The most difficult work is done. Your promotional effort has worked. The responsibility is now in the hands of the donor’s employer — at least momentarily.
Well, you can sit back and twiddle your thumbs … but not for long. Pretty soon the ball will be back in your court, and it’ll be your turn to handle things. The donor’s company is not going to blindly accept their employee’s submission.
Employees log into the company’s matching gift submission website
Employees search for the nonprofit they donated to
Employees select the nonprofit from the search results (if not found, they enter the organization’s information)
Employees register their donation and submit the matching gift request
After a donor makes a matching gift request submission to his or her employer, that company then needs to process the request.
Your nonprofit is going to have to be involved, albeit rather peripherally, in that process.
What should your nonprofit expect to receive from a company that’s just received a matching gift request from one of your organization’s donors?
Well, expect a letter for starters. It may come by mail, email, fax, plane, train, or automobile. Okay, so maybe not those last three, but definitely mail, email, or fax.
The letter will basically be asking for verification that the employee made the donation and that you’re the nonprofit that the employee says you are. It will be a quick and painless process. The letter will usually come through a third party company that handles matching gift requests for the employer at hand and it will ask you take a few verification steps.
It should be quick and painless for your nonprofit.
To help clear up any potential questions you may have, let’s walk through a sample letter from a company to a nonprofit.
In the case of this sample:
Corporation X represents your donor’s employer
Y Nonprofit represents you, the ones receiving the donation
Company Z represents the third party business handling the corporate giving program
Corporation X’s Corporate Giving Program
Dear Y Nonprofit,
Company Z is Corporation X’s vendor that helps process and fulfill requests through the corporate giving program. As Corporation X’s vendor, we at Company Z work to ensure that the donation process goes as smoothly as possible. Part of that process involves guaranteeing that funds requested by employees are allocated to the correct charities.
We have great news! An employee has made a match request on your behalf!
That match request now needs your confirmation.
In order to complete the confirmation, please follow the link below.
“Link to Company Z’s vendor portal with Corporation X”
Once on the site, create a new account or log into your existing account if you already have one.
If creating a new account, you will be prompted to answer a series of questions which are as follows:
Organization contact information
Contact information for the specific employee handling the request
A registration code unique to your case — ABC-DEFG
A match ID unique to your case — 12345
You will be able to set up a username and password and then confirm the match request that is currently pending.
Questions? Please call us at 111-222-3333 or email us at support@companyz.corporationx.com, and one of our representatives will be able to assist you.
Thank you for all the great work you do.
Best,
Company Z Support
111-222-3333 / support@companyz.corporationx.com
As you can see from that letter template, it is not going to take much to confirm a matching gift request and see those extra funds come in, but you will need to essentially verify that the employee making the request did in fact make the donation that he or she reported. And the letter will give you all the information needed to do so.
That way, you know to be expecting funds and can cross them off the list when the employers donate them.
It is quite common that donors will submit a matching gift request without telling the nonprofit that they are doing so. They are certainly not required to tell the nonprofit anything. Therefore, the first chance your organization has to begin tracking these submission requests is when the employer contacts you. Take advantage of that knowledge.
One of the best and most proactive steps a nonprofit can take to keep donors around is thanking quickly and often.
Don’t officially thank the donor until you receive the matching gift donation from that donor’s employer; however, if you are keeping careful records of matching gift submissions in progress you will be able to prepare to send out acknowledgments sooner and you will be less likely to lose track of a donor, and / or that donor’s records, in the shuffle.
The matching gift submission process is by no means brain surgery. In fact, many of the third party vendors that corporations use have handled submissions for so long the whole experience is as streamlined and timely as possible.
It never hurts to know what to expect though, and now you do. Make sure those letters do not get mixed up in the wrong place or filed away before anyone has had a chance to make the confirmation! They are your key to converting matching gift requests into matching gift funds. Don’t let your organization be the bottleneck holding up the process.
If your organization is going to seriously pursue matching gifts, it should assign the processing of requests to one staff member, probably on your development team. That way, when letters like the sample above come in, your whole office knows exactly who to send them to. And, that person will quickly gain familiarity with the process and be able to make and track the confirmations as efficiently as possible.
https://doublethedonation.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/letters-for-matching-gift-requests.jpg404640Adam Weingerhttps://doublethedonation.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/logo-dtd.svgAdam Weinger2015-08-27 14:11:362022-06-20 07:54:32What Happens After a Donor Makes a Matching Gift Submission?
Sometimes you’ll come across so much data that you won’t know which way is up and which way is down, which data is accurate, which less so, which is relevant, which less so. You get the idea.
Well, we’re here to solve that corporate philanthropy conundrum.
Below you’ll find the top 6 corporate philanthropy infographics.
We’ve done the work of sifting through the many in order to highlight an elite few. So without further ado, here they are in no particular order.
Infographic #1: Giving in Numbers Brief
Put together by the CECP, in conjunction with The Conference Board, the Giving in Numbers Brief takes a comprehensive look at trends and statistics in corporate giving. The infographic is filled with data culled from the survey responses of 271 multi-billion dollar companies.
Here are a few highlights:
9 out of 10 companies offered a matching gift program
an average of 30% of employees volunteer
29% of corporate giving went to education related causes — a combined percentage from K-12 and higher education
Infographic #2: Top 10 Corporations That Gave Cash to Charity
Here at Double the Donation, we thought we’d throw our hat into the ring with an infographic of our own. As its title suggests, this graphic focuses on the ten corporations that gave the most cash to charity in the year the graphic was produced.
Walmart leads the pack with $311.6 million in cash donations. And not too far off the lead, in tenth, was Target with a still very generous $148.5 million. A breakdown of leaders in the philanthropic giving community is a good way to be introduced to the possibilities of these programs and programs like them.
Either way you slice it, if you’re looking into corporate giving, whether you’re an employee, nonprofit, or company, it is useful to get a sense for the power players in the world of corporate giving.
Infographic #3: BP’s Fabric of America
This infographic is a great example of a corporation taking the initiative to outline and highlight its own efforts. Through its Fabric of America Fund, BP will donate $300 to the charity of an employee’s choice.
Infographic #4: Meaningful Match-Making by Benevity
This infographic focuses on how corporations can use matching gift programs to increase employee engagement. It offers tons of valuable and insightful advice.
Here are a few highlights:
Five tips for increased employee engagement in matching gift programs
Inclusivity — providing matching gifts for donations to a large range of nonprofits
Letting external matches occur — accounting for and honoring donations made outside of your company’s matching gift program
Expediency — make the matches as quickly as possible in order to demonstrate your commitment and dedication to your employees’ nonprofits of interest
Share-ability — give employees the chance to share the news of their recent gifts and matched gifts
Clarity — let your employees know exactly what the eligibility requirements are for your program
Match broadly to appeal to the inclusivity tip, but provide greater incentives for certain causes or nonprofits that your company is specifically interested and invested in helping.
Infographic #5: Corporate Citizenship — A Necessary Investment for Success
Boston College’s Center for Corporate Citizenship created a helpful infographic regarding the current state of corporate citizenship. The infographic revealed a general upward trend in business investment in corporate citizenship and a rising understanding of the necessity of these programs.
Specifically, the infographic zeroes in on the benefits of corporate citizenship, which it separates into three categories:
contributing to company success
returning value to shareholders
meriting additional investment
Corporate citizenship initiatives, which usually include employee volunteering programs and corporate philanthropic giving as components, are implemented with the idea of businesses serving the communities in which they thrive in, generating a mutually beneficial situation between the company and stakeholders.
YourCause created this infographic on the state of developing global good as a way of summarizing key international corporate giving statistics.
A couple stats that jump out at us include:
80% of adults around the world agree they can make the world a better place with their actions —
85% of companies in the US have a formal domestic corporate giving program in place vs. only 45% with a formal international program.
Both represent tremendous opportunities for companies to further their global impact.
These six infographics should more than whet your appetite for data, statistics, and analysis regarding corporate philanthropy. These were all put together with a lot of thought, care, and research. We hope you find the information invaluable to your quest for a greater understanding of corporate giving.
https://doublethedonation.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/top-5-corporate-philanthropy-infographics.jpg8531280Adam Weingerhttps://doublethedonation.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/logo-dtd.svgAdam Weinger2015-08-26 14:43:412022-06-25 12:28:12The Top 6 Corporate Philanthropy Infographics
Does your nonprofit use NationBuilder? Are you looking to incorporate matching gift information into both your website as well as the NationBuilder donation forms?
If so then this guide is for you. Please follow the below steps to get Double the Donation’s plugin up and running with NationBuilder.
Double the Donation’s Relationship with NationBuilder:
NationBuilder is a leading platform for nonprofits and communities and envisions a world where everyone has the freedom and opportunity to create what they were meant to create. NationBuilder builds the infrastructure for a world of creators by helping leaders develop and organize thriving communities.
Double the Donation is a leading provider of employee matching gift data and tools to nonprofits.
This guide was put together to help organizations who use NationBuilder platform incorporate Double the Donation’s employee matching gift plugin. NationBuilder and Double the Donation are two separate and unrelated companies.
Requirements:
At risk of stating the obvious, the below steps and screenshots are applicable to organizations which already have an account with Double the Donation and NationBuilder.
If you don’t have an account with Double the Donation you can:
Integrate Double the Donation’s Matching Gift Plugin into NationBuilder:
Method #1: On a dedicated NationBuilder matching gift page
Step #1: Go to your NationBuilder control panel.
Step #2: Add a new page. We recommend:
Calling the page “Matching Gifts” without the quotes
Setting the slug as “matching-gifts” without the quotes
Setting the page’s status as “Published”
Setting the page type as “Basic”
Setting the page to be included in the top navigation
Step #3: Under the page’s content tab, write the core matching gift content for the page. This is your opportunity to explain matching gifts to your donors. For example:
Did you know many companies match donations from their employees to our organization? It’s true. In fact last year we raised $10,000 from matching gifts. Below you can access our matching gift search tool which will enable you to access information on your company’s matching gift program along with forms, guidelines, and instructions.
Thanks for taking the time to check if your company offers employee giving programs which can double the impact of your donation.
Click “Save Content”
Step #4: In a separate browser window log into your Double the Donation account and copy the standard Double the Donation plugin code.
Step #5: Add the Double the Donation plugin code to your page’s Template panel then click save. Please note:
Double the Donation plugin will appear wherever you place our plugin code.
You’ll need to grab the plugin code from your Double the Donation account management pages which has your API_Key.
We recommend placing our plugin after the main content section.
Step #6: Verify that Double the Donation’s plugin is up and running on your dedicated matching gift page.
Method #2: On a NationBuilder donation form
Step #1: Go to your NationBuilder control panel.
Step #2: Go to your NationBuilder donation page.
Step #3: In a separate browser window log into your Double the Donation account and copy the standard Double the Donation plugin code.
Step #4: Add the Double the Donation plugin code to your page’s Template panel then click save. Please note:
Double the Donation plugin will appear wherever you place our plugin code.
You’ll need to grab the plugin code from your Double the Donation account management pages which has your API_Key.
We recommend placing our plugin after the submit code.
Step #5: Verify that Double the Donation’s plugin is up and running on your donation form.
Method #3: In NationBuilder’s autoresponder emails that go out after a donation is made
Step #1: Navigate to your organization’s donation page
Step #2: Navigate to the “Autoresponse” option under “Donation Settings”
Step #3: Feature matching gifts in the autoresponder email that gets sent out when someone makes a donation. We suggest:
Include matching gift wording such as:
Did you know many companies match donations from their employees to our organization? It’s true. In fact last year we raised $10,000 from matching gifts.
Please click here to see if your company will match your donation and to access the appropriate forms, guidelines, and instructions.
https://doublethedonation.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/nationbuilder-matching-gifts-double-the-donation.png321845Adam Weingerhttps://doublethedonation.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/logo-dtd.svgAdam Weinger2015-08-01 14:00:592022-06-25 13:28:32NationBuilder Integration with Double the Donation’s Matching Gift Service
At Double the Donation, we often discuss corporate matching gifts—or initiatives through which employers financially match the donations made by individual employees to qualifying nonprofits. However, there’s another powerful (yet even lesser-known) opportunity to keep an eye out for. And that is companies that offer fundraising matches!
