A Look at Save the Children’s Winning Matching Gift Strategy

Corporate matching gifts are an invaluable revenue opportunity for nonprofits and schools. However, many organizations struggle to capture them due to low levels of awareness among their donors. With effective promotions, you can solve the issue and benefit greatly from the funds.

In this blog, we’ll cover one standout example⁠, familiarizing your team with the ins and outs of Save the Children’s matching gift strategy.

This includes:

• What to Know About Save the Children
• Save the Children’s Matching Gift Page Overhaul
• Save the Children’s Text Message Campaign Strategy
• How Double the Donation’s Tools Helped Save the Children’s Matching Gift Strategy
• Learn More: Get the Full Webinar Replay

Double the Donation works with leading organizations to help them finetune their matching gift strategies and raise more through the programs. Save the Children is one example of a cause we support, and they joined a webinar to discuss how our tools are supporting their fundraising and matching gift efforts.

In this post, we’ll summarize the event and examine how Save the Children engages supporters in a meaningful way. Here’s a quick overview of the presentation:

Let’s begin!

What to Know About Save the Children

Save the Children is a global leader in children’s advocacy, known for its impactful programs in education, health, and emergency response. For over 100 years, Save the Children has been dedicated to literally saving the world’s children by providing education, a healthy start to life, and protection from harm.

Today, the organization operates in more than 100 countries across the world. However, its success isn’t just due to the breadth of its services. It’s also driven by a powerful approach to fundraising, including a well-crafted matching gift strategy.

Save the Children’s Matching Gift Page Overhaul

As of 2023, Save the Children had been receiving support from matching gift programs⁠—but the team knew it could be doing more. In order to kick off its promotional strategy, Save the Children decided to revamp its Workplace Giving and Matching Gifts information page.

The Organization’s Former Matching Gifts Page

Save the Children’s matching gift strategy was doing a lot well even before its complete overhaul. Here are a few practices the organization implemented in creating the Match Page:

• Clearly explain the matching gift process. Most donors lack knowledge about matching gifts⁠. Simplify involvement by providing the basic information an individual should know.
• Embed a database tool. If you invest in a tool like Double the Donation, place a database search tool on the page. Donors simply type their company name to receive employer-specific guidelines and request forms!
• Answer FAQs. Be proactive about providing the information you think your donors will need right on the page. This can reduce the volume of inquiries your team will need to answer later, too.

The Organization’s New Matching Gifts Page

From there, the team also conducted the following steps to reorganize the page with the goal of bringing about better matching gift results. With a few additional tweaks and adjustments, the page is more successful than ever:

• Simplified the information included. The goal was to be comprehensive and educational without overwhelming the visitor with too much text.
• Incorporated clickable content section links. This assisted with navigation, making it easy to find the most relevant information for each user.
• Restructured the page to focus on matching gifts first. With a goal of increasing visibility, the team placed Double the Donation’s 360MatchPro widget higher⁠—and more prominently⁠—on the page.
• Visually demonstrated the simplicity of the matching gift process. Using diagrams and other graphic elements, the organization was able to better illustrate and communicate the matching gift experience for donors.

The results? Save the Children saw increased site traffic and page views during a four-month period as compared to the same period the year prior. And the growth was substantial, too. According to the organization, their team saw a 966% increase in site traffic and a 903% increase in page views!

This increase in site traffic has directly resulted in more donors participating in matching gifts as well. Since their matching gift page now provides simplified, engaging information, donors are more easily able to navigate their matching gift programs.

Save the Children’s Text Message Campaign Strategy

Once you’ve created a matching gift page on your website, you’ll want to take steps to direct traffic to the resource. One thing that Save the Children did to spread matching gift awareness was employ a mass marketing text campaign around the holiday giving season.

Within this campaign, a first text message went out before Giving Tuesday, with a second text message following soon after. Both texts contained brief information about matching gifts along with a direct link to the organization’s matching gifts page, where recipients were encouraged to learn more.

The first agency text message went to the entire text mailing list, which is around ~60,000 contacts who had engaged with Save the Children in the last year. This text saw an above-average click-through rate of 2.7%—with more than 1.5K unique clicks⁠—and also brought in an estimated $2.7k in revenue even before matches were accounted for.

Meanwhile, the second message went out to a smaller segment⁠—those who gave via a recent Giving Tuesday push⁠—but had a significant impact as well. Deployed to ~3.2k subscribers, it saw a click-through rate of 2.6% (which is a 162% increase from other mass marketing texts).

All in all, Save the Children’s matching gift strategy encompassed a range of promotional tactics⁠—from text messaging to paid advertising space and beyond. But one thing that all of its efforts had in common was the use of its Matching Gift page as a central linking target. Because the page provides comprehensive information that answers donors’ questions while also giving them insight into their company’s specific matching gift program guidelines, it makes getting involved easier than ever!

How Double the Donation’s Tools Helped Save the Children’s Matching Gift Strategy

As a 360MatchPro client, Save the Children utilizes Double the Donation’s automation platform to make matching gifts easier for their donors and fundraising staff alike. In discussing the organization’s matching gift page overhaul and subsequent text campaign, one thing the Save the Children team emphasizes is its use of the matching gift database tool.

“I’ll just say, from our standpoint of Save the Children, it’s been so helpful to have that 360MatchPro search tool embedded on the landing page. It makes it really easy when we go to deploy visibility tactics to let people know it’s really easy to track if your employer can match your gift or not.”

Ariana Romanelli, Save the Children US

Here’s how it works:

• An individual begins typing the name of their employer in the company search tool.
• As they type, the solution automatically populates suggested companies. This makes it easy to select the appropriate employer without worrying about typos or misnomers.
• When the individual selects a listing, they’re met with tailored insights regarding the company’s matching gift program (as well as other workplace giving initiatives available) in real-time. This includes minimum and maximum donation amounts, match ratios, qualifying employees and nonprofits, and submission deadlines.
• The individual is encouraged to submit a matching gift by following the provided instructions and submitting the provided forms.

Save the Children has also implemented Double the Donation’s matching gift database directly within its online giving form, too. This allows users to access matching gift insights at the point of donation and even receive tailored guidelines and forms via email after contributing.

Learn More: Get the Full Webinar Replay

We’ve summarized the most essential insights from our recent presentation here. But for the full look at Save the Children’s matching gift strategy, we recommend viewing the full webinar replay.

Interested in hearing the complete conversation between a lead associate of corporate partnerships at Save the Children and Double the Donation’s own marketing team manager? Register to receive a copy of the presentation sent directly to your inbox.

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Wrapping Up & Additional Resources

Save the Children’s matching gift strategy serves as a valuable example for nonprofits looking to elevate their fundraising impact. By implementing clear communications, leveraging technology, and promoting programs at multiple opportunities, they’ve found a winning formula for multiplying donations.

Now, organizations like yours can draw inspiration from their approach to maximize your own matching gift potential. When executed well, matching gifts don’t just boost the bottom line. They deepen supporters’ connection to the cause, ensuring each contribution goes further in creating lasting change for children in need.

Begin by auditing your current matching gift marketing efforts. Do you have a dedicated matching gifts page on your site? If not, that’s likely where you’ll want to get started. If so, you’ll want to evaluate the existing resource and determine how exactly you’re sending traffic to the page. Then, see what changes you can implement to bring your strategy to new heights.

Keep learning! Read our recommended resources to continue growing your knowledge on all things matching gifts:

• Grow Fundraising Revenue: Access More 360MatchPro Case Studies. Hear from even more organizations and how they’ve benefited from matching gift tools like Double the Donation.
• Best Practices for Marketing Matching Gifts On Your Nonprofit’s Website. Learn more about how your team can promote matching gifts using your website as an essential marketing tool.
• Free Download: The Ultimate Guide to Marketing Matching Gifts. Get the complete guide to marketing matching gifts to see how your organization can spread the word.