Classy Integrations: Recommendations for Smart Nonprofits
/in Lists and Rankings, Learning Center /by Adam WeingerCLASSY INTEGRATION | READ OUR REVIEW | LEARN MORE |
---|---|---|
Double the Donation | Jump to this section. | Visit Double the Donation! |
Bonfire | Jump to this section. | Visit Bonfire! |
Constant Contact | Jump to this section. | Visit Constant Contact! |
Mailchimp | Jump to this section. | Visit Mailchimp! |
HubSpot | Jump to this section. | Visit Hubspot! |
Mittun | Jump to this section. | Visit Mittun! |
Salesforce | Jump to this section. | Visit Salesforce! |
Virtuous | Jump to this section. | Visit Virtuous! |
Omatic Software | Jump to this section. | Visit Omatic Software! |
Kindful | Jump to this section. | Visit Kindful! |
Giving Assistant | Jump to this section. | Visit Giving Assistant! |
Facebook Fundraisers | Jump to this section. | Visit Facebook Fundraisers! |
Charity Dynamics | Jump to this section. | Visit Charity Dynamics! |
ClickBid | Jump to this section. | Visit ClickBid! |
CharityAuctionsToday | Jump to this section. | Visit CharityAuctionsToday! |
Classy Integrations: Recommendations for Smart Nonprofits
Our Favorite Classy Integrations
Double the Donation | Best for Matching Gifts
Double the Donation is the industry’s leading provider of matching gift tools. Backed by the world’s largest philanthropic database of employer data, our platform enables you to pinpoint match-eligible donations in your database, so you can make the most of every gift. Provide your donors with access to our searchable and user-friendly database from anywhere on your site, including donation and acknowledgement pages. Donors can immediately submit matching gift requests to their employer using the instructions we provide. When integrated with Classy, our platform’s functionality extends further. Embed the tool into your Classy donation form with just a few clicks. Then you can easily identify all match opportunities, send the right matching gift information to donors, and use actionable insights to focus on your top revenue opportunities. Provide a seamless matching gift experience for your donors and your team.Overview
An estimated $4 – $7 billion in matching gift funds is left on the table each year, meaning you likely have existing match opportunities in your database. Your team and donors can easily search for their employers and explore eligibility requirements using the intuitive search tool. With updated information on 20,000+ companies and subsidiaries, you’ll know that you’re locating as many opportunities as possible. Our plugin looks beautiful and works perfectly straight out of the box, though web developers can use CSS for advanced customization options. Double the Donation offers a premium solution at an affordable rate, and integrating it with Classy comes at no extra charge. For up-to-date pricing details, check out our pricing page.Why Your Nonprofit Will Love It
Pricing
Bonfire | Best for T-Shirt Fundraising
Overview of This Integration
Bonfire is a pioneer in t-shirt fundraising that’s building tools specifically for the fundraising needs of nonprofits. Their Bonfire + Classy integration makes it easy for nonprofits, team captains, and their supporters to launch t-shirt fundraisers on Bonfire that are directly connected to their Classy peer-to-peer campaigns. It’s the perfect addition to your P2P playbook because it enables you to sell custom apparel fundraising alongside what are traditionally “donation-only” fundraisers.
To create a seamless experience across Bonfire and Classy the individuals who purchased an item on Bonfire show up in the activity feed on Classy, all of the money raised from shirt sales is sent directly to your organization, and the donor data collected on Bonfire is synced to your Classy account so you never have to worry about fragmented data. Plus, the funds raised on Bonfire are reflected on Classy, helping those teams rally behind a single number.
Bonfire’s integration and platform are 100% free, making it one of the most risk-free ways to enhance your Classy fundraisers that’s currently available. Because some of the other integrations require you to pay for their platform in addition to Classy, they can be a big risk for your nonprofit to use. But when you use the Bonfire + Classy integration, you take on zero financial risks, making it a no-brainer for every nonprofit on Classy to use. The Bonfire + Classy integration is free for every verified nonprofit on Bonfire to use. If your nonprofit isn’t verified on their site yet, you can get everything set up by signing up here. Once you’ve created your account and your verification request has been processed, you’ll be able to access the integration, and other exclusive nonprofit fundraising features like reduced donation fees.Why Your Nonprofit Will Love It
Pricing
Classy Integrations for Nonprofit Marketing
Constant Contact | Best for Targeted Outreach
Overview of This Integration
Constant Contact is a user-friendly platform that makes it easy to design beautifully crafted emails that stand out on your supporters’ favorite devices. Take advantage of professional email tools like customizable templates, tracking, and pop-up form capabilities.
Save hours that would’ve otherwise been spent manually updating your contact lists by making the most of every interaction with the Constant Contact + Classy integration. Sync your Classy contacts with your Constant Contact account in just a few minutes. Once connected, you’ll be able to engage the supporters you’ve acquired through Classy with the standout communication tools from Constant Contact.
Constant Contact empowers nonprofits to take personalized outreach to the next level. By integrating with Classy, you can segment contacts into meaningful groups to deliver the right engagement opportunities to the right recipients. Create professional emails, build donor relationships, and drive real results. Get started with a free trial. Paid accounts start at $20/month, with a special 30% discount for nonprofits that prepay. The Classy integration doesn’t cost anything to turn on.Why Your Nonprofit Will Love It
Pricing
Mailchimp | Best for Branded Email Marketing
Overview of This Integration
Mailchimp specializes in email marketing and can bring your nonprofit’s outreach to the next level. This software helps nonprofits craft beautifully branded emails that create stronger brand recognition and resonate with supporters. Take advantage of intuitive features like their subject line helper, A/B testing, and surveys to improve your marketing initiatives.
Integrate Mailchimp with Classy for additional functionality. Nonprofits use this integration to automatically sync Classy contacts and place them into designated supporter lists within Mailchimp. Sort donors based on their interests and preferences. Then, develop branded and personalized marketing campaigns to be delivered to the right segments’ inboxes.
Mailchimp’s extensive customization options allow nonprofits to create marketing collateral that fully represents their causes. Take advantage of their Creative Assistant AI to automatically build standout, on-brand designs within seconds. Set your nonprofit’s logo, incorporate your color scheme, and upload evocative photos for a cohesive brand experience. Get started with Mailchimp for free for up to 2,000 contacts. Nonprofits receive a 15% discount for the paid plans, which start at $9.99/month. Plus, the Classy integration is free to enable.Why Your Nonprofit Will Love It
Pricing
HubSpot | Best for All Online Marketing
Overview of This Integration
HubSpot is an all-in-one marketing platform that makes managing supporter outreach hassle-free. This platform features everything your marketing team needs to connect with supporters, including a website builder, email marketing tools, social media capabilities, segmentation, and reporting.
Take advantage of the HubSpot + Classy integration to unlock the full value of your data. Sync contacts between systems, and segment them into meaningful groups for personalized marketing campaigns. For example, send well-timed follow-up donation requests that are customized with the supporter’s name. You’ll also gain access to closed-loop reporting to thoroughly analyze all your campaigns from start to finish. That way, you can refine your marketing strategies moving forward.
What makes HubSpot stand out is that its tools were created with the marketing professional in mind. There is little-to-no technical expertise required to deliver exceptional results. Manage and run all your marketing efforts from a user-friendly backend interface. HubSpot’s platform starts at no cost for its basic features. Paid plans start at $45/month. However, you’ll need to enable Classy, HubSpot, and a paid Lynton subscription to access the Classy integration. Lynton’s been a HubSpot partner since 2009 and developed the integration.Why Your Nonprofit Will Love It
Pricing
Mittun for WordPress | Best for Website Creation
Overview of This Integration
Mittun is the leading website service provider for nonprofits and social impact organizations. Founded in 2010, this provider has created hundreds of nonprofit websites over the years, helping mission-driven organizations raise hundreds of millions of dollars online. Thanks to Mittun’s creative team, nonprofits can amplify their reach, encourage repeat donations, and engage new prospects with ease.
Mittun’s premium websites integrate with many of the tools nonprofits already use, including Classy. Enable the Mittun + Classy integration to add your Classy fundraising campaigns directly to your website — no coding required. The ClassyPress Pro plugin makes it easy to add anything from your Classy account to your site, including your donation forms, campaign progress bars, and team leaderboards.
Mittun experts specialize in helping nonprofits use their resources effectively to share their history and convey the importance of their mission online. They understand that your website is the foundation of your digital strategy and can help you stand out from the crowd. They take creative control to help you amplify your story and capture donations with mobile-friendly campaign websites, online donation forms, storytelling landing pages, and more. Mittun’s premium branded websites start at $49,000. Access to the ClassyPress plugin starts at $29/month.Why Your Nonprofit Will Love It
Pricing
Classy Integrations for Nonprofit CRMs
Salesforce | Best for Constituent Management
Overview of This Integration
Trusted by 47,000 nonprofits, Salesforce is one of the most well-known players in the CRM space. Backed by Salesforce, nonprofits can break down existing silos across fundraising, marketing, and program management teams. You’ll be able to run your entire mission from one entirely integrated platform thanks to improved collaboration and relationship management features. Many organizations turn to Salesforce for its wide range of integrations with other leading nonprofit tools, including Classy.
Enable the Salesforce + Classy integration to maximize your fundraising capacity and grow your constituent relationships. Start fundraising on Classy and allow your data to flow directly into your Salesforce CRM to gain a 360-degree view of your fundraising, marketing, and program efforts. That way, you can build trust with constituents, identify opportunities for larger donations, and make the most of every interaction.
Nonprofits depend on support from a variety of constituents — from volunteers to donors. Salesforce empowers nonprofits to connect with all types of supporters and gain a deeper understanding of why they support the organization’s work. In turn, nonprofit leaders can personally engage with them and develop lasting relationships. Not only does Salesforce integrate with Classy, but Double the Donation is also the only matching gift tool on the Salesforce AppExchange. To leverage all three tools, activate Double the Donation within Classy to incorporate matching gifts into the Classy donation flow. Then, also pass in all your Salesforce donations to kick off outreach. Start with a 30-day free trial. Salesforce’s paid plans start at $36 for nonprofits. Eligible organizations may also receive additional perks, like free NPSP subscriptions. Reach out to the Salesforce team for pricing details to enable the Classy integration.Why Your Nonprofit Will Love It
Using Classy, Salesforce, and Double the Donation
Pricing
Virtuous | Best for Fundraising Data Management
Overview of This Integration
Built exclusively for nonprofits, Virtuous CRM streamlines donor management and provides data-rich insights. This powerful software takes care of the backend constituent management processes, empowering your nonprofit’s teams to invest more time into maximizing campaign performance. You’ll be able to manage gift pipelines, nurture your donor relationships at scale, and see the ROI of your efforts.
Leverage the Virtuous + Classy integration to get a detailed view of your fundraising and conclusions about what drives your supporters to give. Gain access to data insights from Virtuous to identify your nonprofit’s most dedicated influencers who will drive peer-to-peer fundraising results through Classy. Then, use marketing automation to follow up with campaign participants based on the campaigns they give to or the team they’re a part of to increase your supporter retention rate.
Virtuous empowers your team to reveal unknown connections between donors and locate new engagement opportunities. Virtuous will remove the guesswork and help you quickly identify prospects with high giving potential using predictive analytics and scoring. See intelligent suggestions for the next best action for each donor based on their giving history, social network behaviors, wealth data, and more. Virtuous also integrates with Double the Donation for a seamless donation experience. Simply activate Double the Donation within Virtuous CRM. Then, you can embed Double the Donation’s search tool into your donation forms and also pass in all your Salesforce donations for a more holistic view of your fundraising. Virtuous CRM starts at $300. Although, they do have other solutions in their suite like automation, email, and online giving your organization can invest in. The Classy integration is free to enable.Why Your Nonprofit Will Love It
Using Classy, Virtuous, and Double the Donation
Pricing
Omatic Software | Best for Data Flow
Overview of This Integration
Omatic Software is dedicated to integrating disparate systems and democratizing data access for nonprofits. Different tech solutions have different ways of collecting, processing, and organizing data. This can make data transfer and automation complicated. Omatic Software makes sure that all your software speaks the same “language” so that you can connect systems and continue fundraising and connecting with constituents.
As a trusted Classy integration partner, Omatic Software empowers nonprofits to save time by syncing data between systems. Nonprofits gain complete control by deciding which data flows between what systems, when, and how. Directly transfer data from Classy to other leading tools like Salesforce using the convenient cloud connector. Plus, organizations don’t have to worry about duplicate entries thanks to deduplication tools.
Omatic Software ensures that you can configure all the solutions that your organization needs without sacrificing the usability of the complete system. It harmonizes all of your software systems to keep data clean and organized. This accurate, clean, and complete data will help you determine what drives supporters to give and continue contributing to your cause, so you can build a powerful base of support. Contact Omatic Software to learn more about their pricing and to get a free demo.Why Your Nonprofit Will Love It
Pricing
Kindful | Best for Donor Engagement
Overview of This Integration
Take donor engagement to the next level with Kindful’s nonprofit CRM. Using its intuitive interface, easily track all of your supporters’ efforts and communications in one centralized location. Keep up with individual donors, or gain a holistic view of your entire supporter database by analyzing the donor lifecycle dashboard.
Plus, Kindful is designed to seamlessly integrate with the tools you already use to run your organization, including Classy. Enable the Kindful + Classy integration to further solidify support. Use Classy to create standout social fundraisers and donation forms. Then, the donor data you collect through these campaigns will flow seamlessly into Kindful. Track current and past donations. When you sync the two systems, all your historical gifts will automatically transfer to Kindful as well. You can even combine your Classy data with other online and offline data sources to create a more complete picture of your donors.
After managing nearly 16 million donors, Kindful knows a thing or two about donor engagement. This software enables you to maintain highly-detailed individual records, complete with donation history, wealth insights, and custom fields. That way, you can deliver relevant engagement opportunities to each supporter. Kindful also integrates with 360MatchPro by Double the Donation for a seamless fundraising experience. Simply log into Kindful through 360MatchPro. Every donation will flow from your CRM into 360MatchPro, so you can pinpoint any corporate giving opportunities and grow donations. The combination of information from Classy and Double the Donation will create a well-rounded database of information in Kindful. Kindful starts at $100/month for up to 1,000 contacts. There are no additional fees to enable the Kindful + Classy integration.Why Your Nonprofit Will Love It
Using Classy, Kindful, and Double the Donation
Pricing
Best Classy Integrations for Easy Online Fundraising
Giving Assistant | Best for Simplified Giving
Overview of This Integration
Giving Assistant is a free shopping rewards platform that puts a twist on charitable giving. People shop online and buy from their favorite brands. They then earn cash back, which is automatically donated to their favorite causes. The platform works with more than 3,000 major brands. And your nonprofit can even make purchases and earn 2x cash back on work-related expenses, turning your necessary shopping into bonus funds.
Access the Giving Assistant + Classy integration to meet your fundraising goals 20% faster. Easily pair the platform with your peer-to-peer campaigns. Data will sync between systems in real-time without importing or exporting CSV files, making it easy to keep track of how much cash back is donated to each campaign.
This innovative approach to fundraising makes it easier than ever for donors to give back to their favorite causes. More than 22,000 nonprofits have benefitted from the free, practically effortless fundraising model. Giving Assistant makes donating fit seamlessly into people’s lives, so they’re much more likely to give. The platform is free to use, and the Classy integration is free to enable.Why Your Nonprofit Will Love It
Pricing
Facebook Fundraisers | Best for Social Fundraising
Overview of This Integration
Facebook Fundraisers makes it easy to connect with philanthropic supporters everywhere. Their team developed specialized features for nonprofits, so organizations like yours can harness the power of social media. Create dedicated fundraising pages that showcase your mission and motivate giving. Ask for gifts with a personalized donation button on your posts, a call-to-action on your Facebook page header, or a button on your live videos.
Pair Classy’s peer-to-peer fundraising tools with Facebook Fundraisers to exponentially increase your impact. Boost your volunteer fundraisers’ reach by allowing them to duplicate their Classy fundraising page to Facebook. No matter what platform they use to fundraise, their progress will remain in sync on both fundraising pages. Your nonprofit can easily view all fundraising data and get a sense of overall campaign success. Plus, you can easily segment lists to target anyone who hasn’t tapped into their Facebook networks yet.
Facebook owns Instagram and offers cross-platform functionality with their fundraising features. Connect with Instagram’s 1 billion active users. Easily add a donate button directly to your nonprofit’s Instagram business profile. Then, encourage supporters to create 24-hour fundraisers for your cause and add donation stickers to their Instagram stories. Eligible nonprofits can use Facebook’s platform and the Classy integration for free.Why Your Nonprofit Will Love It
Pricing
Classy Integrations for Fundraising Events
Charity Dynamics | Best for Event Promotion
Overview of This Integration
Boundless Fundraising by Charity Dynamics is the leading event fundraising mobile app. It empowers supporters to raise more money for charitable causes leading up to major events. Through the app, participants can create personal fundraising pages. Then, they can automate outreach across mobile and social channels to connect with donors. Your volunteer fundraisers can even enter credit card donations and deposit check donations through the app leading up to the event, giving them a holistic view of their efforts.
Charity Dynamics partners with Classy to offer nonprofits a seamless integration with Boundless Fundraising. This integration offers mobile-ready tools to boost donations and capture event registrations. Fundraisers can log into the Boundless Fundraising app using their Classy login credentials to promote and manage their fundraising pages. They can easily customize the photo, URL, story, and fundraising goal to truly stand out.
With a user-friendly interface, Boundless Fundraising by Charity Dynamics delivers a positive experience for peer-to-peer participants with all levels of fundraising expertise, from first-time event attendees to veteran supporters. They also take pride in their maintenance and support teams to ensure your app operates at optimal capacity. Plus, Charity Dynamics also partners with Double the Donation to boost awareness for your cause, build out more robust constituent profiles, and make the most of every donation. Reach out to Charity Dynamics for platform pricing information and additional information about the Classy integration.Why Your Nonprofit Will Love It
Pricing
ClickBid | Best for Mobile Bidding
Overview of This Integration
ClickBid offers the mobile bidding tools you need to host successful online auctions. Completely plan your event by lining up sponsors, setting up a navigable auction catalog, and creating a “virtual venue” page with valuable updates. Bidders can then browse and bid on items from their favorite devices. As they place their bids, the app automatically updates, keeping everyone engaged in your auction.
Enable the ClickBid + Classy integration to run a seamless mobile bidding event by combining Classy’s event registration tools with ClickBid’s auction features. Load attendee lists into ClickBid from Classy, so you can communicate with attendees and encourage them to bid on auction items. All event data will automatically sync back to Classy, so your team can follow up with supporters and develop relationships after your event wraps up.
ClickBid offers features that keep remote attendees engaged no matter where they are. Your guests can set up text notifications alerting them if they’re outbid or if an item is bought outright. You can also take advantage of leaderboards, Instagram feeds, and video capabilities to keep bidders invested until the final few seconds of your mobile auction. ClickBid starts at $795 for unlimited bidders/items and mobile bidding for up to four events. This includes year-long text-to-give and online donation features. Add-ons have additional costs. Contact ClickBid for more information regarding the Classy integration.Why Your Nonprofit Will Love It
Pricing
CharityAuctionsToday | Best for Nonprofit Auctions
Overview of This Integration
CharityAuctionsToday is powerful auction software that makes nonprofit fundraising a breeze. Answer a few questions about your event using the platform, and you’ll receive a site where you can upload your items in bulk or one-by-one. When you’re ready for the auction to go live, share your event’s custom URL across all digital outlets. The platform also comes equipped with everything you need to run a live auction, including attendee management, live bidding, and fast checkout.
Enable the CharityAuctionsToday + Classy integration to transfer data from your events directly into Classy. Take advantage of Classy’s ticketing tools to pre-register guests, and gather all of the supporter information you need upon ticket purchase with additional custom fields. After the event, take a look at campaign results and view transactional data (including donations and winning bids) directly within Classy.
CharityAuctionsToday was designed with usability in mind. Between easy navigability and their intuitive Auction Setup Wizard, you can get up and running in just a few minutes. Any auction also comes with free tech support and training, so you can navigate any challenges thrown your way. CharityAuctionsToday offers pricing options for any size budget. The lowest-priced option allows you to set up an auction for free and only pay if you raise money by the end of the event. The Classy integration is free to turn on.Why Your Nonprofit Will Love It
Pricing
Additional Resources
Classy’s abundance of integrations empowers nonprofits of all sizes to take charge of their efforts and make the most of their technology. From your marketing campaigns to your virtual auctions, Classy integrates with several leading tools, many of which your nonprofit is likely already using. These top 15 integrations are a fantastic start, but be sure to check out all the other Classy integrations available right now.
Looking to make the most of your technology and improve your nonprofit’s efforts all around? Check out these helpful additional resources.
