Qgiv is pleased to announce an expansion of its preferred partnership with Double the Donation, the leading provider of matching gift and volunteer grant solutions to nonprofits and educational institutions. Double the Donation is now available on Qgiv peer-to-peer fundraising forms which will give Qgiv’s peer-to-peer and auction participants the ability to check their matching gift eligibility and submit matching gift requests to their employer within seconds.
This expansion comes less than a month after Qgiv debuted an integration between Qgiv standard giving forms and Double the Donation Matching.
“It means a lot not just to us at Qgiv but also to our clients to ensure that the latest and best functionality is being released as soon as it’s available,” said Todd Baylis, CEO and co-founder of Qgiv, Inc. “Double the Donation shares that commitment, and for that reason, we’re proud to work alongside them as our preferred matching gifts provider.”
360MatchPro is now available on Qgiv peer-to-peer fundraising forms.
With the new integration, nonprofits fundraising through Qgiv peer-to-peer fundraising and auction forms now have access to the same matching gift identification and automation capabilities as those using Qgiv standard donation forms. Double the Donation automatically identifies matching gift opportunities throughout the native Qgiv donation process, then follows up with donors to ensure that all opportunities are converted into additional revenue for nonprofits.
“We’re happy to partner with a provider like Qgiv that prioritizes client success so highly in technical decision-making,” said Adam Weinger, President of Double the Donation. “That mindset backed the expansion of our integration into Qgiv’s auction and peer-to-peer products.”
In the United States, $4-7 billion in potential matching gift revenue going unclaimed every year. The Double the Donation integration offers nonprofits fundraising through Qgiv the opportunity to close that gap.
About Qgiv: Qgiv, Inc. is a leading digital fundraising platform founded in 2007. From their headquarters in Lakeland, FL they currently serve more than 4,500 nonprofit and faith-based organizations in the United States and Canada. Their no long-term contract pricing, unlimited access to tools and support, and integrations with leading CRM and email tools make it easy for nonprofits to experiment with new technology and grow their digital fundraising programs. Qgiv is committed to helping nonprofits raise more by anticipating and addressing their needs and challenges through customer-led development and close attention to industry best practices. To learn more about the Qgiv platform, visit www.qgiv.com.
About Double the Donation: Double the Donation helps nonprofits and educational institutions increase fundraising from corporate matching gift and employee volunteer grant programs. Double the Donation maintains a database of employee matching gift and volunteer grant programs. With more than 20,000 entries in the database, Double the Donation presents match-eligible donors with their company’s specific program requirements, including a direct link to their company’s online matching gift submission portal or PDF download. To learn more about Double the Donation, visit https://doublethedonation.com
https://doublethedonation.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Double-the-Donation-Qgiv-p2p-and-auction-update-feature.png290775Adam Weingerhttps://doublethedonation.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/logo-dtd.svgAdam Weinger2020-06-08 16:00:172025-02-27 19:04:55Qgiv Expands Integration with Preferred Partner Double the Donation into Peer-to-Peer Fundraising and Auction Forms
Matching gifts are an excellent way of adding further value to a donor’s gift. But how do you convince your donors to apply for matching gifts after their donation is made? Here are five ways you can encourage donors to pursue a matched gift from their employer.
1. Ask on your confirmation page
A customizable donation confirmation page is a great way to put in a request for donors to seek a matching gift. For example, you could slip in a request to seek a match below the thank you message that reads, “Make your gift go twice as far! Ask your employer if they’ll match your gift!” Be sure to provide links to resources about matching gifts beneath the message. Many donors are unfamiliar with matching gifts, so it’s important that you teach your donors what matching gifts are and provide instructions on how to determine if their employer matches gifts.
One really convenient way to kickstart the process is embedding a matching gift search tool, like that of Double the Donation, on the confirmation page. If your online donation platform has a matching gift service integration, like Qgiv and Double the Donation, make sure you’re taking full advantage of it by adding it to your online donation form or confirmation page.
Your confirmation page doesn’t have to be a transactional message. It’s a great place to share additional information and ask donors to get more involved. Asking donors to seek a match is a great way to deepen their involvement with your organization. This can be accomplished easily by embedding Double the Donation’s matching gift search widget onto your confirmation page and encouraging donors to search for their employer.
2. Ask donors to pursue a match in their receipt
Another option for asking donors to seek matching gifts post-donation is to include an ask in their receipt. Whether you send an automated receipt or a printed thank-you letter, let donors know their gift can go farther. Like a donation confirmation page, a receipt can include more than just transaction details. Your receipt is an invitation to donors to get more involved with supporting your cause.
Include a request to seek a matching gift alongside other relationship-building requests— like signing up to volunteer, follow your organization’s social media accounts, etc. That request can link to a blog post about matching gifts or to a dedicated matching gift page on your website. Be sure whichever page you direct donors to allows them to search for their employer and proceed to apply for a match.
3. Send follow-up emails to donors
If you’re not sending follow-up emails to donors after their gift, now is the time to start! Donors want to know how you used their gift, what progress you’re making, and what your plans are. Satisfy their curiosity with regular email updates! You’ll provide proof to your donors that their gift was noticed and the funds they gave were used well.
Within your follow up emails, reiterate the benefits of matching gifts. Do your research into local companies with matching gift programs and include a list of companies that match gifts. Hopefully, your donors will see their employer on the list and will be inspired to apply.
Include an employer search bar so donors who don’t see their employer listed can quickly search for them. As you become aware of more local businesses offering a matching gift benefit to their employees, update your list to include them. The larger the list, the more likely your donors will find their employer and seek a match on their own.
4. Check the status of pending matches
If your online donation form includes a matching gift search function or other corporate giving functions, make note of transactions with an expected match. Then, be sure to schedule follow-ups until the gift is fulfilled.
It’s easy for donors to indicate they will apply for a matching gift. It’s often easy for them to complete the associated paperwork, too. The hard part is finding the time to sit down and do it. Your donors are busy people!
Following up with donors as they pursue matching gifts is a great way to motivate them to complete the necessary paperwork. You don’t want to be too pushy, so schedule your follow up calls and/or emails with enough time between them to ensure you’re not badgering your donors.
A weekly check-in after the first call should be sufficient. If your donor requests that you reach out less, be sure to abide by their wishes and adjust your schedule accordingly.
As you receive the expected matches, be sure to update your CRM to reflect that the matching gift was received! This way, you’ll know to stop calling your donor to seek updates on the matching gift process.
5. Reach out to donors when gift matching is successful
Sometimes, a great way to inspire donors to give again and pursue another match is to let them know their hard work paid off! When you receive matching donations and link them to a donor’s gift, give them a call to personally thank them. Your donor was directly responsible for the additional funds you received.
During the engagement, let them know how much you appreciate them applying for the matching gift. Explain to your donor how those additional funds will be used. Thank them and mention that you hope you can count on them for future support as well.
After you’ve had time to put the donor’s funds to use and have provided them with an update, encourage them to give again with a personalized appeal. In the appeal, mention their matched gift and express how much it helped. Then, ask your donor to grow their support with a recurring gift. Explain that their recurring donation might also be matched by their employer so that their regular income can make a huge difference for your cause.
Conclusion
Encourage your supporters to seek matching gifts after they give. Include requests for matching gifts directly on your donation confirmation page and receipts, promote matching gifts in follow up communications, and call to thank donors when their matching gifts are received. When it comes time to ask your donors for another gift, be sure to ask them to seek a match from their employer again.
Normalizing the matching gift process for donors will ensure the completion of more matching gift requests in the future and more matches to support your cause. For more information, check out these matching gift best practices!
This was a guest post contributed by Shay Lessman at Qgiv.
Matching gifts offer powerful benefits to both donors and nonprofit organizations. Nonprofits enjoy virtually twice the amount of donations, and donors are pleased to know that their donations are going even further. If the matching gift is from a company, the business itself can enjoy some tax benefits as well as an increased social image.
This by far is a win-win scenario!
Matching gifts can be a great way for development practitioners to push their funding campaigns forward. It’s amazing how many charities leave money on the table because they failed to help their donors engage in the corporate matching gift annuities.
What is a Matching Gift?
Corporate matching gifts are a type of philanthropy in which companies financially match donations that their employees make to nonprofit organizations. When an employee makes a donation, they’ll request the matching gift from their employer, who then makes their own donation.
Many businesses run corporate giving programs whereby they match employee donations with contributions to eligible nonprofit organizations. Matching gifts can double, or even triple, certain donations, which can greatly assist fundraising campaigns.
For example, an employee donates $2,500 to an eligible non-profit organization and files a matching gift request. The employer company then approves this application and makes a 1:1 employee donation, writing a check of $2,500 to the same non-profit organization, thereby doubling the donation on the behalf of the employee. The nonprofit gets $5,000 from the donation, and the employee essentially donates $5,000, while only $2,500 comes from their own pocket.
Different companies employ different guidelines concerning matching donations. Employees are made aware of their company policies and ideally, should be aware of the percentage their companies are matching in donations. This information is often held by the human resources department of the company, who also may be responsible for making the employees aware of it.
Matching donations are a great way to enable nonprofit organizations to do more as donations increase while also helping businesses improve their corporate social responsibility.
Why Do Nonprofit Organizations Target Matching Gifts?
It’s a free flow of money! While any donation is free cash, matching gifts are an additional source of fundraising revenue that can help bankroll your organization.
NPOs need every bit of cash they can receive. As opposed to asking for new contributions, raising funds with matching donations lets you ask existing donors to do more without donating more of their own money. Many businesses with matching gift programs provide online portals for staff to submit requests for gifts, so it’s a painless, fast process for your donors that adds enormous returns for your nonprofit organizations.
First, nonprofit organizations have to address some important questions in order to leverage matching gifts:
Where do your donors and their partners work?
Are your donors knowledgeable about corporate gifting programs?
Do your donors know about appropriate matching gift requests?
As a nonprofit, your job is to raise awareness about matching gifts. By answering the aforementioned questions, you will know whom to approach and with what information, so you can be more effective with your resources and time.
Here, we have covered six ways to make your donors aware of matching gifts:
Create Dedicated Matching Gift Pages
Educate Donors About Matching Gifts Within the Donation Process
Remind Donors to Request a Match in your Acknowledgement Letter
Encourage Matching Gift through Social Media
Be sure to Utilize Email Newsletters for Matching Gift Promotion
Include a Line About Matching Gifts Beneath Your Signature
Let’s walk through each of these best practices and what they can mean for your nonprofit!
1. Create Dedicated Matching Gift Pages
It is not just that you want donors to be informed about the matching gifts; you also want them to keep these programs at top of mind. One way to do this is to create a dedicated page on your site that has all the information about matching gifts.
A matching gift web page is a place for your donors to go when they have concerns about checking their employer’s program or submitting a request. The more information your donors have regarding the matching gift program, the more likely they will be comfortable with the whole process.
2. Educate Donors About Matching Gifts Within the Donation Process
An easy way to encourage your donors to double their contributions is to encourage matching gift programs in the midst of the giving process. You can inform your donors about matching gifts by adding an optional field to your donation pages.
You can provide an optimized link that leads to helpful information on employer matching gift programs, as well as guidelines on how to submit documentation. By including an optional field about matching gifts on the donation page, you can help them get more information and potentially make a request.
Providing donors with more information about their company’s matching gift program by including it on the donation page is a great way to motivate donors as they are already in the mood to give, and will probably take some extra time to consider requesting a match.
3. Remind Donors to Request a Match in Your Acknowledgement Letter
Sending thank-you letters right after your donors give keeps the gift in their heads for longer. By sending thank you letters, it is a perfect way to remind supporters of their company’s giving program and encourage them to pursue a match.
4. Encourage Matching Gifts Through Social Media
Promoting matching gifts on social media not only conveys important information to the donors, but it is done in a format that the majority of users are already acquainted with.
In addition, the use of social media can be a tremendous way to reach out to your younger supporters like Millennials and Generation Z. It can likewise be a great way to connect with people who have little knowledge about the nonprofit. If you share valuable information about matching gifts, your supporters will likely find the post. You can hopefully attract new donors and get more matching gifts via social media.
The secret to unlocking the full potential of social media websites is consistency; by regularly engaging your audience, you can make sure that your posts advocating for matching gifts are effective. Although Facebook continues to dominate the social media space, you can use other websites to encourage matching gifts as well:
Pinterest: Create a board dedicated to “Matching Gifts” and repin related infographics and articles for your followers to repin and like.
Instagram: Make use of this image-based website to tell stories related to the impact your nonprofit organization is making. Add a link to your Instagram profile and inspire donors to increase their giving with matching gifts.
Twitter: Just keep your tweets brief and focused. After all, you only have 280 characters to convey an entire message! Be sure to provide your followers with other resources for more information.
It is important to regularly and accurately keep your profiles updated. It is preferable to have one or two rock-solid social media pages that promote your matching gifts (and nonprofit) than a couple of profiles that are stagnant and silent for several months.
5. Be Sure to Utilize Email Newsletters for Matching Gift Promotion
To help your donors learn more about gift matching, a good way to help them understand is to share messages about corporate giving through your newsletter. By doing this, you can keep nurturing the relationship you have with current donors while encouraging them to make their gifts go further.
6. Include a Line About Matching Gifts Beneath Your Signature
You can include a sentence under your signature which will always remind your subscribers about matching gifts. This sentence should be concise and attention-grabbing.
For example, something like this:
“Please think about doubling your gift’s impact. Your donation could be considered for a matching gift from an employer. Please find out whether you’re eligible here [link to a matching gift database].”
Conclusion
Matching gifts are a great way to increase your fundraising efforts and scale the impact that your nonprofit is working towards. Corporate giving is a sure way to establish a stable fund inflow, although it is likely that many of your donors need to be made aware of it while they are donating.
Promoting corporate philanthropy is not limited to the strategies discussed in this post! Additionally, donors can send their employers a prompt to match a donation while donating online via donation forms like those from Donorbox. Make sure to give your donors a wholesome online donation experience, which is also likely to work in your favor and help increase your funds.
About the Author
Raviraj Hegde leads Growth at Donorbox where he is helping thousands of nonprofits build great donor experience and increasing online fundraising. Donorbox is a state of the art fundraising software to create simple and powerful donation forms. It is trusted by over 30,000 nonprofits across 25 countries.
https://doublethedonation.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/DTD_Donorbox_Corporate-Giving-6-Ways-to-Raise-Awareness-and-Scale-Impact_feature.jpg450750Adam Weingerhttps://doublethedonation.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/logo-dtd.svgAdam Weinger2020-06-05 14:23:332024-08-27 16:01:00Corporate Giving: 6 Ways to Raise Awareness and Scale Impact
Double the Donation is proud to announce a new technology partnership with iModules. This partnership enables institutions to integrate Double the Donation, the leading corporate matching gift automation platform, with Encompass from iModules for a seamless donor experience.
“iModules is proud to support organizations that help our customers succeed with their corporate matching gift programs,” said Germaine Ward, Vice President of Product Management at iModules. “By aligning our Encompass solution with Double the Donaton, iModules continues to deliver on its commitment to helping higher education improve their fundraising efforts.”
Universities in particular are well-positioned to take advantage of employee matching gift programs. Although all corporate philanthropy programs involve different requirements for gift size, submission format and deadline, and eligibility of nonprofits to benefit from them, educational institutions almost always meet any corporate program requirements. That means a high percentage of the 15-19 million match-eligible individuals in the US alone can get their gifts matched when those gifts are made to a university.
“Double the Donation tackles the gap between the vast numbers of match-eligible donors and the revenue they could be raising for the universities they donate to,” said Adam Weinger, President of Double the Donation. “The reason for this gap is donor awareness of matching gift programs and processes. Our integrated solutions aim to provide the right information to the right donor at the right time to make matching gift request submission the natural next step of any eligible donor.”
The integrated solution tackles the $4-7 billion in corporate matching gift revenue left unclaimed every year by fundraising institutions. More than three-fourths of donors who are eligible to have their gifts matched by their employers don’t even know their company has a matching gift program. Double the Donation Matching and iModules automate the identification and outreach necessary to drive donor matches to completion.
Activate in Seconds and Start Raising More from Matching Gifts!
With ready-to-help support teams and an easy step-by-step process, you’ll be able to integrate your Double the Donation solution into your Encompass account in no time. Once integrated with Encompass, Double the Donation Matching presents donors with multiple opportunities to identify their employer during the donation process without interrupting the flow of the donation experience. Just add the Double the Donation company name search field to any of your Encompass forms with the pre-formatted Gift Matching data field type, pictured below/above, to identify more matching gift opportunities during the donation process.
With this information, Double the Donation then delivers actionable next steps and actively follows up on each submission. You can automate and customize emails to fit your organization’s needs to drive gift matches to completion without putting more on your nonprofit’s plate.
The autocomplete search tool powered by Double the Donation maps your donor’s entries to corresponding company names so you can keep your data streamlined and consolidated. The results are higher matching gift request submission rates and revenue, higher percentages of donors with current employment information on file, and a wealth of useful corporate philanthropy-related data for university teams.
Drive More Matching Gifts to Completion with Double the Donation!
iModules is a leader in the alumni fundraising and engagement space with features that help your organization gain efficiency, increase engagement, build your legacy, and elevate fundraising. Double the Donation amplifies those benefits through corporate gift matching and allows your nonprofit to achieve the following:
Identify more matching gift revenue opportunities: Double the Donation enables you to automatically collect matching gift eligibility from donors using email domains, within donation forms, on confirmation screens, or by email. The more matching gift opportunities Double the Donation discovers and shares with donors, the more matching gift requests your donors will successfully submit.
Drive more matches to completion, from form submission to corporate payment: Direct donors immediately to their matching gift forms after the donation process is complete. Then, provide the right information to the right donors at the right time with custom emails based on match eligibility. Target follow-ups drive more completed submissions than ever before, bringing exponentially more matching gift checks from companies through your door.
Reallocate your time from routine follow-up to your top opportunities: Your time is valuable, so why spend it chasing small dollar-value matching gifts? Let Double the Donation automate your matching gift outreach while flagging your highest-value opportunities, allowing your team to personalize follow-ups to the most valuable match-eligible donations. Rest easy knowing that Double the Donation can handle the rest.
To get started with your gift matching journey with iModules and Double the Donation, schedule a private demo of Double the Donation at https://doublethedonation.com/get-a-demo/.
About iModules: Powerful technology. Inspired engagement. Lifelong relationships. More than 800 higher education institutions partner with iModules to drive larger gifts, increase event attendance and membership, and improve participation rates through data-driven, meaningful engagement. Learn more at www.imodules.com.
About Double the Donation: Automate your matching gift fundraising with the industry-leading solution from Double the Donation. The Double the Donation platform provides nonprofits with tools to identify match-eligible donors, drive matches to completion, and gain actionable insights. Double the Donation integrates directly into donation forms, CRMs, social fundraising software, and other nonprofit technology solutions to capture employment information and follow up appropriately with donors about matching gifts. To learn more about Double the Donation, visit https://doublethedonation.com and request a demo at https://doublethedonation.com/get-a-demo/.
https://doublethedonation.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/DTD-Blog-Feature_iModule.png5801550Adam Weingerhttps://doublethedonation.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/logo-dtd.svgAdam Weinger2020-06-01 13:45:152025-01-30 18:24:48iModules Debuts Preferred Technology Partnership with Double the Donation
https://doublethedonation.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/logo-dtd.svg00Adam Weingerhttps://doublethedonation.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/logo-dtd.svgAdam Weinger2020-05-28 04:00:582024-03-20 23:28:3115+ Best Church Software Solutions for Virtual Success
https://doublethedonation.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/logo-dtd.svg00Adam Weingerhttps://doublethedonation.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/logo-dtd.svgAdam Weinger2020-05-21 12:42:332024-05-01 06:18:59Live Video Fundraising: 18 Tech Tools for Your Nonprofit
A.K.A New Media is excited to share that raisin®, a product of A.K.A New Media, has released an integration with Double the Donation. Double the Donation is the leading provider of matching gift and volunteer grant solutions to nonprofits and educational institutions.
The seamless, built-in integration with Double the Donation ensures that no corporate matching gifts opportunity for a raisin fundraiser falls through the cracks.
“We’ve seen an increase in nonprofit organizations looking for supplemental tools to maximize giving,” said Assadour Kirijian, CEO & Executive Creative Director of A.K.A. New Media, Inc. “Corporate matching gifts fit squarely into that box. We’re proud to respond so quickly to this timely need with Double the Donation as our exclusive matching gifts technology partner.”
With $4-7 billion left on the table from US-based corporate matching gift programs alone, nonprofit organizations worldwide are missing out. The reason is simple: 78% of match-eligible donors don’t know that their employer offers to match their charitable contributions.
“The Double the Donation integration with raisin strikes a delicate but essential balance for nonprofits,” said Adam Weinger, President of Double the Donation. “We’re able to assess matching gift eligibility without disrupting the frictionless flow of the donation experience. That balance is key for nonprofits who are looking to encourage corporate matching without hurting their conversion rates.”
The Double the Donation integration with Raisin tackles this gap in donor awareness of matching gifts. Donors giving through a raisin donation form integrated with Double the Donation are presented with multiple opportunities to discover their matching gift eligibility and to take the next steps to get their gifts matched.
Activate in Seconds and Start Raising More from Matching Gifts!
Double the Donation can be easily activated with the raisin platform to begin your gift-matching experience. If you already have a Double the Donation account, simply enter your API keys within Raisin to activate the integration. If you would like to create a new Double the Donation account, contact your Raisin account manager to obtain these API key credentials.
Enter your Double the Donation credentials in raisin for a quick and easy setup process.
Next, you can decide which donation forms will feature the Double the Donation search tool. This customization provides the ease of a global activation while still allowing you to retain individualized control over your donation forms. The setup page will prompt you with two options:
(Recommended): Opt in to integrate Double the Donation across all live events on the donations module by selecting “Yes, activate for all live events.” This will allow the systems to automatically apply the matching gift search options to all live events.
To activate individual events by selecting “No, I’ll activate manually.”
It’s that simple! The Double the Donation integration will now appear on donation forms. Donors can search for their company’s name, and then receive a message like this one:
Matching opportunities are displayed strategically on raisin donation forms integrated with Double the Donation.
Double the Donation then use automated identification tools to collect matching gift eligibility and drive matches to completion – resulting in more contributions for your organization.
Drive More Matching Gifts to Completion with Double the Donation!
Double the Donation has many valuable features to make sure you are getting the most out of gift-matching contributions.
This valuable integration will:
Identify more matching gift revenue opportunities: Double the Donation enables you to automatically collect matching gift eligibility from donors using email domains, within donation forms, on confirmation screens, or by email. The more matching gift opportunities Double the Donation discovers and shares with donors, the more matching gift requests your donors will successfully submit.
Drive more matches to completion, from form submission to corporate payment: Direct donors immediately to their matching gift forms after the donation process is complete. Then, provide the right information to the right donors at the right time with custom emails based on match eligibility. Target follow-ups drive more completed submissions than ever before, bringing exponentially more matching gift checks from companies through your door.
Reallocate your time from routine follow-up to your top opportunities: Your time is valuable, so why spend it chasing small dollar-value matching gifts? Let Double the Donation automate your matching gift outreach while flagging your highest-value opportunities, allowing your team to personalize follow-ups to the most valuable match-eligible donations. Rest easy knowing that Double the Donation can handle the rest.
We recommend checking out this process in action. Visit the Double the Donation Personalized Demo Page to schedule a discussion. These sessions are tailored to your organization’s needs, and they demonstrate the ease and effectiveness of integrating Double the Donation with Raisin.
About Raisin: The Raisin platform makes online fundraising easy. Make use of powerful mobile forward fundraising, state-of-the-art integrations, a user-friendly interface, and an intuitive set-up to raise more quickly and simply. Raisin launched in 2006 and it continues its ongoing commitment to excellence in innovation, and an ongoing pursuit to continually be more mobile, more open and more social. To learn more about the raisin platform, check out their website at https://www.akaraisin.com/
About Double the Donation: Automate your matching gift fundraising with the industry-leading solution from Double the Donation. The Double the Donation platform provides nonprofits with tools to identify match-eligible donors, drive matches to completion, and gain actionable insights. Double the Donation integrates directly into donation forms, CRMs, social fundraising software, and other nonprofit technology solutions to capture employment information and follow up appropriately with donors about matching gifts. To learn more, visit https://doublethedonation.com/get-a-demo/
https://doublethedonation.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Donation-raisin-integration-feature.png5801550Adam Weingerhttps://doublethedonation.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/logo-dtd.svgAdam Weinger2020-05-07 13:39:192025-02-28 16:09:04A.K.A. New Media Selects Double the Donation as Exclusive Matching Gifts Integration for raisin®
Did you know that only 25% of donors apply for matching gifts through their employer? It’s true! According to our Generational Giving Report, three-quarters of donors don’t apply for matching gifts—and that represents tons of potential revenue that could benefit your organization.
So how can you get more people to apply for those gifts?
There are lots of ways you can increase matching gifts for your organization, including email campaigns that spotlight matching gifts, social media campaigns, and more. But one of the most powerful methods you can use is also one of the simplest! Adding a few simple elements to your donation form will help you capture more matching gifts.
Here’s how!
1. Add some simple content about matching gifts to the top of your form.
While most of the content at the top of your form should be dedicated to reinforcing your donors’ decision to give, it’s helpful to add a few words about matching gifts. If you’re including a comment about matching gifts on your primary donation form, keep your language minimal and simple—you don’t want to distract from the main call to action, which is simply to donate! Your goal here should be to make donors aware that their gift can be matched.
If you’re running a campaign specifically around matching gifts, though, feel free to place a little more emphasis (and a little more content) around how to apply for a match. Either way, make sure to emphasize why your donor should apply for a match. Remind them that they can double their impact with a few simple steps!
2. Embed a matching gifts plugin on your form.
If it’s not easy to apply for a matching gift, your donors won’t try. Full stop! But, if your application process is simple and intuitive (and doesn’t take long), donors are much more likely to complete their application.
Embedding a widget or plugin on your donation form helps simplify the application process so more donors will apply. Look for a tool that shows your donors:
If their employer will match their donation
If their donation is eligible for a match from their employer
Submission instructions
And more!
The easier you make this process, the more donors will submit match requests. You can learn more about Double the Donation’s matching gift plugin right over here!
3. Tweak your call to action.
If you’re building a campaign to promote matching gifts, we highly recommend tweaking your calls to action (CTAs) in emails, on donation forms, and anywhere else you’re promoting your campaign. Update email and marketing CTAs to include language like, “Give Now and Double Your Impact,” or “Apply for a Matching Gift.” When you combine specific calls to action, donors are more likely to act. This is a fantastic strategy for increasing match applications in a campaign specifically around matching gifts.
For campaigns that are not built specifically to promote matched gifts, you won’t want to change your campaign’s overall call to action. But you can include a special call to action on your form near your matching gifts plugin. Try adding language around your plugin to draw attention to its purpose. Something as simple as, “Can you make twice the impact with a matching gift? Take a few seconds to enter your information and find out!” can make a big impression on donors and increase the likelihood that they’ll apply.
Bonus Tip: Have someone test your form.
Not sure if your form is intuitive for donors? Want an outside perspective on your form’s language or how you present your plugin? Ask someone from another department or, better, a friend or family member who’s not at your organization to make a test donation. While they go through the donation process, ask them to note their thoughts, feelings, and impressions of the donation and matching gift application process.
This is a valuable way to discover where your donors may get stuck on your form, what they find confusing (if anything), and how you can make the donation process smoother and more user friendly.
Matching gifts are a huge opportunity for nonprofits.
It’s easy to look at the stat showing 75% of donors don’t apply for matching gifts and get discouraged. Don’t let it get you down! That statistic shows there are tons of opportunities to discover and capture new matched gifts. As you build your campaigns, look for ways you can include matching gift prompts to your form. A few simple tweaks and a round or two of testing can have a huge impact on your matched gifts!
This post was contributed by Qgiv.
About the Author: Abby Jarvis is the Nonprofit Education Manager at Qgiv, a company dedicated to building powerful online fundraising tools that empower nonprofits to thrive and grow. In her 7 years at Qgiv, Abby has become passionate about studying industry best practices, learning how they can help nonprofits be more effective, and sharing that information with fundraisers. When she’s not teaching fundraising workshops at Qgiv’s Fundraising Labs or at conferences, she chairs the fundraising committee on a nonprofit board in her hometown of Lakeland, Florida.
https://doublethedonation.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Matching-Gift-Donation-Form-Elements_Feature.jpg300725Adam Weingerhttps://doublethedonation.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/logo-dtd.svgAdam Weinger2020-04-21 14:01:082022-06-20 07:55:223 Donation Form Elements to Secure More Matching Gifts
Instagram is undoubtedly among the leading platforms for brand marketing. It has evolved from a mere photo-sharing application to a platform where nonprofit organizations and companies can share their stories and outreach activities with the public since 2010. Through the application, brands can effectively build a loyal audience by using well-filtered photos and compelling captions.
With the increase in fundraising campaigns and peer-to-peer donations hosted on social media applications in addition to Instagram’s remarkable monthly user base of 1 billion active users, it is clear that nonprofits would be well advised to sign up for an account as soon as possible.
You can convey your message and update your audience most effectively through mixed media and images.
To help guide you, we’ve highlighted 7 proven ways nonprofits can engage with donors through Instagram:
Register for an Instagram Business Account
Publish Regularly to Increase Your Followers
Create Compelling Captions
Make the Most of Stories and highlights
Make Yourself Discoverable
Run Instagram Stories Ads
Get Funding Through Stickers and Buttons
1. Register for an Instagram Business Account
In contrast to a normal Instagram profile, an Instagram business account provides you with access to valuable data, such as impressions, post-performance, and data about your audience. This is useful when it comes to building a strategy and finding out the kind of content that is best for you.
An Instagram Business Account also lets you have call-to-action features like “Directions” and “Contacts.” CTA buttons such as these are particularly useful for nonprofit organizations because they want to make it convenient and easy for interested funders to connect with them. For example, you can include a “Buy Tickets” button under your bio if you have an event.
Another vital characteristic of an Instagram business account is the power to promote content with just one touch. If you’re starting a new campaign on Instagram, for instance, you can promote a teaser or preview of your campaign video to reach audiences outside of your followers. If you give your audience a reduced version of your full video content, it will make them want more. And if they’re convinced, they’ll need to visit your profile to see the whole video.
2. Publish Regularly to Increase your Followers
To grow a following for your Instagram account, you must create and publish consistently. Instagram, like all social networking platforms, rewards a well-rounded publishing plan. If you publish a few times a month and then leave the account silent for weeks, it will be very difficult for you to increase engagement or views again and gain new followers.
In terms of publishing rate, how often do you need to publish? Well, it varies! A good rate is one you can maintain. If you regularly appear in your followers’ feeds, it is much more likely that they will trust you, reach out to build an affinity with your charity, and ultimately click on the donation sticker and donate a gift.
If you are only able to publish a couple of times a week, you should ensure that you keep to that schedule. So if you can post once daily or more in Stories, then that’s awesome! Consider it an exercise. Working with social media with purpose and intention daily will give you much better results than randomly churning out content once a week.
3. Create Compelling Captions
While visual media will forever be the core of every Instagram post, the content never stops at the great pictures. Captions are a great way to share the story underlying each picture.
To accentuate a specific message, you can also directly add the message to an image. This will work for quotes, campaigns, and other occasions where a still photo is not good enough. Try to use a photo editing application like Instasize for this. Instasize provides you with a wide range of stylized fonts that can conveniently be added to an image and uploaded directly to your feed.
4. Make the Most of Stories and Highlights
Instagram Stories is an excellent tool for companies to capture events happening in real-time, share moments behind the scenes, and reveal the culture of the company. Since the stories have a 24-hour expiration date, you can save your highlights for anyone who comes to your profile to see beyond the 24-hour window.
The Stories feature also means you can start polls and ask questions. It’s an easy way to gather user-generated content and interact with your followers.
Interacting with your followers could be as personalized as a live Question and Answer session or it could be as easy as a multiple-choice question. You can ask your audience certain things to make them feel that their opinion matters, such as where the next charity event should be or if they are attracted to a particular topic. To make it entertaining and appealing, be sure to add GIFs and stickers.
5. Make Yourself Discoverable
Consider your profile as the homepage of your organization. It’s where you can find all the relevant information about the organization, and there are only 150 characters available for that — use it wisely. Of course, by using your organization’s full name and a brief outline of your cause, that’s one of the first ways to do it. You should also include keywords related to your page to ensure that when people look for them, you are one of the profiles that will appear.
Instagram permits you to place a link on your bio, which in most cases should be a direct link to your site. However, if you run an ongoing campaign, you may like to direct your audience to a special landing page. Also, there are third-party resources, like Leadpages, that let you publish multiple links at once if necessary.
6. Run Instagram Stories Ads
Putting away even a small amount of money for Instagram Stories Ads can help you increase your audience, exposure, and gain more buzz about your stories.
This is how to set up an Instagram Stories ad with the Facebook Ad Manager:
Navigate to the Ad Manager and click + Create.
Select a target that matches your marketing goal.
Complete the campaign details.
Under the Placements level, click on Edit Placements.
From the Instagram section, check the Stories box.
Define your ad schedule and budget. Instagram Stories Ads can run the length of time you want and will reach as many audiences as your budget can afford.
Design your ad.
Finish your ad by clicking on Confirm.
Use the ad preview before sending your ad for review. Make use of the drop-down menu and choose Instagram Stories to see exactly how your ad will appear in that location.
7. Get Funding Through Stickers and Buttons
About 55 percent of individuals who engage in social media causes are motivated to participate in the action.
Understanding that it’s now up to nonprofits to get their cause in the spotlight. As a nonprofit organization, fundraising is a vital part of sustaining your cause. Fortunately, Instagram has devised simple ways for nonprofits to receive donations without leaving the application.
Now, apart from the “Get Directions” and “Contact” buttons, you can also include a “Donate” button on your profile. After clicking the button, contributors can simply choose the amount to contribute.
A donation sticker is also available on the stories tab. This can be done by any U.S. nonprofit organization that signs up to accept donations through Facebook and connects it to their Instagram account. Organizations like the No Kid Hungry American Cancer Society and the Wounded Warrior Project have already done so successfully.
Averaging 2-7% engagement on every published content, Instagram is regarded as the most engaging social brand platform. This fact alone makes the photo-sharing application a great point of contact for nonprofits to connect and engage with their followers. So, attach that donation sticker, and spread the word about the good you’re doing — a billion people are watching!
Bonus Tips
Change your Grid
Instagram is always going to be associated with photos, but that doesn’t imply that you have to confine your posts to that. Today, you can upload infographics, illustrations, and videos if you want to. By creating various types of visual content, your audience is more inclined to anticipate your next post. Therefore, try to change the content to know what is working and what is not.
Go live on Instagram
Instagram Live is a wonderful way to draw the curtain on your work and take people deeper and deeper into the fold. People enjoy the live video by interacting in real-time with the nonprofits they are interested in, asking questions, and giving you a fuller picture of the individuals driving the cause.
So include the donation sticker when you are live so that your viewers can donate when they are most inspired.
Then, save your live Instagram video to your Instagram Highlights so others can view it once the live broadcast is over and continue to give.
This post was contributed by Donorbox.
Raviraj Hegde leads Growth at Donorbox where he is helping thousands of nonprofits build great donor experiences and increase online fundraising. Donorbox is a state of the art fundraising software to create simple and powerful donation forms. It is trusted by over 30,000 nonprofits across 25 countries.
https://doublethedonation.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Engaging-Donors-on-Instagram_Feature.jpg300725Adam Weingerhttps://doublethedonation.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/logo-dtd.svgAdam Weinger2020-04-20 15:30:422024-02-26 19:50:587 Ways Nonprofits Can Engage with Donors on Instagram
Sending a weekly or monthly newsletter to your community is a proven way to engage your supporters and keep them up-to-date with what’s going on at your organization. It’s a great vehicle for sharing news stories, reminding your readers about upcoming events, and reporting on your impact.
That’s why many nonprofit professionals are very eager to start sending regular newsletters to their community. Unfortunately, many of them often come to one of two roadblocks at one point or another: 1) they run out of ideas for what to include in the next newsletter and stop sending them as regularly, eventually stopping altogether, or 2) they run out of ideas but desperately try to stick to the regular schedule, resulting in newsletters so bland that their open rates plummet.
If you have ever found yourself here — or if you’re planning to start sending a newsletter and want to make sure it’s a success — this arsenal of foolproof content ideas will help transform your newsletters into updates that your readers will not only open more often, but will actually look forward to reading.
Once you get accustomed to coming up with new content pieces based on these ideas, you’ll become much better at seeing a potential story in just about anything. The key thing to remember is that everything your readers want to read about is already happening within your organization and the community that surrounds it — you just need to know where to look, whom to ask, and how to communicate it in a way that will pique interest.
Now without further ado, here are 24 content ideas for your next newsletter and all the ones after that.
1. Beneficiary Story
Does your nonprofit serve a particular community of people? Does someone benefit from the work you’re doing? Get in touch with these people and ask them if they’d be willing to share their story.
It can be very powerful to hear firsthand accounts from the people whose lives have been made better because of your organization’s existence. It serves as a reminder of why your work is so important, makes members of your community feel good about supporting you, and inspires them to continue or increase their involvement.
2. Donor Story
If your organization is supported by donors, you likely have a few (or many) individuals who strongly believe in the work you’re doing and have been supporting you for a long time. Take this opportunity to shine a spotlight on them.
Ask them why they chose to support you, what it means to them, and what they’re hoping to help achieve with their involvement. Not only is this a great way to show your appreciation and acknowledge their long-standing support, but it will also inspire other people to rise up and join them.
3. Staff Member Spotlight
You likely show a lot of love to your donors, volunteers, and board members, but your staff members are some of the most hard-working and dedicated people in your community. Don’t forget to show them some appreciation by shining a spotlight on what they do for your organization — it’s a great way to build morale among your employees.
For those who read your newsletter, it puts a face and a story to the name they’ve likely exchanged emails with or spoken to on the phone; it shows transparency and authenticity on your end and allows them to build a more personal connection with your organization.
4. Volunteer Spotlight
What about writing a story about one of your volunteers? Maybe you have someone who’s been a volunteer at your organization for years — or decades! They would definitely have an interesting story about how and why they got started and how they’ve seen your nonprofit grow over the years. Or maybe you have a volunteer who has just joined — ask them why they joined and what they’re hoping to get out of this experience. Volunteers always have a very special reason for why they do what they do — all you have to do is ask!
5. Sponsor Spotlight
If you have a corporate sponsor or a business that supports your work with monetary gifts or in-kind donations, your newsletter is a great place to recognize them with a special story. You can interview the CEO or showcase all the ways in which this sponsor has impacted your community. Most companies are looking for exposure for their brand by making charitable contributions, so featuring them in a newsletter is a great way to deliver that.
6. Q&A With a Member/Donor
Publishing a story about a member or a donor can be a special once-in-a-while feature, but you can also showcase your members in a brief but more regular way. What about coming up with a few standard questions and getting a different member to answer them every week?
Having a consistent element across all of your issues will get readers into the habit of anticipating it, making them more likely to open the newsletter week after week to read the next Q&A in the series.
7. Member of the Month
Has a member gone above and beyond with their involvement? Acknowledge them with this special accolade — it will make them feel appreciated and will likely inspire others to strive to receive the same honour in the following months.
8. Timeline of Your Nonprofit’s Milestones
No matter how long your organization has been around, you likely have a pretty interesting story about how you came to be and the milestones you’ve had to hit to be where you are today. While some of your long-standing members may already be familiar with these, it’s not a bad idea to re-ignite the conversation every now and then, especially for the sake of the brand new members.
Maybe you could even throw back to this timeline every time you have a new milestone to add to it — say, for example, your nonprofit was just endorsed by a local celebrity, or you’ve just hit a record number of members or donations.
9. From Our Friends
Is there an organization that does similar or complementary work to yours? Why not partner with them and offer a fresh take on your shared mission to your respective audiences? They could write a guest piece for your newsletter and you could do the same for theirs in exchange.
This will help raise awareness about your cause, introduce more people to your organization and provide your readers with refreshing and informative content.
10. In the Know
Have you heard something in the news recently that affects your organization’s work or is simply relevant to your mission? Maybe it’s a new law that was passed or news about a larger organization making big strides in your sector.
Be sure to share it with your readers – it will help them stay informed, spark conversation, and will make everyone involved a little more equipped to deal with the issues your organization strives to eliminate.
11. This Day in History
Similarly to sharing current news relevant to your organization, why not invite your readers on a trip down memory lane and remind them of important events that happened on the same day, week, or month, but a few (or several) years ago?
Chances are, your mission is related to an issue that many others before your organization had made progress on. Acknowledge their contribution and thank them for taking steps in the right direction, ultimately making your work a little easier.
12. Upcoming Events
Hopefully, this is a section you already include in your newsletter. If your nonprofit hosts frequent events, this is a great way to keep your members in-the-know and remind them about what’s coming up soon.
13. Photo Gallery from Past Events
Once an event has passed, don’t forget to follow up with your community about it. You can share a few highlights and key outcomes and thank the attendees for their participation. Most importantly, offer a preview and a link to the full gallery of photos from the event.
The people who attended will be happy to reminisce about a great time and will eagerly flip through the gallery in hopes of seeing their own photo pop up. The people who didn’t attend will be curious to see what they missed and will be more likely to come to your future events.
14. Photo Essay
Post-event follow-up is not the only time when you can share meaningful photos with your community. What about putting together a photo essay based on a particular theme, such as a year in review, volunteers in action, behind-the-scenes, power of teamwork, etc.
You can also ask your members to submit their own photo essays — they definitely have unique perspectives and experiences. Then, feature the best ones in your newsletter.
15. Report on Your Progress
You are hopefully already reporting on your progress and impact through communication pieces like your annual report and other impact reports, but your newsletter is a great vehicle for sharing quick updates and short summaries of what you can later expand on in a report.
Your community wants to stay up-to-date on what their involvement is helping to make possible, so providing regular updates will ensure that they stay engaged and committed to your cause.
16. Tips & Advice
Your nonprofit’s mission is likely part of solving a larger issue — one that affects your community on a daily basis. Why not offer your readers uplifting tips and advice relevant to your work to help them make small differences in their everyday lives. For example, a nonprofit that advocates for better public education on healthy eating choices includes one meal recipe at the end of each of their newsletters.
It’s an easy and fun way to get your community involved from the comfort of their own homes and keep your mission at the top of their minds.
17. Answering Questions from Members
Members of your community almost definitely have insightful questions and ideas for discussion. Why not open up the floor and let everyone contribute? Chances are, many other members have the same inquiry but don’t have the confidence to step forward and ask.
Encourage them to email their questions or concerns and dedicate a space in each of your newsletters to address one of these questions. This gives you the freedom to screen them to make sure you’re only answering the most relevant and appropriate ones. It’s not a bad idea to make them anonymous too, but you can also leave that up to the people submitting the questions.
18. Note from Leadership
Leaders inspire vision, action, and a sense of community, not only in an organization’s staff members, but in all who are associated with the organization. This is especially true for nonprofits. Your President, Founder, CEO, Director of Development, or any other person in a position of leadership has the power to inspire your community and remind them why they joined in the first place.
Make sure your members hear from this person often and that the message is well crafted and to the point, but is also authentic and down to earth. There’s nothing worse than an address from leadership that uses boilerplate language and feels like it wasn’t written by that person at all.
19. Ideas for Action
Advancing your nonprofit’s mission doesn’t have to stay within the walls of your organization. There are probably small things that members of your community can do in their own lives. You can use your newsletter to remind them that there are things they can do right now to help. For example, if your nonprofit’s mission is to protect the environment, remind your readers of some easy, low-waste swaps they can use in the kitchen that will help reduce their use of plastic.
20. Spread the Word
Similarly to the above point, members of your community can help advance your mission by sharing content from your newsletter with their own circles and social networks.
To encourage this, be sure to offer shareable content that your readers will resonate with. This includes meaningful quotes about your mission, powerful statistics, and infographics. Don’t forget to include a clear call for action, such as a “Share” button, that automatically tags your social media accounts.
21. Food for Thought
Are there issues that you aren’t sure how the world is going to solve? Is there a philosophical, ethical, or moral question that keeps you up at night? Get your members involved by providing this as a prompt and encourage them to think about it or bring it up in conversation with the people around them. It never hurts to keep the conversation going. Plus, you never know — your prompt might just reach someone who has the answer.
22. Wish List
Is your organization looking for any particular in-kind donations? This is the place to ask for them. Just be sure to provide a specific request and a clear set of instructions for how to arrange their delivery.
23. Call for Volunteers
If you’re like most nonprofits, you’re probably always looking for volunteers. Your newsletter is the perfect place to let people know what you’re looking for. Just remember that it’s best to provide specific descriptions of the types of work you need done and the time commitment required. More people will respond if they have a clear sense of whether or not this is something they can commit to.
24. Call for Donations
Lastly, you can always mention your current campaign or ask for donations to a specific fund/program. Make sure your call to action is specific and remember not to include this in your newsletter too often — you don’t want to deter your members from opening your newsletters in the future. At the end of the day, your newsletter is not part of your fundraising plan, its primary purpose is to keep your community engaged and interested in what you’re doing.
So there you have it. Hopefully, this list gives you some ideas about what to include in your newsletters. The most important takeaway is that your audience wants to read stories about how their involvement is helping to advance your mission.
Look within your organization, talk to as many people as you can to get their perspectives, and be on the lookout for what’s going on with nonprofits similar to yours. You’ll be sure to find everything you need to create meaningful and compelling content.
This post was contributed by Wild Apricot.
About the Author: Sayana Izmailova is the Content Marketing Specialist at Wild Apricot, a membership management software. She has worked at a number of nonprofits and uses her experience to help small organizations advance their missions.
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