash donations are made through matching gift programs.
$2.86 billion
was contributed through corporate matching gift programs last year.
$4-$7 billion
in matching gift funds are left unclaimed by eligible donors each year.
Social media is driven by connectivity, networking, and social proof. That’s why case studies, testimonials, and other success stories can be some of the most influential content you can share!
Take a look at a few examples here:
Sharing the total sum of matching gift revenue (e.g., “Our organization collected more than $50,000 in matching gift funds in the past year from donors like you”).
Highlighting specific examples from prior match donors (ex: “Sarah from Home Depot secured a corporate match on our behalf equaling $5,000, bringing her total contribution value to more than $10,000”).
Spotlighting user-generated content from prior match donors (“According to Jennifer, long-time matching gift donor, ‘I love having the chance to stretch the value of my donation, and getting my employer to support my favorite cause is great!’”)
Showcasing historic community impact (“Thanks to generous matching gift donors last year, we were able to feed an additional 1,000 families in need through corporate match funding we received.”)
Your supporters care about the impact your organization (and, by extension, their donations) brings. When your followers see the influence that other matching gifts have had, they’ll be more likely to take steps to do so themselves.
Reiterate that donation-matching programs enable donors to double their impact without reaching back into their own wallets. If you can put it in terms of tangible impact (e.g., feed two shelter cats for the cost of one), even better!
3. Optimize your site for matching gifts.
Social media marketing is great—but there’s only so much you can share in each post. So, how can you ensure your audience can easily access the information they need to take action? Be sure every matching gift-related item you share links back to additional resources for learning more.
The best place to house those resources is your organization’s website. If you already have a built-out matching gift web page (which you should), consider driving traffic to the page for supporters to learn more about the opportunity. And if you don’t have an existing matching gifts page, Match Month is the perfect time to build that online hub.
Here’s an example of a well-designed matching gifts page to consider:
This inspiring sample follows all of our recommended practices. Take a look at the embedded matching gift search tool (which empowers donors to locate the information they need in seconds), a helpful infographic to visualize the involvement process, a detailed FAQ section, and information about the institution required for donors’ requests. Not to mention, it’s prominently located on the school’s navigation menu!
From there, we also suggest integrating matching gifts directly into your online donation process. Ideally, this should include an employment data widget to your giving form and company-specific program details on the confirmation screen.
Does your organization send regular newsletters as a way to keep donors and other supporters in the know about upcoming events and opportunities? A matching gift-focused newsletter—whether physical or digital—can serve as a powerful tool for raising awareness of matching gift opportunities.
And it’s a great way to elevate engagement with the annually celebrated Match Month.
At the very least, consider adding a section about Matching Gift Month involvement in your standard newsletter. But an entire edition dedicated to matching gifts can go a long way toward inspiring participation in the programs!
Programs like these are known as fundraising match programs. And since these initiatives can also be considered a form of donation-matching, they can fit perfectly into a well-rounded Matching Gift Month plan!
Here’s how it works:
Your organization facilitates a peer-to-peer fundraising campaign in conjunction with Matching Gift Month (February).
Your team reaches out to fundraising match-eligible contacts and encourages them to fundraise on your nonprofit’s behalf. (Be sure to mention your Matching Gift Month celebrations and the opportunity for their total funds to be doubled by their employer!)
Volunteer fundraisers solicit donations from their family and friends and participate in any associated event or campaign activity.
At the conclusion of the campaign, fundraisers submit requests for their companies to match the sum of their funds raised.
Fundraisers’ employers review the requests and verify that submissions adhere to program criteria.
Fundraisers’ employers approve the requests and disperse funding to the organizations for which their employees fundraised.
For example, let’s imagine that John Doe of State Street Corporation raises $1,572 for your organization. This is collected from 15 peers and associates through a social fundraising effort your team hosts this Match Month. When John requests a match from his employer, State Street supplies an additional $1,572 for your cause. This brings the total value of John’s fundraising efforts to $3,144!
That’s a lot of extra funding for your mission—all while engaging your donors at new heights and growing corporate support.
Top tip:
Use your matching gift database tool to uncover fundraising match opportunities in your donor network. Platforms like Double the Donation supply information about many types of corporate giving programs—including volunteer grants and fundraising matches when available.
6. Encourage non-eligible donors to advocate for new programs.
Unfortunately, not all companies match employee donations (though new programs are added every day). And some employers are likely interested in getting started—they might just need a little push to do so.
Luckily, your existing (and non-match-eligible) donors can be some of your best champions for inspiring new matching programs. Sometimes, all it takes is an email from a philanthropic employee to get the ball rolling for a new corporate program. And Matching Gift Month can be the perfect time to begin laying a foundation.
Consider sharing a template like this to provide a baseline for supporters considering advocating on your behalf this month:
Subject line: Request for a corporate matching gift program
Hi [manager or HR representative name],
I am writing to request the addition of a corporate matching gift program at [company name].
Thousands of companies across the globe have established employee matching gift programs, agreeing to match gifts made by their employees to qualifying nonprofit causes with their own corporate donations.
This is an extremely beneficial program to host for every party involved—including the company, its employees, and the nonprofits they support. If you’d like to take steps to establish a matching gift program for the company, Double the Donation has provided a number of detailed guides that walk corporate leaders through the process.
Thank you for your consideration!
P.S. — February is National Matching Gift Month, so it’s a great time to get started!
Use 360MatchPro’s “Leading Companies” tool, which showcases the employers most often searched by donors using your company database tool, to identify businesses in your network without existing match programs! Then, craft a personalized plan for pitching a matching gift program or encouraging your donors to do so themselves.
7. Pursue one-off matching gift program opportunities.
Most companies that match employee donations agree to do so to most nonprofit causes. However, if an organization has an existing partnership with a corporation, it may seek a one-off (or unique) matching gift program that is exclusive to the cause.
In some cases, this type of offering can be an ongoing sponsorship opportunity. But it also may be limited to a particular period of time—such as Matching Gift Month! Thus, February (and/or the weeks leading up to February) can be a great chance to begin pursuing such a relationship.
There are a few types of one-off matching gift programs to consider. These include…
One-off match initiatives with companies that do not yet offer complete matching programs. (For example, Carl’s Computer Company does not have an established matching gift program but agrees to match donations solely made to Atlanta University.)
Agreements with companies that do offer traditional matching gift programs but want to match donations to your organization at a higher rate. (Ex: Carl’s Computer Company matches employee donations to all 501(c)(3) nonprofits at a dollar-for-dollar rate and matches gifts made to Atlanta University at a 2:1 ratio for the duration of Matching Gift Month.)
Keep in mind that both types of programs can be beneficial to your cause, your donors, and your corporate partners. In either case, your donors’ employing companies can be some of your most valuable prospects!
Top tip:
Once you’ve established a one-off match with a corporate partner, add the program details (including eligibility criteria and submission instructions) to your company search tool using 360MatchPro’s custom matching gift management feature. This way, the program will populate in your employer search tool, making it quick and easy for donors to access the information they need to participate.
8. Follow up on previously made donations.
Your organization’s work promoting Matching Gift Month might very well drive a number of new donations—and matches—to your cause. But another strategy you can employ involves following up on previously made gifts. Then, encouraging still-eligible donors to submit their requests retroactively.
Here’s a sample follow-up email you might send:
Not to mention, Match Month falls just a few weeks after the year-end giving season when most organizations see elevated giving. Many of those donations may still qualify for corporate matching, even into the first few months of the new year.
In fact, tons of companies set generous matching gift request deadlines—often accepting submissions for up to a year after the initial donation is made. Take this opportunity to remind eligible donors about their employers’ matching gift programs and how they can get involved.
Top tip:
Use a matching gift automation tool (like 360MatchPro) to automate outreach and trigger personalized donation follow-ups!
9. Include matching gifts in staff email signatures.
This is perhaps our simplest suggestion for celebrating Match Month, but it can be particularly effective when paired with some of our other top ideas. We recommend adding a quick line mentioning matching gift opportunities to all of your team members’ email signatures.
More than likely, your organization sends a ton of emails—from donation appeals to thank-you messages and even nonprofit programming outreach. By incorporating matching gifts in automatic signatures, you can use every piece of communication with your cause as a way to promote donation-matching.
While you could add a simple blurb beneath an individual’s name and contact information, making it stand out can produce great results. For that reason, consider getting a graphic made and added to each person’s signature.
You can even use the space to link to additional resources where recipients can learn more.
10. Consider matching challenge grants.
Corporate matching gifts aren’t the only type of match opportunity your organization should keep an eye out for—they’re just the most widely available. But other match-based initiatives, like challenge grants, also have the potential to multiply the impact of a group’s fundraising success.
Rather than a company matching the donations its employees make to charitable causes, challenge grants are facilitated as a way to offer a donation match to all of a nonprofit’s supporters. Typically offered by a generous major donor, corporation, or foundation, these programs are generally organized according to a set time frame (e.g., a 24-hour period) or predetermined threshold (such as up to $10,000). Then, any individual who gives within the time frame prior to the match fund being depleted will have their gift doubled for your cause by the challenge grant supplier.
It’s important to remember, too, that challenge grants and matching gifts are usually not mutually exclusive. That means you can layer a few matching gift opportunities on top of one another (for example, a donor’s gift being matched through a challenge grant and by their employing company) to further amplify your efforts.
And that’s what we recommend doing to celebrate Matching Gift Month!
Bonus: Make matching easy.
Our final idea for celebrating Matching Gift Month is one that will benefit your organization well beyond the 28 (or 29) days of February. A lot of our previous recommendations involve raising awareness of program opportunities in the first place. Now, we suggest going a few steps further and driving matches by simplifying the processes involved.
After all, donors love matching gifts. They love getting the opportunity to multiply their contribution impact. But even your most dedicated supporters might not follow through when the process is too complicated or time-consuming.
That’s why we recommend fundraising organizations employ matching gift software to streamline and simplify the process. For example, 360MatchPro by Double the Donation empowers nonprofits to:
Identify eligibility with the industry’s most comprehensive matching gift database and corresponding search tool, making it quick and easy for donors to locate the information they need to participate.
Provide employer-specific matching gift program guidelines (minimum and maximum donation amounts, qualifying employees and nonprofit causes, match ratios, and more) and direct links to online submission forms, thus driving more requests to completion with actionable next steps.
Enable innovative auto-submission capabilities, allowing eligible donors to complete the match request process directly from the organization’s giving page and removing critical roadblocks facing traditional matching gift submissions.
Trigger automated and personalized matching gift follow-up messaging to remind donors about matching gift availability and encourage them to take the next steps in their companies’ request processes.
Seamlessly implement a matching gift solution into their existing fundraising ecosystem thanks to ready-built integrations with nearly all leading donation tools, peer-to-peer platforms, CRMs, and more—empowering organizations to get up and running with gift-matching strategies in minutes!
Not only does this benefit your donors by making matching programs more accessible, but it also ensures more back-end efficiency for your internal team and results in matching gift revenue growth of more than 61%.
Drawing inspiration from other nonprofits’ Matching Gift Month efforts can be highly beneficial for organizations strategizing their own campaigns. Not only can successful examples provide invaluable ideas and insights, but they can also spark creativity among your team and establish a deeper understanding of what resonates with nonprofit audiences.
That said, take a look at these Match Month campaigns to aspire to.
Example #1: Matching Gift Month Social Media Post
This independent Massachusetts private school took to Facebook and other social media platforms to promote the corporate matching gift opportunity last Match Month.
This institution uses the post as a way to promote matching gifts and encourage unprecedented individual giving. Not to mention, it links to the school’s matching gifts page and company search tool. These resources can supply additional information and assist supporters in getting started!
Example #2: Matching Gifts Web Page
One university opts to use its matching gift web page as a way to increase awareness about Match Month celebrations.
The blurb, which is embedded in the web page, encourages users to research their companies’ matching gift programs and double their giving impact if they qualify. It also includes an informational matching gift video that uses animated graphics to visualize the institution’s matching gift efforts.
Example #3: Match Month Landing Page
This organization published a dedicated landing page on its website as a way to drive awareness of Matching Gift Month among its supporters.
The page begins with a flashy and eye-catching graphic, shares specific performance metrics that reiterate matching gift impact, and implements an embedded company search tool. It even includes a template supporters can use to advocate for matching gift efforts when their employers lack such programming.
Example #4: Matching Gift Month Blog Post
In order to encourage Match Month participation among its supporters, this nonprofit published an informational blog post on its website.
The article outlines the basics of Matching Gift Month, emphasizes the importance of matching gifts for the organization’s mission, and shares additional resources donors can use to pursue matching gift opportunities (such as a direct link to the dedicated Match Page and integrated search tool). Plus, it uses illustrated statistics to communicate the availability of employee gift-matching in a user-friendly way!
Matching gifts have the potential to elevate your organization’s fundraising, bringing your overall community impact to new heights. February’s celebrations can be a fantastic opportunity to jumpstart or scale up your efforts. But it’s certainly not the only time to pursue this funding source.
As you aim to drive awareness of (and participation in) the programs this month, remember that the value of a long-term matching gift strategy can boost your fundraising for years to come. Keep in mind that the practices outlined above—and powering your team with the right tools and resources—can help!
Looking for more helpful matching gift resources? Check out our other recommended blog posts to continue learning:
Complete Guide to Matching Gifts
Dive into the basics and beyond with this complete guide to corporate matching gift programs.
Find out everything from common guidelines and well-known programs to streamlining your efforts with matching gift software.
Not all match-eligible donors will complete their submission processes right away. Discover several impactful strategies for driving more matches to completion with this smart guide.
https://doublethedonation.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/DTD_The-Complete-Guide-to-Celebrating-Matching-Gift-Month_Feature.png6001600Adam Weingerhttps://doublethedonation.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/logo-dtd.svgAdam Weinger2024-02-01 16:05:182024-04-02 12:28:24Here’s How You Can Celebrate Matching Gift Month This February
Double the Donation receives requests from nonprofits across the country asking about corporate matching gifts in their area. We decided to create a list of some of those companies in the Raleigh, NC that offer these programs. Nonprofits can double their donations from donors who work for companies offering matching gifts.
List of Companies in Raleigh with Matching Gifts
State capitals are always certain have a large Fortune 500 presence, and many of these companies offer employee giving programs. It’s essential that nonprofits take advantage of these programs, while taking the time to educate their development staff on the benefits of matching gifts.
Check out these companies with a presence in Raleigh and be sure to inform your donors about the benefits of corporate matching gifts.
Caterpillar
Caterpillar Inc. will match donations up to $2,000 for every employee. Not all institutions are eligible, however.
John Deere & Company will match employee gifts between $50 and $1,000. At one point the company only matched donations to institutions of higher education but since 2014 rolled out an enhanced matching gift program where John Deere will now match donations to a wide range of 501(c)(3) nonprofits including but not limited to:
Kellogg’s is a nationally recognized brand with employees across the country. The Kellogg company previously match donations on a .5:1 ratio up to $10,000 a year until the middle of 2013. At that time Kellogg’s ended its matching gift program and rolled out its Kellogg’s Cares program.
Through Kellogg’s Cares, the company provides volunteer grants to organizations where employees and retirees volunteer on a regular basis.
Kellogg provides a $100 donation to organizations where an employee or retiree volunteers a minimum of 10 hours during a 12-month period. Each individual is eligible to request up to $500 per year.
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Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is an opportunity for companies to give back to the communities they operate in and boost their reputations at the same time. From creating matching gift programs to improving your company’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) practices, there are several ways to get involved.
Review the following strategies and consider how you can incorporate them into your company’s operations. With the right mindset and intuitive social good software, you can navigate the ever-evolving CSR landscape with ease.
1. Familiarize Yourself With the Benefits of CSR
Before you create a CSR program, familiarize yourself with the rationale behind the movement and everything it can do for your business. First, embrace the fact that businesses are adopting CSR programs because of a clear demand — employees, customers, and shareholders alike want companies to be more socially responsible.
These statistics explain the rise in CSR-related initiatives and the profound impact they can have on your company:
93% of employees believe businesses should lead with purpose. By embracing CSR at your company and letting team members participate, you can show employees that your company is driven by a worthwhile purpose that they enjoy being a part of.
55% of employees say they would take a lower salary to work for a socially responsible company. This means that public, impactful CSR efforts that resonate with employees can improve your company’s employee recruitment, engagement, and retention efforts.
77% of customers want to purchase from socially responsible companies. When you prove to the public that your company is actively engaged in CSR efforts, you can retain more customers and boost sales revenue.
As these trends show, effective CSR programs can help your company improve everything from employee motivation to your business’s reputation. Plus, if you use a CSR platform to track and measure your programs’ results, you’ll be able to easily report on and publicize your company’s impact to access these benefits faster.
If any of your company’s key stakeholders are hesitant to adopt a CSR program due to the necessary investment of time and resources, share these statistics and others like them to demonstrate CSR’s proven value.
2. Reflect on Your Company’s Values
CSR programs are more likely to be successful when they represent a company’s core values and public priorities. Value alignment helps employees feel more motivated to participate in CSR activities and ensures that your company will retain a vested interest in the program long-term.
Take time to revisit your business’s core values and think about ways you could naturally align corporate social responsibility programs with them. For example, if one of your core values is giving back to the community, you should prioritize corporate philanthropy programs and community service opportunities for employees. On the other hand, a sustainable food service company would be more suited to create internal energy conservation initiatives or a program that donates leftover food products to community shelters.
Brainstorm ideas for a variety of programs that would align with your company’s interests, then research other companies in your sector to see what type of CSR programs they have. Choose one idea to explore first, then save the rest of the list for future program development.
3. Start With a Matching Gifts Program
As you evaluate your options for potential CSR programs, consider developing a matching gifts program first. Employee giving programs are especially effective for increasing employee engagement, and matching gifts are the easiest employee giving program for businesses to facilitate.
These programs involve your company financially matching donations that your employees make to eligible nonprofit organizations, often at a 1:1 ratio. This means that if your employee donated $100, your company would donate an additional $100 to the same organization. Matching gift programs allow your company to support a multitude of causes while helping individual employees make more of a difference.
Set eligibility guidelines for the gifts you’ll match. Determine what types of organizations will be eligible, such as 501(c)(3) nonprofits and educational institutions. Then, set a match ratio, minimum gift amount, and maximum gift amount. For instance, you might match gifts from $20 up to $2,000 at a 1:1 ratio.
Choose a CSR platform. Corporate social responsibility platforms allow you to easily manage matching gift requests and the disbursement of donations. Additionally, they help you track and report on your company’s total philanthropic impact.
Establish a matching gift request process. Choose a deadline for when employees should submit requests, such as within six months of the donation or by the end of the fiscal year. Then determine what information employees must provide about the gift and where they should submit the request, such as via your company portal.
Let employees know about the option. Create official documentation that outlines the matching gift request process and eligibility guidelines for employees, then distribute it to team members when you announce the new program.
To encourage employees to participate in your new matching gift program, emphasize the benefits of matching gifts for both employees and the organizations they support. Focus on how they can make more of an impact on the causes they care about without spending more of their own funds.
4. Offer Incentives for Volunteering
It’s likely that some of your employees already volunteer regularly, while others would appreciate an incentive to do so. By launching a corporate volunteering program, your company can embrace CSR and boost employee job satisfaction.
Consider offering one or more of the following volunteer incentives:
Volunteer grants: Similar to matching gifts, a volunteer grant program is employee-driven. Your employees volunteer for a certain number of hours at a nonprofit of their choice and fill out a grant request form. Then, your company donates a set amount (such as $100 per 10 hours) to the same organization.
Volunteer Time Off (VTO): In addition to vacation days, some companies offer a few days of VTO so employees can easily fit volunteering into their schedule and get paid for their time.
Company-wide volunteer days: Group volunteer outings allow your company to help an organization, engage employees, and foster team-building all at once. Choose a nonprofit to work with, then bring employees out for a fun day of community service.
No matter which programs you choose, a robust CSR platform can help you manage volunteer activities and monitor the impact of both your company and individual employees. With this information, you can recognize employees who volunteered the most and encourage team members to engage with your CSR programs.
As you explore what CSR looks like for your company, take note of any charitable organizations you interact with that seem especially aligned with your values. Cultivate relationships with these nonprofits through corporate volunteering outings and conversations with their staff, and they could become long-term partners you can sponsor in the future. The more you learn about your employees’ charitable interests and organizations that align with your core values, the more easily you’ll be able to develop and maintain impactful CSR programs.
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The Ultimate Guide to Employer Appends for Fundraisers
You likely gather many details about your donors—those who support your cause with their funds, time, or resources. Perhaps you collect names, contact information, engagement history, interests, and hobbies. The more comprehensive an understanding you have of each supporter, the better you can tailor your fundraising strategy to effectively reach your target audience.
However, one critical piece of the puzzle that’s often overlooked is employment data. Knowing where your donors work can play a significant role in how you relate to them in terms of fundraising, corporate giving opportunities, and more. And if you don’t already have this data point on file? That’s where employer appends come in.
In this guide, we’ll provide a walkthrough of all things employer appends—including:
Understanding your donors’ employment status can elevate your fundraising efforts in huge ways. You won’t want to discard the wealth of information gathered through employer appends, nor the amplified impact it brings.
Let’s get started!
The Basics of Data Appends
Data appends are a particular type of data enhancement strategy that allows nonprofits and other fundraising groups to learn more about the individuals in their networks. These efforts aim to provide organizations with more comprehensive and up-to-date information, often concerning their donors and other supporters. This empowers fundraisers to adjust their messaging and overall engagement strategies by better discerning who a donor is and what makes them tick.
Organizations typically provide the information they do have to a company dedicated to data enhancement services. The company then compares donor information against a mega-database of individual data, filling in the details the organization lacks as they go.
Employer appends, in particular, empower organizations to collect new and optimized data regarding the companies their supporters work for. Beyond employer information, other common types of data appends include mailing addresses, email addresses, birth dates, and phone numbers.
As you’ll notice, these types of appends primarily fill in missing or outdated contact information. That makes connecting with supporters easy for email outreach, phonathon fundraisers, direct mail solicitations, and other campaigns.
What Are Employer Appends?
Employer appends are one of the most common types of data appends for nonprofits, schools, and other fundraising organizations. In this case, the unknown information an organization seeks is that of a donor’s employer.
By providing other data points—such as the person’s name, location, phone number, education experience, etc.—the intended result is to locate the company that the individual works for (and sometimes even their job title!). In the end, the organization receives invaluable insights that can help uncover matching gift and other workplace giving opportunities, estimate wealth data, and more.
How Employer Appends Work for Fundraisers
The employer appends process is simple. After locating a data appending service (we’ll cover what to look for below), you’ll want to collect as much data about your donors as possible. This should include:
Name
Unique ID number
Mailing address (home, business, or both)
Region (state, city, and country)
Email address(es)
Phone number(s)
College or university (along with class year and major/degree, if available)
Last gift amount
Date of last donation
Date the entry was last updated
You will likely not have every data point available for each donor. And that’s okay! However, starting with as much information as possible increases the likelihood that the appending service provider can locate and match supporter records to the right employer information.
From there, the appending service will conduct its own research, typically scanning a number of public and privately held databases, which may include government records, SEC filings, social media profiles, business registrations, and more.
When the service provider is able to match a donor record with an employing company, they make a note of the identified information, check the newly collected data for accuracy, and share their findings with the organization. Ultimately, the organization is able to utilize the information to its best advantage in terms of optimal fundraising and donor relations.
Benefits of Employer Appends for Nonprofits and Universities
Employer appends can bring big results to nonprofit fundraising. Knowing where your donors and other key supporters work plays a significant role in overall engagement strategies, not to mention enabling targeted efforts regarding available workplace giving opportunities.
Specifically, employer appending can help your team:
Determine matching gift eligibility —
Thousands of companies offer matching gift programs where they agree to match employee donations to charitable organizations.
However, you likely won’t know which donors are eligible for (and, as a result, which to follow up with about) matching opportunities if you don’t know where they work. In fact, this knowledge gap even results in over $4 to $7 billion in matching gift funding going unclaimed each year!
Once you have the information you need, however, you’ll be able to prompt qualifying donors to complete the match process and secure additional funding on your organization’s behalf. This is true not only in the form of corporate match revenue but in elevated individual giving (and donor engagement), as well.
Keep in mind that matching gift services—like Double the Donation—can help nonprofits target and follow up with matching gift opportunities as well. However, employer appends are often able to provide additional data points with which to guide an organization’s strategy, allowing fundraisers to capture supporter information even if the individual is not currently in the donation pipeline.
Here’s an example: “Jody, did you know that your employer, the Home Depot, matches full- and part-time employee donations up to $3,000 per person each year? Click here to request your matching gift!”
Uncover volunteer grant opportunities —
Similarly, if your organization has a supporter base of dedicated volunteers, corporate volunteer grants can help stretch their donated time even further. These are additional giving programs offered by philanthropic-minded businesses, the difference being that employers contribute monetary funds to the organizations with which their employees volunteer their time. Volunteer grants, which are also referred to as “dollars for doers,” can be an excellent way to multiply the impact of volunteer time for your organization, and supporters love being able to get involved in that way as well.
But again, you’ll need to know which companies your volunteers work for, which is where your employer appends come in. That way, you can be sure to inform them about the opportunities, encourage participation, and direct them to their employers’ request processes to get involved.
Here’s an example: “Thanks for all of your help at the shelter this weekend and over the past several months, Sam!As a Verizon employee, your volunteer hours likely qualify you to request a corporate volunteer grant on our behalf. Click here to learn more about how to request your grant!”
Identify potential corporate sponsorships —
Corporate sponsors can bring your nonprofit’s next fundraising event to the next level, and knowing which companies your supporters work for can aid in determining top prospective sponsors and help get your foot in the door! Once you know where your donors work, leverage the information as an in with a potential sponsor or encourage donors to advocate for a partnership on your behalf.
Here’s an example: “Ashley, it’s great to connect with the Microsoft team. More than 100 of our nonprofit’s donors work for Microsoft, and we’ve received thousands of dollars in matching gifts from your company in the past. As it’s clear that we already have a lot in common, would you be interested in sponsoring our upcoming event?”
Estimate wealth data —
Your donors’ wealth levels can play a significant role in their ability to give charitably, and understanding their limits can help organizations determine ideal fundraising asks. Knowing which companies your donors work for, their roles in the businesses, and more can help shed light on their estimated incomes and, by extension, giving abilities.
Here’s an example: “Sarah, we thank you for your continued support of our nonprofit cause. Will you consider making a $10,000 donation to help us reach our year-end giving goal?”
Tailor donor communications —
You want your donor outreach to be as personal and targeted as possible. Including direct references to donor-specific information helps develop relationships and shows that you’re not sending the same copied-and-pasted message to each person in your contacts. And, as you likely know, targeted messaging can be one of the best ways to develop strengthened, beyond-surface-level donor relationships, build connections with the cause, and ultimately drive more nonprofit involvement among supporters.
Highlighting an individual’s employing company can be a great way to do so, especially regarding getting involved with workplace giving programs. And if you don’t already have your donors’ employment information, that’s where employer appends can help.
Here’s an example: “Jeffrey, the Walt Disney Corporation offers a range of corporate giving opportunities that can benefit our organization in big ways. As a member of the Disney team, you have the chance to participate in matching gifts, volunteer grants, and more.”
Learn more about your supporters —
The more you know about your supporters—donors, volunteers, and prospects alike—the better you can connect with the individuals who make your mission possible. Since most people’s careers are a key component of their lives and what makes them who they are, understanding where they work and what they do can be a key piece of the “getting to know your donors” puzzle. Plus, it can even help shine a light on their own interests and hobbies.
Here’s an example: “As a Petco employee, you likely care about the wellbeing of the little, furry friends in our community. That’s exactly what our organization, the Atlanta Animal Shelter, is dedicated to, as well. Learn more about how you can get involved with the cause here!”
Overall, employer records are an extremely beneficial tool for designing targeted and effective outreach. However, you likely don’t have that information on file for all of your supporters. By leveraging employer appends, you can collect the information you need to guide your organization’s engagement efforts toward success.
Employer Appends Services | What to Look For
It’s possible to conduct donor research on your own; however, your organization is significantly more likely to uncover accurate and up-to-date information about more donors more quickly when you outsource the efforts to a third-party provider. And employer appends services are dedicated to doing just that in the most effective and efficient ways possible.
So how can you select the right employer (or other donor data) appends provider for your needs? Be sure to do your research beforehand.
For example, here’s how it works with Double the Donation:
Organizations typically see successful appends rates between 20% and 50% of the records they provide to the appending service (which is significantly higher than the industry average).
Employer appends are typically completed and provided within a few days of the organization submitting their inputs.
Appends records are assigned an accuracy rating. This takes into account the uniqueness of a donor’s name and the level of detailed inputs initially provided, as well as the comprehensiveness and recency of the data source used.
As an added bonus, previously unknown corporate executives are often identified and flagged as potential major donors.
Multiple appending options are available, including real-time employer appends for Double the Donation users, as well as one-time bulk appends services for any organization.
Employer appends can be uploaded into Double the Donation to trigger matching gift emails and other automated donor outreach.
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Other Frequently Asked Questions
Where does Double the Donation get its employer data?
Our propriety screening method combines data from both publicly and privately available sources. These sources include public government records, SEC filings, social media profiles, business registrations, and a variety of other sources.
What hit rate should our organization expect?
We typically see append rates which range from 20%-50%. This is based on a variety of factors such as:
Donor demographics (higher append rates among organizations which have a greater percentage of donors still in the workforce)
Average donation amount (higher append rates for wealthier donors)
Type of nonprofit (higher append rates for higher education)
How does Double the Donation determine its “accuracy score” for each record?
Our accuracy score is based on a number of factors including:
Uniqueness of donor names: With only a name it can be tough to determine whether we’ve identified the correct individual. The number of individuals with the same name plays a role in our accuracy score. A search for a common name such as “Steve Smith” will have a much lower accuracy score than a more unique / one of a kind name.
Level of detail provided on a record: The more information that you provide on each record, the greater the accuracy score. Even though there may be 1,000 individuals named “Steve Smith” if we’re able to match additional fields such as a phone number or mailing address it increases the accuracy score for that record.
Our data source / date the data source was updated:
We recognize that not all of our data sources are created equal. The data source, as well as the update frequency, plays a role in each individual record’s accuracy score.
Which types of nonprofits see the highest append rates and the most accurate results?
Our ability to append employer data is dependent upon the input file an organization provides to us. Organizations which keep their databases up-to-date see the best results.
For instance:
Do you have an up-to-date email address?
Do you have an up-to-date mailing address?
For higher education institutions, can you provide us with the years your donor / alumni graduated?
How complete are the input files that nonprofits normally send to Double the Donation?
It depends. Very rarely does an organization have comprehensive data on all of its donors, especially when you consider an organization which raises funds from multiple channels (mail, online, phone, in-person, etc.)
We do request that you provide us with as much data as you can as it helps us locate and match your records to the appropriate individual.
Are subsidiaries and alternate spelling variations listed separately or all in a single subsidiary field?
Our matching gift database is comprised of the following two tables:
A table mapping subsidiaries to parent companies
A table mapping all company details to a single parent company
These tables are then joined using a unique ID that ties all the data together.
Can I use employer append files I already have with Double the Donation?
An organization navigates to the “import wizard” to upload its employer appends CSV file.
The organization previews record uploads to ensure the data has been mapped properly.
The organization leverages employer append workflows to match Unknown Eligibility donors with the correct employers.
You can learn more about leveraging bulk employer appends files alongside Double the Donation with our Knowledge Base article on the topic here.
Concluding Thoughts
The more you know about your donors, the more effectively you can target and attract them to your cause. Not to mention, having employment data on file empowers organizations to seek workplace giving opportunities as well.
You may have a solid base of information pertaining to donors’ employing companies already. However, employer appends can go a long way toward filling in the blanks and connecting the dots. This is especially true in terms of matching gift programs, volunteer grants, and more.
Interested in further developing your organization’s donor data strategy? Dive into these other forms of data appends services—and how they can benefit your team—below:
What Is a Date of Birth Append? A Comprehensive Guide. Uncover more about your organization’s supporters with date of birth appending. Find out donors’ ages for strategic segmentation, send birthday outreach, and more.
https://doublethedonation.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/DTD-The-Ultimate-Guide-to-Employer-Appends-for-Fundraisers.png3801000Adam Weingerhttps://doublethedonation.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/logo-dtd.svgAdam Weinger2024-01-28 19:14:372025-02-12 15:28:09The Ultimate Guide to Employer Appends for Fundraisers
According to OneCause’s Fundraising Outlook Report, the percentage of organizations that identify donor retention as a critical priority has decreased from 57% to 51%. While it’s concerning that fewer nonprofits are trying to reduce costs and form lasting relationships by focusing on donor retention, this insight reveals an opportunity to get ahead and stand out from other organizations vying for attention in your sector.
While the average donor retention rate hovers around 40%, there are strategies your organization can implement to increase this number and secure more long-term support. The top way to keep donors coming back is to create a donor stewardship plan.
We’ll help you dive into donor stewardship by reviewing the following topics:
With a better understanding of donor stewardship and a dedicated plan, you can make stewardship an ongoing, iterative process at your organization and consistently build enduring donor relationships.
What is donor stewardship?
Donor stewardship is the process of extending a relationship beyond the donor’s gift. The ultimate goal of donor stewardship is to encourage them to give again by building a deeper connection with them. Developing that sense of loyalty will make your fundraising efforts more seamless in the future because you’ll have a strong supporter base to tap into.
For stewardship to be effective, nonprofits must form mutually beneficial relationships with their donors. While nonprofits receive financial support, donors get to feel good about the impact they’ve made and join a community of people passionate about your cause. To create these relationships, nonprofits implement stewardship strategies that keep donors updated on the impact of their gifts and provide them with additional engagement opportunities.
What is the relationship between donor stewardship and retention?
Donor retention is a measure of how many donors come back to contribute to your organization after their initial gift. You can calculate your donor retention rate by dividing the number of donors who gave again this year by the number of donors who contributed last year, then multiplying that number by 100.
In recent years, donor retention has been on the decline, with an overall donor retention rate of 42.6% in 2022, which was 3.5% less than the previous year. There are costs associated with acquiring new donors, and when your donor retention rate is low, your organization has to continuously maximize the time, effort, and resources it pours into donor acquisition.
Donor stewardship helps your organization conserve resources and build a more reliable donor pool. You need regular communication to remind donors of your cause and how vital their support is, and with a dedicated donor stewardship plan, you can keep in contact with donors and ultimately retain them.
Additionally, retained donors are more valuable to your organization because they give more, more often, and are more likely to engage with your nonprofit in other ways. Considering 94% of recurring donors prefer to give to their causes of choice monthly, stewarding these donors enables you to build a consistent community of supporters rather than a sporadic, constantly shifting list of one-time donors.
Lastly, you already have data stored for previous donors in your database or constituent relationship management platform (CRM). You can use this information to reengage and steward these relationships because you know more about their interests and preferences. With a data-driven stewardship approach, you can meet donors where they are and personalize your communications to retain their support.
The donor pyramid is a visual representation of different donor giving levels. Since first-time donors are likely your largest donor group, they occupy the bottom of the pyramid whereas the few major donors you have reside at the top. When you understand which category of the pyramid each donor fits into, you can better steward them up the pyramid and increase their support.
The main categories of the donor pyramid include:
Prospective donors. Some organizations include prospective donors at the bottom of the pyramid to represent all potential giving opportunities. You may omit this group or narrow it down to those who have shown interest in your cause but haven’t yet contributed monetarily, such as volunteers, social media followers, or newsletter subscribers.
First-time donors. Most nonprofits place first-time donors at the bottom of the pyramid. While these supporters have demonstrated interest in your mission, it’s crucial to follow up with them immediately after their initial gift to show your appreciation and share the impact of their contribution.
Recurring donors. Recurring donors may give on a monthly, quarterly, annual, or varying basis. You may create different segments for each of these groups and develop stewardship strategies depending on giving frequency.
Planned donors. Planned donors pledge gifts to be contributed to nonprofits once they pass away. These bequests are typically sizable donations, so it’s important to show your appreciation for planned donors’ contributions.
Major donors. The top of the pyramid is comprised of major donors who give the largest gifts to your organization. Depending on your nonprofit’s size and typical donation amounts, you may define your major gift threshold differently than other organizations do.
To form your nonprofit’s own donor pyramid, draw supporter insights from your donor database. This information will help you determine which categories to include, roughly how many donors are in each tier, and how to best steward each group to higher levels of the pyramid or larger commitments at their current tier.
How does donor stewardship fit into donor cultivation?
Donor cultivation is the process of acquiring new donors and strengthening relationships with them. While donor stewardship is the last step in the cultivation cycle, it’s important to understand each step in the process and how it informs your stewardship efforts:
1. Identification
The first step in the donor cultivation cycle is to identify potential donors. This step may involve reviewing your CRM for supporters who may be interested in donating, identifying previous or lapsed donors, or conducting outreach to those who are completely new to your organization and mission.
Some strategies for identifying prospective donors include:
Prospect research. When you’re looking for potential major donors, conducting prospect research can help you determine supporters’ giving capacity and willingness to contribute. That way, you can focus your outreach on those who are most likely to make a major contribution.
Existing connections. Current supporters and stakeholders in your organization can help you identify people in their networks who may be interested in contributing to your cause. Ask your board members, major donors, and staff if they have any connections they can leverage.
Surveys. Sometimes the best way to identify if someone would be interested in giving is to simply ask them. Send surveys to your supporter base asking them if they’re open to making a monetary contribution and what type of gift they would like to make.
In this stage, it’s important to emphasize your nonprofit’s mission and let potential donors know the impact their contributions could make.
2. Qualification
Now that you’ve identified potential donors, it’s time to narrow down that list further to prioritize those with the highest giving likelihood. Some factors you may assess to determine the most qualified potential donors are:
Previous engagement. Potential donors may have interacted with your organization in ways other than donating, such as attending an event, volunteering, following your social media accounts, or signing up for your newsletter. These interactions demonstrate potential donors’ interest in your nonprofit and may indicate their likelihood to donate.
Wealth markers. Identifying potential donors’ capacity to give is especially useful for determining who may become a major donor. These wealth indicators may include real estate ownership, stock holdings, and business affiliations.
Affinity markers. Just because someone has the capacity to give doesn’t mean they’re interested in contributing. Affinity markers such as political involvement and previous support for other charitable causes allow you to assess the alignment between a potential donor’s values and your organization’s mission.
While some of this information may be stored in your CRM or found in public records, it can be helpful to work with a fundraising consultant or data provider who can acquire this data for you.
3. Cultivation
The cultivation step involves laying the foundation for a long-term relationship with prospects. Before soliciting a donation, introduce potential donors to your organization and invite them to get involved with:
Educational materials. Allow prospects to learn more about your mission and work by providing them with educational materials. Send them introductory pamphlets, videos of your beneficiaries, and summaries of your services so they can become more familiar with your organization.
Volunteer opportunities. When prospects volunteer with your nonprofit, they’ll receive hands-on experience with your cause. As a result, they may develop a connection to your mission and be more open to donating.
Events. An event is a perfect opportunity for prospects to meet current donors and find out why they support your cause. Consider inviting prospects to your next fundraising or advocacy event so they can become immersed in your community and determine if they’d like to become more involved.
Personalizing your communications with prospects is also a powerful strategy for developing relationships with them. Use data from your CRM to learn more about your prospects and tailor your communications accordingly. For example, if a prospect recently volunteered with your nonprofit, thank them for their support and follow up with additional volunteer opportunities they may be interested in.
4. Solicitation
After getting to know potential donors and informing them about your organization, you can begin soliciting donations. When making your initial asks, keep these tips in mind:
Be specific. Using the data you’ve gathered about your prospects, suggest a specific donation amount that aligns with their giving capacity. You should also be clear about what that amount of money will allow your nonprofit to accomplish. For example, an animal shelter might specify that a $100 donation allows it to restock its pet food supply for one week.
Appeal to prospects’ emotions. Don’t be afraid to use emotionally charged language to show prospects why they should care about your cause and how they have the power to make an impact. Including a testimonial from a beneficiary or current donor can help make a prospect’s potential impact more tangible.
Mention matching gift opportunities. Did you know that 84% of people say they’re more likely to donate if a match is offered, and 1 in 3 donors claim they’d give a larger gift if matching is applied to their donation? Informing prospects about matching gift opportunities in your ask can motivate them to donate and allow you to gain even more for your cause. Matching gifts occur when a company matches their employees’ donations to a nonprofit, usually at a 1:1 ratio. As a result, your nonprofit can double its donation revenue. Learn best practices for promoting matching gifts in the video below:
As the video states, raising awareness for matching gifts is key. Once potential donors know about the power of matching gifts, you can make the process easier by researching their eligibility for them or providing them with a matching gift database where they can easily find their employer’s matching gift policies.
If a prospect says “no” to your first ask, that doesn’t mean you’ve failed to garner their support. Continue cultivating a relationship with this individual until it’s appropriate to make another donation request. Even if they don’t end up contributing monetarily, they can still become an active member of your community by volunteering, attending events, and engaging with your content online.
5. Stewardship
You should begin the donor stewardship process immediately after a prospect becomes a donor. Follow these steps to kick off your stewardship efforts:
Thank donors for their support. Show donors your appreciation for their contributions. To quickly and efficiently thank donors, automate a thank-you eCard to be sent to each donor right after they submit their donation. For larger gifts, you may send a handwritten thank-you note or call major donors to demonstrate your appreciation.
Recognize your donors. Larger gifts may also warrant public recognition of your donors through plaques, donor appreciation events, or invitations to your nonprofit’s giving society. You can also recognize mid-level donors by creating social media or newsletter spotlights.
Report on their impact. No matter the size of their donation, donors want to know that your organization is using their funds responsibly. Update donors on the specific initiatives you’ve allocated their donations toward, whether that’s a new program, supplies, a fundraising event, or something else entirely.
While these steps are a great start to donor stewardship, you’ll need a dedicated stewardship plan to effectively sustain your relationships with donors.
Creating a Donor Stewardship Plan: 5 Steps
A systematic approach to donor stewardship ensures no donor gets left behind and that your team knows exactly how to uphold donor relationships. To create a donor stewardship plan, follow these essential steps:
1. Determine your donor stewardship goals.
The beginning of any plan should start with goal creation, and donor stewardship is no different. Goals developed using the SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-Bound) goal framework allow you to measure the success of your stewardship plan more easily.
For example, your nonprofit may want to grow its recurring giving program. Here’s how your team could incorporate each element of the SMART goal framework into your objectives:
Specific. Our fundraising team will reach out to first-time donors to introduce them to the recurring donor program and demonstrate how recurring gifts will maximize their impact.
Measurable. Our goal is to convert 20% of first-time donors into recurring donors.
Achievable. Considering 57% of donors are enrolled in a recurring giving program, and we had 10% of last year’s first-time donors become recurring donors, this is a challenging yet realistic goal.
Relevant. Growing our recurring donor program will allow us to develop a more consistent revenue stream for our nonprofit, empowering us to better serve our beneficiaries and fulfill our mission.
Time-Bound. Our goal is to convert these donors to recurring donors by the end of the year. We will start communicating with first-time donors next week and track monthly progress.
Other common goals may include increasing your donor retention rate, bolstering your major gift fundraising, or improving your post-event outreach. No matter what your goals are, setting clear objectives allows your team to stay on track and create progress benchmarks so you can make adjustments as needed.
2. Segment your donors.
While reaching out to each donor individually would be ideal for stewardship, it’s often unfeasible. When you segment your donors into relevant groups, you can personalize the donor stewardship process more efficiently.
Common ways to segment donors include grouping by:
Donation amount
Donation frequency
Donation recency
Engagement level
Communication preferences
Demographics
Then, you can reach out to each group with communications and engagement opportunities that they’ll resonate with. For example, you may create a special newsletter for monthly donors that lets them know about upcoming events and volunteer outings happening each month.
3. Develop an outreach cadence.
Using your segments, create an automated outreach cadence that keeps donors’ shared characteristics in mind. New donors should receive more in-depth information about your organization and mission that they may not have received in the initial cultivation process. Then, you can automate more specific communications to your segments to streamline your donor stewardship.
By integrating your email marketing software and your donor database, you can create personalized campaigns depending on donors’ interests and current stages in the stewardship process. For instance, during the cultivation stage, you may send prospects within a ten-mile radius of your organization’s headquarters information about in-person events and engagement opportunities in their community.
4. Offer additional engagement opportunities.
To maintain relationships with donors, you’ll need to offer engagement opportunities other than simply donating. While you may already have general fundraising events and volunteer opportunities planned, take the time to develop additional opportunities for donors to engage with your cause, such as:
Cause-related workshops and speaker sessions
Meetings with beneficiaries
Tours of your facility
Exclusive major donor events
Fundraising event planning committees
When you share activities with your donors that are unaccompanied by a donation ask, you prove to donors that you’re committed to providing them with a positive experience with your nonprofit. Through a variety of engagement opportunities, you can build a strong community of supporters and advocates for your cause.
5. Collect feedback.
You can (and should) measure progress using the key performance indicators (KPIs) and goals you identified early on in the stewardship process. However, qualitative data in the form of donor feedback can give you insight into what your donors enjoy about your stewardship efforts and what your team could improve.
Send regular surveys to your donors to gather feedback about your donor stewardship plan. The questions you may ask include:
How often would you like our nonprofit to communicate with you?
Is our current communication frequency too little, too much, or the right amount?
What engagement opportunities have you most enjoyed?
What additional engagement opportunities would you like to see offered?
Is there anything else our nonprofit can do to improve your experience with us?
Analyze donors’ responses with your team to glean any insights you can apply to your donor stewardship plan. For donors with multiple ideas or many points of feedback, consider calling them to hear more about their experience and gain an even more in-depth understanding of your stewardship efforts’ efficacy.
Wrapping Up
With a comprehensive donor stewardship plan, your nonprofit can build strong donor relationships, increase donor retention, and earn more for your cause. Whether you’re trying to grow your recurring donor program, acquire more major donors, or follow up with event attendees more effectively, a dedicated plan will assist you in reaching your goals and stewarding donors to higher levels of the donor pyramid.
To learn more about elements of the donor stewardship process, check out these resources:
Nonprofit Basics: The Donor Pyramid. When you develop a donor pyramid, you can more easily steward donors to higher engagement levels. This guide presents tips for how to personalize your donor pyramid to your organization.
Donor Recognition: When & How to Acknowledge Supporters. Recognizing your donors allows you to show your appreciation and strengthen your relationships with them. Dive deeper into donor recognition strategies with this guide.
https://doublethedonation.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Donor-Stewardship_Feature.jpg7502000Adam Weingerhttps://doublethedonation.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/logo-dtd.svgAdam Weinger2024-01-24 21:15:242024-10-01 12:46:26Donor Stewardship: How to Retain Support Effectively
Whether it’s a sorority, a food bank, or a socially responsible business, some organizations require their members to volunteer to build their skill sets and give back to their communities. Many nonprofits benefit from the temporary extra hands that mandatory volunteering provides, but there are many ways that you can convert these short-term volunteers into committed supporters, even after they’ve hit their hourly quota.
In this guide, we’ll go over the basics of mandatory volunteering programs and how your nonprofit can leverage them. Specifically, we’ll cover:
Let’s explore how your nonprofit can help your mandatory volunteering program reach its full potential.
Mandatory Volunteering FAQ
What is mandatory volunteering?
Mandatory volunteering is when an organization requires individuals to volunteer for a certain amount of time to receive benefits. Some examples of mandatory volunteering in practice include:
Educational institutions require students to volunteer as a graduation requirement.
Membership-based organizations require individuals to volunteer as a membership requirement.
Social service organizations require individuals to volunteer to receive social services, such as food banks where beneficiaries contribute volunteer hours for meals.
Judicial systems require individuals to volunteer in the form of community service as rehabilitation or restitution for minor offenses.
Businesses require their employees to volunteer as a team-building exercise.
Chances are, your nonprofit has an organization in your area that mandates volunteering. Volunteers for these organizations can make great additions to your program—we’ll explore the benefits in-depth in a later section.
How does mandatory volunteering work?
Before you add mandatory volunteering outreach into your nonprofit’s recruitment strategy, you should understand how it works. While each organization is different, most mandatory volunteering programs function like this:
The organization providing volunteers defines the objectives, rules, and structure of its mandatory volunteering program to complement its overall goals. Program guidelines might include the number of required volunteer hours or the type of volunteering the participant must complete.
Often, the organization providing volunteers reaches out to a nonprofit and establishes a partnership. While a partnership isn’t required, it ensures that the nonprofit has a steady stream of volunteers while guaranteeing placements for those who are required to volunteer.
The nonprofit provides custom onboarding and training for mandated volunteers based on their skill set, experience, and motivation for volunteering.
Once the volunteers have hit their required hours, the nonprofit thanks them for their work and gives them an exit survey to see how it can improve their program.
As you can see, mandatory volunteer programs benefit from open communication and mutual understanding between nonprofits and the organizations that mandate volunteering.
What are the benefits and drawbacks of mandatory volunteering for nonprofits?
Recruiting mandated volunteers isn’t the best solution for every nonprofit. Before deciding to add it to your outreach strategy, take these pros and cons into account:
Pros:
Expanded volunteer base. Mandated volunteers can improve your recruitment efforts and fill out your work schedule.
Consistent availability. Mandated volunteers will make a greater effort to schedule and attend volunteer shifts so they can hit their hourly quota.
Enhanced donation potential. Showing the importance of your mission through mandatory volunteering can inspire them to donate to your cause.
Improved community engagement. Forming partnerships with volunteer providers can help you make connections with other organizations in your community.
Potential for a long-term commitment. By being exposed to your nonprofit and mission, mandated volunteers might genuinely appreciate your staff, beneficiaries, and other aspects of your nonprofit and become long-term supporters even after they’ve hit their hours.
Cons:
Lack of connection to your cause. Since mandated volunteers come to your nonprofit to fulfill a requirement, they might not have a strong affiliation with your cause, which can lead to burnout.
Capacity challenges. Depending on the size of your mandated volunteer base, you might have to turn people away to avoid overwhelming your team or depleting your resources.
Mismatch of skills and needs. Since your mandated volunteers might have specific hour requirements and limited choices in their placements, it’s possible that their skills won’t be a good match for your nonprofit’s needs.
Various reasons for participating. Some of your volunteers might feel more or less enthusiastic about volunteering with you depending on their reasons for being there, which can impact their productivity and your overall performance.
High turnover rate. Since many mandated volunteers are motivated by their hourly benchmark, they’re more likely to move on after they’re done working with your organization.
How can you gauge if recruiting mandated volunteers is right for your nonprofit?
Adding mandatory volunteering to your recruitment strategy can be a big decision. Use this decision tree to evaluate whether your nonprofit would benefit from recruiting mandated volunteers. Any “no” answers mean it might not be right for your nonprofit currently and any “yes” answers mean you should proceed to the next decision.
Do you have a consistent need for volunteers?
Can you accept the costs of training mandatory volunteers knowing that they may not stay engaged long-term?
Can you provide meaningful and varied volunteer opportunities?
Do you have the capacity to manage and train a large number of volunteers?
Are there businesses, educational institutions, or social services organizations nearby to partner with?
Can you ensure a positive experience for volunteers?
Can your nonprofit accept the increased liability of working with mandated volunteers, including those fulfilling volunteer hours as part of court-ordered community service?
Please note that this is only a baseline decision tree. Each nonprofit is unique, so you should incorporate your own needs, goals, and preferences into account and adjust accordingly. Also, work with your legal team to review any potential legal issues or risks.
How to Turn Mandatory Volunteers into Lifelong [or Long-Term] Supporters
Accepting mandated volunteers into your program provides new opportunities to convert casual audience members into passionate donors and volunteers. You can convert them, boost fundraising, and secure your long-term success with these tips.
1. Spread awareness of volunteer grants and other CSR programs.
Many companies that mandate or highly encourage volunteering also offer other corporate social responsibility (CSR) programs, like volunteer grants and matching gifts. Mandated volunteers can amplify their positive impact by contributing volunteer grants to your nonprofit
Volunteer grants are a CSR program in which corporations promise monetary donations if an employee volunteers for a certain amount of hours with a nonprofit. Here’s how your nonprofit can promote and collect volunteer grants from mandated volunteers:
An individual volunteers extensively at your nonprofit
Your team identifies volunteer-grant-eligible participants with a CSR database like Double the Donation
Your nonprofit reaches out to them, promoting volunteer grants and providing instructions for researching their policy
The volunteer researches their company policy
If the volunteer has met the policy requirements, they submit volunteer grant forms
The company reviews the volunteer grant application
If the application is approved, the company donates funds to the nonprofit
Besides volunteer grants, you can also promote other CSR programs to boost support for your mission. For instance, you can spread awareness of matching gifts, a CSR program in which employees can get their charitable contributions matched by their employer if they meet the program’s criteria. Research the types of CSR programs that your mandatory volunteers might respond well to and spread the word at an upcoming shift.
2. Focus on making lasting connections.
While their reasons for supporting your nonprofit may differ, mandated volunteers should be treated the same as other volunteers, which means you should strive to forge a personal relationship with them. Furthermore, mandated volunteers who feel welcomed and valued are more likely to continue working with your nonprofit. Here are some ways you can make mandated volunteers feel like part of the team:
Get to know them personally. Simply learning all of your new volunteers’ names when they show up for their first shift demonstrates that you put effort into getting to know them as people. You can take it a step further by asking about your volunteers’ hobbies, experiences, and other personal information on their intake form.
Offer social activities. Facilitate a welcoming community by allowing your volunteers to get to know each other outside of their shifts. For instance, you could organize a dinner at the end of a shift so mandated volunteers can make connections while bonding over great food.
Invite them to fundraisers and other events. Introduce volunteers to new aspects of your organization by inviting them to fundraisers and other events. This can help them feel more connected to their work and gives you the chance to strike up a conversation with them.
Provide progress updates. Show your volunteers the real impact of their work by updating them on your nonprofit’s progress. For example, you could let food bank volunteers know that a week’s worth of work yields an additional three hundred meals.
Genuinely showing that you care about your mandated volunteers as people is the most important component of motivating them to stick around after they’ve hit their quota. Take every opportunity to talk to them, compliment them on a job well done, and integrate them into your volunteer community.
3. Show your appreciation.
Your nonprofit relies on the help of your volunteers to execute your programs and give back to your beneficiaries at a high caliber. Showing your appreciation for their efforts isn’t just a nice thing to do—it also improves volunteer satisfaction and retention. Try these strategies for showing your gratitude to mandated volunteers:
Create custom awards. Whether they’re performance-based or superlative, invite your volunteers to an awards ceremony where you recognize them for their accomplishments. Just make sure you get permission from each attendee to be recognized publicly.
Take extra steps to improve your program. Go above and beyond to make your program stellar so mandated volunteers will want to stay. Ask them for feedback once they’ve completed a few shifts with your nonprofit and keep them updated on which items you plan to implement. For instance, you might start offering snacks for shifts that occur around a meal or adjusting your shift times so more people can attend.
Offer volunteer development days. Skill development is a valuable perk that you can provide to show your thanks for their hard work and help them advance to a higher role within your program. For example, a food bank might offer training in floor management and more hours to high-performing individuals, giving them skills that they can add to their resumes.
Send personalized thank-you messages. No matter how long they work with your nonprofit, you should thank each volunteer for their time. A handwritten note adds a unique personal touch that can feel more authentic than an email, so try to send those when you can. If you can only send emails, make sure each one is addressed to the recipient by name and mentions the specific project they worked on.
Involve beneficiaries. Getting a thank-you message from a beneficiary can be an unexpected, yet welcome surprise for your mandated volunteers. Ask beneficiaries if they’d like to be part of a thank-you email or video. Your volunteers will feel more emotionally connected to your nonprofit when you match a face to the cause.
Thanking volunteers is a simple gesture that makes their work feel valued by your team and beneficiaries. Also, remember that not everything has to be a planned gesture—simply thanking volunteers verbally at the end of a shift can go a long way.
Wrapping Up + Additional Resources
Now that you know the details of mandatory volunteering, it’s time for your nonprofit to decide if adding it to your volunteer offerings is worthwhile. Once you’ve reviewed the pros and cons and conducted a needs assessment, evaluate your current community connections to gauge if you could easily forge any partnerships.
If you decide to integrate mandatory volunteers into your nonprofit’s ecosystem, personalize your stewardship approach and focus on providing a rewarding experience.
Looking for more information about how to incorporate corporate volunteerism into your nonprofit’s volunteer strategy? Start with these additional resources:
Tons of companies (from Fortune 500 enterprises to the local law firm down the street) offer generous employee gift-matching programs. When such a program is available, the business essentially agrees to match donations made by its staff to a wide range of charitable causes. These opportunities are great—and relatively well-known in the nonprofit space. However, there’s another type of corporate matching program that’s less widely understood, and that is one-off matching gift programs.
One-off (or custom) matching gift programs generally involve specific partnerships between one corporation and one nonprofit organization. And the results can be grand!
If you’re interested in making the most of corporate matching opportunities for your mission, you’ve come to the right place. In this guide, we’ll walk you through everything you need to know as you begin crafting a plan to source and leverage one-off matching initiatives. This includes:
Ready to dive in? One-off matching gifts have the potential to bring your organization’s corporate fundraising to the next level. You just need a plan that outlines how your team can do so. And for that, let’s start with the basics.
The basics of one-off matching gift programs
One-off matching gift programs are those that are unique to a single organization. In this case, it’s yours! In the matching gift sector, you may hear this type of partnership described in a few ways—including custom, one-off, exclusive, or even unique matching gift programs.
Regardless of the term used, the bottom line is the same: a company works with an organization to facilitate a matching gift program with narrower criteria than a standard match program would have.
Specifically, donations to your nonprofit are the only ones being matched.
You might wonder why a company would offer this particular type of donation-matching initiative.
Picture this: let’s say you run an organization dedicated to breast cancer research and treatment services. Now, imagine a corporate CEO has a soft spot for missions like yours. They come to your nonprofit team with a proposal: They’d like to match employee donations to your organization throughout Breast Cancer Awareness Month.
While the company may not typically have the bandwidth to match all team member donations, a one-off matching gift program can serve as an excellent jumping-off point for corporate philanthropy. Alternatively, a business might offer a traditional matching gift initiative with a 1:1 ratio year-round. During particular times (or to particular causes), however, the employer might elevate its program by offering a temporary 2, 3, or even 4:1 match through a one-off program.
Check out the clip below to get a two-minute overview of one-off matching gifts.
Interested in a more in-depth examination of the programs? Register to get the webinar replay here!
Double the Donation’s one-off match program functionality [with auto-submission]
If you’ve made an effort to elevate corporate fundraising at your organization, you’ve likely invested in a matching gift automation software like Double the Donation. This tool makes it quick and easy for you and your donors to locate information regarding thousands of matching gift companies.
If a company doesn’t offer a widely available matching gift program, though, they likely won’t show up in a search of the database tool. And that confusion can cause a disruption in the number of matching gift requests actually submitted—and secured—for your cause.
When you’ve organized a one-off matching gift program with a corporate partner, you want your donors to seamlessly locate the information they need to initiate the match process.
Luckily, Double the Donation has the solution: we’re offering built-in functionality for managing unique matching gift programs in 360MatchPro. That means you can add matching gift programs specific to your cause to your matching gift search tool—without it populating in other organizations’ databases as well. This way, donors can access the policy and forms they need to complete their matching gift requests on your nonprofit’s behalf.
While this functionality has previously been available exclusively for 360MatchPro Enterprise clients, we’re excited to announce that all 360MatchPro Standard accounts now have access to our unique program management tools!
*As a note, this feature is designed specifically for fundraisers looking to manage custom matching gift initiatives—360MatchPro does not work directly with corporations. If you’re a company interested in creating a matching gift program, contact us, and we’ll share information about our corporate vendor partners.
Adding a One-Off Program in 360MatchPro
Already have a corporate partner offering a one-off matching gift program for your organization? To add your unique campaign to your nonprofit’s matching gift database, log into your 360MatchPro portal and fill out a brief form regarding the offered program. (This can be located under the settings tab → Manage Programs.)
To save the program in your database, you’ll be asked for a few key details regarding the agreed-upon guidelines and parameters. This includes:
Company name
Point of contact information (e.g., the workplace giving coordinator or HR department), email address, and phone number
Types of eligible employees (full-time, part-time, retired team members, and/or spouses)
Minimum and maximum donations matched
Matching gift ratio
Submission form URL or PDF upload (and an overview of the request process)
Program start and end dates
From there, the custom matching gift initiative will begin populating within eligible donors’ queries! All they need to do is begin typing their employer’s name in your organization’s search tool and select the company from the populating options. Once they’re redirected to your confirmation screen (or afterward in an email), donors should find the easy-to-access program details and instructions as usual.
Enabling Auto-Submission for Your One-Off Program
In the same form, your team will also be asked whether you’d like to enable optional auto-submission functionality for the one-off matching gift program. This essentially enables Double the Donation to pre-fill a request form on the donor’s behalf, thus streamlining their experience and enhancing participation and engagement rates.
In order to see the best results from auto-submission forms, be sure to also fill out your comprehensive Organization Profile within 360MatchPro. (This can be located under the settings tab → Organization Profile.)
This resource should include vital and up-to-date information about your nonprofit that will ultimately be used for your matching gift company to review and approve requests. When qualifying donors initiate the auto-submission process from your giving page, Double the Donation has the necessary details to complete the request behind the scenes, thus automating and streamlining donors’ efforts.
The details in your nonprofit’s profile should include:
Your organization’s name
Phone number
Tax ID number (EIN)
Website URL
Full mailing address
Form W-9
501(c)(3) IRS affirmation letter
In the end, proactively sharing this information increases the likelihood that matches are completed without a hitch. As a result, you can expect more matching gift funds flowing into your cause in a timely manner.
(Hint: Your Organization Profile helps streamline auto-submission for other companies’ general matching gift programs as well!)
Locating a one-off corporate matching gift partner
One-off or unique matching gift programs are, by definition, developed on an ad hoc basis. Luckily, that opens up a world of possibilities—because just about any company could offer such an initiative.
As you begin seeking the right partner for your one-off matching gift program, we recommend taking a similar approach to the pursuit of a traditional corporate sponsorship. Following these steps can help organize your efforts and make the most of every avenue of support available to you!
Identifying companies your donors work for that don’t have existing matching gift programs.
Reach out to non-participating employers and share that you have a lot in common with them and their key stakeholders (your donors and their employees) already. Then, let your point of contact know you’d like to launch a one-off donation-matching initiative. Point out that it can be a great way to get into matching gifts for the first time, and be sure to share that your organization has helpful tools and resources for streamlining the facilitation of such a program.
Top tip: If your team uses 360MatchPro, the “Leading Companies” feature allows you to isolate the employers most often searched by donors in your database tool. It even flags top companies according to whether they have an existing match program or not!
Encouraging donors to advocate for a one-off matching program on your behalf.
Your donors can be some of your greatest assets. If they work for companies without existing programs, see if your supporters would be willing to pitch the idea to their employer on your behalf. When you provide a handy template supporters can use to propose a program (such as one included below), they’ll be increasingly likely to take such steps. And a company is going to be more open to considering the opportunity when the proposal is coming from a member of their own team.
Top tip: We recommend implementing 360MatchPro’s custom redirect functionality to inform ineligible donors about the ways they can get involved regardless. When a donor is marked as likely ineligible for a matching gift, send them to a page on your website that shares a myriad of opportunities for increased support: including championing a one-off matching gift program to their employer!
Suggesting unique opportunities for amplifying existing matching gift programs.
One-off matching gift programs are sometimes built off of companies’ existing match initiatives, too! That means you might not be starting from ground zero when it comes to communicating the matching gift opportunity and how a company can get involved.
Instead, there may be a business that contributes a number of matching gifts to your organization already. But in the company’s giving, you see an opportunity for growth or additional, untapped potential. In this case, you might consider proposing the idea of an “above and beyond” matching gift opportunity to set your prospective one-off program apart.
Here are a few examples of ways a company can scale up its matching gift program for your organization:
Increased matching gift ratios (e.g., a company usually matches gifts at a 1:1 ratio but raises the rate to 2:1 for a cancer research organization during Breast Cancer Awareness Month)
Decreased donation minimums (for example, let’s say a company generally requires donations of least $50 to qualify for a matching gift. During Pride month, it removes the minimum gift size for an LGBTQ+ nonprofit as a way to incentivize employee giving to the cause)
Increased donation maximums (a company typically instills a $500 cap on matching gifts per employee but raises the maximum threshold to $5,000 for a local food bank during Matching Gift Month)
Fundraising matches (a company generally matches gifts that employees donate personally but opts to match all gifts collected for a peer-to-peer fundraiser on behalf of a particular mission organization)
Top tip: One-off matching gift programs can offer an excellent opportunity to highlight giving days, awareness and affinity months, and more. Consider which celebrations best align with your nonprofit and its mission, then begin seeking corporate matching gift partners to amplify such efforts.
Creating a “one-off matching gift” interest page on your website.
Your nonprofit’s website is one of its most valuable assets. And, just like you can leverage this resource to share general matching gift program information, you can also use it to drum up interest for one-off matching gifts. The key difference, however, is that you’ll be targeting prospective companies rather than individual donors!
As you build a one-off matching gifts page on your site, we recommend the following best practices for success:
Make it easy to locate. You won’t reap many benefits from a web page that’s nearly impossible to find!
Review your mission. Don’t assume any prospective partners are already familiar with your organization. Provide a brief summary of your vision and your team’s work toward it. Pictures help, too!
Define the “one-off match” opportunity. Make sure to clearly define a one-off matching gift program and clarify how it differs from a standard matching gift.
Focus on the benefits. Companies want to know what advantages are being offered in any potential partnership. State the ways a one-off matching gift program will aid the employer in reaching its goals. The more specific you can be, the better!
Embed a contact form. It should be quick and easy for corporate donors to enter the information you’ll need to be in touch. When initiating contact is as simple as filling out an online form, more companies will be willing to do so!
Top tip: Be sure to follow up regarding companies’ one-off matching gift partnership interest in a timely manner. Though there’s no universally agreed-upon timetable, reaching out within one business day of the form being submitted tends to be an accepted practice. Plus, following up quickly allows your team to make the most of a corporate contact’s heightened engagement level before it dwindles.
Making the pitch and communicating one-off matching gift partnership value.
At this point, you should have narrowed down potential partnerships and produced a short list of prospects that may be willing to offer a one-off match. Now, it’s time to make your pitch. And don’t forget to mention the vast benefits to participating companies as well! These include heightened employee engagement, improved corporate social responsibility (CSR), tax benefits, and more.
If you have metrics available from previous one-off matching gift partners, this information can help demonstrate tangible value through prior successful engagements. For example, you might inform your corporate contact that a previous one-off match program led to a 40% increase in corporate giving or a 65% employee satisfaction rating.
Top tip: Throughout your search, keep an eye out for companies with similar missions and visions as your own. This will help ensure your values align with one another and can maintain a mutually beneficial partnership in the long term. Not to mention, their employees may be increasingly likely to support your cause.
Establishing one-off matching gift program guidelines in conjunction with your corporate partner.
Once you’ve identified a corporate partner, you’ll need to determine specific program guidelines to define the opportunity. Like traditional matching gifts, these criteria are ultimately determined by the company offering the program. However, your organization may play a role in advising the creation of a matching gift policy. You’ll also need to ensure that the new program’s guidelines do not conflict with any of your pre-existing gift acceptance policies.
Policies for special matching gift programs typically include:
Minimum and maximum donation amounts;
Matching gift ratios;
Types of qualifying employees (i.e., full-time, part-time, retired);
Submission deadlines;
Forms and request processes;
And any other relevant information!
In this regard, the only difference between a one-off and a standard match program is the types of nonprofits eligible for funding. And that question is easy—the receiving organization is yours!
Still, it’s a good idea to discuss associated criteria with your matching gift partner before rolling out your program. This enables your team to better communicate eligibility standards and ensure match requests have the information required for approval. Plus, your organization can provide access to helpful resources that simplify the experience for you and your partners.
Top tip: If you’ve invested in Double the Donation’s matching gift platform, enabling the one-off matching gift management feature allows a company (and its employees) to benefit from a streamlined submission process.
Made possible with the standard matching gift form, this request method is quick and easy for donors to complete, minimizing additional steps and reducing roadblocks in participation. The result? More matches!
Key benefits of one-off matching gift programs for nonprofits
Though narrower in scope, one-off matching gift programs offer many of the same benefits that traditional matching gift programs do. Plus, this unique offering can unleash a number of exclusive advantages just for your cause.
These include:
Building deeper connections with charitable-minded corporations.
Whereas a typical matching gift program may lead to a company contributing to hundreds or thousands of nonprofits, a one-off matching gift program is just between you and your corporate partner. Therefore, it provides enhanced opportunities for strengthening your relationship. You might even be able to turn it into a recurring program!
Widening your fundraising reach to encompass new supporters.
When promoted effectively, one-off matching gift programs have the potential to direct first-time donors to your organization. A company’s employees may otherwise never have been made aware of your cause. But when their employer highlights the giving opportunity, your nonprofit is at the forefront of their minds. You might even uncover some new, long-term supporters this way!
Elevating donor engagement with unique match opportunities.
Perhaps your one-off matching partner employs individuals who are already involved with your cause. You have the chance to further their engagement through the program, too! In fact, studies show that simply mentioning matching gifts in donation appeals results in more than a 71% increase in response rate and a 51% increase in average gift amount.
Best practices | Top tips for successful one-off matching programs
Want to take your organization’s unique matching gift program to the next level? Consider these smart tips and tricks to better engage your donors and your corporate partners.
1. Encourage your corporate partner to promote the program to employees.
A matching gift program is only as good as the employees who know about it. Uninformed team members, after all, are not going to take the steps required to initiate a matching gift if they’ve never been informed of the opportunity. Thus, they’re not sending additional corporate revenue your way.
One of the best things a company can do to drive corporate giving participation—and, as a result, get the most out of its program offerings—is to make its employees aware of the opportunity in the first place. From the nonprofit’s end, it’s a good idea to encourage proactive employee outreach in order to aid your partner in doing so.
And when the employer incorporates the program in its public-facing marketing efforts, the philanthropic efforts also go a long way in building the company’s reputation as a charitable and socially responsible institution. Your team can even help drive promotions by sending co-branded graphics, social sharing templates, sample communications, and more!
2. Market the opportunity to your audience.
Just like you expect your matching gift partner to promote your one-off program to their employees, you’ll want to market the opportunity to your nonprofit’s audience as well. Marketing efforts from your organization might include:
A social media post highlighting the program and recognizing your matching gift company for their generosity;
A blog post on your organization’s website sharing program information and how to get involved, if applicable;
Personalized outreach (phone calls, emails, letters, etc.) to existing and prospective donors who work for the company hosting the one-off match program;
Your matching gift search tool—loaded with your one-off matching gift program—embedded in your donation forms and confirmation screen;
Post-donation email reminders that encourage the company’s employees to complete the matching gift request process if they haven’t already.
The more information that gets out regarding the one-off matching gift opportunity, the better!
Remember also that by sharing co-marketing materials with your own network of support, you can help provide additional benefits to the matching gift company. When the employer recognizes significant value from the partnership, they’ll be more likely to offer corporate and workplace giving initiatives alongside your organization in the future.
3. Enable auto-submission functionality to streamline participation.
You want your donors to be able to take part in your matching program as easily as possible. One of the best ways to simplify participation is to implement Double the Donation’s auto-submission functionality—essentially removing obstacles within the submission process and driving more requests to completion.
Why does this matter? Unfortunately, custom matching gift programs can suffer from many of the same roadblocks that traditional programs face. And one of the most common hindrances is a lack of understanding surrounding the matching gift request process from the donor’s perspective.
With auto-submission enabled, however, eligible donors can complete their match submissions right from your donation forms with no redirects, separate logins, or paper forms required! All donors typically have to do is enter their corporate email address on your gift confirmation page. Then, voilà—Double the Donation handles the rest of the submission process using our standard request form behind the scenes.
Here’s what the request process can look like with auto-submission:
Step 1) An employee of your corporate matching company makes a donation on your organization’s website and enters the company name.
Step 2) The donor enters their email on the confirmation screen, authorizing Double the Donation to auto-submit their match request.
By incorporating this innovative functionality for your unique matching gift program, everybody benefits. This includes:
Your organization, which receives increased matching gift revenue and elevated donor engagement.
Your donors, who save time with one-click matching gift requests, enabling them to make the most of their nonprofit contributions without dedicating more time and resources.
Your corporate match partner, who sees maximal program usage, more satisfied employees, and a positive brand image.
And don’t forget about your mission beneficiaries, who receive more extensive and better-funded programs and services from your organization, too!
4. Pitch an annually recurring one-off or custom match program.
Most one-off matching gift programs are going to be organized as short-term campaign initiatives (for example, a company supporting a breast cancer research nonprofit during the month of October or an LGBTQ+ advocacy organization in June). However, that doesn’t mean that the partnership has to be a one-and-done experience!
Instead, pitching your one-off match as an annually recurring event is a great way to grow your relationship with a corporate donor and its employees for the long term. You can even position the initial campaign as a “trial run,” allowing both your organization and the company to fine-tune the program and ensure it aligns well with your shared goals and values over time.
Alternatively, your one-off matching gift efforts might inspire the corporate partner to dive in fully with matching gifts—rolling out an evergreen program in conjunction with a dedicated CSR platform to simplify ongoing management. Either way, your organization is able to benefit from the company’s philanthropy on an ongoing basis!
Helpful templates to streamline corporate outreach
Effective communications—with individual and corporate donors alike—are integral to successful one-off matching gift partnerships. But knowing how to ask a company to match donations can seem nerve-wracking!
If you’re not sure how to get started, check out these sample messages for various scenarios, and adjust the provided templates to reflect your own outreach strategy.
Template #1: Pitching One-Off Matching Gifts to a Company Without an Existing Matching Gift Program
One-off matching gifts are an easy way for companies to explore donation-matching for the first time. Use this template to propose such a program to a company that does not currently offer a matching gift program for its employees.
Subject: Will you support [nonprofit] with a one-off matching gift program?
Dear [HR or CSR department head],
I hope this email finds you well. I am writing on behalf of [nonprofit], an organization deeply committed to [mission or cause]. In the past year, we’ve been fortunate to receive support from donors who share our passion for creating positive change—and many of these generous individuals are employed by [company].
As a result, we wanted to reach out and see if [company] would be interested in implementing a one-off matching gift program as a way to encourage employee giving and grow your own social responsibility efforts. This special initiative allows your company to make a meaningful difference in the community by matching your employees’ donations to [nonprofit] during a designated campaign.
I would love the opportunity to discuss this further and explore how we can tailor a one-off matching gift program to align seamlessly with [company]’s values and objectives.
Template #2: Pitching One-Off Matching Gifts to a Company With an Existing Matching Gift Program
You can also implement a one-off matching gift program to elevate an existing matching gift company’s support for your organization. Use this template to pitch an above-and-beyond program to a company that already matches gifts but has room for improvement in its efforts.
Subject: Make [company]’s matching gifts to [nonprofit] go further with a one-off matching gift partnership!
Dear [HR or CSR department head],
I am reaching out on behalf of [nonprofit], expressing our most sincere appreciation for [company]’s ongoing support through its employee matching gift program. Your commitment to philanthropy has undoubtedly made a positive difference for [mission or program], and our generous donors love having the ability to double their impact on the cause.
As we continue to work towards our shared goals, I would like to present an exciting opportunity to enhance the impact of [company]’s giving. We would love to introduce a special one-off matching gift program in partnership with your company. Specifically, we are proposing a designated campaign that offers [increased donation maximums, matching gift ratios, types of eligible employees, etc.] as a way to grow your corporate giving and bring our fundraising to new heights.
I would be delighted to discuss this proposal further and explore how we can tailor the upgraded one-off matching gift program to align seamlessly with [company]’s objectives and abilities.
Template #3: Responding to a Company’s One-Off Matching Gift Program Interest
Once you launch a custom matching gift program interest page on your nonprofit’s website, you’ll likely receive submissions from interested corporate prospects. This template can help guide your responses as you enter important partnership conversations.
Subject: Thank you for your interest in supporting [nonprofit] with a one-off match program!
Dear [company] Team OR [point of contact specified in contact form],
I hope this message finds you well. On behalf of [nonprofit], I want to extend our heartfelt gratitude for your inquiry to support our cause through a one-off matching gift program. As you may know, our mission at [nonprofit] is to [mission or vision] by [project or program], [project or program], and [project or program].
As we embark on this journey together, it’s important to first clarify what the partnership would entail for each of our teams. Simply put, a one-off matching gift program is an employee giving initiative that benefits a specific nonprofit organization—in this case, ours! Through this program, your company agrees to match donations made by your staff members to our organization, effectively doubling the impact of their contributions on our cause.
To help kickstart the process of setting up a matching gift program, here are some recommended next steps to get our partnership off the ground:
▶ Specify the types of employees that qualify to participate in the matching gift initiative.
▶ Define the minimum and maximum matchable gifts per employee.
▶ Establish your matching gift ratio.
▶ Determine the program’s start and end dates.
▶ Develop a clear submission process for employees to follow. (We recommend Double the Donation’s auto-submission process, which we can implement from our end)
We’re also pleased to provide you with templates and other helpful resources that may aid in the development and promotion of the program to your employees. Once again, thank you for considering this partnership, and please reach out if you have any additional questions or are ready to move forward with the next steps.
Template #4: Empowering a Donor to Facilitate an Introduction to their Employer
A warm introduction from a donor who works for a prospective corporate partner goes a long way. It can help get your team’s foot in the door for one-off matching gift conversations and demonstrate value in terms of shared audiences for the company in question.
Use this sample message to initiate outreach with a supporter and encourage them to connect your team with their HR or CSR department!
Subject: Double your donation impact by connecting us with [company]!
[Donor],
On behalf of the [nonprofit] team, we wanted to express our sincere gratitude for your continuous support and the invaluable contributions you’ve made towards [mission or cause]. Recently, an avenue that has shown great potential is one-off matching gift programs, designed to amplify the impact of charitable donations by employees of forward-thinking companies.
We believe that your employer, [company], could play a pivotal role in strengthening our impact through such a one-off matching gift partnership. In order to aid us in our outreach, we kindly request your assistance in making a warm introduction to the appropriate contacts at the business. Your endorsement and personal connection would undoubtedly add weight to our proposal and highlight the positive social impact that can be achieved through corporate philanthropy.
We understand that your time is valuable, and any support you can provide in facilitating this introduction would be immensely appreciated. If you have any questions or if there’s additional information you may need, please feel free to reach out.
Template #5: Advocating for a One-Off Matching Gift Program [For Donors]
Your donors may be willing to champion your cause even further by pitching a matching gift program to their employers themselves. But your team can play a crucial role in encouraging such advocates in their endeavors! Share this helpful template to empower individual donors to advocate for matching gifts on your behalf.
Subject: Request for a corporate matching gift program
Hi [manager or HR representative name],
I am writing to request the addition of a “one-off” corporate matching gift program at [company] on behalf of [nonprofit].
If you weren’t aware, thousands of companies match employee donations as a way to support their staff and the nonprofit causes they contribute to. However, I understand the limitations in budget and resources that could hinder a company from participating. That’s why, in this case, I am requesting that [company] implement a specific program in which it matches donations to [nonprofit] for a limited time.
Companies that match gifts tend to see substantial advantages in terms of employee engagement and retention, opportunities to attract competitive candidates, improved brand image, and even increased sales. And on the employee’s end, team members love knowing that their employer is willing to contribute to their favorite causes.
If you’d like to take steps to establish a matching gift program for the company, Double the Donation has provided a detailed guide that walks corporate leaders through the process.
Thank you for your consideration,
[Your name]
[Job position]
[Contact information]
Looking for more templates and other resources? 360MatchPro users can locate additional materials under Settings → Manage Programs.
Not a 360MatchPro client yet? Click here to get a demo and see how our complete matching gift automation platform can
transform your fundraising efforts.
Bonus | “The Power of a One-Off Match” Case Study: LLS & Danaher
If you’re wondering what kind of impact a one-off matching gift program can have for your organization, check out this example of a successful partnership that resulted in a unique initiative engaging employee donors at new heights.
As you read, consider which elements of this strategy you can implement in your own team’s efforts.
“Danaher Corporation’s long-standing partnership with LLS enables the team to support active research projects and help patients afford treatments.”
—Danaher Corporation Annual Report
The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (also known as LLS) is a key player in the fight against blood cancers, dedicating its mission to medical research, education, advocacy, and more. As one of the world’s largest peer-to-peer fundraising organizations, the LLS team has always been at the forefront of innovation to further its cause—including with a particularly well-established approach to corporate matching gifts. Ergo, LLS was also one of the first nonprofits to build a strategy targeting custom matching gift programs.
Armed with 360MatchPro’s automation tools since 2017, the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society has continued to develop its one-off matching gifts plan, providing corporate partners with customized resources to aid in program facilitation.
Meanwhile, Danaher Corporation, which comprises some of the world’s most groundbreaking science and technology companies, expresses a forward-looking mission of “making things better for our customers, our company, and the world.” Its focus on diagnostics, life sciences, and biotechnology—in addition to its desire to support organizations working to advance healthcare innovation—makes its decades-long partnership with LLS a natural fit.
According to a 2023 sustainability report, commitment to continuous improvement is at the heart of everything Danaher Corporation does. That’s why, in 2022 alone, the company invested more than $1.7 billion into research that funded breakthrough cancer diagnostics, innovative bioprocessing, gene sequencing, and more.
When the Danaher Corporation team sought new and innovative ways to give back to its community and increasingly engage its workforce in philanthropy, the company settled on a one-off matching gift initiative. After establishing the program, Danaher employees were invited to support LLS through an upcoming fundraising event, Light the Night. With an employee count of over 70,000, the company got on board to give back to their communities in a substantial way.
The result? In offering a one-off matching gift program in partnership with LLS, Danaher Corporation was able to increase its total giving by more than 150%, surpassing its initial fundraising goal and elevating its impact greatly.
And in the end, the company continued to grow its matching gift initiatives! Facilitated through the company-sponsored Danaher Foundation, the team continues to demonstrate a holistic and ongoing approach to corporate giving. In addition to taking its matching gift program global, Danaher also reports plans to venture into skills-based volunteerism, nonprofit board service support, and Volunteer Time Off (VTO).
Sourcing a one-off matching gift program may be one of the best ways to set your organization apart. In addition to the matching gifts ultimately paid out through the program, a one-off match will enable you to grow mutually advantageous corporate relationships that last long beyond the matching gift period itself.
And you don’t want to overlook the benefits to individual supporter engagement, either. An employer-sponsored one-off match program empowers existing donors to stretch their support even further for your cause. Not to mention, it funnels new, first-time donors to your cause in the first place!
Luckily, with the right tips, tricks, and tools, getting started has never been easier.
Interested in learning more about matching gift programs and best practices for elevating corporate fundraising at your organization? Check out our recommended resources:
How to Identify Corporate Partners
Matching gifts aren’t the only type of corporate giving program available! Find out how to identify top corporate sponsorships and potential one-off matching gift companies with this guide.
New auto-submission streamlines the matching gift process for one-off and general corporate programming. Dive deep into this innovative functionality and the providers that support it.
Thousands of companies match employee donations, but these programs stand out. Browse this list of particularly impactful matching gift companies from Double the Donation.
https://doublethedonation.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/What-to-Know-About-One-Off-Matching-Gift-Programs.png7201920Adam Weingerhttps://doublethedonation.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/logo-dtd.svgAdam Weinger2024-01-19 05:00:532024-05-08 16:04:25One-Off Matching Gift Programs | What to Know For Your Org
CSR (or corporate social responsibility) platforms are the software companies use to manage their end of the matching gift process. When an employee wants to request a match from their employer, they are often directed to an online portal from a corporate giving platform, where they are encouraged to provide information about their charitable gift and request a corporate match.
The giving platform screens employee donations to ensure gifts meet the company’s specified matching criteria then approves the donation match and disburses the funds to the receiving organization.
Some of the largest CSR software providers include Benevity, YourCause, and CyberGrants, and these three manage a portion of the top matching gift companies. However, many other effective platforms exist as well, often working with small and medium-sized businesses—and you don’t want to neglect those providers, either. For this, consider names such as Millie, POINT, Selflessly, Givinga, America’s Charities, and Bright Funds.
In order to maximize matching gift revenue, each nonprofit should register its organization with as many CSR software platforms as possible.
And we’re here to help! In this resource, we’ll cover:
Ready to learn more about setting your organization up for continued corporate giving success? Let’s dive in with the key reasons why this is a priority.
3 Reasons to Register Your Nonprofit with CSR Platforms
There is a multitude of benefits as to why this is a corporate fundraising best practice, and our team dives into three of the most significant reasons in this guide. These include:
1. Increased Visibility as a Verified Cause
Picture this: a company just announced its new corporate giving initiatives, including matching gift and volunteer grant programs. One employee within the company is so excited to participate and make a positive difference on a worthwhile cause but doesn’t have a specific charity in mind.
The employee decides to leverage the provided CSR portal their company is partnering with to locate an organization to support. They conduct a quick search of the associated nonprofits, filtering by a favorite type of mission or location. For example, let’s say they search for the terms “animal shelter” and “Atlanta.” And your pet rescue shows up! The employee is drawn to your organization, decides to make a matchable donation to the rescue, and even reaches out to explore available volunteer roles.
If you hadn’t previously registered with the platform the employee’s company utilizes, your cause likely would not have shown up during the prospective donor’s search. And you might have missed out on powerful opportunities to reach new donors and volunteers!
But because you had previously taken a few minutes to register your organization with the corporate giving management company, you were able to increase visibility for your cause. And since you had already gone through the verification process, individuals being exposed to your nonprofit can trust in the legitimacy of your organization.
2. Higher Likelihood of Matching Gift Eligibility
When your donors participate in their employers’ matching gift programs, they’ll need to follow instructions provided by the employing company on how to submit their matching gift request. This often means completing and processing the request through a dedicated matching gift software portal. And while each company chooses its own criteria regarding matching gift-eligible nonprofits, some dictate that in order to be eligible for a match, the organization must be registered with their CSR management platform of choice.
In other words, when your nonprofit is registered with a CSR software platform, you’ll be eligible to receive matches from more companies. As a result, a higher percentage of your donors’ generous contributions will qualify to receive a matching donation on your behalf.
More companies equal more eligible donors equal more matching gift revenue overall.
And when your organization registers with as many giving management platforms as possible, your likely match-eligibility will only continue to grow!
3. Simplified Donor Request Processes
According to matching gift research, only 1.31% of donations are matched at an average nonprofit organization—despite more than 26 million individuals working for companies with matching gift programs. Two of the biggest obstacles to participation include a lack of awareness of these programs, along with the assumption of a complicated match request process.
Donors love participating in matching gift programs, but not even the most dedicated supporters are likely to jump through a thousand hoops to secure a match on your behalf. The more steps involved and the longer it takes to complete the process, the higher the chance is that donors will abandon their potential match altogether.
For this reason and more, it’s always a good idea to simplify and streamline the matching gift process for your donors whenever possible. And preregistering your organization with the CSR platforms used to manage their employers’ giving programs is one of the best ways to do so.
This way, donors can simply search your organization in the platform’s nonprofit database and provide information about the donation they made. On the other hand, if they don’t find your cause in the organization lookup tool, the submission process can be significantly delayed, and some donors might not come back to complete their request.
Even once the donor submitted the match request, not being registered with the CSR platform can cause additional delays in the match disbursement process, meaning it will be even longer before you receive your funding.
The simple solution? Register your organization with these CSR software platforms now!
P.S. If you’re looking to register your organization with the most intuitive and innovative platforms, specifically those that prioritize a seamless user experience, we recommend getting started with CLMA-certified tools. Select CSR vendors like Givinga, Millie, POINT, and Selflessly have been awarded for their devotion to seamless giving and matching, ensuring organizations’ corporate engagement efforts are effective and impactful.
CSR Platform Registration: Our Checklist of Key Steps To Get Started
By now, you should understand the critical importance of registering your organization with the top CSR platforms. But the next big question concerns how you do so—and how you can ensure you make the most of each platform you use.
We recommend following each of these essential steps to create and optimize your registration with top CSR portals:
1. Locate the application for each CSR platform.
Most CSR software providers aim to make this step as simple as possible for the nonprofits looking to verify their causes. For example, a quick online search for “registering a nonprofit with [CSR vendor name—e.g., Benevity, YourCause, CyberGrants, etc.]” should pull up relevant web pages pertaining to the platform in question.
You can also locate the links to common nonprofit portal registrations below:
Depending on the company, this will likely include an online application, step-by-step instructions, or a combination of both. If you have a hard time locating the process for a particular platform, click around their website or consider reaching out to the team to find out more.
2. Provide requested information about your nonprofit.
To register for any platform, you’ll need to provide details about your organization and its status as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. This may include your address, EIN, and/or copy of your Tax-Exempt Status Letter from the IRS.
Next, the CSR software company will review the included information to verify its accuracy. Upon approval, the company will provide your team with access to an online portal from which you will manage your nonprofit account.
3. Have a strategy for username and password management.
More than likely, you’ll have multiple team members managing accounts on multiple CSR platforms. Make sure you have a plan in place to grant easy access to anyone who should be utilizing the platforms on your behalf without compromising the security of your account.
For many organizations, this involves leveraging a secure password management and sharing system with intuitive access controls. Or, you may provision individual login access to individuals within the CSR platform itself. In this case, your organization will have a single account with multiple users (although not all providers have this functionality).
Alternatively, you might choose to establish a universal set of login credentials that you use across each portal you register for. Going this route can help avoid too many “forgot my username” and “reset my password” attempts. However, the practice also introduces a number of security risks that you might rather avoid, such as former employees retaining access to your nonprofit’s portal.
4. Establish a dedicated point of contact for matching gifts + volunteer grant management.
Matching gifts and volunteer grants are two nonprofit funding sources that are most likely to slip through the cracks. At smaller nonprofits, it can seem as if no one has the time or resources to devote to workplace giving opportunities, and at larger organizations, it often falls into a game of “I thought so-and-so was going to do that,” when so-and-so thought it was someone else’s responsibility altogether.
In order to avoid the resulting pitfalls, we recommend selecting a dedicated POC to be in charge of all things matching gifts and volunteer grants—including manually verifying donations and volunteer hours, managing the organization’s corporate giving portals (and understanding the nuances between platforms, as seen below), and more. And if your nonprofit is particularly large, you may even benefit from having a separate person responsible for volunteer grants than your same matching gift contact.
It’s critically important that your matching gift coordinator or team is thoroughly trained in all things matching gifts. But it’s a good idea to provide an overview of the basics for all team members, including paid staff and volunteers alike.
Portal-Specific Tips and Checklist Items for Top CSR Platforms
Each CSR platform is designed differently, which means each solution offers its own unique set of pain points for nonprofits looking to utilize the portal to manage their corporate fundraising.
Here, we’ve compiled a list of tips and best practices for nonprofit team members looking to get set up with each of the top three corporate giving vendors and overcome common roadblocks.
Designate a universal notification email for ALL correspondences (this should be something like matchinggifts@xyz.org rather than a personal email address).
Utilize Gift IDs and Access Codes when trying to locate an account.
Leverage the “Donation” tab in Project Front Door for a streamlined verification process.
Be prepared to manually verify donations with CyberGrants for matching gift requests in order for match funding to be approved.
Use the “Need Support?” link at the bottom of every company page for a more timely response.
Interested in even more CyberGrants management tips? Check out our more in-depth guide to the topic here.
YourCause Portal Management Tips
Register your organization with YourCause’s NPOconnect.
When checking for notifications, ensure you are under the Head Quarters account rather than a chapter or affiliate account.
Utilize the “MY WORKSPACE” tab, as all match requests and notifications will populate here.
Employ the “GIVING” and “ALL TRANSACTIONS” tabs to locate any gifts, grants, or donations.
Create your own “admin” account first, then add your organization account.
Don’t forget your EIN (or tax-exempt number. Hint: You can find this on the IRS website here).
Choose a few causes your organization supports and add a few sentences about your mission.
Use automatically generated reports on POINT to tell a story about your organization to potential donors and supporters.
Registering with CSR platforms is one of the best ways to ensure your organization receives as many matching gifts as possible while simultaneously streamlining the processes involved for your donors and your fundraising team. And this shouldn’t be an overly complicated task, either—so we suggest getting on it as soon as possible.
Interested in learning more about how to maximize your nonprofit’s matching gifts and corporate giving? Check out these other educational resources:
Top 30 Matching Gift Companies: Find Your Match. Tens of thousands of companies offer matching gift programs for their employees—but these 30 are some of the most generous and noteworthy. See what names to keep an eye out for!
https://doublethedonation.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/DTD_Registering-Your-Org-with-CSR-Platforms-Key-Steps-For-Each_Feature.png7502000Adam Weingerhttps://doublethedonation.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/logo-dtd.svgAdam Weinger2024-01-07 19:30:012024-07-29 18:21:19Registering Your Org with CSR Platforms + Key Steps For Each
When the Danaher Corporation team sought new and innovative ways to give back to its community and increasingly engage its workforce in philanthropy, the company settled on a one-off matching gift initiative. After establishing the program, Danaher employees were invited to support LLS through an upcoming fundraising event, Light the Night. With an employee count of over 70,000, the company got on board to give back to their communities in a substantial way.