25+ Engaging Virtual Fundraising Ideas for Nonprofits
Need help engaging supporters and raising money online? Bloomerang has you covered! Check out these innovative ideas that work for any cause!
The 20+ Best Online Donation Tools For Nonprofits
As you continue building out your nonprofit’s toolkit, check out these leading online fundraising tools that will enhance your campaigns and boost your revenue.
A Complete Peer-to-Peer Fundraising Guide for Nonprofits
Peer-to-peer campaigns are a powerful way to grow fundraising dollars and boost support. Explore this helpful guide that covers everything you need to know.
15+ Best Church Software Solutions for Virtual Success
/in Lists and Rankings, Learning Center /by Adam WeingerLive Video Fundraising: 18 Tech Tools for Your Nonprofit
/in Lists and Rankings, Learning Center /by Adam WeingerTop 9 Group Management Software for Smart Organizations
/in Lists and Rankings /by Adam WeingerManaging your association, members, or camp population can seem scary. How is your team supposed to keep up with the information and needs of thousands of people? Luckily for you, we’ve compiled a list of our favorite group management software options by specialty, so that you can learn which software is best for your organization.
Our favorites are:
- Fonteva
- Salsa
- CommunityPass
- OmegaFi
- CircuiTree
- Doubleknot
- Morweb
- Church Community Builder
- Alumni Channel
Let’s dive in!
1. Fonteva – Top Group Management Tool for Associations
Group Management Tool Overview
Fonteva is a flexible and easy-to-use group management tool for mid-size to large groups. It can easily manage groups of any size (like trade associations, professional societies, and more!) due to its diverse toolkit of features in a lean and intuitive platform.
All Fonteva products are powered by Salesforce and come with full customer support so that your association can thrive.
Top Group Management Features
Some of the features that make Fonteva our top choice for associations are:
- Cloud-based database.
- Online community communication.
- Event planning software.
- Easy-to-use and easy-to-understand financial and reporting tools.
With these features, your Fonteva software can grow as your organization does. With software updates included in your subscription, you don’t need to worry about having to pay more if the system changes.
Takeaway
For an association that needs an intuitive and simple yet intelligent group management software, Fonteva is the right choice.
2. Salsa – Top Group Management Tool for Nonprofits
Group Management Tool Overview
This group management software from Salsa Labs is built specifically for nonprofits. By centralizing donor data and empowering users to seamlessly track relevant information, Salsa’s group management tool is perfect for nonprofits looking to optimize their fundraising strategy.
The donor profiles are easily customizable and allow for information like relationships, interests, demographics, and social media accounts, so that a nonprofit has a 360-degree view of their donors.
Top Group Management Features
Salsa’s group management software comes with valuable features such as:
- Member management.
- Donor profile customization.
- Grant management.
- Double the Donation, WealthEngine, and DonorSearch integrations.
These options allow a nonprofit to strategically target their donors and discover actionable trends, in order to maximize their fundraising capabilities and increase engagement with their community.
Takeaway
If your nonprofit is looking for a powerful and easy to use group management tool to maximize your fundraising success while strengthening supporter relationships, invest in Salsa’s software.
3. CommunityPass – Top Group Management Tool for Community Centers
Group Management Tool Overview
CommunityPass is a group management tool that provides solutions for aquatic centers and pools, sports leagues and teams, adult education, and more for community centers through their cloud-based software.
This group management tool is great for getting everything done: it includes features for communicating with members through text and email, creating class schedules and online sign-up forms, and creating and issuing key cards, member ID cards, and guest passes.
A community center can plan their season of classes, customize its registration forms, plan and implement their pricing structure, and accept payment all online through CommunityPass.
Top Group Management Features
CommunityPass has a lot of great features for running a successful community center, but some of our favorite group management features are:
- Email and text alerts and reminders.
- Automated receipts.
- Rolling membership options.
- Easy guest pass and membership purchase options.
CommunityPass’s engagement features allow community centers to successfully manage their guests and members, as well as create and plan the classes and opportunities those members want.
Takeaway
For a community center ready to streamline their group management strategy and combine all their administrative needs into one program, CommunityPass is the perfect software.
4. OmegaFi – Top Group Management Tool for Greek Organizations
Group Management Tool Overview
With OmegaFi’s easy-to-use and mobile-optimized financial management, member database, and website/communications solutions, it’s the clear winner for Greek organizations.
OmegaFi’s three software solutions—Vault, Compass, and GINSystem—are all important aspects of OmegaFi’s group management tool, but the most important for members is Compass.
Compass manages members from the moment they’re offered a place in the sorority or fraternity to their later status as a continuing donor.
Officers can customize their dashboard based on the data that they need to see, and the OmegaFi team and the officers work together to build a reporting process that works for their specific organization.
Top Group Management Features
OmegaFi’s comprehensive fraternity/sorority support system has too many useful features to name, but here are our favorite group management features:
- Custom dashboard.
- Event management tools.
- Member reporting tools.
- Fundraising tools and online giving options.
OmegaFi offers Greek organizations all the tools they need to successfully manage their members as well as maintain relationships with graduated brothers and sisters.
Takeaway
Greek organizations who are looking to make their group management tasks easier and simpler, while raising more money for their organization, should look into investing in OmegaFi’s system.
5. CircuiTree – Top Group Management Tool for Camps
Group Management Tool Overview
CircuiTree, created by people who know and love summer camps, is an all-in-one cloud-based group management software designed specifically to make running a summer camp easier.
This software manages everything from housing requests and food allergies to medical records and emergency contact information, all in one easy-to-understand database.
Parents will be thrilled to sign up multiple children, register allergies and medication conditions, and choose camp activities all from their own computers at home. With CircuiTree’s integrated point-of-sale technology, a camp can guarantee secure payment processing and accurate data management.
Top Group Management Features
CircuiTree’s software offers a multifaceted solution to collecting and storing all the information a camp team needs to have a profitable, safe, successful summer. Some of the best features for group management include:
- Online registration.
- Transportation tracking.
- Activity self-scheduling.
- Camper check-in.
- Electronic health center.
- Guest group management.
- Donor management.
With all these features and more, your camp staff will be able to spend less time filing forms and more time making sure your campers have an excellent time.
Takeaway
If your team wants to spend less time tracking data and filing forms and more time having fun with campers and teaching them valuable skills, consider investing in CircuiTree for all your camp-running needs.
6. Doubleknot – Top Group Management Tool for Museum Membership Programs
Group Management Tool Overview
Museum membership management can be complicated, but they don’t have to be with Doubleknot’s group management software. Built with museums and other similar nonprofits in mind, Doubleknot is built for maintaining member relationships.
Doubleknot’s software provides integrated solutions for everything from ticketing and registration to reservations, donations, sales, and more. Their product is constantly being updated with requests and feedback from clients, which makes it a valuable investment for the future of your nonprofit.
Because it integrates well with other software products, you don’t have to worry about having wasted your money on other software.
Top Group Management Features
Doubleknot’s priorities are recruitment, rewarding, and retaining members for your organization, so their features are focused on helping those things happen. Some of Doubleknot’s best software features are:
- Automatic onboarding messages and materials.
- Automatic renewal reminders for members.
- The option to gift a membership to someone else.
- Member engagement tracking.
- Member search and segmentation.
- Historical member directory.
With these features, your museum can ensure that your members remain members and that you continue striving towards your goals.
Takeaway
Doubleknot’s group management tools, in addition with everything else that its software does to ensure that your museum or similar nonprofit runs smoothly, can help you reach more people and maintain strong relationships with your supporters.
7. Morweb – Top Group Management Tool for Online Communities
Group Management Tool Overview
Morweb is the child of two companies: Morad Media Inc., which is an award-winning digital design agency, and Morweb CMS Inc., which is a website platform for nonprofits and associations.
Morweb’s group management tool is lightweight, yet functional: their cloud-based software allows online communities to keep track of members, manage events, allow or restrict access to pages based on membership level, and fundraising, all through the community website.
Top Group Management Features
In addition to providing beautiful, functional, and mobile-responsive websites to online communities, Morweb offers the following group management features:
- Searchable member directory.
- Member map.
- Intranet and restricted-access pages.
- Event planning capabilities.
- Fundraising campaign pages and online donation forms.
Your online community can handle its group membership needs, all from your own website.
Takeaway
Online communities looking for a lightweight group management system with real-world fundraising and event functionalities will be thrilled to use Morweb.
8. Church Community Builder – Top Group Management Tool for Faith-Based Organizations
Group Management Tool Overview
Church Community Builder is a fully functional group management and event planning tool for faith-based organizations. With their cloud-based, Software as a Service group management tool, your church can make sure that all of your members are engaged and included.
Their software, which is accessible from anywhere with internet access as well as through their app, allows church ministries to build profiles for anyone from first-time visitors to long-term members and volunteers.
Top Group Management Features
In addition to Church Community Builder’s ability to track church metrics, build intuitive web forms, provide online giving options, and streamline process queues, they also offer the following group management features:
- Communication tools including email merges, direct mail, and texting options.
- Attendance tracking for church services, small groups, and events.
- Event planning, including room reservations in your church.
- The Needs feature: your church can plan on-the-fly community events to help members with anything life might hit them with.
With Church Community Builder’s group management tools, your church can make sure that everyone feels at home and welcome, even from their very first visit.
Takeaway
Help your church family work better together, increase engagement with everyone from dedicated volunteers to new visitors, and encourage church growth by investing in Church Community Builder for your ministry.
9. Alumni Channel – Top Group Management Tool for Alumni Groups
Group Management Tool Overview
Alumni Channel is a dual-use database and website creation software that allows your organization to keep track of your alumni while also providing a beautiful and functional place online to communicate, network, and learn.
This software allows your alumni and your team to access the website from anywhere with an Internet connection, even from smartphones and tablets. You can invite alumni to events, post news updates, send out email blasts, and ask for donations all from the same place.
Top Group Management Features
Alumni Channel makes it easy to manage your alumni community and improve your university fundraising strategy by providing you with the tools to keep them engaged visit after visit to your website. Some of those engaging features are:
- Quick member search capacity.
- Organized and segmentable member directories.
- Data import and export options.
- Member profiles.
- Networking opportunities.
- Job postings.
With Alumni Channel’s appealing interface for alumni and useful administrator features, you’ll increase engagement after graduation as well as giving alumni the tools they need to build an online community where they can network and grow.
Takeaway
If you’re looking to provide a functional and attractive website for your alumni to interact with others on while also creating an alumni database that your organization can use, check out Alumni Channel to see what else their software can do.
- Top 11 Cvent Competitors. No matter what your organization needs event planning software for, we’ve got a suggestion for it. Check out our guide to Cvent competitors and learn more about how you can improve your event planning strategy.
- Top 7 Silent Auction Software for Nonprofits. With this guide from OneCause, you’ll be sure to choose the right silent auction software for your needs and ensure that your next fundraising event is a massive success.
- Fundly Reviews: Testimonials from Nonprofits and Individuals. Are you thinking of starting a crowdfunding campaign? Before you commit to any specific platform for your endeavor, read these reviews about Fundly to make sure you make the right choice.
The Top 12 Eventbrite Competitors (Reviewed and Tested!)
/in Learning Center, Lists and Rankings /by Adam WeingerLet’s set the stage: your organization needs to plan a killer event that will engage your constituents and enhance your fundraising power (without causing too many headaches for your event planning team). You search for an event management solution to help you streamline the planning process, but software like Eventbrite doesn’t have the tools or capabilities to meet all of your unique needs.
If this situation sounds familiar, don’t fret! To help you find an event management solution that can meet all of your needs, we’ve taken the liberty of reviewing the top Eventbrite competitors on the market.
In this post, we’ll highlight some top solutions that are like Eventbrite, but even better:
Each of these Eventbrite alternatives offers a unique take on event management, so every organization can find a solution that’s perfectly suited for their needs.
1. Our Top Eventbrite Competitor: Mobilize
Product Overview
Mobilize is the leading events management and volunteer recruitment platform for mission-driven organizations.
This comprehensive solution makes it easier than ever to create new in-person and virtual events, recruit attendees, and boost engagement. Their top features include:
- Quick and easy event creation and customization
- Automated email and text communication
- Seamless signup and peer-to-peer recruitment
- Access to a growing network of over one million volunteers nationwide
- Robust data reporting and analytics to review your performance
With a set of intuitive event management features and an impressive network of resources, Mobilize generates more value for your organization over time than single-use event registration sites. This solution will help you empower and connect with more supporters, volunteers, and event attendees.
Comparison to Eventbrite
The online Eventbrite platform can be a good choice for one-time ticketed events. However, mission-driven organizations like nonprofits and advocacy groups often have more complex, long-term needs than the typical Eventbrite user.
One major difference between the platforms is how supporters discover your events and opportunities. With Eventbrite, you send your event listing to a list of supporters. With Mobilize, you can promote your events to existing supporters and tap into a rapidly growing network of (over 1.7 million!) passionate individuals looking for their next volunteer opportunity.
This is amplified by the platform’s automated social recruitment features and cross-promotion opportunities between organizations. Organizations can also enable all-star volunteers to host events on their behalf, drastically expanding their reach.
With access to the Mobilize network and its amplification features, your organization will reach much wider audiences than if you relied on your contact list alone. Plus, plenty of CRM integrations make it easy to record new supporter details and post-event feedback, driving even more engagement over the long-run.
For mission-driven events of all sizes, Mobilize is the best choice for long-term value. Its toolset and expansive network of volunteers and partners make it a no-brainer.
2. Eventbrite Competitor: Fonteva Events
Product Overview
Fonteva Events is an all-in-one event management solution designed for Salesforce users.
With Fonteva, you’ll have access to virtually unlimited tools to plan, execute, and follow up on your event. Their all-encompassing features include:
- Total logistics management, including event setup, speakers, vendors, and sponsors.
- Attendee management tools such as a guest agenda builder.
- Intuitive registration and ticketing options.
- An event microsite generator.
Hesitant about using such a comprehensive platform? Trust us: Fonteva’s software could not be more user-friendly. Your staff will have no problem implementing the solution and actually capitalizing on all of its features.
Comparison to Eventbrite
Eventbrite was designed as an online solution, so Salesforce users who want to create Eventbrite events will need to integrate the platform with their Salesforce system.
Fonteva, on the other hand, was built explicitly for Salesforce users. Fonteva Events is a native Salesforce application, meaning there’s absolutely no integration required to sync up the two platforms; Fonteva and Salesforce work hand-in-hand!
If your organization already uses Salesforce, you can still use an external platform like Eventbrite, but you’ll be spending significant time and money to force the two solutions to work together. Why not spend that time planning your event instead?
3. Eventbrite Competitor: Soapbox Engage
Product Overview
Soapbox Engage offers a comprehensive suite of Salesforce apps for organizations of all sizes. Specifically, their tools are designed to help smaller organizations get up and running on what can otherwise be a complicated platform for newcomers.
Their Events app includes a number of robust features:
- Unlimited event creation with customizable ticketing options
- Built-in analytics tools to track traffic and registration metrics
- Flexible options to choose your own payment processor
- Customizable and fully mobile-optimized registration pages for your site
Most importantly, as an app for Salesforce, all of your registration and engagement data will report seamlessly from the Soapbox Engage platform into your CRM. It’s the easiest way to start making the most of Salesforce for your events.
Comparison to Eventbrite
Eventbrite is a web-based platform, making integration for Salesforce somewhat difficult. For Salesforce users, bouncing between two completely separate tools can become a major time-waster and distract your team from planning the event.
Staying within the Salesforce app ecosystem is the best way to see returns on your CRM investment, both in terms of raising more money with your event and saving more energy overall. This is especially true for smaller organizations just getting started with the platform.
Plus, as a full suite of online fundraising and engagement apps, each Soapbox Engage tool works seamlessly with the others, giving you more intuitive features and comprehensive views of your data.
4. Eventbrite Competitor: Snowball
Product Overview
Snowball is an easy-to-use, all-in-one platform for nonprofits. Their suite of tools is designed to help smaller organizations clear the hurdles that often stand between them and sustained growth.
For growing organizations, planning fundraising events can be particularly challenging. That’s because the costs of separate ticketing, online fundraising, text-to-give tools, and more can very quickly become overwhelming.
Snowball solves this problem by giving you a full suite of nonprofit-specific tools for an affordable price. Their tools include:
- Event ticketing tools
- Customizable donation pages
- Fundraising thermometers
- Text-to-give services
- Peer-to-peer fundraising options
For organizations just getting started, being able to host events with efficient online ticketing and intuitive giving options like text-to-give can be a game-changer!
Comparison to Eventbrite
Using multiple separate platforms, especially for complex tasks like planning a fundraising event, is not usually a good idea. As a standalone web platform, Eventbrite will most likely operate very separately from the rest of your toolkit. For individuals planning one-time events like concerts or parties, a standalone platform could work well.
Nonprofits, though, rely on their events to accomplish a number of very important and interconnected tasks, namely engaging their guests, raising awareness for their missions, and soliciting donations. Working with a set of interconnected tools is the best way to save time and effort while also making sure no important data slips through the cracks.
Snowball’s suite of all-in-one ticketing, online fundraising, and text-to-give tools make it a powerful choice for smaller organizations. Centralizing your tools makes your job easier, creates a more streamlined experience for supporters, and gives your team fuller access to the important data you generate.
5. Eventbrite Competitor: Doubleknot
Product Overview
Designed for specific types of nonprofits including zoos, museums, and retreat centers, Doubleknot offers intuitive event registration and program management tools to make event planning easier.
Doubleknot’s software comes with rich features to help you manage all types of events and programs. With Doubleknot, you can:
- Configure a custom event with ease.
- Build registration forms that capture all the guest data you need.
- Manage capacities and waitlists per session or event.
- Create unique event categories based on your organization’s common needs.
You’ll also have access to all of Doubleknot’s impressive integrated nonprofit features, such as communications and marketing, reporting and analytics, and payment processing. Everything you need will be visible in one simple solution!
Comparison to Eventbrite
Eventbrite doesn’t provide half of the program management tools you’ll gain with Doubleknot.
Because Doubleknot was created with unique organizations in mind, this software allows you to design events and programs that are truly complex. Whether you’re planning a straightforward fundraising gala or an ongoing class with multiple track options, Doubleknot can adapt to your needs—not the other way around!
6. Eventbrite Competitor: Regpack
Product Overview
Designed as an all-in-one system for registration, email marketing, and report creation, Regpack’s software comes with a variety of amazing features to help you manage events and enrollment.
With Regpack, you can:
- Embed your form right on your website
- Create new registration projects with ease
- Easily communicate with registrants
- Create and trigger discounts
- Offer payment plans
- Allow one person to register multiple people for your event
You will also be able to effortlessly manage your events, with automated workflow, data filtering, dynamic reporting tools, and data backed up in the cloud.
Comparison to Eventbrite
Regpack and Eventbrite both offer the ability to duplicate events that you host each year, so you only have to set them up once. However, Regpack offers more flexibility with registration types, such as conferences, one-day events, and trips. Their software offers an easy solution for even the most complex registration needs.
Regpack also offers a dedicated support team and a project manager who can build out your system based on your needs. Take advantage of their comprehensive knowledge database, too!
7. Eventbrite Competitor: Ticketbud
Product Overview
Ticketbud is an online ticket sales and event registration platform designed for event organizers.
Its comprehensive features are perfect for nearly every single event type out there. You have a wide reach with a lot of different ways to sell tickets through these Ticketbud features:
- Sell tickets at the door and collect card and cash payments with the Ticketbud point of sale system.
- Sell tickets on your website and Facebook page with the Ticketbud ticket widget.
- Track all of your marketing efforts with Google Analytics and Facebook Pixel integrations.
- Manage collaborators and volunteers in one place.
Comparison to Eventbrite
Ticketbud has a fairly similar feature set compared to Eventbrite.
However, where they differ is that Ticketbud offers daily payouts for ticket sales, whereas with Eventbrite you have to wait until after your event to get paid. Also, with intuitive data reporting tools and customer support available by both phone and live chat, Ticketbud focuses more on the organizers and their needs.
8. Eventbrite Competitor: Eventbee
Product Overview
Eventbee is an online event management software available for any type of event, from small-scale parties to business events, festivals, or conferences.
Eventbee offers a number of features that are similar to Eventbrite, such as:
- Online ticketing and customizable registration forms.
- Flexible payment processing options.
- Branded event pages on Eventbee’s website.
- Check-in via Eventbee mobile app.
Plus, Eventbee offers event management options specific to businesses or nonprofits, so any type of event planning team can access the most useful tools.
Comparison to Eventbrite
Eventbee stands out from the crowd thanks to their flat fee pricing, making them a cost-effective alternative to Eventbrite.
They offer four distinct fee structures ranging from $1 to $3 per ticket sold. You can even use their handy cost calculating widget on their website to find out exactly how much you’ll save when you switch from Eventbrite, Ticketmaster, or Ticketleap!
9. Eventbrite Competitor: Gather
Product Overview
A comprehensive event management solution, Gather can provide a robust look at all the elements that make up your event.
Designed for venues, hospitality groups, and event planning organizations, Gather includes features such as:
- Workflow and team management tools.
- Events calendar with past, present, and future viewing options.
- Custom reports and data tracking.
- Responsive web app for planning events on the go.
Gather also offers a number of useful guides and other resources to those who subscribe to their event management newsletters!
Comparison to Eventbrite
Because Gather is designed for event planning professionals, it provides a much more inclusive look at event management than Eventbrite does.
While still easy to use, Gather is a better choice for organizations and businesses who know their way around event planning software. If you’re new to event management or have only sporadic event planning needs, you might be better off choosing a more lightweight Eventbrite alternative.
10. Eventbrite Competitor: ZapEvent
Product Overview
ZapEvent is a web-based event registration platform designed to make selling tickets simple and secure for organizations of all sizes.
With an extremely user-friendly interface, ZapEvent provides all of the following essential tools:
- Custom event pages.
- Social media integration.
- Flexible ticket and payment options.
- Preset registration and financial reports.
Not only does ZapEvent make setting up your event easy; they make pricing easy too! ZapEvent’s flexible pricing model allows organizations to choose how they’ll handle processing fees, and they provide a price calculator to make mapping out a ticket strategy that much easier.
Comparison to Eventbrite
What sets ZapEvent apart from other event apps (including Eventbrite)? Their customers would agree that ZapEvent’s exceptional customer service seals the deal on the event management experience.
ZapEvent provides a wealth of videos and other online resources to help both novice and veteran event planning teams get the job done most effectively. On top of that, their team of event specialists are available to help you personalize your event and optimize your strategy.
11. Eventbrite Competitor: Fundly CRM
Product Overview
For small to midsize nonprofits who want to manage constituent data and event logistics in the same system, Fundly CRM can provide all of the tools you need to do both (and a lot more).
In this robust constituent relationship management software, you’ll have access to built-in event management tools including:
- Customizable registration forms.
- Event project management tools.
- Sponsorship management.
- Peer-to-peer fundraising tools.
Unlike some nonprofit CRMs, all of Fundly CRM’s event management tools are included with their base package, so you don’t have to break the bank to afford these fantastic features!
Comparison to Eventbrite
Fundly CRM isn’t just an event management platform; it’s an all-in-one nonprofit constituent relationship management software.
If your organization already uses a nonprofit CRM to manage supporter data, you’ll have to integrate outside event management software to use both platforms simultaneously. Because integrations can be costly (and often ineffective), it might make more sense for your organization to upgrade to a CRM that can handle all of your fundraising needs, including event planning!
12. Eventbrite Competitor: SimpleTix
Product Overview
SimpleTix provides an intuitive, flexible ticketing solution for any organization holding an event. SimpleTix users range from pumpkin farms to culinary festivals, from zoos to performing arts centers. It’s intuitive enough for first-time organizers and powerful enough for organizers hosting big-time events.
SimpleTix excels at reducing friction in the ticketing process by providing features that allow organizers to customize their ticket structure and remove the burden of manual administrative processes. Their top features include:
- Instant payouts, thanks to their official partnership with Square payment processing
- Unlimited, customizable ticket types for early bird discounts, member rates, multi-day packages, and more
- Customers can change ticket dates and time slots on their own
- Sell concessions, merchandise, and on-site tickets from the same platform
- An event website builder you can try for free
The SimpleTix team constantly adds new features and refines existing ones, and its YouTube channel shows tons of tips and tricks for making the most out of the platform. The platform comes with adjacent functionality like QR code-enabled etickets and mobile scan-and-go capabilities that make it easier to keep the line at the gate moving. Though SimpleTix may be a fairly single-point solution, SimpleTix integrates widely with other apps like Zapier, MailChimp, SalesForce, to name a few.
Comparison to Eventbrite
Like most ticketing platforms, Eventbrite holds ticket revenue for days or weeks after the event is over. SimpleTix’s official partnership with Square sets it apart in this regard. SimpleTix pays out ticket revenue immediately, which lets organizers use presale revenue to finance other aspects of their event. Eventbrite is notoriously bad at facilitating refunds, but SimpleTix makes that refund instantly accessible. Organizers can even offer a refund in the form of a Square gift card, which allows the organizer or venue to keep the revenue without sacrificing attendee satisfaction.
SimpleTix provides an event website that keeps your event front and center. Unlike Eventbrite, SimpleTix’s site builder doesn’t clutter your page with branding and promotions for other events.
Now that you know your options, it’s time to start planning your event!
Check out these additional resources for more event management help:
- Top Cvent Competitors. Didn’t find the event management solution you were looking for in this post? Check out our breakdown of the top Cvent competitors to continue expanding your knowledge of the best event management products around.
- Salesforce Event Management Guide. If you’re planning an event using your Salesforce CRM, look no further! Fonteva has the ultimate guide for using Salesforce to plan lucrative, effective events your constituents will love.
- Our Favorite Event Fundraising Solutions. Discover even more nonprofit event management solutions! We’ll walk you through the top fundraising software to meet any need your organization has.
Matching Gifts & Higher Education: Companies That Match [+Tips]
/in Lists and Rankings, Learning Center, Matching Gift Companies /by Adam WeingerIf you’ve graduated college, chances are, your alma mater has contacted you asking for a donation at some point. Perhaps this happened even before you graduated. Statistics show that many alumni actually do donate to their colleges and universities. Luckily, many of these generous gifts can be matched by alumni’s employers.
If you’d like to optimize your school’s matching gift fundraising efforts by targeting impactful corporate programs, incorporating tried-and-true best practices, and exploring examples put in place by similar institutions, this is the guide for you! We’ll cover:
- Top Companies that Match Gifts to Colleges and Universities
- 7 Best Practices for Matching Gifts and Higher Education
- Matching Gifts and Higher Education: Examples to Follow
Most matching gift programs began with only matching to colleges and universities. Since then, many companies have expanded their programs to include most other nonprofit organizations. However, there still remains a large contingent of companies that only match to higher education, excluding K-12 educational organizations and schools. And that means extra potential matching opportunities for your institution!
Top Companies that Match Gifts to Colleges and Universities
Almost all the companies you’ve heard offer matching gift programs (such as Bank of America, GE, Coca-Cola, Home Depot) will match gifts to colleges or universities, too. However, for this post, we decided to put together a list of some companies with lesser-known matching gift programs. Oftentimes, when a company only matches to higher education colleges and universities, their program flies under the radar.
If your college or university is looking to boost its matching gift revenue, be on the lookout for these popular matching gift companies!
Allstate Insurance
Allstate has an employee matching gift program completely devoted to higher education. Through the Good Hands Matching Grant Program, Allstate matches donations made to higher education institutions at a 1:1 rate. In other words, employee donations can potentially be doubled.
The company will match a range of donations from $25 to $5,000. Individuals who are eligible include employees, agency owners, personal financial representatives, and retirees.
Plus, Allstate also offers volunteer grants for employees who’d rather donate their time than money. Through the Hands in the Community Grants Program, employees and agency owners who volunteer more than 16 hours in a calendar year are eligible for volunteer grants.
The volunteer grant amount depends on the employee’s position. While regular employees are eligible for $500 volunteer grants, agency owners are eligible for $1,000 volunteer grants.
Read more about Allstate’s matching gift program.
ConAgra Foods, Inc.
ConAgra will match gifts made to higher education between $25 and $1,000. Both full-time and part-time employees are eligible. However, retirees are not eligible. They also donate to other educational organizations, such as nutrition education programs.
To submit a request, employees either fill out a paper form or an electronic form. Unlike most companies, employees aren’t restricted to just one type of form. However, they do have to submit the matching gift request within 90 days of the initial donation. After that point, the company will no longer match the donation.
Read more about the ConAgra Foods matching gift program.
eBay, Inc.
The popular online auction site, eBay, will match employee donations made between $25 and $10,000 per year. The company increased the maximum from $500 just a few years ago, which is a substantial jump!
While full-time and part-time employees are eligible for the program, retired employees are not. In addition to matching gifts to education, eBay will also match gifts to most other nonprofit organizations. Unlike some companies, employees are urged to submit matching gift requests as soon as possible, because there’s a company-wide annual limit.
As part of its corporate philanthropy initiative, eBay also offers volunteer grants. Grant amounts are tier-based, depending on the number of volunteer hours employees finish:
- 8-24 hours = a $100 grant
- 25-49 hours = a $250 grant
- 50+ hours = a $500 grant
Be on the lookout for this popular employer when developing your corporate giving strategy.
Read more about eBay’s matching gift program.
Sherwin-Williams
Sherwin-Williams offers a matching gift program where the company matches up to $3,000 in donations to a wide variety of nonprofits. This includes higher education institutions. The company’s matching gift program is open to both current employees as well as retirees.
The company matches at a 1.5:1 ratio. For instance, if a match-eligible individual donates $100 to your school, your institution will receive a $150 match, totaling $350.
In case that’s not impressive enough, Sherwin-Williams also has a great volunteer grant program. After an employee volunteers 50 hours, Sherwin-Williams provides the eligible organization or school with $200. Each employee can request up to three separate grants each year, totaling $600.
Read more about Sherwin-Williams’ matching gift program.
ExxonMobil
ExxonMobil is very well-known for its corporate philanthropy, specifically for its efforts toward educational institutions. The company offers two matching gift programs, the Arts and Cultural Matching Gift Program and the Educational Matching Gift Program.
Through the Educational Matching Gift Program, ExxonMobil will match donations to higher education institutions, including U.S. colleges and universities. They’ll provide up to $22,500 in matching gift funds per year. However, for cultural organizations, the company only matches up to $2,000.
Plus, the company offers two volunteer grant programs. For its individual grant program, when an employee or retiree volunteers for 20 hours, ExxonMobil provides a volunteer grant of $500. Each individual can request up to four grants per year. For its team volunteer involvement program, ExxonMobil awards a $500 grant when a team of five or more eligible participants volunteers for a combined total of at least 20 hours. While employees are limited to $2,000 in grants per year, individual organizations are limited to $5,000.
Read more about ExxonMobil’s matching gift program.
7 Best Practices for Matching Gifts and Higher Education
Now that you know of a few major companies that offer matching gifts to higher education institutions, let’s dive into a few ways you can incorporate them into your fundraising strategy. Let’s explore seven tried-and-true tips here!
