Advancing Matching Gifts for Civic & Community Organizations

Organizations dedicated to fostering positive social change often struggle to maximize their impact with tight budgets and limited resources. Fortunately, matching gifts for civic and community organizations present a powerful opportunity for individuals to double or even triple their generosity at no added cost. In doing so, these programs allow nonprofits to grow their revenue and tap into one of the most prominent sources of corporate philanthropy funding.

In this guide, we aim to overview everything your team needs to know to navigate the opportunity effectively.

We’ll cover the following:

• Gift-Matching for Civic and Community Groups 101: The Basics
• 5 Community-Focused Companies That Match Employee Gifts
• Tips for Driving Civic Engagement With Matching Gifts
• Free Customizable Templates to Grow Matching Donation Impact

Despite significant potential, many civic and community fundraisers have yet to harness the full power of matching gifts. By implementing the strategies and insights below, you can set your team up for double the success in no time.

Let’s dive in!

Gift-Matching for Civic and Community Groups 101: The Basics

Matching gifts for civic and community organizations, such as advocacy groups, youth development initiatives, civic engagement programs, and more, offer donors an enticing chance to double their support for the social causes they care about.

These match funds, supplied by donors’ employers, effectively double (or sometimes even triple) the impact of each dollar gifted. Here’s a breakdown of the process:

1. An individual makes a financial contribution to the civic or community organization of their choice.
2. The donor determines if their employer matches team member donations. If so, the individual accesses eligibility criteria (incl. donation thresholds, ratios, causes, and deadlines) and submission forms.
3. The donor completes the donation match request process outlined by their employer, generally by filling out a brief online form.
4. The nonprofit verifies the initial donation with the donor’s employer.
5. The donor’s employer reviews and approves the matching gift request and contributes match funding to the organization in question.

Overall, matching gifts provide significant value to civic and community organizations. These programs can be powerful tools for mobilizing resources, building nonprofit capacity, and driving collective action among individuals and corporations alike.

5 Community-Focused Companies That Match Employee Gifts

Thousands of employers match gifts to all sorts of nonprofit causes⁠—of which civic and community organizations are generally included. However, these five programs stand out as excellent examples of companies to keep in mind as you uncover match-eligible donors in your community.

Baxter International

Baxter International is a leading healthcare company employing over 60,000 team members across the globe. In order to support the communities where its employees live and work (and encourage individual staff to do the same), Baxter offers a generous giving program, matching between $25 and $5,000 in donations per person each year.

By empowering its employees to give back and amplifying their charitable efforts, the company strengthens its corporate culture of social responsibility and fosters positive change in communities around the world.

Learn more about the matching gift program.

Airbnb

Airbnb, a vacation property rental company, also matches its employees’ gifts to eligible nonprofits. Fortunately, this includes civic and community organizations.

With a minimum donation of $25, full-time and part-time Airbnb team members are eligible to get up to $1,000 worth of donations matched with company funds in a single year. That means more dollars flowing into civic and community engagement efforts, empowering individual donors to make a greater impact on the causes that matter most to them.

Learn more about the matching gift program.

Checkr

Checkr is a corporate employee background screening tool that focuses on fair chance hiring practices. In addition to its mission of transforming hiring for a fairer future, the company pledges to donate at least 1% of its employees’ time, product, equity, and profits each year to philanthropic causes.

One way Checkr supports philanthropy is through its matching gift program! Checkr is committed to rallying its employees to give back by encouraging participation and streamlining the engagement process. In fact, it was one of the first companies to offer Double the Donation’s groundbreaking auto-submission functionality through an integration with its CSR portal!

Learn more about the matching gift program.

United Parcel Service (UPS)

United Parcel Service, or UPS, demonstrates its commitment to corporate social responsibility through its generous matching gift program. The program aims to support its employees’ philanthropic efforts by matching eligible employee donations to a wide range of nonprofit organizations, including civic and community groups. However, gifts must be contributed directly through the company’s giving portal to qualify for a match.

In addition to its matching gift program, UPS also offers volunteer grants for the organizations with which its employees volunteer. When an employee with 1+ years of service spends 50 hours volunteering, the company contributes a $250 grant to the nonprofit.

Learn more about the matching gift program.

 

Comcast

Comcast, a multinational telecommunications and media conglomerate with more than 186,000 employees, boasts a top matching gift program designed to empower its employees to make a difference. To incentivize giving back within their communities, Comcast offers a generous company match to many nonprofit organizations, including those in the civic and community sectors.

Note: Comcast employees must donate to their favorite nonprofits directly through the company’s corporate giving platform in order to qualify for matching gifts. Employees with questions are encouraged to contact comcastnbcuniversalsupport@cybergrants.com.

Learn more about the matching gift program.

Tips for Driving Civic Engagement With Matching Gifts

A well-thought-out fundraising plan enables an organization to amplify its efforts, effectively engage supporters, and make a greater difference in the communities it serves. To begin building a strategy for your team, check out the following expert-recommended practices.

1. Educate your team and your donors about matching gift opportunities.

One primary cause of unclaimed matching gifts is a lack of knowledge about existing programs. To begin bridging the awareness and subsequent funding gaps, we recommend actively promoting the opportunity to your donors and fundraising team alike.

By educating your internal team about matching gifts, you empower them to be your greatest advocates to your donors. Take time to review common matching gift programs (and how to locate additional company guidelines), eligibility requirements, submission processes, match tracking and verification, and more.

At the same time, it is essential to educate donors about matching gift opportunities. An estimated 78% of match-eligible individuals have no idea if their companies match gifts! When donors are provided with clear information about matching gift programs and how they can take advantage of them, though, they’re generally happy to do so. And that means more awareness = more matching gifts completed!

2. Encourage ineligible donors to advocate for matching to their employers.

While not all supporters will qualify for matching gifts at the time of giving, it’s important to remember that even ineligible donors can play a crucial role in your organization’s strategy. And a big part of that is by advocating for new matching gift program development on your behalf.

Companies match gifts largely as an employee engagement opportunity. When an employee pitches the idea of a matching gift program to their boss, the boss is often inclined to consider the proposal positively. The donor may even get their initial gift matched after all!

Top tip: The less intensive your ask, the more likely a donor is to complete the intended action. Provide interested individuals with a customizable template designed to assist in pitching a new matching gift program to one’s employer.

3. Use impact-driven language to communicate matching gift value.

Effective communication is essential for conveying the positive impact of matching gifts to donors⁠—not to mention inspiring them to take action and get involved. Using impact-driven language emphasizes the programs’ tangible benefits and highlights the specific impact they can have on your organization’s mission. For example, if you typically inform donors that a $100 donation will feed a family of four for a week, you can frame a matching gift opportunity as empowering your team to feed two families for the cost of one.

When possible, emphasize real-world outcomes and achievements made possible through matching gifts for your organization in the past, too! This could mean sharing success stories, testimonials, metrics, and more.

4. Automate the matching gift fundraising experience.

Identifying and following up on matching gifts is an extremely valuable fundraising practice. However, doing so manually can involve a number of time-consuming and resource-intensive activities.

Fortunately, automating the matching gift fundraising experience streamlines the process for donors and maximizes efficiency for your organization’s internal team. By implementing an automated matching gift solution like 360MatchPro, you’ll reduce administrative burden and ensure no matching gift opportunity falls by the wayside.

Plus, when you integrate 360MatchPro into your existing software ecosystem, you can incorporate matching gifts directly into the giving experience. Then, trigger tailored matching gift follow-ups that encourage donors to request their matches and provide company-specific guidelines and submission forms. The end result is a significant increase in matching gift participation, revenue, and more.

Free Customizable Templates to Grow Matching Donation Impact

Use the following matching gift outreach examples to inform your organization’s messaging. As you do so, consider how you can customize the templates to fit your nonprofit’s voice and branding to best connect with your audience.

Email Blast: Template #1

Subject: Double Your Impact for [Nonprofit or Initiative]: Matching Donation Opportunity Inside! 💰💰

Dear [Recipient],

As a valued supporter of [Nonprofit], we wanted to share an exciting opportunity that may enable you to DOUBLE your impact on our cause. That is with corporate matching gifts!

Did you know that tens of thousands of businesses—including over 65% of the Fortune 500—match employees’ donations to charitable causes as part of their social responsibility efforts? More than 26 million individuals work for companies that match… and you might be one of them.

To check if your employer offers a matching gift program, please

1. Click here to visit our matching gift page. [URL]
2. Type your company name in the search tool widget.
3. Review the provided guidelines to determine eligibility and access the online forms.

Then, make your donation using our online giving page (if you haven’t already) [URL] and follow the instructions to submit your matching gift request!

As always, your support is critical in helping us [description of mission or current initiatives]. With the power of matching donations, we can do even more to [describe the impact of donations on your organization’s work].

Warm regards,

[Name]
[Title/Position]
[Nonprofit]

LinkedIn Post: Template #2

Attention donors! 📣

Did you know that your generous gifts to [Nonprofit] could have double the impact?

With corporate matching gift programs, millions of donors’ employers provide generous donation matches to the organizations their staff cares about. This allows supporters like you to stretch their gifts and better support [description of mission or current initiatives].

Here’s how you can make a difference:

📲 Visit our donation page at [URL].
💸 Make your contribution and check if your employer offers a matching gift program.
📤 If eligible, submit a matching gift request to double your impact!

Together, we can [description of tangible donation impact] one (matched) donation at a time! 💙 #MatchingGifts #CommunityImpact #DoubleYourImpact

Facebook Post: Template #3

What do Comcast, Airbnb, and the United Parcel Service have in common?

They all offer generous philanthropy initiatives—which include matching gifts for civic and community organizations their employees support.

At [Nonprofit], we’re incredibly grateful for the support of these businesses and the 23,000+ other companies that match gifts for causes like ours. With their help, we amplify our efforts and create lasting change in our communities.

Does your employer participate? If you’ve never checked your eligibility for a match, now is the time to do so. Head to the Matching Gifts Page on our site here [URL] to learn more about the opportunity and see if your company matches!

🙌 #CorporatePartners #CommunityImpact #MatchingGifts #CivicEngagement

Top tip: Keep in mind that triggering matching gift outreach has never been easier than with 360MatchPro! Current clients are provided with a number of pre-written emails to implement through the engagement process, along with customizable graphic design elements and Canva templates.

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Wrapping Up

Pursuing an optimized matching gift strategy will bring your civic or community organization to new heights in fundraising, donor engagement, mission impact, and more.

By educating your organization inside and out, encouraging advocacy for new program development, and communicating the tangible value of matching gifts, you empower your team to tap into the resource effectively and efficiently. Then, invest in automation technology to streamline the process from start to finish.

Watch the video below to learn how Pi Beta Phi Foundation uses 360MatchPro to scale matching gift revenue.

Pi Beta Phi Foundation- Matching Gift Success with 360MatchPro from Double the Donation on Vimeo.

Looking for more? Check out our other recommended resources below:

• Become an Expert: 10 Quick Steps to Matching Gift Success. This free downloadable guide offers ten actionable steps to help civic and community organizations and other nonprofits master the art of matching gift success. Get started by implementing these tips!
• Top 20+ Matching Gift Companies: Leaders in Corporate Giving. Discover even more corporations with leading matching gift programs in this insightful compilation. Check out these top opportunities with eligibility criteria and more.
• How to Identify Corporate Partnerships [With 360MatchPro]. There’s more to corporate giving than matching gifts for civic and community organizations, too. But your matching gift software can help your team uncover the best prospects with which you can partner.