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Matching Gifts: An Overview
What are matching gifts?
Matching gifts are a type of corporate philanthropy where companies match donations their employees make to eligible nonprofits. For example, if a donor gives $100 and requests an employer matching gift, their company will donate an additional $100 to your nonprofit, doubling the size of the original donation.
For nonprofits, matching gifts present an unmatched opportunity to easily earn more donations at no additional cost to donors. It’s a win for everyone: your supporters get to make more of an impact with their gifts, your organization gets more funding, and the donating company earns a reputation boost from participating in corporate philanthropy.
How do matching gifts work?
To get a donation matched, your donor first has to determine if their gift is eligible for a matching gift. Since companies set their own matching gift eligibility guidelines, they can vary widely from business to business. However, they typically include a minimum and maximum donation size and a match ratio, such as 1:1 or 2:1.
Once an individual makes a donation to a nonprofit, they can determine their match eligibility to see if their employers will match their donation by using a company name search tool, which populates results from a large matching gift database. If they learn their company offers a matching gift program, they can submit a match request to their employer, which the nonprofit will verify, and the company will then issue a check to the nonprofit.
What is the impact of donation matching?
Approximately $2-3 billion is donated annually to nonprofits, educational institutions, and other organizations through matching gift programs. However, matching gifts are often overlooked by organizations due to limited information on their donors’ employers, as well as limited resources and time available to devote to securing matching gifts. In fact, an estimated $4-7 billion in matching gift revenue goes unclaimed each year.
If you take a look at these other corporate matching gift statistics, you’ll see why effectively marketing donation match opportunities is so essential.
The Matching Gift Gap
Only 1.31% of individual contributions are matched at the average nonprofit organization.
This is a result of a lack of awareness and marketing. However, incorporating marketing automation into your organization’s process can significantly boost this percentage and your overall matching gift revenue.
Increasing Conversions
Scaling Gift Amounts
Matching Gift Identification
Donation Matching Follow-Up
How to Promote Matching Gifts
Because donors are frequently unaware of whether or not their employer (or spouse’s employer) offers a matching gift program, it’s important to promote donation matching to them. Your organization’s goal should be to seamlessly present matching gift opportunities to supporters and make it as easy as possible for them to submit a match request.
To make matching gift outreach easier, we recommend leveraging these leading channels to effectively reach your supporters:
During the Donation Process
If matching gift opportunities are apparent throughout your donation process, donors will be more likely to consider and submit a matching gift request once they’ve made their gift. With matching gift software, you can add an intuitive search tool directly to your donation page so donors can find out right away if their gift is eligible for matching.
Throughout Your Website
Along with your donation page, feature matching gift information throughout the rest of your website so your donors can easily locate matching gift forms, guidelines, and instructions for submitting match requests to their employers. For example, you might create a matching gifts landing page that details this opportunity, develop blog content related to matching gifts, and create calls to action in relevant areas of your website that direct donors to check if they’re match eligible.
Across Communications
Sending out an email newsletter or direct mail campaign? Encourage supporters to match their donations by promoting matching gifts across your nonprofit’s communications. Emphasize how easy it is to participate and how much more of an impact donors can make without spending any more money than they normally would.
On Google Ads
Paid advertising through Google and other search engines can amplify your matching gift page. Plus, eligible nonprofits can do it for free through the Google Ad Grants program! We recommend working with a Google Ad Grants agency such as Getting Attention to create ads that inspire users who come across your organization on Google Search.
Additionally, you can market donation matching through the following avenues:
Donation
Forms
Email
Campaigns
Social Media
Content
Fundraising
Appeals
However, for many organizations, this is easier said than done. That’s why automating your marketing outreach or turning to a trusted software solution can make promoting matching gifts easier, especially when you have a lot of data to track. Luckily, a platform like 360MatchPro can help! Our database insights help you easily uncover and follow up with match-eligible donors.
Unlock the full power of matching gifts!
Top Matching Gift Companies: Employers With Standout Donation Matching Programs
Plenty of companies have robust matching gift programs and regularly donate thousands of dollars to nonprofits like yours. Explore a few of the top matching gift companies across the U.S. and Canada to get an idea of how these programs work. Take note of these top programs, too—it’s likely some of your donors work for these companies!
Microsoft
Microsoft is a technology company that develops computer software, consumer electronics, and more. The company matches up to $15,000 at a 1:1 ratio. Full-time and part-time employees can submit requests for a match at any point during the last 12 months.
The Home Depot
The Home Depot is a large home improvement retailer in the United States. The company will match up to $1,000 per employee for each organization they donate to, with a maximum of $3,000 per employee. Full-time and part-time employees must submit their matching gift requests by January 31st of the year following the date of the donation.
Disney
The Walt Disney Company is a mass media and entertainment company. They match donations to most nonprofits made by full-time and part-time employees. The company will match up to $25,000 at a ratio of 1:1.
Explore even more top matching gift companies
(and find out if your donors work for them!):
Matching Gifts Automation: The Benefits
Ready to start leveraging matching gifts for your organization? Every aspect of the process is easier with automation. Take a look at four key benefits you can access by using a matching gift automation platform.
#1: Identify Opportunities for Revenue
Make It Easy to Search
By using a matching gift widget, your donors will be able to search for their employer in a database of thousands of companies that offer matching gift programs. This makes it incredibly easy for your supporters to determine whether they’re eligible for a gift match. Your donor can then view the forms, guidelines, and next steps they must take to submit their match request, if eligible.
Don’t Miss Out on Opportunities
By using a matching gift automation platform, you can automatically identify matching gift eligibility no matter where a donor works. You’ll be able to grab their employer’s information and determine if they offer a matching gift program, growing your revenue as a result.
#2: Automatically Double the Impact
Provide Personalized Next Steps
Make it easy to automatically increase your donors’ gifts through a corporate match. An automation platform will help you provide your donors personalized next steps, meaning you can follow-up in a targeted, effective way. This takes the pressure off of your organization and individual team members and ensures you can double a donor’s impact without too much effort on your end!
Find Your Data
When you’re a large organization with a large donor base and several pieces of data to track, having matching gift data and performance insights right in front of you is essential. These numbers help you understand which marketing efforts are driving completed matches and where you may be losing donors. A matching gift automation platform helps you track this data so you can find the information you need with less effort.
#3: Tell Your Brand’s Story
Make It Sound Like You
A matching gifts automation platform will help you customize your matching emails so you can keep your branding consistent and continue to tell your story. This will help you build trust with supporters and increase the likelihood of driving matching gifts.
Make It Personal
Reaching out to your donors and forming a connection with them is the most important thing your organization can do. By adding personal information to your email, including the donor’s name, donation amount, date, and more, you’ll make it clear that you value their time and commitment to your organization.
Want to see these revenue-driving automation features in action?
How to Automate Matching Gifts
How can you enjoy the benefits mentioned above? By investing in a matching gift automation platform like 360MatchPro, your organization will be able to efficiently monitor outreach to your donors, track the progress of matching gift submissions, and increase the resulting revenue from these efforts.
360MatchPro provides a streamlined process for securing matching gift revenue. Here’s how it works:
Streamline the Donor Experience
Your donors can give the same way they always have, but they’ll also have an opportunity to discover their matching gift eligibility and initiate a request by accessing our database insights. Easily connect match-eligible donors to the next steps they need to take to submit a match request,
Automatically Increase Revenue
By connecting your donors to their next steps based on their eligibility, you can generate more matching gift revenue for your organization. The easier you make it for donors to find out about their company’s program, the more success you’ll see!
Ensure Donors Can Easily Submit Matches
Provide your donors with the information they need to complete their match request. Then, your donors can easily complete the match process electronically, or via paper PDFs or E-Sign.
Prioritize Top Opportunities
Keep track of your top matching gift revenue opportunities so that you can focus your efforts on the matches that are most likely to drive impact and funding for your mission.
Save Staff Time
With a complete workplace giving suite in your organization’s toolkit, it’s easier to raise funding with minimal hands-on involvement. In a recent Double the Donation research study, 25.6% of nonprofit professionals say the staff time required to manage matches decreased this year due to automation. That means your development team can spend its time on other high-value opportunities!
Investing in a matching gift automation platform like 360MatchPro can not only boost your matching gift revenue but also make your follow-up process much simpler. You’ll make your organization’s employees’ jobs easier and more streamlined, and this will result in more matching gift opportunities.
Automation goes a long way in terms of effectively reaching out to your supporters and easing the pressure on your team.
Additional Matching Gift Resources
Matching Gift Programs
New to matching gifts and not sure where to start looking?
Check out this guide to corporate matching gift programs and maximize your donations.
Top Matching Gift Companies
Curious as to whether your donors are linked to top matching gift programs?
Check out a list of top companies that match donations.
Marketing Matching Gifts
Are you looking for an effective way to market matching gifts to your supporters?
Check out this helpful guide to promoting matching gifts.