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To boost your nonprofit's revenue through corporate philanthropy, check out these San Diego matching gift companies.

San Diego Companies with Matching Gift Programs

In previous articles, we dove into Atlanta matching gift companies and New York matching gift companies, but for this article, we’ll take a look at a west coast market.

California is home to many of the country’s most socially responsible companies. Because of this, California nonprofits are well-positioned to take advantage of matching gift programs.

As the 17th largest metropolitan area in the United States, San Diego is home to many leading companies. Nonprofits in San Diego can benefit from increased revenue by focusing on employee matching gift programs. If your nonprofit is located in the San Diego area, take a look at these major matching gift employers in your area:

Qualcomm
Kaiser Permanente
Sempra Energy
LPL Financial Services
Raytheon (formerly United Technologies Corporation)

Matching gift and volunteer grant programs are widely offered employee benefits. In fact, 65% of Fortune 500 companies match employee donations while 40% offer volunteer grant programs. You don’t want to miss out on these important revenue opportunities.

Ready to get started? Let’s explore a few companies in San Diego which match employee donations!

1. Qualcomm

With approximately 13,000 employees in the San Diego area, Qualcomm is one of the largest employers in the San Diego community.

Even though Qualcomm matches donations made only by full-time employees, its program is still quite generous. Annually, a Qualcomm employee can request donation matches starting at a minimum of $50. If eligible, the company will match the donation at a 1:1 ratio, doubling the employee’s gift.

Qualcomm also provides grants worth $250 whenever an employee volunteers for at least 15 hours. Employees can apply for additional grants for the same or a different charitable organization once they volunteer for another 15 hours.

However, the company has a combined limit for each employee for both their matching gift program and their volunteer grant program. Depending on the employee’s level (e.g. associate, director, etc. ), the limit ranges from $1,000 to $5,000 per year.

Learn more about Qualcomm’s matching gift and volunteer grant programs.

2. Kaiser Permanente

Kaiser Permanente employs more than 7,000 individuals in the San Diego metropolitan area.

Its matching gift program varies region-by-region, but fortunately for San Diego employees and nonprofits, they do offer a match program. Every year, Kaiser Permanente offers an employee giving campaign around September or November. The program is open to full-time and part-time employees. However, retirees are not eligible.

During the annual giving campaign, they match employee donations to most nonprofits. Match amounts range from $25 up to $5,000 at a 1:1 ratio.

Learn more about Kaiser Permanente’s matching gift program.

3. Sempra Energy

Sempra Energy employs more than 4,500 individuals in San Diego and serves approximately 3.7 million customers in southern California, making it the largest utility provider in the San Diego area.

The company is a strong supporter of local nonprofits and matches donations to most organizations. Donations eligible for matches range from $25 to $2,500. The program is open to both full-time employees and part-time employees.

Also, Sempra Energy offers two types of volunteer grant programs:

Individual volunteer grants. Employees who volunteer at least 10 hours with a nonprofit or a school may request up to $1,000, depending on the number of hours volunteered.
Season of Giving team volunteer grants. During the holiday season, when teams of employees volunteer together, they can request a Season of Giving grant.

Learn more about Sempra Energy’s matching gift program.

4. LPL Financial Services

LPL Financial offers a matching gift program for its financial advisors. Through LPL Financial’s program, full-time financial advisors can request matches for donations made to most nonprofits. They can request up to $500 in matching gift funds each year.

Outside of its matching gift program, LPL Financial finds additional ways to give back to its community. A few of these philanthropic strategies include:

Mentoring at-risk youth.
Teaching productive job search techniques to unemployed individuals.
The Employee Volunteer Corps that organizes volunteer events.
And many others.

Learn more about LPL Financial’s matching gift program.

5. United Technologies Corporation (UTC) (Now known as Raytheon)

In 2012, Goodrich merged with United Technologies, and as part of the merger process, the two companies combined their employee giving programs. Then more recently United Technologies joined Raytheon through a merger.

UTC used to match employee donations to most nonprofits. Each employee could request up to $10,000 in matching gift funds each year, as long as the request is made within 12 months of the initial donation. Now the program is under Raytheon’s employee giving program.

UTC also offers a volunteer grant program. When employees volunteer a minimum of 60 hours at eligible nonprofits, they can request a $250 donation. Each employee can submit grant requests for up to two nonprofits per year.

Learn more about Raytheon’s matching gift program.

How a Matching Gift Database Can Help

Corporate philanthropy, such as matching gift programs and volunteer grant programs, represent a major revenue opportunity for nonprofits. With a matching gift database like Double the Donation, you won’t overlook much-deserved revenue. Here’s how it works:

Your team embeds the tool across all your fundraising channels (e.g. matching gift pages and donation pages).
A donor or volunteer starts typing their employer’s name.
The tool generates autocomplete suggestions for the user to select.
The donor receives up-to-date info on their employer’s giving program.

Double the Donation works with nonprofits across the country, including San Diego. In the database, there are more than 20,000 companies that represent over 15 million match-eligible employees, making it the industry’s leading matching gift database.

