What Happens After a Donor Makes a Matching Gift Submission?
HURRAH! You’ve done it. Your organization has gotten a donor to see the light and submit a matching gift request.
Now what?
The most difficult work is done. Your promotional effort worked, and the responsibility is now with the donor’s employer, at least momentarily. You can sit back and twiddle your thumbs…but not for long. Pretty soon the ball will be back in your court.
Knowing what happens after a donor makes a matching gift submission allows your nonprofit to turn passive verification requests into major revenue opportunities. By screening donors for additional workplace giving programs, securing corporate introductions, and actively reconciling incoming match payments, you can close the loop and maximize corporate support.
The matching gift verification process
A donor’s submission process varies from company to company, but it roughly follows similar patterns:
- Employees log into the company’s matching gift submission website or portal.
- Employees search for the nonprofit they donated to.
- Employees select the nonprofit from the search results or manually enter the organization’s details.
- Employees register their donation and submit the matching gift request.
After a donor makes a request, that company needs to process it. Your nonprofit will be involved in that process, and knowing how to handle it efficiently turns routine admin work into long-term corporate revenue.
What should your nonprofit expect to receive from a company that has just received a matching gift request from one of your donors?
You’ll likely receive a verification request. It may come by mail, email, or fax. The letter asks you to verify that the employee made the donation and that your organization is a qualified nonprofit in good standing. The letter usually comes through a third-party Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) vendor that handles corporate giving for the employer.
Assigning the processing of these requests to a single dedicated staff member on your development or database team ensures that verification notices do not get lost or delayed. Prompt verification prevents your organization from becoming the bottleneck that holds up funding.
Screening for additional workplace giving opportunities
When a donor submits a matching gift request, they have demonstrated high engagement and brand loyalty. Do not let the interaction end with a standard verification. Use this momentum to screen the supporter for other workplace giving programs offered by their employer.
Many companies that offer matching gifts also provide additional employee-driven giving programs:
- Volunteer grants (Dollars for Doers): If the donor also volunteers with your organization, their employer may donate money for every hour of service contributed.
- Paid Volunteer Time Off (VTO): Donors may be eligible for paid release time to volunteer for your programs during work hours.
- Payroll deductions: Donors can set up recurring, pre-tax contributions directly from their paychecks.
When acknowledging the pending match, send a personalized follow-up message. Thank them for submitting the match request and introduce these secondary opportunities. For example, you can write:
“Thank you for submitting a matching gift request for your recent donation! While we process the match with your employer, did you know that many companies like yours also offer volunteer grants or payroll giving options?
If you volunteer with us or want to set up recurring paycheck deductions, we can help you double your impact even further.”
Screening supporters at the point of match verification turns single matching transactions into multi-channel corporate support.
Leveraging donor introductions for corporate sponsorships
A supporter who takes the extra step to submit a matching gift request is an ideal internal champion. Rather than reaching out to corporate community relations departments blindly, ask your donor for a warm introduction to their company’s corporate social responsibility or HR leads.
Companies prefer to align their broader corporate grant and sponsorship budgets with causes their employees already care about. You can ask your donor:
“We are so grateful for your continued support and for taking the time to submit your matching gift. Our organization is currently planning our upcoming annual campaign, and we are looking for corporate partners. Would you be comfortable introducing us to your CSR or corporate giving team so we can share a broader sponsorship proposal?”
Connecting with corporate leaders through an active employee advocate opens doors for:
- Event sponsorships: Securing corporate funding for galas, walks, or community events.
- Corporate foundation grants: Unlocking top-down grant allocations that align with the company’s community funding pillars.
- In-kind contributions: Securing donated products, equipment, or pro bono professional services.
Using the matching gift as a conversation starter elevates your donor relationship and unlocks larger corporate funding streams.
Tracking, reconciling, and closing the loop on match payments
Confirming a matching gift request on a CSR portal is not the final step. Employers and CSR vendors disburse funds on specific schedules, such as monthly, quarterly, or biannually. A verified match is not a paid match until the funds arrive.
To maintain tight financial control, follow this post-submission reconciliation process:
1. Record the pending match: Log the confirmed match as a pending pledge in your donor management system or CRM, including the expected payout window.
2. Monitor incoming disbursements: CSR platforms typically issue bulk check or Direct Deposit payments that combine matches from multiple employees. Match the lump-sum payout against your list of pending individual match records.
3. Reconcile donor records: Mark the specific donor match as fulfilled in your database once the funds arrive.
4. Issue hard and soft credits: When an employer fulfills a matching gift, proper record-keeping (including both hard and soft crediting) ensures your audit trail and your donor stewardship records remain clean. Apply the hard credit directly to the entity issuing the payment, which is typically the donor’s employer or their third-party CSR platform. Simultaneously, apply a soft credit to the individual donor’s record in your database or CRM to acknowledge that the donor’s initial gift and subsequent match request were the catalysts for securing the corporate contribution.
5. Send the final acknowledgment: Send an official thank-you note to the donor confirming that their employer’s matching check has arrived. Closing the loop with the donor reinforces the impact of their efforts. It demonstrates strong organizational stewardship and reassures the supporter that their extra steps directly benefited your mission.
Final thoughts: Elevating your corporate giving strategy
Handling matching gift submissions requires a balance of quick administration and strategic donor engagement. By verifying requests promptly, screening donors for additional workplace giving options, leveraging employee connections for corporate sponsorships, and reconciling incoming payments, your nonprofit transforms routine match requests into a reliable corporate revenue engine.
Is your development team tracking matching gift submissions to completion, or are potential matches stalling during verification? Audit your process today to ensure no corporate funding is left on the table.