Fundraising match programs also involve employer matching. However, unlike typical matching programs that solely cover financial donations made from an employee’s own wallet, fundraising match programs involve a company matching all of the funds raised by an employee during a fundraising activity. This is particularly important to consider in regard to one of the most popular fundraisers in the nonprofit world: the Run/Walk/Ride event.
These events involve participants running/walking/cycling (or partaking in another activity!) for a certain distance and collecting pledges on your organization’s behalf according to the distance they cover. And for volunteer fundraisers that work for a company offering fundraising matching, these fulfilled pledges can be doubled for even greater impact.
Now, you might be wondering what kinds of employers offer these initiatives—and how your team can locate donors who qualify. Lucky for you, there are a ton of available programs.
We’ve selected a selection of companies that offer fundraising matches, which we’ll discuss below:
Intuit, Inc.
BP
State Street Corporation
Penguin Random House
CVS Health
Boeing
Numerator
The Estee Lauder Companies
Northstrat
Keep in mind that there are a ton more participating businesses, too. These are just a sample!
But before diving into the above companies, we’re going to look at the easiest way to uncover these opportunities—with dedicated matching gift tools.
The Best Way to Discover Matching Gifts
To best capitalize on these fundraising matching programs, you first need to discover where they exist. The easiest way to do that is by using dedicated matching gift software.
Matching gift software allows your organization to easily uncover and pursue these opportunities within your network of support. For example, Double the Donation’s 360MatchPro is a fully automated matching gift platform that uncovers a donor’s match eligibility once a donation is made and triggers automated outreach with company-specific program guidelines to drive next steps. Thousands of nonprofits trust Double the Donation to fuel their matching gift fundraising needs—including more than 70% of the nation’s largest organizations!
And, built on the industry’s most comprehensive database of employee giving program information, it doesn’t just provide insights on individual matching opportunities, either. 360MatchPro enables donors to seamlessly locate details regarding their employers’ volunteer grant and fundraising match programs as well! And it’s made easy to get started thanks to technology integrations with most online donation forms and CRMs.
With that, check out these top examples of companies that offer fundraising matches.
Companies that Match Gifts to Run/Walk/Ride Events
Tons of companies participate in fundraising match programs which ultimately amplify the result of individual (or team) employee fundraising efforts. A few standout programs that we’ve selected to highlight include the following:
Intuit, Inc.
Intuit is a software company that develops financial and tax preparation software. It employs over 17,000 team members and offers a comprehensive matching gift program to its employees.
Intuit’s matching gift program includes an individual match, in which the company will match an employee’s donation of up to $5,000 to a nonprofit organization or educational institution of their choosing. In addition, Intuit’s corporate giving programs include a fundraising match. Intuit matches funds personally raised by an employee for a fundraising event.
As one of the top 20 largest companies in the world by revenue, BP is an international oil and gas company headquartered in London. BP employs nearly 80,000 people across the world with a large presence in the United States.
With employee grant programs that include traditional personal donation matches, as well as matches for money raised from employees’ friends and family members, BP will match a maximum of $5,000 per employee, per year.
State Street is a financial services holding company founded in Boston in 1792. After many years of successful growth, the company now employs more than 42,000 people internationally.
State Street offers a matching gift program for employee donations called GiveMore, which matches at a 1:1 ratio. Within this program, annual matching limits are extremely generous, varying by role. For example…
The Board of Directors, CEO, President, and Vice Chairs can receive up to $35,000 in matching funds.
Executive Vice Presidents can receive up to $25,000.
Senior Vice Presidents can receive up to $15,000.
All other employees can receive up to $5,000 in matching funds.
State Street also offers a fundraising match program called CollectMore, where the company will match an employee’s fulfilled fundraising pledges as they partake in walk, bike, or ride types of events benefiting qualifying nonprofits. CollectMore is available up to $10,000 per team member, inclusive of the GiveMore total as well.
Penguin Random House engages employees by matching donations of up to $2,500 per employee per year to most 501(c)(3) nonprofits.
To sweeten their program even further, Penguin Random House has also established a Fundraising Match Program. With this initiative, the company will match up to $1,500 per employee (included in the $2,500 per employee annual maximum), per calendar year. This essentially allows employees to double the money raised via fundraising events to qualifying nonprofit organizations with 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status.
Types of qualifying events include (but are not limited to) walk-a-thons, bike-a-thons, and 5K’s, though Penguin Random House indicates that each fundraising request will be considered on a case-by-case basis.
CVS Health matches employee donations made through their Community Crew Portal to many nonprofit causes throughout the United States and Puerto Rico. This includes just about any registered 501(c)(3) organization.
But they don’t stop there! The company also offers a generous fundraising match program for individuals and team participants. When an individual staff member participates in a Run/Walk/Ride fundraising challenge, CVS Health agrees to match the funds raised between $250 and $1,000.
And when a team of five or more CVS Health employees participate in a similar type of fundraising event, the company offers to match fulfilled pledges up to $5,000.
American multinational aircraft corporation Boeing Co. offers a particularly generous matching gift initiative that encompasses personal employee donations, gifts made by retirees and spouse/domestic partners, volunteer grants, and even funds contributed through fundraising walks participated in by employees.
Each year, a team member is eligible to request up to $10,000 at a 1:1 match rate to a wide range of nonprofit organizations—including educational institutions, health and human services, arts and cultural organizations, civic and community organizations, environmental nonprofits, and more.
Numerator is a consumer insights and data company that aims to engage and incentivize its employees with unique and impactful giving opportunities.
Every year, employees are encouraged to participate in the company’s fundraising match program. When doing so, funds raised through peer-to-peer fundraising efforts to most nonprofit causes—including schools, health and human services, community organizations, and tons more—are matched, dollar-for-dollar.
Each employee (full- and part-time alike) qualifies to request up to $500 in fundraising match grants on a rolling annual basis, with no minimum amount required to get involved!
With brands such as Too Faced, M·A·C, Clinique, and Tom Ford Beauty, the Estee Lauder Companies have established a number of charitable giving programs that aim to give back to their communities.
