Corporate matching gifts can offer a significant revenue source for charitable organizations. In order to leverage the programs, a nonprofit’s donors typically must submit a matching gift form to their employers. The form essentially allows an individual to provide details about their own qualifying donation and request an associated corporate match.
Unfortunately, this has long been a critical drop-off point for organizations looking to make the most of available matching opportunities. Many donors lack an understanding of the request process that is required of them. That’s why, for more than a decade, Double the Donation has created software aimed to simplify the process by providing company-specific details, next steps, and more.
Now, we’re taking it a step further with our easier-than-ever-before standard matching gift form. And in this guide, we’ll tell you all about it as we walk through the basics:
Unclaimed matches hinder the impact potential of charitable organizations, their donors, and the businesses partaking in workplace giving programs alike. By streamlining and automating the request process altogether, we can take an additional step toward maximal usage.
Let’s see how Double the Donation’s intuitive standard matching gift request form can help.
Top tip! Consider working with one of our suggested CSR platforms as your #1 choice for workplace giving program management. But if you’re not ready for that, our standard matching gift form is a great backup!
What is Double the Donation’s standard matching gift form?
There is a range of ways that a donor can submit a matching gift request to their employing company, and a lot of that depends on the company the individual works for. For example, one old-fashioned company might still accept paper forms that require employees to complete and scan or mail back to process. At the same time, a different business may have moved to a completely online system using a digital submission portal.
Regardless of the method with which documentation is completed, a matching gift form generally encapsulates the same information. Most often, these include three types of data points:
- Donor Information — Details about the donors themselves; Frequently some combination of name, contact information, and perhaps an employee identification number.
- Recipient Nonprofit Information — Provides an overview of the nonprofit the individual donor supported; Typically asks for the organization name, mailing address, EIN, and other contact information.
- Donation Information — Pertaining to the recent transaction; Generally involves a donation amount and date.
As you might guess, a lot of the above information can be a bit redundant for the donor. Now, Double the Donation’s standard matching gift form pulls the necessary data points directly from the transaction, as well as information collected from nonprofits, to automatically fill in the document. Once completed, a PDF is immediately sent to the matching gift coordinator via email designated by the company.
It’s an easier process for donors and ultimately results in a greater matching gift program impact.
How does the standard matching gift request form work?
Perhaps you’re thinking, “sounds great—but how does it actually work?” In that case, let’s see the process in action for participating companies, step by step.
1. An individual makes a donation to their favorite nonprofit cause, entering their employer’s name in Double the Donation’s company search tool.
If their employing company has enabled matching gift e-submission through our standard request form, the donor will be prompted to authorize Double the Donation to submit a match on their behalf. (Typically, all the individual is required to do is enter their corporate email address and check a box!)
2. Double the Donation automatically fills in the blanks on our standard matching gift form to provide the employing company with the information they need.
Generally, donor and transaction information is pulled from the donation record itself, while nonprofit details are made available through pre-filled organization profiles within 360MatchPro.
3. The auto-filled match request form is emailed in a PDF document to the matching gift coordinator identified by the company.
From there, the employer reviews the match request, as usual, to ensure the initial donation meets the company’s predetermined match eligibility criteria. Assuming it does, the match is approved, and funding is provided to the nonprofit cause!
Key benefits of our standard form for donors, nonprofits, and companies
The more you can simplify the matching gift process, the better your overall results will be. This is true whether you’re on the corporate or the nonprofit side of things. And luckily, Double the Donation’s standard match request form is designed to do just that for both parties—plus your common denominator, employee donors.
Let’s dive into a few key advantages for each perspective.
For Donors
Donors love participating in matching gift programs (in fact, 84% of individuals report being more likely to give if they know a match is being offered). But when the process involved gets too complicated or time-consuming, even dedicated and eligible donors sometimes fail to complete the task.
When all that’s asked of them is to enter their corporate email address, on the other hand, individuals will be much more likely to follow through. And in doing so, participating donors receive the benefit of knowing their support is going twice as far for a cause they care about.
For Nonprofits
According to matching gift research, only 8% of eligible donors know their employers offer a matching gift program and know how to go about submitting a match request. This significant knowledge gap plays a huge role in more than $4 to $7 billion in available match funding going unclaimed each year.
By simplifying the request process and providing an easy way for donors to submit requests to their companies, Double the Donation’s standard match form results in increased funding for nonprofit organizations.
For Companies
Companies that accept the standard matching gift form receive all the benefits of offering a matching gift program in the first place—in larger quantities. After all, the more a business donates to charitable causes, the better its overall CSR. Optimal CSR leads to elevated employee engagement (productivity, longevity, recruitment, etc.), improved image (increased sales and brand loyalty), and more.
Leveraging Double the Donation’s standard match form simplifies employee participation, thus maximizing program use levels.
Getting started with our matching gift request form
We’ve designed our standard matching gift form to be as simple as possible—while still accomplishing the intended task. And that includes the ease with which organizations and businesses can get set up.
Interested in taking the next steps? Here’s how you can quickly begin leveraging the benefits of the common match request form for your team.
For Nonprofits
If your nonprofit employs Double the Donation’s matching gift automation solution, there’s good news! Your donors are already set to partake in streamlined e-submission through our standard request form. When a qualifying individual makes a donation using your online giving form and selects their employer during the donation experience, they’ll be prompted to submit their match request automatically from your gift confirmation screen.
To ensure the match form is completed with accurate information, be sure to fill out your Organization Profile in 360MatchPro. This also increases the likelihood that matches are approved by participating companies. And it simplifies the process for you, your donors, and their employers.
If your organization has yet to get started with 360MatchPro, you can schedule a demo here to see our tools in action—and learn more about the impact of the standard match form.
For Companies
Double the Donation’s matching gift form can certainly simplify the matching gift request process for employees. Still, we recommend that companies leverage a complete corporate giving platform to manage their philanthropic efforts. But if you’re looking for a temporary solution to streamline matching gifts from the donor’s perspective or would like to accept our standard matching gift form in addition to your more built-out process, getting started is quick and easy.
Here’s how:
If your company has developed an employee matching program for the first time, click here to add your initiative to our comprehensive database. As you provide information about your company’s submission process, be sure to select that you’d like to use Double the Donation’s standard form.
On the other hand, if your company’s existing program is already listed in Double the Donation’s database, click here to suggest updates to your program guidelines. Then, indicate that you’d like to accept the standard match form. You’ll be prompted to enter the name, phone number, and email of the person who manages the company’s giving initiatives.
And that’s it! From there, the specified contact person will receive completed match request forms each time an employee makes a donation to a qualifying nonprofit and selects the automated e-submission choice.
Final Thoughts
The future of matching gifts is here, and it’s increasingly reliant on innovative technology to streamline and simplify the process. Double the Donation’s standard matching gift form is one example of this. As corporate philanthropy continues to become a higher priority by companies across the globe, the demand for matching gifts—and standardized processes with them—will continue to grow.
Ready to learn more about corporate matching gift programs and the tools that power them? Check out our other recommended resources:
With these new integrations, along with ones that are soon to come, we’re excited to continue building industry relationships that will propel the matching gift fundraising ecosystem to new heights.