1. Ensure your team understands the importance of matching gifts and higher education.
Before you can promote (and communicate the value of) matching gifts to your institution’s donor base, it’s critical that your fundraising team is up to speed. Be sure to incorporate department-wide meetings to explore matching gift opportunities, what that means for your institution, and how you can collect more corporate funding for your efforts.
And if you’re not sure your team understands the impact of matching gifts, consider sharing powerful statistics like these:
- More than 26 million individuals work for companies that offer matching gift programs.
- Over 78% of that 26 million (or approximately 20.3 million) people have no idea whether their employer matches gifts.
- An estimated $2 to $3 billion is donated annually through corporate matching gift programs.
- An additional $4 to $7 billion in available match funding is left on the table each year, largely due to a lack of awareness.
- 84% of survey participants reported that they’d be more likely to donate to a nonprofit if their employer was matching the donation.
- 1 in 3 participants stated that they’d likely make a larger donation if it was being matched.
Then, once they’re on board, you’ll likely want your development and fundraising staff to be familiar with top companies that match gifts to colleges and universities, common matching gift program guidelines to look out for, and how to assist donors as they walk through the process of requesting their employer matches.
And that’s just the beginning! As you continue to develop your matching gift strategy to direct more corporate dollars toward your school, it’s essential that everyone stays on the same page.
2. Enlist multiple methods for collecting alumni employment information.
Your alumni are likely some of your school’s most dedicated supporters. As they move on from your institution and begin their careers in the real world, make sure you have a process in place for collecting and tracking graduates’ employment information. This will enable you to screen donors and alumni against some of the most generous matching gift companies, such as those mentioned above.
More than likely, your alumni employment data search will include some combination of the following:
- Matching gift software
- Email domain screening
- Employer appends
- Alumni outreach
But you don’t have to pick just one method, either! The more you know, the better. Our research shows even that incorporating more than one approach for identifying matching gift eligible donors results in 77% more identified potential matches. So perhaps you might leverage domain screening and donor outreach, then utilize an employer appending service to help fill in any remaining gaps. You can even attend fundraising conferences to uncover new techniques for determining matching gift eligibility.
3. Screen donors and prospects for employers with matching gift programs.
Once you’ve located donor and alumni employment data, you can utilize the information to identify matching gift eligible donors. Here are a few best practices you can follow as you do so:
- Check out top matching gift programs from well-known companies like these.
- Emphasize companies that match gifts to colleges and universities.
- Explore additional matching gift companies with a comprehensive database.
Studies show that more than 26 million individuals work for companies that offer some form of matching gift program. More than likely, that’s a significant portion of your school’s donors—you just have to figure out which ones are eligible and where to go from there.
4. Communicate the value of matching gifts and higher education impact to donors.
Donors love participating in their employers’ gift-matching programs because the initiatives enable them to make a larger impact through their initial donations. Because this is one of the top motivating factors for participation, it’s a good idea to place a significant emphasis on doubled (and sometimes even tripled!) benefits that a matching gift can bring.
For example, let’s say a donor contributed $500 to provide 100 books for your newly built library. Be sure to highlight that, should that individual secure a match for their already-generous donation, they can essentially provide 200 books to make twice the impact—all without having to reach back into their own wallets.
5. Follow up with donors on match-eligible gifts and provide employer-specific guidelines.
Your school’s online donation process should gather ample information about your donors as they complete the giving process—including their employment status. After the transaction is complete, your fundraising team can (and should) leverage those collected insights in order to drive more matches to completion.
Picture this: Let’s say Donor Johnny entered his employer’s name in your donation page search tool, and you see that he works for the Home Depot. Afterward, you’ve collected that information, along with the data on the $1,000 gift that he made, to determine that his donation is matching gift eligible. But Johnny might not know that himself!
That’s why we recommend that you follow up with donors post-transaction to share whichever insights you’ve collected about their employers’ matching gift program availability. This should include minimum and maximum match amounts, match ratios, types of qualifying donors and organizations, and submission deadlines. And in order to really seal the deal, you can even equip donors with direct links to their employers’ matching program online submission forms!
6. Integrate matching gifts in your university’s Giving Day strategy.
Hundreds of higher education institutions host annual Giving Days as a way to drive engagement with their schools each year. These efforts are often particularly effective fundraising campaigns, with many schools collecting the majority of their revenue in a short, 24-hour period.
With such high levels of traffic interacting with an institution’s donation forms in that time-frame, it makes sense to use the opportunity to promote employer matching gifts. And doing so enables donors to double (or sometimes even triple!) their impact on your school.
If you’re planning an upcoming Giving Day for your school, we recommend getting up and running with innovative matching gift software beforehand—which brings us to our next tip!
7. Streamline your efforts with matching gifts and higher education software.
By adding a matching gift database like Double the Donation to your tech toolkit, you significantly boost your fundraising potential without putting a ton of added work on your team members’ plates. This fully automated matching gift platform identifies more match-eligible donors, automatically follows up with them, and even creates an automated match plan for you.
Not to mention, you can easily integrate Double the Donation’s matching gift automation tool across higher education fundraising channels such as GiveCampus, Anthology, Almabase, Ellucian, and more. Thanks to available matching gift and higher education software partnerships, institutions like yours can quickly raise more by adding company gift-matching functionality to their existing fundraising systems!
Matching Gifts and Higher Education: Examples to Follow
Hundreds of schools and universities have successfully implemented these strategies to effectively promote matching gift fundraising opportunities to donors, alumni, and their overall communities. Let’s look at a few examples of how the right matching gift solutions can help boost your college’s funds!
Flagler College’s Dedicated Matching Gift Page
If alumni are looking for different ways to support their alma mater, well-designed matching gift pages can offer helpful information about multiplying their contributions. Check out this example of a dedicated matching gift page from Flagler College!
Flagler College’s web page provides alumni with instructions on how to obtain a matching donation from their employer. Plus, they’ve embedded the search tool and encouraged donors to look for more in-depth information about their employers’ matching gift programs. Not to mention, they offer vital contact information in case donors have additional questions.
Eckerd College’s Donation Form
Donation forms are another great way to start the conversation about matching gifts. At this stage, Eckerd College knows its users are ready to give and will be more motivated to multiply their contributions without reaching back into their own pockets.
Check out this example of this school’s donation form and how it promotes matching gifts:
In addition to the other donation options on the page, Eckerd College offers donors the chance to look into their employers’ matching gift programs with a searchable database tool (specifically through Double the Donation!).
University of Utah’s Ways to Give Page
Many institutions have a Ways to Give page on their university or alumni website—the University of Utah being one of them. In order to drive fundraising efforts, this school includes different donation methods (e.g. online with a credit card or through the mail) through which donors can contribute. And the University of Utah also knows that its Ways to Give page is a key location to promote corporate matching gift programs!
Here’s what this school’s Ways to Give page looks like:
This school not only shares general information about matching gift programs but also provides donors with Double the Donation’s embedded search tool to learn more about their specific employer’s gift matching policies. The more ways a donor or prospect knows to support your institution (including corporate gift-matching), the more likely they are to follow through with the process!
Matching gifts are a valuable resource, so ensure that your institution is taking advantage of all available revenue. In fact, the colleges and universities that have the most matching gift success incorporate matching gifts throughout their broader fundraising efforts. It won’t take much, but, as you can see from the corporate guidelines sampled above, a little goes a long way with matching gifts.
This list, while helpful, doesn’t come close to covering all matching gift opportunities. Rather, it’s a sampling of well-known companies with matching gift programs. While these major companies do offer generous matching gift programs for educational institutions, they aren’t the only companies that do. Make sure to stay up-to-date with your donors’ employers. That way, you can maximize your revenue potential!
Watch the video below to hear how University of Lynchburg leverages Double the Donation to boost matching gift revenue.
University of Lynchburg- Matching Gift Success from Double the Donation on Vimeo.
Interested in learning more about matching gifts for colleges and universities? Check out these educational resources:
- Top Matching Gift Companies. For more matching gift companies (most of which match gifts to higher educational institutions), go over this list of some standout opportunities. Then, see if your alumni or donors work for these businesses!
- 12 School & Higher Ed Fundraising Platforms That Grow Matching Gifts. Looking for top software that will help you grow matching gifts and higher education fundraising efforts? Check out our list of twelve fantastic solutions.
- Marketing Matching Gifts. Learn how to promote matching gifts for higher education with this Double the Donation guide. Ensure your school doesn’t miss out on revenue opportunities by incorporating these practices.
Companies That Offer Fundraising Matches for Run/Walk/Rides
/in Company Spotlights, Learning Center, Matching Gift Companies, Learning Center, Lists and Rankings /by Adam WeingerAt 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 matching gift software 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. Double the Donation 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.
Learn more about Intuit’s matching gift program.
BP (Formerly British Petroleum)
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.
Learn more about BP’s matching gift program.
State Street Corporation
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.
Learn more about State Street’s matching gift program.
Penguin Random House
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.
Learn more about Penguin Random House’s matching gift program.
CVS Health
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.
Learn more about CVS Health’s matching gift program.
Boeing
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.
Learn more about Boeing’s matching gift program.
Numerator
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!
Learn more about Numerator’s matching gift program.
The Estee Lauder Companies
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.
Learn more about The Estee Lauder Companies’ matching gift program.
Northstrat
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.
Learn more about Northstrat’s matching gift program.
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.
Have Retirees who Volunteer? Receive Grants from their Former Employers!
/in Volunteer Grant Companies, Lists and Rankings /by Adam WeingerVolunteer grants for retirees are one of the most overlooked sources of fundraising for nonprofits. But given that retirees are the most committed volunteers for many organizations, there’s value in promoting volunteer grants to these supporters.
At Double the Donation, we help nonprofits raise more money from employee matching gift and volunteer grant programs. While we’re the first to admit that many company programs are geared exclusively towards current employees, some companies extend their grant programs to retirees who volunteer on a regular basis.
Companies with Volunteer Grant Programs for Retirees
Chevron:
Like most major oil and gas producers, Chevron has generous employee giving programs. One aspect that differentiates the company from its peers is that its matching gift and volunteer grants are not limited to current employees. Retirees are also eligible to submit grant requests for much of their philanthropic giving.
Each employee or retiree who volunteers for at least 20 hours in a year can request a grant for $500. At $25 per hour, that makes Chevron’s volunteer grant program one of the top ones in the world. And to make it even better, each individual can request up to two grants (either for the same organization or different organizations) for a total of $1,000 annually.
Learn more about Chevron’s Volunteer Grant Program.
PNM Resources:
PNM Resources, which stands for Public Service Company of New Mexico, is an energy holding company headquartered in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The company owns both PNM and Texas-New Mexico Power (TNMP). As a long-time employer in both markets, the company has a strong passion for giving back.
In addition to PNM Resources’ matching gift program, the company also encourages employees and retirees to volunteer with nonprofit organizations by providing financial grants to the organizations as a way to recognize volunteerism. There are three tiers of grants:
- 12 volunteer hours = $100 grant
- 25 volunteer hours = $200 grant
- 25 volunteer hours and employee or retiree serves on the board of directors = $500 grant
Learn more about PNM Resources’ Volunteer Grant Program.
Aetna:
As one of the nation’s largest insurers, Aetna has a presence in nearly all states. Given its size and scope, it’s great to hear that the company offers multiple employee giving programs.
In addition to Aetna’s matching gift program where the company matches donations to nearly any nonprofit, Aetna also provides grants to nonprofits when active employees and retirees volunteer. Once an individual volunteers for at least 20 hours, Aetna will provide a $300 grant to the nonprofit where the employee or retiree volunteered. Coming out to $15 per hour, Aetna’s program is on the upper end of volunteer grant rates!
Learn more about Aetna’s Volunteer Grant Program.
Pfizer:
Not many companies provide volunteer grants of $1,000 but Pfizer is one of them. In addition to matching up to $5,000 in employee donations at a 1:1 ratio and matching retiree contributions at a 50% ratio, the company also is a huge advocate for ongoing volunteerism.
At the heart of Pfizer’s volunteer grant program is a goal of encouraging regular and long-term volunteerism. Pfizer provides $1,000 grants to nonprofits where employees and retirees volunteer as long as the following requirements are met:
- Volunteer for at least 6 month
- Serve an average of six hours per month for a total of 72 hours in a calendar year
Learn more about Pfizer’s Volunteer Grant Program.
IBM – International Business Machines:
As one of the largest and most respected companies in the world, it’s no surprise that IBM also excels in the corporate philanthropy space. In addition to providing matching gifts to thousands of organizations which employees donate to each year, International Business Machines also offers multiple forms of volunteer grants for both current employees and retirees.
Specifics vary, but IBM employees and retirees who volunteer for a minimum of eight hours a month for five months can apply for cash grants of up to $1,000 or technology grants worth up to $3,500 for their favorite nonprofit.
Learn more about IBM’s Volunteer Grant Program.
Additional Resources on Volunteer Grant Programs
Want to learn more about volunteer grant programs and how they benefit your organization? Check out the following resources:
What to Know | Religious Organizations and Matching Gifts
/in Lists and Rankings, Learning Center, Matching Gift Companies, Learning Center /by Adam WeingerReligiously affiliated fundraisers like yourself are constantly on the lookout for new sources of revenue to better support their missions. One such opportunity is with corporate matching gift programs. Yet there tends to be a bit of nuance when it comes to religious organizations and matching gifts, and leaders of religious groups such as churches, synagogues, mosques, and other ministries often wonder if they’re eligible for the programs.
According to The Giving Institute’s Giving USA Special Report, religious giving is up substantially from 2016—with places of worship and faith-based orgs ranking in the top three types of charities supported by Gen Z, Millennial, Gen X, and Boomer donors alike. New technology simplifying the giving process, continuous industry developments, and more likely play a role in the growth. Now, how do matching gifts factor in?
We’ve put together this guide to help your team answer that question, specifically in regard to your own organization’s fundraising efforts. To better understand your faith-based nonprofit’s standing with corporate philanthropy, we’ll help you familiarize yourself with:
- Match eligibility for different types of religious organizations
- Typical wording from matching gift companies regarding religious orgs
- How Double the Donation’s matching gift software can help
When eligible, corporate matching gifts are an effective component of any organization’s overall fundraising strategy. These programs help amplify giving, empowering your team to do more with the funding you receive from generous supporters.
And the typical donor loves to get involved, too—seeing their impact stretch further than they may have thought possible.
If you’re ready to find out if your religious organization can benefit from matching gifts, let’s get started!
Match eligibility for different types of religious organizations
Unfortunately, strictly religious organizations are often excluded from companies’ employee matching gift programs. Still, it’s important to note that not all religiously affiliated nonprofits are treated the same under these employers’ matching gift guidelines.
Generally speaking, religious organizations are divided into two overarching categories when it comes to determining matching gift eligibility. These include the following.
Houses of Worship
Oftentimes, companies will not match donations to churches, synagogues, temples, mosques, and other places of worship.
If you run one of these types of organizations, you might be wondering why they wouldn’t qualify. After all, you know better than anyone the impact of effective fundraising for your cause.
However, places of worship are often considered religious institutions rather than charitable organizations. The primary difference generally lies in the idea that places of worship generally prioritize religious teachings and spiritual guidance to a specific group of members rather than serving the community in the way that nonprofits typically do.
Still, there are certainly some cases where the concepts overlap, which we’ll dive deeper into below.
Religious Organizations that Provide Social Services
This next category of religiously affiliated organizations is significantly more likely to qualify for matching gift programs—even if a donor’s company reportedly does not match donations to places of worship.
In fact, a common exception to the exclusion of religious causes will occur if the organization provides social services to the greater community.
Common examples may include:
- Food pantries
- Low-cost or free clothing banks
- Homeless shelters
- Disaster relief efforts
- Domestic violence support
- Youth programs
- Medical clinics
- Religiously affiliated educational institutions (preschool, K-12, and higher ed alike)
For these types of organizations to qualify for matching, there are generally a few stipulations in place. For instance, the company may verify that the initial donation and/or provided match is not being used for religious-specific purposes. Additionally, many employers require that the above types of social services be open to the general public and not involve any sort of religious teaching in order to remain eligible for the program.
If you come across a donor’s company that doesn’t match contributions to faith-based organizations, chances are, they may make exceptions for those that provide secular-focused services to the community.
Thus, make sure to read all the requirements instead of glancing over them. Otherwise, you may miss out on important revenue opportunities!
Typical wording from matching gift companies regarding religious orgs
While every employer’s matching gift criteria are different, participating businesses typically address the idea of religious organizations and matching gifts in their corporate giving program documentation. And companies can have vastly different stances on the eligibility of religious gifts.
Take these excerpts from several corporations’ matching gift forms, for example.
American Express
American Express matches donations to most 501(c)(3) organizations. In fact, the company will even match select donations at a 2:1 ratio if an employee also serves on the nonprofit’s board or volunteers for over 50 hours in a year. That means your donors who work for American Express can potentially triple their donations.
Here’s what American Express says about houses of worship and other religious groups in the company’s matching gift guidelines:
Gifts to houses of worship (churches, synagogues, etc.) will not be matched. However, the program will match a gift to an ongoing and independently-run program affiliated with a religious organization if the gift is restricted to a nonsectarian project that provides needed social services to the community at large on a non-discriminatory basis without any religious teaching, directive, or requirements to receive services (e.g., a soup kitchen, a homeless shelter, a food bank, etc.).
Read more about American Express’s matching gift program.
Campbell and Company
As a fundraising consulting firm, Campbell and Company understands the importance of corporate matching gifts for the nonprofits its employees support. Each year, full-time employees qualify to request up to $1,000 worth of matching gifts for their favorite charitable organizations.
According to their program policy, Campbell and Company takes the following approach to matching gifts made to religious groups:
Campbell and Company will only consider matching donations to religious organizations when the gift is designated to an ongoing secular, non-discriminatory community service program sponsored by these organizations which do not advocate or advance any specific religious views (e.g., a soup kitchen run by a church, a homeless shelter operated by Catholic Charities, etc.).
Read more about Campbell and Company’s matching gift program.
Castlelake
Matching donations to most 501(c)(3) nonprofits, Castlelake offers employee matching opportunities that amplify individual team members’ giving to schools, health and human services, arts and cultural organizations, civic and community organizations, environmental nonprofits, and more.
Not to mention, Castlelake will match gifts to some religious organizations in certain scenarios. Here’s what the company has stated in its employee matching gift policy:
Castlelake will consider matching gifts to religious organizations when the gift is designated to an ongoing secular community service program sponsored by these organizations and does not propagate a belief in a specific faith. These programs must have a formal mission and a separate program budget. Further, the benefits of the gift must not be limited exclusively to the organization’s members. Some examples of these types of programs are homelessness projects, food banks, shelters, and literacy programs.
Read more about Castlelake’s matching gift program.
Chevron
Chevron matches donations from full-time employees and retirees, and the company offers volunteer grants. When their employees or retirees volunteer 20 hours or more and request a grant, your organization (if eligible) will receive a check!
Here’s what Chevron says about matching to faith-based organizations:
Chevron Humankind will provide matching funds and grants to programs operated by faith-based organizations if those programs: (a) are open to all individuals in the community regardless of religious belief; (b) serve a secular purpose, such as a food pantry or a homeless shelter; and (c) do not require participants to join in religious worship as a condition of receiving the services that the nonprofit offers.
Read more about Chevron’s matching gift program.
Davey Tree Expert Company
The Davey Tree Expert Company matches employee donations of up to $500 per team member per year. Many nonprofits qualify for funding through their corporate giving program, including (but not limited to) higher education institutions, environmental groups, health and human services, civic and community organizations, and more.
Check out this blurb from the Davey Tree Expert Company’s matching gift policy regarding religious nonprofits and matching gifts:
Generally, churches and other religious groups are not eligible for matching gifts. However, religiously motivated organizations that provide services for the disadvantaged are eligible. The organization must be a separate legal entity from a church and have its own 501(c)(3) or Canadian equivalent certification.
Read more about Davey Tree Expert Company’s matching gift program.
DIRECTV
DIRECTV offers a highly-generous employee giving program. The company matches employee donations of up to $20,000 annually and provides a grant of $250 after an employee volunteers for 25 hours with a nonprofit cause. Like most companies, DIRECTV provides a detailed match policy, including information regarding religious organizations and matching gifts.
Here’s what DIRECTV says about matches to religiously affiliated causes:
DIRECTV will match gifts to qualified institutions affiliated with religious organizations but will not match gifts made directly to religious organizations.
DIRECTV will not contribute matching funds to churches and religious organizations which fulfill tithes, pledges, or other church‐related financial commitments.
DIRECTV will not contribute matching funds to institutions that restrict admission or aid due to race or religious beliefs.
Read more about DIRECTV’s matching gift program.