These include—but are not limited to—matching individual staff donations, offering volunteer grants to the nonprofits their team members volunteer with, and providing impactful fundraising matches when employees partake in events or other peer-to-peer fundraising challenges.
Each year, qualifying members of the Estee Lauder Companies’ workforce can request up to $5,000 in corporate funding, inclusive of their matching gifts, dollars for doers, and fundraising match initiatives.
Northstrat, an employee-owned Information Technology company providing solutions to a number of US government agencies, participates in corporate philanthropy with a particular focus on education. Currently, the company offers to “match funds raised in sponsorship of events where employee collects donations based on their activity” in addition to a more traditional employee matching gift program of up to $500 per employee per year.
Qualifying nonprofit recipients include accredited public and private K-12 institutions, junior and community colleges, four-year colleges and universities, professional and graduate schools, and select other organizations.
How Can Your Organization Make the Most of These Opportunities?
Now that you’re aware of the vast array of fundraising matching gift programs available to your organization through qualifying donors, you’re likely wondering what actionable steps your team can take to make the most of the opportunity.
Ultimately, the most critical component of a fundraising matching strategy involves driving supporter awareness! Like traditional matching gifts, tons of qualifying supporters remain unaware of the programs in place by their employers. So in order to drive participation, it’s important that you inform them.
Check out a few of our favorite ideas for doing so:
Share general information on social media. Post a fun graphic that states, “Many companies match donations collected by employees for peer-to-peer fundraising events. Find out how to get involved here!” Then, be sure to link to your organization’s dedicated matching gift page where they can learn more about their employers’ programs.
Reach out to existing P2P volunteers directly. Send an email or text—or make a phone call—to supporters who are already fundraising on your nonprofit’s behalf. Let them know how they can find out if they qualify for a fundraising match from their employer and how to get started. As you do, remember to emphasize the increased impact that fundraising match initiatives can bring!
Wrapping Up
Fundraising match programs are the perfect addition to any Run/Walk/Ride or other peer-to-peer giving based event. And being aware of the companies that offer fundraising matches is an essential first step.
If you’re planning such an event, check to see if any of your donors work for the above companies. If your participants qualify, you may ultimately receive twice the fundraised donations for that supporter!
However, keep in mind that they themselves may not be aware of the opportunity at hand. Thus, it helps to provide guidance and resources throughout the process to drive more available fundraising matches to completion.
https://doublethedonation.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/DTD_Companies-That-Offer-Fundraising-Matches-for-Run-Walk-Rides_Feature.png6001600Adam Weingerhttps://doublethedonation.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/logo-dtd.svgAdam Weinger2015-07-11 09:00:282024-07-10 19:38:31Companies That Offer Fundraising Matches for Run/Walk/Rides
Have you ever been to a movie double feature? You get in the movie-going mood, take the time out of your busy life to make it to the theater, buy your popcorn, splurge on a huge soda, and then settle in for two great films. Oh, and most importantly, you’re only paying for one.
Once a donor contributes to your organization, they can submit a request to their company (if they have a program) to have their gift matched. If your nonprofit qualifies, the corporation will send a check for the same amount (or more!) depending on the company’s matching ratio.
However, it will take your team a bit of extra planning to secure that extra revenue.
To ensure that your nonprofit maximizes its efforts, we’ve curated a list of the 11 most valuable matching gift best practices:
If you’re more of a visual learner, we’ve got you covered! We’ve summarized our top ideas in a video. Feel free to watch it and then dive into the article for more information and additional ideas:
Follow these tips, lean back in your seat, and watch the credits roll!
1. Study Up on Matching Gifts
Here’s the good news: if you want to learn about matching gifts, you will have no issue doing so with the countless resources online.
The topic of matching gifts isn’t incredibly intimidating once you take the time to develop a better understanding of the process. Reaching an effective level of working knowledge is certainly possible.
Begin like you would with any subject by reading what you can. Try to build a strong foundation of knowledge, so that when you implement your program you’ll be set to handle obstacles as they arise.
Having a keen sense of matching gifts and what goes into obtaining it is crucial in planning your program and standardizing your processes.
For instance, learning the matching gift guidelines for the three biggest companies in your area can help your team target donors from those companies. Chances are, some of your current donors work at one of those three.
Before you can implement a surefire matching gift strategy, you need to develop a solid understanding of this type of corporate philanthropy. Otherwise, you won’t be able to relay the necessary information to your supporters. Kick-off your research with our comprehensive matching gift guide.
2. Appoint a Matching Gift Specialist
In the ideal situation, everyone on your organization’s team will be well-versed in matching gift programs. However, by appointing an expert to lead your team, you’ll have the time and resources to implement matching gifts into your overall fundraising strategy.
Your nonprofit will be more prepared after hiring a matching gift specialist than it would be having your whole staff know just a few basic facts about matching gifts. The coordinator is the expert, but the rest of your employees should know enough to field the questions that they can and pass along the rest as needed.
The specialist is the designated point-person for all matching gift queries and problems, as well as the staff member in charge of seeing the donations through until the end.
Your coordinator will be able to keep your various departments in the loop about what’s going on and need-to-know information.
All staff members should be promoting matching gifts when relevant, but the matching gift coordinator is the coach leading your team to victory.
If the matching gift specialist position is new territory for your organization, why not consider hiring an executive search firm? Consultants can help you craft the perfect job description and lead you through the entire hiring process, ensuring that everything runs smoothly!
What if you don’t have the funds or employee base to designate a matching gift coordinator?
Set aside some time and have designated team members do the research and put together matching gift materials including:
Educational packets
Letter templates
Newsletters
Answers to FAQs
Fast facts
With these resources, any member of your team is now armed with working knowledge of matching gifts and is prepared to handle most matching gift occurrences and problems. Otherwise, you won’t truly maximize your matching gift potential.
3. Raise Awareness About Matched Giving
Once your team has a solid understanding of matching gifts and an idea of how the process will work internally, it’s time to spread the word! People need to know about matching gifts before they can request them.
Matching gift promotion should span all of your communication platforms. Diversify your marketing so that it can reach the largest possible audience of donors.
