Individual donations are great. Company donations are great. But matching gift programs? They’re the perfect way to get a little of both at the same time.
Curious? Here’s our guide to matching gift programs, how they work, and how to get businesses on board with the idea.
What Is a Matching Gift Program?
Matching gifts are the perfect way to maximize the value of donations from employees. In a nutshell, matching gift programs are where organizations commit to matching a donation made to eligible nonprofits by their employees. It’s a way that you can essentially double your funds from that one interaction. Great, right?
These matching gifts are usually given at a 1:1 match ratio, meaning that thoughtful employee’s donation is doubled. Sometimes the rate can differ between full-time employees and part-time employees.
Some organizations up the ratio to 2:1 or even 4:1, giving you even more value. Top matching gift companies that are reported to offer more than a 1:1 matching gift ratio include Johnson & Johnson and Apple. Most companies will have a minimum and maximum amount, but this could be in the multiple thousands for some organizations.
Why Matching Gifts Are So Great
Getting double the amount of funds from a single person donating is obviously a great perk, but the benefits go beyond that. And there’s an uplift for everyone involved in the donation process — including the nonprofit, employee, and employer.
As well as receiving extra funds, taking part in corporate matching gift programs means that you’re on the radar of that business. While they’re authorizing a matching gift they might check out your website, see that you’re running a fundraising campaign, and decide to make an extra donation of their own. You’ll likely see more donations from employees too, as research shows that matching gift programs motivate workplace donors.
For employees, there’s that feel-good high that you get from supporting an amazing cause through the gift process. They might also feel closer to the organization they work for, knowing that they’re happy to support workplace giving and better the world around them.
Organizations that support matching gifts can get value from supporting their community, making a difference, and fulfilling all those other corporate social responsibility points. Promoting their support of gift matching can also help them attract new talent and retain current employees with stellar core values.
How a Matching Gift Program Works
Matching gifts can have a positive impact on the gift revenue you can collect from individual donations. While it can seem confusing, the process itself is pretty simple, and definitely worth investing in.
If you’re new to running matching gift programs or want a refresher, here’s how they work.
1. An Employee Makes an Individual Donation
Someone’s decided to send a donation your way. Hooray! They might do this online through a workplace giving portal, or simply use a donation form on your website. It doesn’t matter how they do it, what matters is that there’s a donation making its way to you.
2. They Submit a Match Request to Their Employer
Next, your donor needs to complete a matching gift submission request to the company they work for. They might send this request in through an online or paper form, then that’s their part of the story done.
Not everyone knows these exist, which is why it’s so important to raise awareness of the program. Often employees can use a matching gift database to see if their company matches donations.
3. The Employer Checks and Verifies the Donation
Someone at the company will need to check matching gift eligibility before they match the donation. They’ll check for things like whether the employee and donation is match eligible and at what ratio, and whether your organization is on their approved list (if they run one).
Once they’re happy with everything, they’ll verify the donation with you so they can match it to the correct donation amount.
4. The Employer Sends a Matching Donation Over To You
With all the paperwork done, the company can now authorize their donation. You’ll have extra funds heading your way as a result of the employee matching gift program, and all it takes is a little extra admin and promotion of the program.
How To Pitch the Idea to Businesses
Matching gift programs are such a huge source of donations for nonprofit organizations, but a lot of corporations don’t realize that it’s even a thing.
Create more matching gift opportunities for your organization by using these steps to conduct outreach and pitch the idea to businesses.
1. Build a Target List
You could go out and make appointments with every business in your local area, but not all of them will be a great fit for a matching gift program. Concentrate your efforts on those that are.
Research to find out which companies align with your values and are open to workplace giving.
You might find this information on their websites, or know about them through your network.
Find out which are the biggest employers in your area — with more employees this could be a valuable source of donations in a locally targeted fundraising campaign.
2. Promote the Benefits
If an organization doesn’t know about matching gifts, they won’t know about all the great benefits. Share what you know and really get enthusiastic about why it’s so valuable for everyone involved.
Talk about the importance of making a positive impact on the world around you. Mention the impact it can have on employee engagement, too. In a recent survey, 71% of employees said it was imperative or very important to work in an environment that’s supportive of giving and volunteering. Matching gifts is a super easy way to demonstrate to employees that you care.
Want an easy way to help a business get clued in on matching gift programs? Send them this article alongside a request to set up a call!
3. Outline How It All Works and Offer To Help Them Get Set Up
The admin and steps involved in running a matching gift program can sometimes put people off. Help the businesses you talk to understand the process and share ways to make it easier for them.
Keep things simple when you’re explaining the steps. Outline how it works and which parts of the process they’ll need to get involved in.
Once the program is set up, they’ll mostly need someone to check and authorize match donations. Share some tips on how they can simplify the submission process, or let them know about matching gift software that could handle some of this pressure for them. It’s all about removing barriers that might deter them from getting involved.
4. Don’t Forget To Talk About Other Corporate Giving Programs
Your conversation doesn’t have to end when you’re done talking about matching gift programs. This is a great opportunity to build a relationship with another organization that could result in other corporate philanthropy efforts.
Whether the business is onboard with setting up a matching gift program or not, talk about the other ways you could work together. They might be happy to sponsor an upcoming event, or donate some equipment or expertise in kind.
You never know where these conversations might take you. Don’t go in too heavy with a hard sell though — like donor engagement, let these relationships with businesses develop over time and through multiple moments.
Want a fun and memorable way to accelerate those feel-good partnerships? After your call or meeting, send a personalized video their way as a follow-up. Thank them for their time, share your excitement about potentially partnering up, and let them know you’re happy to talk giving at any time.
Promote the Impact of Matching Gifts
Did you know that an estimated $4-$7 billion in matching gifts go unclaimed every year? That’s a serious chunk of money that nonprofits across the U.S. are missing out on.
Time to put a stop to that. Here are a few ways you can maximize your matching gift program uptake by promoting the program to employees and organizations around you.
Run an Awareness Campaign
What better way to promote matching gifts than with a dedicated awareness campaign? Devote some of your time and resources to creating a campaign that highlights the benefits and asks employees and businesses to get involved.
Create content that you can share on your social media, in email newsletters, and at in-person and virtual events. Think about running a livestream or webinar where people can check in to find out more about how it all works.
You could also film and send a personalized video to supporters to encourage them to get involved. Use our automated video platform to create meaningfully personalized videos in moments.
Get people talking about gift matching so word gets out about how valuable it can be to nonprofits like you. This should hopefully result in an uptick in matched giving and more donations heading your way.
Mention Matching Gifts Wherever Your Supporters Can Donate
Campaigns are awesome but they can’t run forever. If they did, we’d all run out of budget pretty quickly. Keep matching gift programs in the minds of your donors by being vocal about them everywhere they can donate.
Include a call to action to ask their employer about matching gifts when people donate through your website. Mention it on your fundraising campaign emails, online donation forms, website widgets, and on promotional flyers at events.
You could also include the ask within fundraising video content that sits alongside a donation page, like on our ThankGiving platform.
Don’t forget to mention it again within your thank you email or thank you video after donation. Try and get this sent out right away, so they can fill in their employer’s request form while it’s still fresh in their mind.
Encourage Matching Gift Partners To Promote the Program To Their Teams
Don’t forget you’ve got a key influencer here when it comes to promoting the idea of matching gifts — your program partners. Make it easy for employers to talk about the program with their teams and encourage them to do this regularly.
Help make things super easy for busy organizations by creating resources that they can share. Design and print a leaflet that they can pass on to their employees, or provide some text they can share in an internal company newsletter. Offer to join a team meeting to talk about how it all works, or offer a virtual session to help educate team leaders.
The goal here is to become a super supportive partner and encourage everyone at the organization to get onboard with matched giving. This should encourage more activity, which means more donations. You might also be able to strike up new and fun ways of working together through this hands-on, warm approach.
Matching Gift Programs Made Easy
Most organizations out there are more than willing to support the nonprofits around them. Matching gift programs are a simple yet effective way to do this. They’re great for employee satisfaction, corporate social responsibility, and attracting and retaining people with heart.
Help make the matching gift program process easy for the businesses around you. Talk about how it all works and help them implement a program that delivers benefits for everyone involved.
If you’d like to explore using personalized video to make that happen, book a demo with our knowledgeable team. We’ll be able to walk you through our platform and talk about how you can use it to connect with and build relationships with the organizations around you.