Engineered Profiles LLC
Ohio-based plastic design and technology provider Engineered Profiles offers a matching gift program designed to engage employees and empower them to give back to their communities. But will the company match to religiously affiliated groups?
Here’s what the Engineered Profiles matching gift guidelines indicates:
Engineered Profiles will NOT match…gifts made to religious organizations (e.g., churches, temples, synagogues, mosques). Gifts may be eligible for a match if the programs operated by faith-based social service organizations meet the following criteria:
- The organization has a 501 (c)(3) determination letter from the IRS;
- The gift is designated to a particular program that is available and open to all individuals in the community;
- The program is for non-religious purposes (such as a food pantry or domestic abuse shelter);
- The organization does not use the program to promote any religion.
Read more about Engineered Profiles’ matching gift program.
Fitch Group
The Fitch Group, inclusive of subsidiaries like Fitch Ratings and more, matches donations made by qualifying full-time and part-time employees to a wide range of nonprofit causes. Each team member is eligible to request $1,000 in matches per year at a dollar-for-dollar rate.
Additionally, Fitch Group specifies the following in their documentation regarding religious organizations and matching gifts:
Organizations founded and operated exclusively for charitable purposes (including educational, scientific, or religious) are eligible recipients of donations, provided they are located in the U.S. or one of its possessions; qualify for exemption from federal income tax under Section 501(c)(3) of the U.S. Internal Revenue Code; and are generally eligible to receive tax-deductible contributions.
Read more about Fitch Group’s matching gift program.
The Gates Company
Employees of the Gates Company qualify for a particularly generous matching gift program facilitated through Gates Industrial Corporation Foundation. Donations made between $25 and $50,000 are eligible to be matched, with most nonprofit causes qualifying for funding.
Gates Industrial includes the following guidelines regarding religious groups in their matching gift criteria:
Donations to churches or religious organizations, organizations that discriminate or which promote a political party or candidate, or which advocate particular positions on specific areas of public policy will not be matched.
While direct gifts to churches or religious organizations do not qualify, many activities that are church sponsored in the areas of youth, senior citizen, minority, or disabled may qualify. Such sponsored programs must be conducted by separate organizations which have qualified under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code.
Read more about Gates Industrial Corporation’s matching gift program.
General Electric
In 1954, GE became the first company to offer an employee matching gift program. At the time, GE only matched to higher education institutions but has since expanded its matching to encompass most schools and nonprofits.
Here’s what GE’s guidelines have to say about whether churches, synagogues, mosques, and other houses of worship are eligible for matching gift funds:
Ineligible recipient organizations include religious organizations (churches, synagogues, mosques, and other houses of worship), or other organizations primarily promoting religious purposes. Other faith-based community service organizations or schools may be considered eligible if their programs:
- Are open to all individuals in the community regardless of religious belief;
- Serve a secular purpose, such as food pantry, homeless shelter, or education;
- Do not require participation in prayer, worship, or other religious activities as a condition of receiving service(s) offered; and
- Do not use the individual donation or resulting match for religious purposes.
Read more about General Electric’s matching gift program.
The Pew Charitable Trusts
The Pew Charitable Trusts program provides a 2:1 match on employee donations up to $10,000 annually (meaning a $20,000 match). In other words, eligible donors can triple their gifts! Plus, they offer one of the most religiously inclusive matching gift programs that we’ve seen.
Here’s what The Pew Charitable Trusts says about matches to religious organizations:
Yes, Pew will match contributions made to religious organizations, such as houses of worship, schools, hospitals, shelters, etc., just as it would to any other qualifying organization.
Read more about The Pew Charitable Trusts’ matching gift program.
Verisk
Verisk Analytics and its numerous subsidiaries offer a flexible matching gift program with which (full- and part-time) employees, directors, retirees, and spouses and domestic partners are encouraged to get involved. Each year, current employees can request up to $5,000 in matches, while retirees are eligible to request up to $2,500 on an annual rolling basis.
Here’s what Verisk has to say about matching gifts for religious organizations:
The following gifts are not eligible for matching under the program:
Gifts for religious organizations, unless the specific program is nondenominational in nature and benefits a broad range of the community (e.g., soup kitchen, homeless shelter).
Read more about Verisk’s matching gift program.
How Double the Donation’s matching gift software can help
When a nonprofit incorporates a tool like our matching gift database and automation platform, they’ll be able to instantly determine matching eligibility and maximize their fundraising revenue. Donors might double (or even triple!) their contributions with the help of their employers. The key is to determine your organization’s eligibility with matching gift companies and to make donors aware of available opportunities.
So how do you know if your organization can benefit from Double the Donation’s service? We love to grow our business, but we only want to accept customers who we believe will benefit from our service.
It’s important to remember that many companies will match to religious organizations that provide services to the broader community (e.g., food banks, homeless shelters, schools, etc.).
The easiest way to determine whether our matching gift service would be beneficial is to look over your donation records. If you’ve received matching gifts from companies in the past, there’s a good chance your organization meets the general eligibility requirements.
How the Matching Gift Database Works
The number one reason why donors don’t submit matches is that they simply don’t know the opportunity exists—let alone how to check their eligibility and submit a request. However, the matching gift submission process is fairly straightforward.
It looks like this:
- A donor makes a gift to your nonprofit.
- The donor checks their match eligibility.
- The donor submits a match request to their employer.
- Your organization confirms the donation.
- The company sends a check to your organization.
Ultimately, donors tend to get stuck on the above steps #2 and #3. Luckily, Double the Donation’s innovative solution continues to simplify the process, making matching gift participation as quick and as easy as possible for your supporters.
When an organization employs Double the Donation’s software, its donors will be able to:
- Search their employers in the comprehensive database;
- View any requirements, restrictions, and deadlines;
- Receive accurate and up-to-date program information;
- Access necessary documents and forms specific to their employers;
- Take specific and actionable next steps from your confirmation screen and/or automated email follow-ups;
- Submit their matching gift requests with ease.
If you determine that your religious organization typically qualifies for matching gifts, Double the Donation may be a useful fundraising tool for you. It’s easy to integrate into your existing fundraising strategy and can help you pinpoint match-eligible donors—instead of waiting for them to come to you. Plus, you’ll save a ton of time that would otherwise be spent chasing down matching gifts by automating the entire process!
Interested? Click here to request a demo of the software to see if it’s right for your team.
Final Thoughts
The bottom line is that religious and faith-based organizations aren’t excluded from matching gift programs as often as you might think. Becoming more aware of which corporations match gifts to religious organizations like yours will help you and your team understand if promoting matching gifts would be beneficial to your bottom line.
Remember, your donors’ employment information is one of your most valuable assets. Collect this data point and compare employers against top matching gift companies to identify available opportunities. Then, check out the companies’ eligibility criteria to see what it says about your religious organization and matching gifts.
Keep up the learning! Discover more matching gift and fundraising advice with our additional resources here:
- Church Fundraising Ideas. Even if your church isn’t eligible for matching gifts, you still have a lot of fundraising potential. In fact, we’ve compiled a list that covers many popular and unique events, activities, and strategies you can use to raise money for your house of worship.
- Corporate Matching Gift Programs. Need a refresher on the basics of matching gifts? Our comprehensive guide will give you the rundown on these charitable giving programs, including top companies and best practices for success.
- Matching Gift Guidelines. Still have questions about your religious organization’s match eligibility? Check out this guide that breaks down common criteria to be familiar with, including minimum and maximums, match ratios, qualifying nonprofits, and more.
Companies that Match Donations to High Schools
/in Lists and Rankings, Learning Center /by Adam WeingerAcross the United States, there are more than 26,000 public high schools and 10,000 private high schools all looking to build on their existing fundraising ideas. At Double the Donation, we work with high schools and education foundations across the country to help them increase the amount of money they receive from corporate matching gift programs.
We know it can sometimes be tricky trying to navigate the complex policies surrounding each company’s matching gift program so we’ve created a number of resources to help organizations better understand employee giving programs. These include:
- Matching gift basics
- Volunteer grant basics
- Top matching gift companies
- Top volunteer grant companies
- Ways to market matching gifts to donors
Since Double the Donation is committed to helping all segments of the mission-based sector optimize their fundraising with matching gift programs, we created this post on matching gift companies that match donations to high schools.
Matching Gifts and High Schools
After higher education, the most common matching gift category is K-12 schools.
Included in this grouping are high schools since many companies do not distinguish between elementary, middle, and high schools when it comes to match-eligible organizations. Many of these companies will also match to PTA groups, after-school organizations, and education foundations. Most matching gift companies do not distinguish between public and private high schools, though specific eligibility does vary by company.
For high schools with a large donor base, whether it’s parents, alumni, or community supporters, it’s important to market matching gifts as an easy way for donors to increase their impact.
How to Market Matching Gifts
One of the biggest obstacles for organizations, such as schools, trying to receive matching gifts is a lack of awareness of the programs. That means all you need to do to increase your matching gift revenue is simply spread the word!
Our favorite way to inform people about matching gifts is through software dedicated to doing just that. For high schools, and really any other educational institution, we recommend checking out Double the Donation.
This solution allows you to embed a searchable matching gifts database directly on your website and online donation tool. Then, when potential donors visit your website to learn more about giving in general, they can discover the wonder of matching gifts and whether they’re match-eligible.
With that, read on for a list of the top companies that match gifts made to high schools.
List of Companies with Matching Gift Programs for High Schools
To help schools navigate through the matching gift process, we created a shortlist of some of the largest companies that will match donations made to K-12 schools and educational programs. This list is by no means exhaustive, so if you don’t see a company here, don’t rule it out just yet.
IBM
IBM is known to many schools for its generosity in donating software and computers to school systems.
An employee can have their donation matched on a 2:1 ratio with IBM products, or a donation can be matched on a 1:1 basis with cash.
Read more about the IBM matching gift program.
Bank of America
As one of the leading banks, it’s no surprise that many communities have a Bank of America presence. Luckily for you, employees of Bank of America can have their donations to high schools matched up to $5,000 each year.
Volunteer grants are also available for those who volunteer with educational organizations.
Read more about the Bank of America matching gift program.
Starbucks
Starbucks Corporation will match up to $1,500 in donations made by an employee each year to high schools and many other organizations. All educational institutions are eligible for the program.
And if you have a volunteer opportunity coming up, be sure to mention it to your local barista since Starbucks also provides grants to organizations where employees volunteer.
Read more about the Starbucks matching gift program and volunteer grants.
Want to know more about corporate giving programs and how they can contribute to your high school’s fundraising efforts?