4. Collect Donor Employer Details
The educational materials you give your donors will provide them with the tools they need to determine their eligibility. However, the matching gift process is not passive. Your nonprofit shouldn’t sit back and wait for donors to come to you; rather, your team should be actively recognizing and pursuing your eligible donors.
A major gift donor who works for a company with a generous matching gift program can make a huge difference in a nonprofit’s annual budget. Plus, you won’t waste the time of your employees when you double donors’ contributions with minimal extra effort.
Knowing the companies your donors work for will help you segment your matching gift prospects.
For instance, if you’re promoting via email, zeroing in on only the prospects with the most potential wouldn’t make sense. Instead, consider a calling campaign. Team members won’t have time to call all donors and prospects. That’s where segmenting by employer can make a world of difference.
Segmentation by employer allows you to instantly recognize match-eligible donors. Sometimes, these donors might be aware of the opportunities, but they just need an extra push to complete the process!
5. Strive for Easy Accessibility
For a donor, securing a matching gift is an easy process that has the misfortune of sounding complicated. To remedy this, brand it better by simplifying the process.
Clear and concise language with straightforward directions will encourage your donors to seek out matching gifts. Donors who have already been generous enough to donate should not have to follow-up with a ton of paperwork.
To better explain matching gifts, you can:
List the typical steps involved in the process on your matching gifts explainer page.
Insert a matching gift widget that can help the donor search for their company’s program.
Mail out informational materials about corporate philanthropy.
Highlight key matching gift statistics in your educational resources.
Point out a few of the companies that commonly match gifts for your nonprofit.
Ensure that your nonprofit is a one-stop-shop for all things matching gifts! That way, donors won’t have to seek out this information themselves. Get ahead of the game and give your supporters all the information they need to fully understand their opportunities.
6. Keep Records of the Individuals’ Matching Gift Statuses
Maintaining ongoing records of donors’ matching gift statuses falls under the matching gift coordinator’s jurisdiction.
Essentially, you’ll want to know what requests have been made, when they are processed, and when they have been fulfilled.
Keeping accurate records will guarantee that no revenue opportunities slip through the cracks. There can be a lot of moving parts in the process among the donor, donor’s employer, and the nonprofit, and there will be some level of back-and-forth.
A clear trail of what has happened and what needs to happen will make interactions a lot easier and a lot more efficient. For instance, a matching gift database like 360MatchPro by Double the Donation can track match progress. It automatically identifies opportunities to use corporate matching gift programs by searching donors’ email domains and can drive matches to completion through tracking tools and automated messaging options.
The more standardized and systematic the process you use is, the better the results will be.
7. Thank Your Donors for Submitting a Matching Gift Request
Donors involved with matching gifts have gone the extra mile for your cause, so your appreciation should match that level of energy.
Just like matching gifts have doubled your donations, matching gift thank yous should be double as well. Thank them once for the initial donation and a second time when the matched gift goes through.
In fact, you may even want to put together a special event to honor matching gift donors. The goal is to show genuine gratitude towards what they’ve done to help, and something like a special event will also promote the program to those who are unaware of it.
If you don’t have the resources for an entire event, try publicly thanking those involved on social media. Social media is a great place to promote matching gifts and is also a top outlet for acknowledgment.
For instance, a strategic Facebook post can kill two birds with one stone by thanking a matching gift donor while getting the idea of matching gifts into the heads of your Facebook community.
You should also consider thanking your donors’ companies as well. The donor has brought the company to you, so go ahead and cover all your bases.
Matching gifts can provide a much-desired introduction to major corporations with top-notch corporate giving.
When an employee asks their company to match their gift, by nature of the process, the company will be exposed to your nonprofit. If you want to foster a new relationship, your nonprofit is going to have to impress the company. In some cases, you’ll even develop long-term partnerships with them.
By having all of your matching gifts ducks in a row, your staff can focus on building those corporate relationships, instead of troubleshooting submission issues.
Plus, whenever you need an extra helping hand at one of your events, these companies will likely be more than happy to help out through their corporate volunteer program since you’ll already be on their radar.
9. Maintain Your Donor Records
A disorganized and dysfunctional donor database is really going to hold your fundraisers back when it comes to matching gifts. With out-of-date information, your staff has no chance of making an efficient attempt at acquiring matching gifts.
If your organization fails to collect vital donor information, simply reach out to donors. For example, you could send out mailers with blanks for donors to fill in any changes to their personal details. Something as simple as an email asking them to confirm and update their information can work.
From there, refine your process by encouraging donors to fill out their personal details when they donate for the first time.
Once the information is in your system, your next move is going to be making sure those who need it can find it. Having data stored in such a manner that only one senior team member can find it doesn’t do your organization any good, so make sure all your team members who are involved with the donation process have access to this data.
10. Perform Prospect Screening
If you’re looking for donors with large capacities to donate and great matching gift programs, prospect screenings can be a big help.
Prospect research can provide major insights into your donors. Search for vital details like business affiliations of potential donors, like where they work and where their spouses work. If a donor’s spouse works for a major matching gift company, your donor will often qualify for those donations as well.
Matching gift participation rates can vary from 3% to 65% based on how much the individual companies promote their programs. Don’t let this vital process fall through the cracks. Instead, screen your donors to find overlooked opportunities.
With the knowledge derived from prospect screening, you’ll be able to take a well-prepared approach to finding matching gift donors and will be well on your way to maximizing your revenue.
11. Track and Review Your Progress
Students earn grades and receive progress reports. Professional athletes watch game tape and practice all week long. No one can get better without locating weaknesses and focusing on changing them.
This rule applies to matching gifts as well. An established system designed with achievement assessment in mind is a valuable asset.
In order to properly grade your program, track:
The matching gift money raised in previous years.
The matching gift money raised after establishing your corporate philanthropy strategy.
Your top matching gift employer.
The costs and time it takes to acquire matches.
The percentage of your total revenue that matching gifts account for.
Simply advocating for matching gifts won’t be enough to run a successful program. Tracking data and looking at results is the best way to pinpoint areas for improvement.
Matching Gift Database: Identify Matching Gifts with Double the Donation
Matching gifts play a major role in your nonprofit’s fundraising strategy. As you now know, eligible donors can double (maybe even triple!) their contributions through their employers. The key is to make them aware of their available opportunities and ensure they follow through with the process.
Double the Donation can simplify this process and make it easy for nonprofits and employees to take advantage of corporate philanthropy. When you embed the matching gift plugin across your website and fundraising channels, you’ll maximize your revenue potential.
With more than 8,500 organizations using it, Double the Donation offers the industry-leading matching gifts database. It allows users to search more than 20,000 companies and subsidiaries which represent 15+ million match-eligible individuals.
Larger nonprofits may benefit even more from 360MatchPro by Double the Donation. This system goes beyond providing users with necessary instructions and forms. It recognizes match-eligible donors through email domain screening, and through automated reminder emails, donors will be encouraged to complete the matching gift process. Your staff will save time while still providing donors with the necessary guidance for completing their matching gift requests promptly.
Institute these matching gifts best practices and get ready for the second movie to start.
For more matching gift advice, check out these additional resources:
Marketing Matching Gifts:Want more ways to promote matching gifts? This guide takes you through several ideas on how your organization can best market matching gifts.
Ultimate Guide to Major Gifts:Encouraging major donors to submit matching gifts can add even more money to your annual fund. Learn the ins and outs of major donors with this helpful guide.
Matching Gifts Guide:Need to go back to the basics of matching gifts? Check out this comprehensive guide by Recharity.
https://doublethedonation.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/Matching-Gift-Best-Practices_Feature.jpg250725Adam Weingerhttps://doublethedonation.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/logo-dtd.svgAdam Weinger2015-06-15 14:27:282023-09-18 18:02:14The 11 Must-Know Matching Gift Best Practices for Nonprofits
Are you a nonprofit or corporation looking for information on CyberGrants?
Good news! While Double the Donation is a separate company that specializes in helping nonprofits raise more money from matching gift programs, we can share much of the information on CyberGrants you’re looking for.
It’s essential that companies encourage participation in their workplace giving programs, including matching gifts. CyberGrants is one of the leading corporate giving vendors that can help companies do just that. Here’s what you need to know:
About CyberGrants
For over 20 years, CyberGrants has been a leader in the online grantmaking space. In 1995, back when AOL was just starting to hand out those infamous free sign-up CDs, CyberGrants was already launching online grants management and employee giving software for corporations. Over time, the company has recorded many firsts in the grantmaking space, including:
Developing the first online application.
Providing the first online grants administration tools.
Creating the first online workplace giving and volunteering systems for corporations.
These ongoing innovations have positioned CyberGrants as a leading provider of online grantmaking and employee giving tools.
Quick fact: CyberGrants’ corporate customer base includes more than 40 of the Fortune 100, and nearly 70% of the public companies tracked in the Dow Jones Industrial Average.
What CyberGrants Does
CyberGrants specializes in two areas: employee giving systems and grants management for corporate, family, and private foundations.
Employee Giving Systems for Corporations
Whereas Double the Donation provides matching gift tools to nonprofits, CyberGrants provides services to corporations looking to streamline their employee giving systems.
The platform offers corporations a suite of services based around managing and administering:
Personal matching gifts for employees
Individual volunteer events
Executive matching
Rapid response/disaster relief administration
Dollars for Doers/volunteer recognition programs
Consider the CyberGrants Employee Giving System if you’re looking to create, manage, and administer every aspect of your employee giving program.
Grants Management for Corporations and Foundations
As one of the original players in the corporate foundation software space, CyberGrants provides end-to-end solutions for corporations looking to take grantmaking to the next level.
The company’s web-based software enables nonprofits to submit their grant applications online while providing corporations and foundations with the tools they need to manage the grant cycle.
Features of their software include:
Customizable nonprofit application portals so a company’s brand is front and center
Comprehensive reporting
In-depth business intelligence
Automated cross-checking for compliance
When it’s easy for companies and nonprofits to manage and submit grant applications, this creates an opportunity for nonprofits to get the funding they need and for companies to do good in their communities.
Companies That Use CyberGrants
Double the Donation’s services enable nonprofits to increase their fundraising revenue from matching gift programs. To do so, we stay in contact with companies that offer matching gift and volunteer grant programs to understand their program guidelines and procedures.
Since CyberGrants is one of the largest providers of employee grant software to corporations, it’s no surprise that many of the companies in our matching gift database use their software.
A few of CyberGrants’ Employee Giving System corporate users include:
Here’s what the CyberGrants portal for Walmart looks like:
CyberGrants offers the above companies and many others an easy way for their employees to access their workplace giving programs and log their donations online. If your company wants to make it easy for employees to participate in corporate giving, CyberGrants is an excellent vendor to consider.
Double the Donation’s Relationship with CyberGrants
Double the Donation is a separate company from CyberGrants, but both serve corporate philanthropy efforts.
While CyberGrants manages matching gift programs for corporations, Double the Donation works with nonprofits to help them raise more money from companies with matching gift and volunteer grant programs. We sell an easy-to-use tool to nonprofits that helps an organization’s donors submit match requests.
Our database of employee giving programs includes those administered by corporate giving vendors, such as:
CyberGrants
America’s Charities
AmeriGives
Benevity
Bright Funds
Causecast
FrontStream
Millie
Point
SmartSimple
YourCause
All of these corporate giving vendors help companies manage their workplace giving programs. This way, it’s easier for their employees to participate and the companies can benefit from the programs they’ve already invested in.
How Do I Contact CyberGrants?
If you’re a corporation interested in learning more about CyberGrants, you can contact the company in one of three ways:
By email: hello@cybergrants.com
By phone: (978) 824-0300
By mail: CyberGrants, Inc., 300 Brickstone Square, Suite 601, Andover, Massachusetts 01810
Reach out to learn more about CyberGrants’ services!
Additional Workplace Giving Tool Resources
If you’re looking for additional information about corporate giving vendors, check out these excellent resources:
Insight #2: Pfizer leads companies in the pharmaceutical industry with over 30% of employees participating in the company’s matching gift program.
Insight #3: Matching gift programs are widely utilized by employees in the financial services sector. American Express leads the pack with 70% of employees requesting the company match at least one charitable donation.
Insight #4: Based on this sample of companies, the consumer goods sector has the lowest employee participation rates. Of the companies that provided data, Johnson & Johnson leads the sector with 25% of employees having one or more donations matched by the company.
