Pfizer Archives - Double the Donation

Has your organization ever taken a look at which companies are consistently providing matching gift donations to your organization?

If you have, you may notice that a disproportionate number of matching gifts come from a select few companies.

Survey Results | Participation Varies Widely by Company:

The Chronicle of Philanthropy released a report entitled “How America’s Biggest Companies Give” which was compiled from their Corporate Giving Survey.

Employee Matching Gift Participation Rates

Key Insights on Matching Gift Participation Rates:

Insight #1: 65% of Microsoft employees request a match from the company compared to less than 15% for Xerox, Dell, and Verizon. This is a direct result of Microsoft being one of the best at communicating matching gift information to employees.

Insight #2: Pfizer leads companies in the pharmaceutical industry with over 30% of employees participating in the company’s matching gift program.

Insight #3: Matching gift programs are widely utilized by employees in the financial services sector. American Express leads the pack with 70% of employees requesting the company match at least one charitable donation.

Insight #4: Based on this sample of companies, the consumer goods sector has the lowest employee participation rates. Of the companies that provided data, Johnson & Johnson leads the sector with 25% of employees having one or more donations matched by the company.

Impact on your Organization’s Matching Gift Revenue: Home Depot vs. Coca-Cola:

For instance, both Home Depot (~13K Atlanta employees) and Coca-Cola (~5K Atlanta employees) are headquartered in Atlanta and offer similar matching gift programs.

One would expect Atlanta based nonprofit organizations to receive a significant number of matching gift donations from each of these companies. Unfortunately that doesn’t appear to be the case. The majority of nonprofits we’ve spoken to self-report far more matching donations from Coca-Cola compared to Home Depot each year. **

So what causes this discrepancy?

Organizations typically explain this phenomenon by talking about the number of employees each company has in the area. While it’s true that a company with a major presence in a city is more likely to provide a larger number of matching gifts, there’s an even more important factor.

How well a company internally promotes matching gifts dictates how likely an employee is to know about the program and submit matching gift requests.

We know it doesn’t take a genius to come up with the above statement, but it’s true. So many employees at companies with matching gift programs have no idea their employer offers a program. If an employee / donor lacks knowledge of their company program, there’s no way they’ll submit a matching gift request.

Closing the Gap:

Although your organization can’t change how widely companies promote matching gifts to their entire employee base, you can greatly influence the percentage of your donors who submit matching gift requests.

If you raise awareness and make it easy for your donors / their spouses to submit matching gifts, you can increase matching revenue.

We recommend nonprofits promote matching gifts in three locations:

If you effectively promote employee matching gifts to your donors, you can overcome low participation rates.

Data Sources:
*Based upon a publicly available survey of companies which was conducted by The Chronicle of Philanthropy.
**Based on our conversations with membership and development managers at select Atlanta organizations.

Volunteer 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:

Tag Archive for: Pfizer

Matching Gift Participation Rates

Survey Results | Participation Varies Widely by Company:

Key Insights on Matching Gift Participation Rates: