Effectively Market Matching Gifts to Your Donors

Strategy

While you should be encouraging donors to submit matching gift requests at the time of the donation, many companies have an extended grace period. The end of each year / start of each new year are great times to remind all donors that there may still be time to submit a matching gift. Don’t miss out on a final chance to double donations from the year!

Tips

In your end-of-year matching gift appeals to donors, make sure you stress that prior donations can often still be matched. A few corporate examples include:

• Adobe and Electronic Arts employees have twelve months from the donation date.
• Boeing employees have until January 31st of the following year to submit matching gift requests.

Matching Gift Submission Deadlines

Although program specifics vary by company, most corporations adhere to one of the following three standards for matching gift submission deadlines:

• End of the calendar year.
• A set number of months from the date of the donation. The standard is one year, though it can range from one to twelve months.
• End of January or February in the year following when the donation was made.