Impact on your Organization’s Matching Gift Revenue: Home Depot vs. Coca-Cola:
For instance, both Home Depot (~13K Atlanta employees) and Coca-Cola (~5K Atlanta employees) are headquartered in Atlanta and offer similar matching gift programs.
One would expect Atlanta based nonprofit organizations to receive a significant number of matching gift donations from each of these companies. Unfortunately that doesn’t appear to be the case. The majority of nonprofits we’ve spoken to self-report far more matching donations from Coca-Cola compared to Home Depot each year. **
So what causes this discrepancy?
Organizations typically explain this phenomenon by talking about the number of employees each company has in the area. While it’s true that a company with a major presence in a city is more likely to provide a larger number of matching gifts, there’s an even more important factor.
How well a company internally promotes matching gifts dictates how likely an employee is to know about the program and submit matching gift requests.
We know it doesn’t take a genius to come up with the above statement, but it’s true. So many employees at companies with matching gift programs have no idea their employer offers a program. If an employee / donor lacks knowledge of their company program, there’s no way they’ll submit a matching gift request.
Closing the Gap:
Although your organization can’t change how widely companies promote matching gifts to their entire employee base, you can greatly influence the percentage of your donors who submit matching gift requests.
If you raise awareness and make it easy for your donors / their spouses to submit matching gifts, you can increase matching revenue.
We recommend nonprofits promote matching gifts in three locations:
If you effectively promote employee matching gifts to your donors, you can overcome low participation rates.
Data Sources: *Based upon a publicly available survey of companies which was conducted by The Chronicle of Philanthropy. **Based on our conversations with membership and development managers at select Atlanta organizations.
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Team volunteer grants are corporate giving programs in which a company provides a monetary donation to nonprofits when a group of employees volunteer together.
Corporations offer these programs to promote team building and community service.
These corporate grant programs have the potential to be a win-win for everyone involved. If your organization can design appealing opportunities for groups of corporate employees to come out and volunteer, everyone wins!
Your organization receives volunteer support from a group of individuals
The group of employees has an enjoyable and rewarding team-building event
The corporation gets to give back to the community
Your organization receives a grant from the company
Examples of team volunteer grant programs:
AMD:
Through Advanced Micro Devices’ Grant Incentives for Volunteer Efforts (GIVE), the company provides grants of $15 per hour volunteered when individual employees volunteer with a nonprofit.
To make AMD’s volunteer incentive program even better, the company provides grants when groups of employees volunteer together. Through AMD’s Team Development Grants, when teams of five or more employees volunteer together for at least 10 total hours (2 hours each), the school / organization is eligible for a $500 grant.
Through The CarMax Foundation, an Associate can make a team-building event more impactful. When groups of employees volunteer together they’re able to earn a grant from The CarMax Foundation for the nonprofit they’re volunteering with.
Volunteer Team Building Grant amounts are:
$500 for eligible donation drives (excludes blood drives) or when five-24 Associates volunteer (see below for runs and walks)
$1,000 when five or more Associates participate in a run or walk benefiting an eligible non-profit
$1,000 when 25 or more Associates volunteer
Even better is that most of the above grants are doubled for activities taking place in June in celebration of CarMax Cares Month.
IBM offers both individual and team volunteer grants.
When IBM employees and retirees volunteer individually they are eligible for up to $3,500 in technology grants or $1,000 in cash awards a year for organizations where they regularly volunteer. Employees must volunteer for a minimum of 8 hours a month for five months.
Groups of IBMers or retirees who volunteer together may request up to $7,500 in IBM equipment grants for eligible schools and not-for-profit organizations.
Xcel Energy offers multiple types of employee giving programs. Through Xcel Energy’s individual volunteer grant program, the company provides grants worth $10 per hour volunteered when an employee volunteers with a nonprofit. The company also matches up to $2000 of employee donations to a wide range of nonprofits.
Through Xcel Energy’s team volunteer grant program, when teams of six or more employees participate in a community volunteer project, Excel Energy will donate $500 to the associated nonprofit.
When a minimum of five Kohl’s Associates from one location volunteer at least three consecutive hours of their time with a qualifying organization, the nonprofit is given a $500 grant.
Verizon provides individual volunteer grants worth $750 when an employee volunteers for 50 hours and matches donations up to $5,000 per employee per year.
But perhaps the greatest award comes through Verizon’s team program, where teams of 10 or more Verizon employees who collectively raise funds for a nonprofit or school can have their funds matched up to $10,000 per team and event.
Walmart provides $250 for each individual in their volunteer grant program who volunteers at least 25 hours and allows up to four individual grant requests per year.
When five or more associates volunteer at least an accumulated 25 hours, Walmart will grant the team $500. Also, Walmart associates from any department or any facility can volunteer together as a team. Walmart will grant up to $5,000 if associates make a team of 50 volunteers, and each department or facility may submit up to four team grant requests per year.
Team volunteer grants can be a great way to raise additional funds for your organization. Did you know the easiest method for managing these opportunities is with 360MatchPro Volunteer Hub? See how Volunteer Hub can help your team uncover potential for individual and team volunteer grants, volunteer time off, and more here.
For more information on team volunteer grants, check out Double the Donation’s additional resources:
Awesome Volunteer Management Tools for Nonprofits. Keeping a accurate record of your supporters’ volunteer time allows you to notify them when they qualify for a grant. Learn about how you can manage volunteers with nonprofit software.
An article from Forbes revealed that, “92% of marketers claimed that social media marketing was important for their business, with 80% indicating their efforts increased traffic to their websites.” If you’re trying to raise awareness for matching gift programs, social media offers fruitful options.
Websites such as Facebook and Twitter allow you to appeal to your decidedly tech savvy audience, which, in our technologically reliant world, could be a bulk of your donors. Furthermore, a sizable online following offers social proof that your nonprofit is both credible and well-respected.
Marketing matching gifts through social media is both its own step and a conglomeration of all your social media tactics. Let’s take a look at the Twitter profile of CASA Pikes Peak Region to see social media versatility in action:
The tweet in the green box is an example of straight pitching matching gift programs. This is the actual call-to-action, and this is what you need to do on social media to increase matching gift awareness. The other tweets all help to build follower interest, so, when this matching-gift-specific tweet gets posted, people actually pay attention to it because they’re emotionally engaged with both the organization and the content that they share.