Plus, larger nonprofits can streamline the process even more with 360MatchPro by Double the Donation. It enables email automation and drives matches to completion with live match tracking.

Think your nonprofit could benefit from Double the Donation?

Start a free trial of the leading matching gift database!

While the above companies are major employers in San Diego, there are many other local companies that offer these programs. Pinpointing them takes some research, simplified with a matching gift database.

If you’re a nonprofit, check out this list of the top national companies that offer employee giving programs. Now that you know some of the major employers in your area that offer matching gifts, start boosting your revenue!

Learn how to determine the tax-deductible amount for events for corporate matching gift programs.

Determining the Tax-Deductible Amount for Matching Gifts

November 15, 2012/in Learning Center /by Adam Weinger

If your organization derives a significant amount of funding from membership programs, annual fundraising galas, or special events, you may wonder whether those donations are eligible for corporate matching gift programs.

By not promoting matching gifts to donors, your organization may be leaving money on the table. In almost every case, the tax-deductible amount of nearly all cash and stock contributions is eligible to be doubled through employer matching gift programs.

To take advantage of these important revenue opportunities, go over the following key subjects:

The Relationship Between Tax-Deductible Contributions and Matching Gifts
Calculating the Tax-Deductible Amount for Matching Gifts
How a Matching Gift Database Can Help

Need a refresher on corporate philanthropy? Visit our guide to learn more about corporate matching gift programs. Otherwise, let’s get started!

1. The Relationship Between Tax-Deductible Contributions and Matching Gifts

When nonprofits have membership programs or host special events, there should be a defined tax-deductible amount listed. This should be a specific dollar amount. Also, it should be above the fair market value (FMV) of any benefits received.

That way, attendees and their employers know the specific amount for IRS income tax reporting purposes. The tax-deductible amount of the donation, event ticket, or membership is also what donors should submit to their employers when requesting a match.

It’s the responsibility of the organization to determine the tax-deductible amount and inform event attendees or its program’s members.

For instance, for events, the tickets should have a line similar to the following: “Did you know that $X of your ticket is tax-deductible? If your employer has a matching gift program, this amount might be eligible to be matched.” To learn other ways to promote matching gifts to attendees, visit this guide about matching gifts for special fundraising events.

Now that you know the tax-deductible amount of contributions can be matched, let’s dive into how to calculate it.

2. Calculating the Tax-Deductible Amount for Matching Gifts

As previously stated, it’s up to the nonprofit organization to determine the tax-deductible amount of each contribution. The first step is to determine the FMV of the benefits received.

There are a few ways to do this. Start by comparing the benefits received by the donor with what those benefits would cost if it were not a fundraiser.

For example, let’s say you charge $500 for an annual gala ticket. At the gala, there’s a performance by a well-known band as well as a five-course dinner. Let’s say the nonprofit determines the dinner would cost $50 from a local restaurant while a ticket to see the band would cost $100. In this case, the fair market value of the gala ticket would be $150. Therefore, the tax-deductible amount of the ticket would be $350.

Donors should use this fair market value, rather than the overall purchase price, on their company’s matching gift form.

While each organization has full discretion in determining the FMV, the key is to ensure the values placed on each benefit are reasonable. For instance, is it reasonable for a steak and lobster dinner with dessert to cost $10 at a five-star restaurant? Probably not. An appropriate method is to take a look at the menu of a local restaurant and use its pricing as guidance.

Calculating the FMV isn’t an exact science. It could vary by several dollars and any amount within a reasonable range would be acceptable for government reporting and matching gift requests. The important part is that your organization is taking a fair and honest approach when estimating the FMV.

3. How a Matching Gift Database Can Help

When hosting event fundraisers or heading a membership program, nonprofits might overlook corporate giving opportunities. Corporate philanthropy is vital for nonprofits. Missing out on these opportunities can be detrimental to an organization. That’s where Double the Donation, the industry-leading matching gift database, can help!

By adding a matching gift database to your tech toolkit, your nonprofit won’t overlook revenue from corporate giving programs. For instance, Double the Donation:

Enables donors and volunteers to search for 20,000+ companies.
Gives users all available info and forms on companies’ giving programs.
Allows nonprofits to embed the tool on their online fundraising channels.
Allows nonprofits to do even more with matching gifts!

Before your event, research your attendees’ employers. You’ll be able to pinpoint which donors are matching-gift eligible. That way, you’ll know who to approach about corporate giving at your event. Whenever someone signs up for your membership program, your team can see which donors might be match-eligible, too! Then, you can reach out to them.

Plus, larger nonprofits might benefit even more from 360MatchPro by Double the Donation. This tool streamlines the process by automatically identifying match-eligible donors in a comprehensive database, following up with them until they complete the match process, and even creating an automated plan for matching gifts! Either tool is great for pinpointing corporate giving opportunities.

Many different types of donations to your organization have a tax-deductible component that can be submitted to corporate matching gift programs. Make sure you’re communicating this with your donors.

Now that you know more about tax-deductible contributions, relay this information to your team and supporters. Start boosting your nonprofit’s matching gift revenue now!