You can’t market matching gifts all of the time, and you shouldn’t, as your followers will grow bored. Share meaningful material and build relationships so that when the time for marketing comes it feels organic and unimposing to your followers.
What types of posts best spread the word about matching gifts? There are more social media sites than you could ever use, so we’ve selected the two main players. You’ve likely heard of these sites, and we’ll provide concrete examples of posts that will engage donors.
Facebook
Facebook algorithms pick up on gimmicks, so, unless you pay to promote your content, you need to remain abreast of what Facebook will prioritize and what they will hide. With tens of thousands of possible posts to present each time a user logs on, Facebook continuously tweaks its standards for what content people see.
Facebook communications director Brandon McCormick told Businessweek that, “People would rather see posts about a sale, or a new pair of pants that’s come in. Keeping the posts relevant to the kind of business that you have is really important.” In essence, stay on task with your content in terms of what people want to see and who you are as a nonprofit. Talk about matching gift programs, but in a creative way.
CMTA include both a link to their matching gift page and a conspicuous graphic. It’s hard to miss their appeal for matching gifts and it is simple to navigate to the applicable matching gift webpage.
If a matching gift post could be a rockstar, this would be Kurt Cobain. Much like the CMTA post, the National Kidney Foundation combines informative text with an attention grabbing graphic, but look at all those Likes, Comments, and Shares.
The graphic is split in two, with the question mark grabbing the attention and the white text holding the attention. Chances are that most people will check out the graphic first, but then they’ll likely read the text above, too, and see the link. That link takes donors to a dedicated matching gift page, which is a crucial step towards landing more donations. Donor engagement with this post helps it to appear on more newsfeeds, so more donors become aware of matching gifts, which should lead to increased fundraising success. You want to go viral.
Additional Matching Gift Facebook Post Templates
We sincerely appreciate all donations to [Your Organization’s Name]. Did you know that your generosity has the potential to be doubled, tripled, or even quadrupled? Check to see if your employer offers a matching gift program. [Insert Your Double the Donation Matching Gift URL]
A huge thanks to all of our donors, and a double thanks to those who submitted matching fund requests. Does your employer offer a matching gift program? Check today. [Insert Your Double the Donation Matching Gift URL]
What do Microsoft, Bank of America, IBM, and Verizon have in common? They all match employee donations to nonprofit organizations. If you donate, or have donated, to us and work for one of these four companies, your employer will double your donation. Many major employers offer similar programs. Searchto discover if your employer offers a matching gift program, as well as to gain access to program guidelines, how-to instructions, and relevant forms. Thank you for taking five minutes to double your donation. [Insert Your Double the Donation Matching Gift URL]
In addition to text, graphics help to grab readers’ attentions. If your image doubles as a clickable link, that’s even better.
Example dedicated matching gift page from the Hereditary Neuropathy Foundation
The link is the tweet’s call to action in action. The goal is to earn a click in order to take donors to where it’s a simple five minute process of discovering if their employers match gifts and submitting the necessary forms.
Additional matching gift Twitter post templates
Did you donate to us in 2014? There’s still time to submit a matching gift request to your employer. Click, don’t scroll! [Insert Your Double the Donation Matching Gift URL]
It takes only a few minutes to submit corporate employee matching gift forms. Have you submitted yours? [Insert Your Double the Donation Matching Gift URL]
It’s February – do you love us? We love you, too! Click here to see if your company will double your donation: [Insert Your Double the Donation Matching Gift URL]
Facebook has the largest community. Twitter is the modern way donors stay up to date with the organizations they care about. Leverage your social following with well-crafted posts and you can increase corporate matching donations.
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Have you ever wondered what the actual online matching gift submission process is like for donors?
If so, this article is designed to shed light on the steps your nonprofit’s donors take when submitting a matching gift online.
Typical Online Matching Gift Submission Process for Donors:
While the online submission process can vary by company, it typically involves the following steps:
Employees log into the company’s matching gift submission website
Employees search for the nonprofit they donated to
Employees select the nonprofit from the search results (if not found, they enter the organization’s information)
Employees register their donation
Employees submit the matching gift request
Step-by-Step Overview of Home Depot’s Online Matching Gift Process:
While some employers develop their own matching gift submission process internally, most contract it out to one of the main companies that administers matching gift programs on behalf of companies.
The following screenshots are for Home Depot’s electronic submission process and are representative of the process for employees of most large companies with matching gift programs.
Step #1: Employees log into the company’s online matching gift submission website.
Step #2: Employees search for the nonprofit they donated to.
Step #3: Employees select the nonprofit from the search results.
Step #4: Employees enter information about their donation.
Step #5: Employees submit the matching gift request.
That’s it! Just those quick five steps and the donors have done their parts. The rest of the process involves your nonprofit verifying to the companies that the donations were made and then the companies issuing the matching funds.
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CVS Health matches employee donations made through their Community Crew Portal to many nonprofit causes throughout the United States and Puerto Rico. This includes just about any registered 501(c)(3) organization.
American multinational aircraft corporation Boeing Co. offers a particularly generous matching gift initiative that encompasses personal employee donations, gifts made by retirees and spouse/domestic partners, volunteer grants, and even funds contributed through fundraising walks participated in by employees.
Numerator is a consumer insights and data company that aims to engage and incentivize its employees with unique and impactful giving opportunities.
With brands such as Too Faced, M·A·C, Clinique, and Tom Ford Beauty, the Estee Lauder Companies have established 
Northstrat, an employee-owned Information Technology company providing solutions to a number of US government agencies, participates in corporate philanthropy with a particular focus on education. Currently, the company offers to “match funds raised in sponsorship of events where employee collects donations based on their activity” in addition to a more traditional employee matching gift program of up to $500 per employee per year.
Through The CarMax Foundation, an Associate can make a team-building event more impactful. When groups of employees volunteer together they’re able to earn a grant from The CarMax Foundation for the nonprofit they’re volunteering with.
Kohl’s:
Verizon:
