Marketing matching gifts in your donation process

Marketing Matching Gifts In Your Donation Process

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Matching gifts empower donors to make a larger impact on a cause that they care about⁠. This is often done by enabling them to contribute greater donation value than they would or could have been able to give on their own. Not to mention, Double the Donation research reports that 84% of donors say they’re more likely to donate if they know a matching gift is being offered.

That’s why marketing matching gifts in your donation process is becoming an increasingly popular choice. In this guide, we’ll cover four of the most impactful ways that nonprofits like yours are choosing to do so, including:

At most companies, submitting a matching gift takes only a few minutes⁠—and marketing matching gifts doesn’t have to be difficult, either. It makes sense to begin with the point at which donors are most highly engaged in the organizations they’re giving to. And because this typically occurs while donors are actively making their donations, marketing matching gifts directly within the giving process is one of the most effective strategies you can incorporate.

Let’s begin!

Marketing Matching Gifts With Donation Pages

To determine matching gift eligibility, you’ll need to know where your donors work. Luckily, one of the most effective ways to collect donor employment data is by including an optional field directly within an organization’s donation page.

Donors are already providing your team with a lot of valuable information⁠—such as their name, email, phone number, and perhaps even mailing address. Many individuals will be inclined to enter their employer’s name when prompted, as well. This is especially true when you provide a bit of context as to why you’re seeking the information in the first place⁠—which is to identify matching gift eligibility to get their donation doubled.

These are some best practices for marketing matching gifts within your donation page:

  • Embed Double the Donation’s autocomplete search tool directly into the online giving forms.
  • Highlight the benefits of participating in matching gift programs, essentially increasing impact on the cause.

Not to mention, the above studies show that 1 in 3 donors are likely to give a larger gift if matching is applied to their donation. This means that incorporating matching gifts in your donation process can even result in significantly increased donation sizes to begin with.

Example Content:

  • “Please enter your employing company’s name to determine your eligibility for a corporate matching gift.”
  • “Does your employer offer a matching gift program? Enter your company name below⁠—if your company does match, you’ll receive specific information on program guidelines and request instructions on the confirmation page after submitting your donation.”

Marketing matching gifts in your donation process on the donation page

Marketing Matching Gifts With Donation Confirmation Screens

Your donors are clearly passionate about your organization⁠—and they’re at a significantly high level of engagement upon completing an online donation. Be sure to highlight just how easy it can be for donors to double their donations by taking a single additional step beyond their initial gifts.

These are some best practices for marketing matching gifts within your confirmation screen:

  • Utilize relevant visuals to grab supporters’ attention.
  • Inform donors that most companies’ matching gift submission processes can be completed in less than five minutes.
  • Embed Double the Donation’s matching gift plugin directly on your donation confirmation screen to provide donors with easy access to company guidelines and forms.

By featuring matching gifts directly on the donation confirmation page, you can aim to leverage donors’ giving momentum while your organization and its cause are still fresh on their minds. It’s effective and simple, and many supporters will be happy to take this next step⁠—perhaps even immediately!

Example Content:

  • “Thanks for giving to support your local Cat Rescue Club. Your donation of $200 was successful. See if your employer will double that amount with a matching gift!”
  • “Donation complete! Search our matching gift database to find out if your contribution is eligible for a corporate match.”

Marketing matching gifts in your donation process on the donation confirmation page

Marketing Matching Gifts With Donation Confirmation Emails

When your nonprofit receives a gift, you should always be sure to thank the giver⁠—which is often done through donation follow-up (confirmation, acknowledgment, etc.) emails. This email is also a great opportunity to promote matching gifts to your donors. Their donations likely remain fresh on donors’ minds, and a little nudge saying that they can double their donations⁠—without shelling out another cent⁠—can go a long way.

These are some best practices for marketing matching gifts within your acknowledgment emails:

  • Incorporate links to your dedicated matching gift fundraising page where donors can easily locate additional information.
  • Use graphics or text links to catch your reader’s eye and quickly engage with them on the topic.
  • Automate your follow-up emails to ensure every donor receives your message in a timely manner and without worrying about any gifts slipping through the cracks.
  • Provide links to recipients’ company guidelines and forms, or encourage donors to conduct a quick search of your easy-to-use online company search tool.

An individual who has already made a donation to your organization has demonstrated that they’re clearly passionate about your cause. Make sure to highlight matching gifts in the acknowledgment letters and emails that get sent out, emphasizing the increased impact that matching gifts can have on your mission.

Example Content:

  • “Thank you for your generous donation to Atlanta University. Please click the button below to determine whether your gift is eligible for a corporate match from your employer!”
  • “Your donation of $100 likely qualifies for a matching gift from the Walt Disney Company. Submit a matching gift request to your employer by completing the following steps. Then, let us know when you’ve submitted your match by clicking the link below!”
  • “Did you know that many corporations offer employee giving programs where they match donations to the Cat Rescue Club? The tax-deductible component of your membership is normally eligible to be matched as well!”

Download a full-length sample matching gift acknowledgment email for nonprofits.

Marketing matching gifts in your donation process on the confirmation email

Marketing Matching Gifts With Matching Gift Recognition

At this point in the process, you’ve likely already thanked your donors for their initial contributions to your cause⁠—probably even within the first 24 hours or so. But for your matching gift donors, the appreciation shouldn’t stop there!

Recognizing your matching gift all-stars after you receive their corporate match is a great way to continue promoting matching gifts to your supporters. At the same time, you can increase the likelihood that donors will participate in the matching gift process for the years and donations to come.

These are some best practices for marketing matching gifts with matching gift recognition:

  • Request that donors keep you in the loop throughout their match request process, which enables you to better track incoming company matches with the associated donor.
  • Thank your matching gift donors privately to express your gratitude on behalf of the organization and its beneficiaries.
  • Consider recognizing completed matching gifts publicly as well⁠—such as within a newsletter or social media post⁠—to thank donors and inspire others to participate.
  • Acknowledge that matching gift donors went above and beyond their typical donation to request a corporate match on behalf of your nonprofit.

It can also be a great idea at this point to reiterate the doubled impact made possible by corporate matching gifts.

In many scenarios, your matching gift recognition efforts will be the last touchpoint you have with a supporter regarding a particular donation. You’ll want to leave donors with a positive impression of your engagements to ensure they’ll continue in the relationship they have with your cause!

Example Content:

  • “Thank you for your generous support of the Cat Rescue Club. We are happy to inform you that we just received a corporate match as a result of your recent donation, and we greatly appreciate the time and effort you took to request the match on behalf of our organization.”
  • “Did you know that thousands of companies match donations made by employees? Our donor, Jennifer, just secured a 2:1 match on her most recent gift, enabling her generous $500 contribution to bring $1,500 worth of impact on our mission. Find out if your gift may be eligible, too!”

Marketing matching gifts in your donation process on the matching gift recognition

When promoted effectively, requesting a matching gift can be seen as the next logical step that a donor takes upon submitting their initial gift. Thus, when you incorporate matching gift marketing efforts into your overall donation process, you can help guide donors seamlessly from one task to the other.

If you’re interested in learning more about matching gifts, read up on our other comprehensive corporate fundraising guides:

Learn more about marketing matching gifts in your donation process with Double the Donation.

EIN Numbers for Matching Gift Programs: A Basic Guide

EIN Numbers for Matching Gift Programs: A Basic Guide

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As a nonprofit fundraiser, you should hopefully know all about the enormous impact that corporate matching gifts bring to strategic fundraising efforts.

(If you’d like a matching gifts refresher before diving into what you should know about EIN numbers for matching gifts, we recommend checking out our comprehensive guide on matching gift fundamentals.)

Here’s a brief recap: matching gifts enable organizations to double existing donations when qualifying donors request corporate matches from their employers on your behalf. Yet unfortunately, millions of dollars of available matching gift revenue are left on the table each year. Two significant roadblocks to matching gift success are a lack of awareness of these programs and a lack of understanding of how eligible donors request their company matches.

And there’s one little piece of information that plays a huge role in just about any donor’s matching gift employer submission: the nonprofit’s EIN or employer identification number.

In this resource, we’ll dive deep into the world of EINs by covering the following key topics:

  1. EIN Numbers: The Definition
  2. Where Should a Nonprofit’s EIN Number Be?
  3. The Importance of EIN Numbers for Matching Gift Programs
  4. The Role of EIN Numbers With CSR Platforms
  5. How to Simplify EIN Numbers for Donors

Ready to learn more about nonprofit EIN numbers⁠—including what they are and their critical role in maximizing matching gifts? Let’s jump in with the basics.

1. EIN Numbers: The Definition

According to the Internal Revenue Service (commonly referred to as the IRS),

“An Employer Identification Number [EIN] is also known as a Federal Tax Identification Number, and is used to identify a business entity.”

But don’t think that’s referring to for-profit businesses only⁠!

In regards to nonprofits, an EIN is critical for identifying the organization as being an officially registered 501(c)(3) cause. By extension, this nine-digit number (formatted as XX-XXXXXXX) verifies an institution as a tax-exempt nonprofit, to which charitable donations are considered tax-deductible by the U.S. government.

You might even think of an organization’s EIN as the nonprofit (or business) version of a social security number.

This is the unique identifier belonging solely to the entity in question⁠. No two groups share the same tax ID number, which allows the figure to pinpoint a particular organization and track all sorts of critical financial data. For nonprofits, this includes donations, tax receipts, and more.

2. Where Should a Nonprofit’s EIN Number Be?

Whether you’re a donor attempting to locate your favorite charity’s EIN number for a matching gift program or a nonprofit aiming to ensure your EIN is easily accessible to your audience, understanding the prime location for this information is essential.

So, where should an organization’s EIN number be found?

On the organization’s website

A nonprofit’s website is one of its most valuable assets for driving fundraising, improving donor engagement, and providing educational resources to viewers. As such, it’s critical that an organization incorporates its EIN number in multiple prominent locations across its site.

That’s why we recommend nonprofits include this information on their:

  • About Us page
  • Ways to Give page
  • Frequently Asked Questions page
  • Dedicated matching gift page

Keep in mind that if donors have to search particularly hard or click through a whole trail of breadcrumbs to locate your tax ID, they’re likely to call it quits before reaching the intended destination⁠.

And if they need your EIN to submit their matching gift request, you might just miss out on that possible match⁠. That’s why it’s essential to keep this information as openly accessible as possible.

Within donor communication materials

Beyond your nonprofit website, it’s also a good idea to include your EIN within a number of donor-facing communications. This typically includes:

  • Donor acknowledgments
  • Tax-exempt donation receipts
  • Matching gift follow-up emails

Not only does providing your tax ID number in communication materials ensure donors have access to the information they need for their matching gift requests, but it can also help when it comes time to report their charitable contributions as tax-deductible!

Through third-party resources

There’s also a good chance that an organization’s tax ID number is available online through a third-party resource such as Charity Navigator, GuideStar, or the IRS itself. These sites can be useful for donors and prospects looking to learn more about nonprofit causes they support.

As a nonprofit, however, you should not rely on this being the case⁠—let alone the available resources providing accurate and up-to-date information. Thus, make sure to prioritize getting your organization’s EIN number out via your own website and communication materials.

3. The Importance of EIN Numbers for Matching Gift Programs

Most companies that offer matching gift programs will require the receiving organization’s EIN number to successfully process the matching gift request and ultimately disburse the funding.

The EIN requirement will typically be in addition to other information about their employee’s donation, such as:

  • Donation amount
  • Date of donation
  • Nonprofit name
  • Nonprofit address
  • Copy of the donation receipt (which should also include the EIN)

Without the organization’s ID number, the donor will likely be unable to submit their online match request⁠—or if they do submit it without an EIN included, the request may be denied.

The purpose of the above information is so that the matching gift company can verify that the initial donation was made, along with it having been contributed to a qualifying nonprofit cause. Not to mention, having access to the organization’s official tax ID number also ensures that the employer is able to give to the same organization its employee did.

4. The Role of EIN Numbers With CSR Platforms

Thousands of companies with workplace giving programs utilize CSR platforms (sometimes referred to as corporate giving platforms, matching gift software vendors, etc.). These solutions were developed to help businesses manage their philanthropic initiatives. For many, that means matching gifts.

If your donors work for those companies (which it’s fairly likely that they do), participating individuals are often required to submit corporate matching gift requests through their employer’s CSR software portal.

And to complete their request, they’ll need the EIN number of the organization to which they gave.

Many companies even choose to automate their matching gift facilitation through the use of corporate giving software. When this occurs, donors simply fill out an online form provided by the CSR platform. The donation information entered (including EIN) is then quickly scanned against the business’s pre-determined matching gift criteria. This typically includes minimum and maximum donation amounts, types of qualifying nonprofits, and more.

The request is then approved or denied, and, if approved, the funding moves toward the distribution process. So as you work to drive as many matching gifts as possible⁠—with as few roadblocks as possible⁠—it’s essential that you provide individuals with the information they require.

5. How to Simplify EIN Numbers for Donors

So you understand why your organization’s EIN is essential to matching gift fundraising. But what can you do to make this information easily accessible and simplify the process of obtaining the figure for donors?

Leveraging matching gift automation software like Double the Donation can help in two keys ways:

  • Providing a dedicated matching gift web page with an explanation of matching gifts and an embedded search tool, alongside an organization’s EIN and other contact information
  • Offering customizable and automatically triggered post-donation follow-up emails to inform and remind donors about matching gifts

For example, check out how two leading nonprofit organizations display their EINs on their dedicated matching gifts pages for supporters:

American Heart Association

Here's how AHA uses EIN numbers for matching gift programs.

Leukemia & Lymphoma Society

Here's how LLS uses EIN numbers for matching gift programs.

Sometimes the process of identifying the right EIN number can be particularly difficult for nonprofit supporters. For example, some large schools, universities, and multi-chapter organizations may have multiple tax ID numbers⁠—often a different EIN for each component of the overall cause.

In that case, you might want to include brief instructions within your matching gift follow-up emails that direct donors to the correct information. This can be as simple as incorporating a note near your matching gift company instructions. For example: “Kindly visit our dedicated matching gift page and look for the correct EIN for your matching gift request.”

If your organization has a single EIN number, you might still choose to include a reminder that the information is available on your matching gift web page. Alternatively, you could insert the number directly into your matching gift follow-up email for even easier access.

The more your organization simplifies the matching gift process for its donors, the more individuals are likely to participate⁠—namely, following their matching gift request from beginning to end.

By highlighting EIN numbers for matching gift programs, your team can ensure your match-eligible supporters have the information they need to complete their employer’s submission process. You’ll receive additional corporate funding, and your donors are able to make an even more significant impact on a cause they care about. That’s what we like to call a win-win!

Want to learn more? Make the most of matching gifts with our other top fundraising and corporate giving resources here:

Double the Donation can help optimize your organization's EIN numbers for matching gift programs.

3 Areas to Improve Your Peer-to-Peer Fundraising Results

3 Areas to Improve Your Peer-to-Peer Fundraising Results

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by Mark Becker, Founding Partner, Cathexis Partners

Peer-to-peer fundraising is big. According to a peer-to-peer fundraising study by NonProfit PRO and Frontstream, 43 percent of nonprofits engaged in peer-to-peer fundraising said that fundraising made up more than 50 percent of their revenue. And according to Peer-to-Peer Professional Forum’s Peer-to-Peer Fundraising Thirty, 2.2 million people took part in peer-to-peer fundraising programs in 2020.

Stats like these suggest that it’s worth investing more time in your peer-to-peer fundraising program.

So, let’s take a look at three areas where you can improve your peer-to-peer fundraising results:

1. Recruit more participants.

One key thing peer-to-peer fundraising requires to be successful is participants. Here are some ideas for recruiting more participants for your next peer-to-peer campaign or event:

  • Create powerful messages – To get your supporters excited about helping you raise funds, it’s important to have a compelling story. Make sure your messaging addresses key ideas, including:
    • What makes your organization unique
    • What impact you are having on your mission
    • How your peer-to-peer campaign or event is solving a problem
    • What the funds raised from your campaign or event will help your organization accomplish
    • How participants can help you reach your fundraising goals
  • Make your story easy to understand and share – Make sure the messaging for your peer-to-peer fundraising campaign is easy to:
    • Understand – It should be obvious why your organization has launched the peer-to-peer fundraising campaign.
    • Convey – Your message should be simple enough for your supporters to easily explain to others.
    • Share – Your peer-to-peer fundraising tools should make it easy for participants to share your message.
  • Analyze your data – Take time to gather, analyze and use data from your past peer-to-peer campaigns or events to uncover trends and find new opportunities to improve your recruiting efforts. For example, review funds raised based on your top fundraisers’ connection to your organization. Understanding more about them can help you target your recruitment efforts with greater precision.
  • Do a “soft” launch – Consider doing a soft launch of your campaign in which you have staff members, board members, and your most involved constituents register to begin fundraising ahead of the official launch. Then, when other people come across the campaign, they’ll see that it already has an interest.
  • Build targeted recruitment emails – Segment your audiences and tailor messages for each segment for greater impact. For example, create email audiences based on past participation and past team membership. By doing so, you can send targeted messages, such as an early announcement email to those who have participated in the past and follow-up messages encouraging past participants to sign up.
  • Reach beyond your list – Think about other communications channels that reach beyond your constituent list: social media, your website, signs at your organization’s events, public service announcements, local morning TV news shows. All of these channels can be used to announce your campaign and recruit participants.

2. Motivate your participants to raise more.

Getting participants to sign up to fundraise for your organization (and providing them with basic details, sample emails, and suggestions about how to raise funds from their family and friends) is just the beginning. Your ability to reach your fundraising goals depends heavily on your ability to engage with your peer-to-peer participants and keep them motivated to raise funds.

Some ideas:

  • Issue social media challenges. Create social media challenges to get participants more excited about your campaign and help them engage with potential donors. For example, at the beginning of the week, issue a challenge via your website, social media, and email. Challenges can be related to your organization’s mission, such as “the participant who posts the most pet-themed photos wins the challenge,” or generic, like “the participant with the most donor selfies wins.” Then, promote the winner the following week.
  • Send out a call for videos. Ask participants to create videos to help inspire other participants. For example, ask your top fundraisers to develop a short video about why they’re raising funds for your organization or what have been their most effective approaches for raising funds from friends and family.
  • Provide incentives. Those who sign up for your peer-to-peer event or campaign have already shown interest in raising funds for your organization. But a little extra incentive can help you keep up the fundraising momentum. For example, offer a t-shirt, an online gift card, or another gift for participants who reach specified fundraising milestones.

3. Consider your peer-to-peer fundraising software platform.

The software platform you use to manage your peer-to-peer campaigns and events and to provide participants with the tools they need to raise funds is critical to your fundraising success. Be sure to periodically re-evaluate your software platform to ensure it’s still meeting your needs.

Here are three signs that it might be time for a change:

  • Your peer-to-peer participants aren’t as happy as they should be. Here are some signals that your participants are finding the online experience for your peer-to-peer campaigns and events difficult to navigate:
    • Registration abandonment. If you see a high number of people abandoning the registration process, or if that number starts to go up, it might be a sign that you need software that supports an easier and more intuitive participant-facing online experience.
    • Support requests. If you find your staff is receiving an increasing number of support requests for your peer-to-peer campaigns and events, it’s a signal that your software might not be as easy for participants to use as it should be.
    • Survey responses. After each event or campaign, it’s a good idea to send participants a survey to capture their feedback. Be sure to ask questions about their online experience. They’ll let you know if the experience is clunky or outdated.
  • Staff productivity is decreasing. If your organization’s peer-to-peer fundraising team doesn’t seem to be working as efficiently as it seems like it should be, it might be time for new software. You might hear them say things like:
    • It’s difficult to run reports and get the information they need when they need it.
    • Making changes to the participant-facing design is difficult and/or they aren’t getting the results they expect after making changes.
    • It seems to take too long to set up and/or edit a new campaign.
  • Your organization’s strategy is evolving faster than your software. As your organization evolves, it’s not uncommon for technology that once met your needs to no longer work for you. Here are some things to watch for:
    • Your software will not integrate with your donor database/customer relationship management platform, email marketing platform, or other key software that your organization uses or plans to add soon.
    • Your organization’s strategy has expanded to include more social media, apps, SMS, matching gift tools, and other technologies, but your software does not support or integrate with those technologies.
    • Your organization has shifted money or resources toward other technologies, and you need a more cost-effective solution.

Whether you’re just getting started with peer-to-peer fundraising, or you’ve been at it for years, the approaches in this article can make a positive impact on your peer-to-peer fundraising campaigns and events.

If you need more ideas or an extra set of hands for your peer-to-peer fundraising events or campaigns, the Cathexis Partners team is ready to help. Contact Cathexis Partners today.

About Mark Becker and Cathexis Partners: Mark founded Cathexis Partners in 2008 to help nonprofit organizations get the most from their existing technology tools, implement new technology to address gaps, and find the best overall approach to using technology to support their missions. He previously served as director of IT consulting at a fundraising event production company focused on nonprofits. Cathexis Partners helps nonprofits use technology to raise funds and engage supporters more effectively.

Explore these nonprofit newsletter ideas to freshen up your content.

24 Content Ideas for Your Next Nonprofit Newsletter

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Sending a weekly or monthly newsletter to your community is a proven way to engage your supporters and keep them up-to-date with what’s going on at your organization. It’s a great vehicle for sharing news stories, reminding your readers about upcoming events, and reporting on your impact.

That’s why many nonprofit professionals are very eager to start sending regular newsletters to their community. Unfortunately, many of them often come to one of two roadblocks at one point or another: 1) they run out of ideas for what to include in the next newsletter and stop sending them as regularly, eventually stopping altogether, or 2) they run out of ideas but desperately try to stick to the regular schedule, resulting in newsletters so bland that their open rates plummet.

If you have ever found yourself here — or if you’re planning to start sending a newsletter and want to make sure it’s a success — this arsenal of foolproof content ideas will help transform your newsletters into updates that your readers will not only open more often, but will actually look forward to reading.

Once you get accustomed to coming up with new content pieces based on these ideas, you’ll become much better at seeing a potential story in just about anything. The key thing to remember is that everything your readers want to read about is already happening within your organization and the community that surrounds it — you just need to know where to look, whom to ask, and how to communicate it in a way that will pique interest.

Read More: The Essential Guide to Nonprofit Email Marketing

Now without further ado, here are 24 content ideas for your next newsletter and all the ones after that.

1. Beneficiary Story

Does your nonprofit serve a particular community of people? Does someone benefit from the work you’re doing? Get in touch with these people and ask them if they’d be willing to share their story.

It can be very powerful to hear firsthand accounts from the people whose lives have been made better because of your organization’s existence. It serves as a reminder of why your work is so important, makes members of your community feel good about supporting you, and inspires them to continue or increase their involvement.

2. Donor Story

If your organization is supported by donors, you likely have a few (or many) individuals who strongly believe in the work you’re doing and have been supporting you for a long time. Take this opportunity to shine a spotlight on them.

Ask them why they chose to support you, what it means to them, and what they’re hoping to help achieve with their involvement. Not only is this a great way to show your appreciation and acknowledge their long-standing support, but it will also inspire other people to rise up and join them.

3. Staff Member Spotlight

You likely show a lot of love to your donors, volunteers, and board members, but your staff members are some of the most hard-working and dedicated people in your community. Don’t forget to show them some appreciation by shining a spotlight on what they do for your organization — it’s a great way to build morale among your employees.

For those who read your newsletter, it puts a face and a story to the name they’ve likely exchanged emails with or spoken to on the phone; it shows transparency and authenticity on your end and allows them to build a more personal connection with your organization.

4. Volunteer Spotlight

What about writing a story about one of your volunteers? Maybe you have someone who’s been a volunteer at your organization for years — or decades! They would definitely have an interesting story about how and why they got started and how they’ve seen your nonprofit grow over the years. Or maybe you have a volunteer who has just joined — ask them why they joined and what they’re hoping to get out of this experience. Volunteers always have a very special reason for why they do what they do — all you have to do is ask!

5. Sponsor Spotlight

If you have a corporate sponsor or a business that supports your work with monetary gifts or in-kind donations, your newsletter is a great place to recognize them with a special story. You can interview the CEO or showcase all the ways in which this sponsor has impacted your community. Most companies are looking for exposure for their brand by making charitable contributions, so featuring them in a newsletter is a great way to deliver that.

6. Q&A With a Member/Donor

Publishing a story about a member or a donor can be a special once-in-a-while feature, but you can also showcase your members in a brief but more regular way. What about coming up with a few standard questions and getting a different member to answer them every week?

Having a consistent element across all of your issues will get readers into the habit of anticipating it, making them more likely to open the newsletter week after week to read the next Q&A in the series.

7. Member of the Month

Has a member gone above and beyond with their involvement? Acknowledge them with this special accolade — it will make them feel appreciated and will likely inspire others to strive to receive the same honour in the following months.

8. Timeline of Your Nonprofit’s Milestones

No matter how long your organization has been around, you likely have a pretty interesting story about how you came to be and the milestones you’ve had to hit to be where you are today. While some of your long-standing members may already be familiar with these, it’s not a bad idea to re-ignite the conversation every now and then, especially for the sake of the brand new members.

Maybe you could even throw back to this timeline every time you have a new milestone to add to it — say, for example, your nonprofit was just endorsed by a local celebrity, or you’ve just hit a record number of members or donations.

9. From Our Friends

Is there an organization that does similar or complementary work to yours? Why not partner with them and offer a fresh take on your shared mission to your respective audiences? They could write a guest piece for your newsletter and you could do the same for theirs in exchange.

This will help raise awareness about your cause, introduce more people to your organization and provide your readers with refreshing and informative content.

10. In the Know

Have you heard something in the news recently that affects your organization’s work or is simply relevant to your mission? Maybe it’s a new law that was passed or news about a larger organization making big strides in your sector.

Be sure to share it with your readers – it will help them stay informed, spark conversation, and will make everyone involved a little more equipped to deal with the issues your organization strives to eliminate.

11. This Day in History

Similarly to sharing current news relevant to your organization, why not invite your readers on a trip down memory lane and remind them of important events that happened on the same day, week, or month, but a few (or several) years ago?

Chances are, your mission is related to an issue that many others before your organization had made progress on. Acknowledge their contribution and thank them for taking steps in the right direction, ultimately making your work a little easier.

12. Upcoming Events

Hopefully, this is a section you already include in your newsletter. If your nonprofit hosts frequent events, this is a great way to keep your members in-the-know and remind them about what’s coming up soon.

13. Photo Gallery from Past Events

Once an event has passed, don’t forget to follow up with your community about it. You can share a few highlights and key outcomes and thank the attendees for their participation. Most importantly, offer a preview and a link to the full gallery of photos from the event.

The people who attended will be happy to reminisce about a great time and will eagerly flip through the gallery in hopes of seeing their own photo pop up. The people who didn’t attend will be curious to see what they missed and will be more likely to come to your future events.

14. Photo Essay

Post-event follow-up is not the only time when you can share meaningful photos with your community. What about putting together a photo essay based on a particular theme, such as a year in review, volunteers in action, behind-the-scenes, power of teamwork, etc.

You can also ask your members to submit their own photo essays — they definitely have unique perspectives and experiences. Then, feature the best ones in your newsletter.

15. Report on Your Progress

You are hopefully already reporting on your progress and impact through communication pieces like your annual report and other impact reports, but your newsletter is a great vehicle for sharing quick updates and short summaries of what you can later expand on in a report.

Your community wants to stay up-to-date on what their involvement is helping to make possible, so providing regular updates will ensure that they stay engaged and committed to your cause.

16. Tips & Advice

Your nonprofit’s mission is likely part of solving a larger issue — one that affects your community on a daily basis. Why not offer your readers uplifting tips and advice relevant to your work to help them make small differences in their everyday lives. For example, a nonprofit that advocates for better public education on healthy eating choices includes one meal recipe at the end of each of their newsletters.

It’s an easy and fun way to get your community involved from the comfort of their own homes and keep your mission at the top of their minds.

17. Answering Questions from Members

Members of your community almost definitely have insightful questions and ideas for discussion. Why not open up the floor and let everyone contribute? Chances are, many other members have the same inquiry but don’t have the confidence to step forward and ask.

Encourage them to email their questions or concerns and dedicate a space in each of your newsletters to address one of these questions. This gives you the freedom to screen them to make sure you’re only answering the most relevant and appropriate ones. It’s not a bad idea to make them anonymous too, but you can also leave that up to the people submitting the questions.

18. Note from Leadership

Leaders inspire vision, action, and a sense of community, not only in an organization’s staff members, but in all who are associated with the organization. This is especially true for nonprofits. Your President, Founder, CEO, Director of Development, or any other person in a position of leadership has the power to inspire your community and remind them why they joined in the first place.

Make sure your members hear from this person often and that the message is well crafted and to the point, but is also authentic and down to earth. There’s nothing worse than an address from leadership that uses boilerplate language and feels like it wasn’t written by that person at all.

19. Ideas for Action

Advancing your nonprofit’s mission doesn’t have to stay within the walls of your organization. There are probably small things that members of your community can do in their own lives. You can use your newsletter to remind them that there are things they can do right now to help. For example, if your nonprofit’s mission is to protect the environment, remind your readers of some easy, low-waste swaps they can use in the kitchen that will help reduce their use of plastic.

20. Spread the Word

Similarly to the above point, members of your community can help advance your mission by sharing content from your newsletter with their own circles and social networks.

To encourage this, be sure to offer shareable content that your readers will resonate with. This includes meaningful quotes about your mission, powerful statistics, and infographics. Don’t forget to include a clear call for action, such as a “Share” button, that automatically tags your social media accounts.

21. Food for Thought

Are there issues that you aren’t sure how the world is going to solve? Is there a philosophical, ethical, or moral question that keeps you up at night? Get your members involved by providing this as a prompt and encourage them to think about it or bring it up in conversation with the people around them. It never hurts to keep the conversation going. Plus, you never know — your prompt might just reach someone who has the answer.

22. Wish List

Is your organization looking for any particular in-kind donations? This is the place to ask for them. Just be sure to provide a specific request and a clear set of instructions for how to arrange their delivery.

23. Call for Volunteers

If you’re like most nonprofits, you’re probably always looking for volunteers. Your newsletter is the perfect place to let people know what you’re looking for. Just remember that it’s best to provide specific descriptions of the types of work you need done and the time commitment required. More people will respond if they have a clear sense of whether or not this is something they can commit to.

24. Call for Donations

Lastly, you can always mention your current campaign or ask for donations to a specific fund/program. Make sure your call to action is specific and remember not to include this in your newsletter too often — you don’t want to deter your members from opening your newsletters in the future. At the end of the day, your newsletter is not part of your fundraising plan, its primary purpose is to keep your community engaged and interested in what you’re doing.

So there you have it. Hopefully, this list gives you some ideas about what to include in your newsletters. The most important takeaway is that your audience wants to read stories about how their involvement is helping to advance your mission.

Look within your organization, talk to as many people as you can to get their perspectives, and be on the lookout for what’s going on with nonprofits similar to yours. You’ll be sure to find everything you need to create meaningful and compelling content.

Sayana Izmailova from Wild Apricot is the guest author of this post on newsletter ideas.

This post was contributed by Wild Apricot.

About the Author: Sayana Izmailova is the Content Marketing Specialist at Wild Apricot, a membership management software. She has worked at a number of nonprofits and uses her experience to help small organizations advance their missions.

Check out these fundamental best practices for acquiring matching gifts.

The 11 Must-Know Matching Gift Best Practices for Nonprofits

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Have you ever been to a movie double feature? You get in the movie-going mood, take the time out of your busy life to make it to the theater, buy your popcorn, splurge on a huge soda, and then settle in for two great films. Oh, and most importantly, you’re only paying for one.

Matching gifts are fundraising double features. For the time and cost of acquiring one donation, you get twice the funding.

Once a donor contributes to your organization, they can submit a request to their company (if they have a program) to have their gift matched. If your nonprofit qualifies, the corporation will send a check for the same amount (or more!) depending on the company’s matching ratio.

However, it will take your team a bit of extra planning to secure that extra revenue.

To ensure that your nonprofit maximizes its efforts, we’ve curated a list of the 11 most valuable matching gift best practices:

  1. Study up on matching gifts. 
  2. Appoint a matching gift coordinator. 
  3. Raise awareness about matched giving. 
  4. Collect donor employer details. 
  5. Strive for easy accessibility. 
  6. Keep records of individuals’ matching gift statuses. 
  7. Thank your donors for submitting a matching gift request. 
  8. Cultivate relationships with donors’ companies. 
  9. Maintain and update your donor records. 
  10. Perform prospect screening. 
  11. Track and review your progress. 

If you’re more of a visual learner, we’ve got you covered! We’ve summarized our top ideas in a video. Feel free to watch it and then dive into the article for more information and additional ideas:

Follow these tips, lean back in your seat, and watch the credits roll!

Before promoting matching gifts to your donor, make sure your entire team knows the fundamentals.

1. Study Up on Matching Gifts

Here’s the good news: if you want to learn about matching gifts, you will have no issue doing so with the countless resources online.

The topic of matching gifts isn’t incredibly intimidating once you take the time to develop a better understanding of the process. Reaching an effective level of working knowledge is certainly possible.

Begin like you would with any subject by reading what you can. Try to build a strong foundation of knowledge, so that when you implement your program you’ll be set to handle obstacles as they arise.

Having a keen sense of matching gifts and what goes into obtaining it is crucial in planning your program and standardizing your processes.

For instance, learning the matching gift guidelines for the three biggest companies in your area can help your team target donors from those companies. Chances are, some of your current donors work at one of those three.

Before you can implement a surefire matching gift strategy, you need to develop a solid understanding of this type of corporate philanthropy. Otherwise, you won’t be able to relay the necessary information to your supporters. Kick-off your research with our comprehensive matching gift guide.

Designate a matching gift specialist to pinpoint all your corporate giving opportunities.

2. Appoint a Matching Gift Specialist

In the ideal situation, everyone on your organization’s team will be well-versed in matching gift programs. However, by appointing an expert to lead your team, you’ll have the time and resources to implement matching gifts into your overall fundraising strategy.

Your nonprofit will be more prepared after hiring a matching gift specialist than it would be having your whole staff know just a few basic facts about matching gifts. The coordinator is the expert, but the rest of your employees should know enough to field the questions that they can and pass along the rest as needed.

The specialist is the designated point-person for all matching gift queries and problems, as well as the staff member in charge of seeing the donations through until the end.

Your coordinator will be able to keep your various departments in the loop about what’s going on and need-to-know information.

All staff members should be promoting matching gifts when relevant, but the matching gift coordinator is the coach leading your team to victory.

If the matching gift specialist position is new territory for your organization, why not consider hiring an executive search firm? Consultants can help you craft the perfect job description and lead you through the entire hiring process, ensuring that everything runs smoothly!

What if you don’t have the funds or employee base to designate a matching gift coordinator?

Set aside some time and have designated team members do the research and put together matching gift materials including:

  • Educational packets
  • Letter templates
  • Newsletters
  • Answers to FAQs
  • Fast facts

With these resources, any member of your team is now armed with working knowledge of matching gifts and is prepared to handle most matching gift occurrences and problems. Otherwise, you won’t truly maximize your matching gift potential.

Promote matching gifts to your donors.

3. Raise Awareness About Matched Giving

Once your team has a solid understanding of matching gifts and an idea of how the process will work internally, it’s time to spread the word! People need to know about matching gifts before they can request them.

No need to be shy at this point; the goal is mass awareness. Lucky for everyone, technology has drastically improved over the years, so nonprofits now have plenty of ways to promote matching gifts.

Put matching gifts on your ‘ways to give’ page, like Girls Scouts of Greater Atlanta did:

Promote matching gifts on your 'Ways to Give' page.

Create a dedicated matching gift page, like the ASPCA did:

Create a dedicated matching gifts page on your website.

These are just two of many, many options. Get creative! To get the word out about matching gifts, try the following:

Matching gift promotion should span all of your communication platforms. Diversify your marketing so that it can reach the largest possible audience of donors.



Employer info gives you insight into which donors work for companies that have matching gift programs.

4. Collect Donor Employer Details

The educational materials you give your donors will provide them with the tools they need to determine their eligibility. However, the matching gift process is not passive. Your nonprofit shouldn’t sit back and wait for donors to come to you; rather, your team should be actively recognizing and pursuing your eligible donors.

If your staff can immediately see your donors’ employers in your database, they can go the extra mile to obtain donations.

A major gift donor who works for a company with a generous matching gift program can make a huge difference in a nonprofit’s annual budget. Plus, you won’t waste the time of your employees when you double donors’ contributions with minimal extra effort.

Knowing the companies your donors work for will help you segment your matching gift prospects.

For instance, if you’re promoting via email, zeroing in on only the prospects with the most potential wouldn’t make sense. Instead, consider a calling campaign. Team members won’t have time to call all donors and prospects. That’s where segmenting by employer can make a world of difference.

Segmentation by employer allows you to instantly recognize match-eligible donors. Sometimes, these donors might be aware of the opportunities, but they just need an extra push to complete the process!

Make sure your donors understand the matching gift process.

5. Strive for Easy Accessibility

For a donor, securing a matching gift is an easy process that has the misfortune of sounding complicated. To remedy this, brand it better by simplifying the process.

Clear and concise language with straightforward directions will encourage your donors to seek out matching gifts. Donors who have already been generous enough to donate should not have to follow-up with a ton of paperwork.

To better explain matching gifts, you can:

  1. List the typical steps involved in the process on your matching gifts explainer page.
  2. Insert a matching gift widget that can help the donor search for their company’s program.
  3. Mail out informational materials about corporate philanthropy.
  4. Highlight key matching gift statistics in your educational resources.
  5. Point out a few of the companies that commonly match gifts for your nonprofit.

Ensure that your nonprofit is a one-stop-shop for all things matching gifts! That way, donors won’t have to seek out this information themselves. Get ahead of the game and give your supporters all the information they need to fully understand their opportunities.

Keep updated records on your matching-gift-eligible donors.

6. Keep Records of the Individuals’ Matching Gift Statuses

Maintaining ongoing records of donors’ matching gift statuses falls under the matching gift coordinator’s jurisdiction.

Essentially, you’ll want to know what requests have been made, when they are processed, and when they have been fulfilled.

Keeping accurate records will guarantee that no revenue opportunities slip through the cracks. There can be a lot of moving parts in the process among the donor, donor’s employer, and the nonprofit, and there will be some level of back-and-forth.

A clear trail of what has happened and what needs to happen will make interactions a lot easier and a lot more efficient. For instance, a matching gift database like 360MatchPro by Double the Donation can track match progress. It automatically identifies opportunities to use corporate matching gift programs by searching donors’ email domains and can drive matches to completion through tracking tools and automated messaging options.

The more standardized and systematic the process you use is, the better the results will be.

Thank your donors for fulfilling matching gift requests.

7. Thank Your Donors for Submitting a Matching Gift Request

Donors involved with matching gifts have gone the extra mile for your cause, so your appreciation should match that level of energy.

Just like matching gifts have doubled your donations, matching gift thank yous should be double as well. Thank them once for the initial donation and a second time when the matched gift goes through.

In fact, you may even want to put together a special event to honor matching gift donors. The goal is to show genuine gratitude towards what they’ve done to help, and something like a special event will also promote the program to those who are unaware of it.

If you don’t have the resources for an entire event, try publicly thanking those involved on social media. Social media is a great place to promote matching gifts and is also a top outlet for acknowledgment.

For instance, a strategic Facebook post can kill two birds with one stone by thanking a matching gift donor while getting the idea of matching gifts into the heads of your Facebook community.

Nonetheless, you’ll need to find an appropriate way to demonstrate your gratitude and ensure that the donors feel appreciated. Whether it’s through a full-blown appreciation event or through thank-you letters, let your donors know their contributions are vital to your mission.

Develop relationships with businesses that offer matching gifts in your area.

8. Cultivate Relationships with Donors’ Companies

You should also consider thanking your donors’ companies as well. The donor has brought the company to you, so go ahead and cover all your bases.

Matching gifts can provide a much-desired introduction to major corporations with top-notch corporate giving.

When an employee asks their company to match their gift, by nature of the process, the company will be exposed to your nonprofit. If you want to foster a new relationship, your nonprofit is going to have to impress the company. In some cases, you’ll even develop long-term partnerships with them.

By having all of your matching gifts ducks in a row, your staff can focus on building those corporate relationships, instead of troubleshooting submission issues.

Plus, whenever you need an extra helping hand at one of your events, these companies will likely be more than happy to help out through their corporate volunteer program since you’ll already be on their radar.

Keep your donor database organized so you can pinpoint all matching gift opportunities.

9. Maintain Your Donor Records

A disorganized and dysfunctional donor database is really going to hold your fundraisers back when it comes to matching gifts. With out-of-date information, your staff has no chance of making an efficient attempt at acquiring matching gifts.

If your organization fails to collect vital donor information, simply reach out to donors. For example, you could send out mailers with blanks for donors to fill in any changes to their personal details. Something as simple as an email asking them to confirm and update their information can work.

From there, refine your process by encouraging donors to fill out their personal details when they donate for the first time.

Once the information is in your system, your next move is going to be making sure those who need it can find it. Having data stored in such a manner that only one senior team member can find it doesn’t do your organization any good, so make sure all your team members who are involved with the donation process have access to this data.

Prospect research can show you donors who are more likely to be eligible for matching gifts.

10. Perform Prospect Screening

If you’re looking for donors with large capacities to donate and great matching gift programs, prospect screenings can be a big help.

Prospect research can provide major insights into your donors. Search for vital details like business affiliations of potential donors, like where they work and where their spouses work. If a donor’s spouse works for a major matching gift company, your donor will often qualify for those donations as well.

Matching gift participation rates can vary from 3% to 65% based on how much the individual companies promote their programs. Don’t let this vital process fall through the cracks. Instead, screen your donors to find overlooked opportunities.

With the knowledge derived from prospect screening, you’ll be able to take a well-prepared approach to finding matching gift donors and will be well on your way to maximizing your revenue.

Track your organization's fundraising progress to pinpoint areas of improvement in your matching gift strategy.

11. Track and Review Your Progress

Students earn grades and receive progress reports. Professional athletes watch game tape and practice all week long. No one can get better without locating weaknesses and focusing on changing them.

This rule applies to matching gifts as well. An established system designed with achievement assessment in mind is a valuable asset.

In order to properly grade your program, track:

  • The matching gift money raised in previous years.
  • The matching gift money raised after establishing your corporate philanthropy strategy.
  • Your top matching gift employer.
  • The costs and time it takes to acquire matches.
  • The percentage of your total revenue that matching gifts account for.

Simply advocating for matching gifts won’t be enough to run a successful program. Tracking data and looking at results is the best way to pinpoint areas for improvement.

Matching Gift Database: Identify Matching Gifts with Double the Donation

Matching gifts play a major role in your nonprofit’s fundraising strategy. As you now know, eligible donors can double (maybe even triple!) their contributions through their employers. The key is to make them aware of their available opportunities and ensure they follow through with the process.

Double the Donation can simplify this process and make it easy for nonprofits and employees to take advantage of corporate philanthropy. When you embed the matching gift plugin across your website and fundraising channels, you’ll maximize your revenue potential.

With more than 8,500 organizations using it, Double the Donation offers the industry-leading matching gifts database. It allows users to search more than 20,000 companies and subsidiaries which represent 15+ million match-eligible individuals.

As the most comprehensive source of matching gift forms and instructions, corporate employees will be able to quickly check their eligibility and submit requests to their employers.

Double the Donation's tools make it easy to maximize your matching gift revenue!

Larger nonprofits may benefit even more from 360MatchPro by Double the Donation. This system goes beyond providing users with necessary instructions and forms. It recognizes match-eligible donors through email domain screening, and through automated reminder emails, donors will be encouraged to complete the matching gift process. Your staff will save time while still providing donors with the necessary guidance for completing their matching gift requests promptly.

Get a demo to see how 360MatchPro can help your organization

Corporate giving programs are out there for the taking. Major corporations like GE and Microsoft have some of the best matching gift programs in the world. Make sure your nonprofit’s team can easily recognize these opportunities.

Institute these matching gifts best practices and get ready for the second movie to start.

For more matching gift advice, check out these additional resources: 

  • Marketing Matching Gifts: Want more ways to promote matching gifts? This guide takes you through several ideas on how your organization can best market matching gifts.
  • Ultimate Guide to Major Gifts: Encouraging major donors to submit matching gifts can add even more money to your annual fund. Learn the ins and outs of major donors with this helpful guide.
  • Matching Gifts Guide: Need to go back to the basics of matching gifts? Check out this comprehensive guide by Recharity.
Matching Gifts Social Media

Feature Matching Gifts in Your Nonprofit’s Facebook and Twitter Posts

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An article from Forbes revealed that, “92% of marketers claimed that social media marketing was important for their business, with 80% indicating their efforts increased traffic to their websites.” If you’re trying to raise awareness for matching gift programs, social media offers fruitful options.

Websites such as Facebook and Twitter allow you to appeal to your decidedly tech savvy audience, which, in our technologically reliant world, could be a bulk of your donors. Furthermore, a sizable online following offers social proof that your nonprofit is both credible and well-respected.

Marketing matching gifts through social media is both its own step and a conglomeration of all your social media tactics. Let’s take a look at the Twitter profile of CASA Pikes Peak Region to see social media versatility in action:

CASA twitter feed

The tweet in the green box is an example of straight pitching matching gift programs. This is the actual call-to-action, and this is what you need to do on social media to increase matching gift awareness. The other tweets all help to build follower interest, so, when this matching-gift-specific tweet gets posted, people actually pay attention to it because they’re emotionally engaged with both the organization and the content that they share.

You can’t market matching gifts all of the time, and you shouldn’t, as your followers will grow bored. Share meaningful material and build relationships so that when the time for marketing comes it feels organic and unimposing to your followers.

What types of posts best spread the word about matching gifts? There are more social media sites than you could ever use, so we’ve selected the two main players. You’ve likely heard of these sites, and we’ll provide concrete examples of posts that will engage donors.

Facebook

Facebook algorithms pick up on gimmicks, so, unless you pay to promote your content, you need to remain abreast of what Facebook will prioritize and what they will hide.  With tens of thousands of possible posts to present each time a user logs on, Facebook continuously tweaks its standards for what content people see.

Facebook communications director Brandon McCormick told Businessweek that, “People would rather see posts about a sale, or a new pair of pants that’s come in. Keeping the posts relevant to the kind of business that you have is really important.” In essence, stay on task with your content in terms of what people want to see and who you are as a nonprofit. Talk about matching gift programs, but in a creative way.

Example Facebook post from the Charcot-Marie-Tooth Association (CMTA)

Matching Gift Facebook post

CMTA include both a link to their matching gift page and a conspicuous graphic. It’s hard to miss their appeal for matching gifts and it is simple to navigate to the applicable matching gift webpage.

Example Facebook post from the Lazarex Cancer Foundation

Lazarex Facebook post

Lazarex provides on-point text and a graphic that links to their matching gift page. Promotion need not be any more complicated than this.

Example Facebook post from the National Kidney Foundation

Facebook Matching Gift Post

If a matching gift post could be a rockstar, this would be Kurt Cobain. Much like the CMTA post, the National Kidney Foundation combines informative text with an attention grabbing graphic, but look at all those Likes, Comments, and Shares.

The graphic is split in two, with the question mark grabbing the attention and the white text holding the attention. Chances are that most people will check out the graphic first, but then they’ll likely read the text above, too, and see the link. That link takes donors to a dedicated matching gift page, which is a crucial step towards landing more donations. Donor engagement with this post helps it to appear on more newsfeeds, so more donors become aware of matching gifts, which should lead to increased fundraising success. You want to go viral.

Additional Matching Gift Facebook Post Templates

  • We sincerely appreciate all donations to [Your Organization’s Name]. Did you know that your generosity has the potential to be doubled, tripled, or even quadrupled? Check to see if your employer offers a matching gift program. [Insert Your Double the Donation Matching Gift URL]
  • A huge thanks to all of our donors, and a double thanks to those who submitted matching fund requests. Does your employer offer a matching gift program? Check today. [Insert Your Double the Donation Matching Gift URL]
  • What do Microsoft, Bank of America, IBM, and Verizon have in common? They all match employee donations to nonprofit organizations. If you donate, or have donated, to us and work for one of these four companies, your employer will double your donation. Many major employers offer similar programs. Search to discover if your employer offers a matching gift program, as well as to gain access to program guidelines, how-to instructions, and relevant forms. Thank you for taking five minutes to double your donation. [Insert Your Double the Donation Matching Gift URL]

In addition to text, graphics help to grab readers’ attentions. If your image doubles as a clickable link, that’s even better.

Double the Donation clients can access a variety of pre-made and ready-for-Facebook (and Twitter) graphics here.

Twitter

140 characters is not a lot of space, but it’s enough room to get creative about matching gift appeals.

Example Twitter post from the Center for Puppetry Arts

Center for the puppetry arts twitter

No need to complicate matters. A concise call to action and a link is all you need.

Example Twitter post from the Hereditary Neuropathy Foundation

HNF tweet

The tweet’s link sends the donor to the below dedicated matching gift page, which you can learn more about with our comprehensive guide.

Example dedicated matching gift page from the Hereditary Neuropathy Foundation

HNF page

The link is the tweet’s call to action in action. The goal is to earn a click in order to take donors to where it’s a simple five minute process of discovering if their employers match gifts and submitting the necessary forms.

Additional matching gift Twitter post templates

  • Did you donate to us in 2014? There’s still time to submit a matching gift request to your employer. Click, don’t scroll! [Insert Your Double the Donation Matching Gift URL]
  • It takes only a few minutes to submit corporate employee matching gift forms. Have you submitted yours? [Insert Your Double the Donation Matching Gift URL]
  • It’s February – do you love us? We love you, too! Click here to see if your company will double your donation:  [Insert Your Double the Donation Matching Gift URL]

Facebook has the largest community. Twitter is the modern way donors stay up to date with the organizations they care about. Leverage your social following with well-crafted posts and you can increase corporate matching donations.

Nonprofit Leadership Traits

Feature Matching Gifts on Your Homepage and Across Your Website

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Your homepage is the first thing people see when they visit your site, and priority number one is letting people know who you are and what you do. Part of what you do is receive donations, and matching gifts for those donations, so including links to information about matching gift programs is a good idea.

The two approaches (which can be combined, of course) are placing matching gift links such that people can find them if they are looking for them (navigation bars) and inserting links so that they jump out at site visitors, such that the link is more or less an advertisement for matching gifts (banner ads).

Let’s take a closer look at each approach through proven strategies.

Navigation Bars

Every useful website has a navigation bar that helps people to discover relevant information. Including a link to matching gift programs in your navigation bar puts matching gifts in a visible location where donors can easily find and access the information. A link in the navigation bar won’t advertise matching gifts to unknowing donors, but if a donor is on your site and looking for how to apply for a matching gift then he will easily be able to navigate to a page to learn how.

To get a better idea of how navigation bars work, here’s an example from Lafayette Partners in Education:

Screenshot of Lafayette Partners in Education’s Website
(http://lpie.org/)

Add Matching Gifts to your Website's Navigation

This is a clean, modern site, with an easily visible and useable navigation bar. They incorporate matching gifts under the fundraising tab, so it’s part of a larger topic. This link won’t function as an advertisement, but, for someone who is looking for matching gifts or ways which they can contribute to the organization, the website provides an intuitive way to access that information.

When a website visitor clicks on the “Matching Gift Program” link they’re taken to Lafayette Partner In Education’s dedicated matching gift page:

Screenshot of Lafayette Partners in Education’s Dedicated Matching Gift Page
(https://doublethedonation.com/lpie)

Screenshot of Lafayette Partners In Education's Matching Gift Page

 

Banner Ads

If you want to advertise matching gifts on your homepage then banner ads are a great way to go. A banner ad will catch eyes and make people think about matching gifts. This informs donors about matching gifts when they may be visiting your site for other purposes.

Here’s a banner ad in action from Autism Speaks:

Screenshot of an Event Page for Autism Speaks

Add a Matching Gift Graphic to your Nonprofit's Website

Highlighted by the green box, this banner ad works because it’s clean, easy to read, and its color stands out from the color scheme of the homepage. People notice when something stands out in a crowd. A 2011 study in the journal Emotion claimed that reaction times become faster and more forceful when people see a bright color, so the choice of color was well selected. Little factors such as color can play vital roles in whether or not people respond to your banner ads, so if you have the time to get intricate with your banners it will be time well spent.

Autism Speaks also created their own custom matching graphics to include throughout their website. Examples of individualized banners used by Autism Speaks include:

Wide Graphic - Will Your Company Match Your Donation?

Double Your Donation - Will Your Company Match Your Donation?

Everything about these banners is clean and easy to read. The iconic puzzle piece logos add a touch of intimate personality that separates the images from plain text graphics. The difference in shapes, square versus rectangle, highlights that your banner can and should be tailored to the size that works best on your website.

If you don’t have the time or the resources to create a banner ad, Double the Donation provides a host of banner options, such as:

Thanks for Submitting a Matching Gift

Still clean and basic, this banner adds simple details, such as a faded color scheme and the orange ribbon in the top right corner. The image works great on donation confirmation screens, and make sure to link the graphic to your dedicated matching gift page.

The picture of the gift box is enough to signal to the user that this banner has something to do with giving or gifts prior to the user engaging with the white text. And the white text is easy to read and the large, capitalized letters, which will likely be the first words you read, tell you exactly what the box is addressing. As for the psychological effects of the color, green is commonly associated with balance and harmony, such as the balance a matching gift brings to the original donation and the harmony between you and donors. There are serious benefits to thinking out the minor details of banner ads in order to leverage major psychological impacts.

View additional premade matching gift graphics >

Your nonprofit does not have to advertise for matching gifts on its homepage, but it’s a good idea if you want to raise awareness for matching gifts. Regardless, including information about matching gifts in a logical place, such as a navigation bar, is a must.

How to Increase Donor Awareness about Matching Gift Programs

Increase Matching Gift Awareness [And Revenue!]

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According to recent studies, more than 26 million individuals work for companies that match employee gifts. However, an estimated 78% of the group has never been informed about the available philanthropic programming. Thus, in order to maximize funding, it’s important to increase matching gift awareness across your network of support.

In this guide, we’ll touch on some impactful marketing efforts to get your donors ramped up to submit those matching gift forms to their employers. But we’ll also cover why awareness is crucial to matching gift success, how you can set your staff up to champion your efforts, and what to do after educating donors about the opportunities at hand.

Specifically, you’ll learn:

Surely, your organization aims to maximize the impact of each donation you receive. Matching gifts are one of the best ways to do so⁠—but in order to drive results, your supporters need to know about them.

Let’s get started!

Why increasing matching gift awareness matters

Ensuring donors are aware of matching gifts is one of the biggest obstacles your organization will face. However, it’s essential for increasing funding through these programs.

There are billions (yes, billions⁠—to the tune of $4,000,000,000 to $7,000,000,000 worth) of corporate giving dollars left unclaimed each year. Why? Largely because the majority of eligible donors have never been informed of the opportunity.

In fact, without a strategic approach to increase matching gift awareness…

  • 78% of donors do not know if their company offers a matching gift program;
  • 15% of donors know their company has a program but are unsure if they’re eligible or how to submit a matching gift request;
  • Only 7% of donors are aware that their company matches gifts, know they’re eligible, and understand how to submit their matching gift requests.

Matching gift awareness percentages

Not to mention, donors love participating in matching gift programs⁠—so long as they know they exist. These initiatives allow them to double or even triple the impact of their giving to the charitable organizations they support. And they don’t even have to reach back into their own wallets to do so!

An analysis of donor behavior even indicates that nonprofit supporters are more likely to give⁠—and to give more⁠—when they know their donations will be matched. In fact, 84% of survey participants say they’re more likely to donate if a match is offered. And 1 in 3 donors would give a larger gift if matching is applied!

As a result, organizations saw a 71% increase in response rate and a 51% increase in average donation amount when matching gifts were mentioned.

Impact of increasing matching gift awareness among donors

That means when donors are aware of the opportunities, your organization can benefit not only from more corporate matches but from increased individual giving altogether.

Starting with your staff; driving awareness internally

Increasing matching gift awareness among donors is critical for a nonprofit to maximize its fundraising potential. However, before a nonprofit can effectively communicate the benefits of matching gifts to donors, it is crucial that its internal team fully understands the opportunity themselves.

After all, a nonprofit’s staff (or volunteers) are likely the primary point of contact with supporters. Therefore, it’s essential that the internal team understands the concepts behind corporate matching gifts and is equipped to support donors interested in participating.

Here’s what we recommend:

  • Conducting regularly scheduled dedicated matching gift training sessions for all donor-facing staff and volunteers;
  • Incorporating matching gift information in new team member onboarding materials going forward;
  • Developing easily accessible internal materials that provide an overview of matching gifts, frequently asked questions and answers, benefits, and more;
  • Establishing a matching gift team leader to whom the rest of the team can direct inquiries regarding matching gifts to learn more.

Luckily, Double the Donation offers a wide range of free resources that can help guide you through the process⁠—from educational blog posts to immersive webinars and more.

Increase matching gift awareness among your internal team

Staff members who are familiar with matching gift programs can best serve as advocates for the opportunity to eligible donors. By equipping staff members with the knowledge and tools necessary to promote corporate matching, a nonprofit can effectively communicate the benefits of matching gifts to donors and maximize its fundraising potential.

10 marketing methods to increase matching gift awareness among donors

Now it’s time to make your donors aware of the available programming that can double their impact on your cause.

There are a ton of ways to do so⁠—but we’ve selected a few of our favorite marketing strategies to increase matching gift awareness for your audience here.

1. Create a matching gift web page.

To make it easy for donors to learn about matching gift programs, create a dedicated matching gift web page on your nonprofit’s website.

This centralized hub of matching gift information should provide an overview of corporate donation-matching, explain the tangible benefits of these programs for your cause, and include an intuitive database search tool for donors to uncover their own eligibility.

You’ll also want to include basic information about your organization, including contact details for your matching gift coordinator, your tax ID number, and more.

Increase matching gift awareness with a matching gift web page

In doing so, you can target supporters who are perusing your website⁠—which can actually drive them further down the donation funnel and encourage them to give more⁠—and provide donors with a trusted resource with everything they need to get started.

Then, you can link to this hub in your other marketing materials, demonstrating how donors can learn more about the opportunity. You might even use your match page to train your internal staff on matching gifts!

2. Highlight matching in fundraising appeals.

We mentioned previously that when donors are informed of matching gift opportunities prior to making their contributions, they’re more likely to give and give in larger amounts. In order to drive awareness beforehand, your fundraising appeals can really come in handy.

As you craft your next donation appeal, incorporate a quick blurb about matching gifts and the amplified impact they bring. This can be just what you need to drive on-the-fence supporters into action-taking donors!

Here’s an example: “Dear [donor], Do you work for a match-maker? Thousands of companies⁠—employing millions of qualifying donors⁠—agree to match the charitable gifts their team members contribute to nonprofits like ours. Find out if your company participates by searching here⁠. Then, head to our donation form to make a match-eligible gift (or request a match from a previous and still-eligible donation)!”

3. Embed in online donation pages.

If an individual navigates to your nonprofit donation page, chances are that they’d like to support your cause. That makes your online giving forms the perfect place to promote gift-matching.

And it’s also one of your best opportunities to request employment information⁠. [Hint: Once collected, this detail can directly aid your team in uncovering and pursuing match-eligible donations.]

We recommend embedding Double the Donation’s smart company search tool that allows donors to choose from auto-completing search results. It even takes into account common typos and company subsidiaries for the most accurate results, ensuring users can quickly select their employer from our robust database and move on to the next steps without slowing down the giving experience.

Increase matching gift awareness with your giving forms

To encourage donors to complete the optional field, you’ll also want to include a short blurb about matching gifts that provides context as to why you’re asking for employment data. Here’s an example: “Millions of donors qualify to have their charitable gifts matched by their employers. See if your company offers such a program by entering your employer’s name in the box.”

4. Mention on your confirmation screen.

Immediately after completing an online donation, nonprofit supporters typically remain at a high level of engagement. It’s important to take advantage of this momentum and immediately encourage eligible donors to secure a matching gift.

And your donation confirmation or thank-you screen is a great place to begin! After all, matching gifts make a great “Next Steps” option for supporters looking to increase their impact after they submit their donations.

Consider adding a message to your confirmation screen such as this: “Thanks for your donation! Did you know your employer may match your gift and double its impact? Check if your contribution is eligible by searching for your company here.”

And when you embed Double the Donation’s matching gift plugin, you can provide quick and easy access to company-specific guidelines, forms, and more. Plus, if the individual provides their employer’s name during the giving process, the plugin tool will automatically populate with that company’s program details and direct links to submission forms!

Increase matching gift awareness with your confirmation pages

This allows individuals to quickly move from the “general awareness of matching gift programs as a concept” phase to the “specific knowledge of their company’s initiatives and guidelines” in no time. And remember⁠—the latter is where you want your donors to be!

5. Include matching gift information in donation acknowledgments.

If your nonprofit organization is not already including information about matching gift opportunities in donor acknowledgment letters, it’s super easy to start. Keep in mind, though, that you won’t want this to be your sole matching gift promotion. Automated donation acknowledgments and gift receipts are often quickly discarded and may ultimately end up in a “trash” box before the donor arrives at the included matching gift mention.

Still, including a brief section about corporate matching gift opportunities can be an excellent way to whet your supporters’ appetites regarding the programs. Direct donors to your aforementioned matching gift web page, and let them know that they should soon expect to receive an additional email follow-up dedicated to matching gifts.

It can be as simple as this: “Did you know that many corporations offer employee giving programs where they match donations to [your organization’s name]? Search for your company on our matching gift page to see if they provide matching gifts! Or keep an eye out for detailed next steps in a separate email.”

6. Send separate matching gift follow-up emails.

Chances are, some donors are likely to miss out on your confirmation page and/or acknowledgment promotions. But you still want to ensure that all of your supporters are exposed to matching gift information so they can make an informed decision about their next steps.

The best way to do this? Send dedicated matching gift emails after each donation you receive.

Increase matching gift awareness with follow-up emails

(This is also a great reminder avenue for donors who did become aware of matching gifts previously but ultimately opted to procrastinate their requests.)

If you have a record of a donor’s employer, you can even incorporate detailed and company-specific program guidelines. This will help recipients quickly determine match eligibility and lead them directly to their companies’ online submission forms to complete the request. If you’ve yet to identify a supporter’s employer, encourage them once again to provide that information so you can guide them through the matching process.

By highlighting matching gifts while your organization and its cause are still fresh on donors’ minds, you increase the likelihood that they will take action to double their gifts. That’s why we recommend sending these follow-up messages within 24 hours of receiving the initial gift. In fact, organizations that do so see an estimated 53% open rate, which is more than two to three times the average nonprofit email open rate.

7. Engage on social media.

Social media sites can be a great way to increase matching gift awareness across a wider audience. Plus, you can encourage supporters to interact with and share your content with their own followers.

Make sure to schedule regular messages throughout the year⁠, noting occasions like Matching Gift Month and more. Use your social platforms to share stories about how the money raised for your organization is helping grow your mission⁠—and how doubling those gifts helps amplify impact.

Increase matching gift awareness with social media

For the best results, adjust your messaging based on the platform on which you plan to share it. For example…

  • Twitter is great for short-and-sweet blurbs about matching gifts;
  • Facebook posts can be a bit longer and more in-depth;
  • Instagram is designed for image-sharing⁠—so be sure to choose eye-catching graphics that help demonstrate the power of matching gifts.
  • And don’t forget about vide0-sharing sites, either⁠—YouTube and even TikTok offer excellent opportunities for sharing matching gift videos and more.

Regardless of what you post or where you post it, you’ll want to provide direct links to resources users can access for additional information.

8. Enlist snail-mail promotions.

While electronic communication is speedy and efficient, there are still donors who would still rather the personal touch of a tangible mailing. If your organization employs direct mail outreach in your fundraising, consider exploring the tactic to increase matching gift awareness among your direct-mail-preferred donor segment.

However, you’ll want to keep in mind that the investment for this strategy can add up quickly⁠—so make sure you’re still expecting an appropriate return.

There are a number of ways to keep your costs low, too. For example, if you’re already hosting a direct mail campaign, you might include an insert on matching gifts into your existing fundraising packet. Or similarly, you can even print matching gift information directly onto your donation return envelopes!

Increase matching gift awareness with direct mail envelopes

Still, we recommend retaining physical mailings for only your most lucrative matching gift opportunities.

9. Host a live-stream event.

If they’ve never heard of the programs before, your donors are likely to have a number of questions about matching gifts. As you begin to integrate donation-matching promotions into your overall fundraising efforts, consider hosting a live-stream event.

This will allow you to engage with your audience in real-time, encouraging supporters to attend, ask questions, and learn more about getting involved with their employers’ corporate giving programs.

Not to mention, it will also provide a unique opportunity for your team to show the persons behind your organization with a virtual, yet face-to-face experience.

10. Employ end-of-year reminders.

Unfortunately, donations typically have a limited time span during which they qualify for corporate matching. Though it can differ from company to company, many program windows close at the end of the year. Thus, it’s critical that you increase matching gift awareness among donors before it’s too late.

And end-of-year reminders can be a great way to do so.

As the year comes to a close, consider sending additional outreach that reiterates the availability of matching gifts⁠. This can be especially beneficial for those who had been marked match-eligible despite not seeming to have submitted their matches.

Remember: the urgency at the end of the year can be an excellent tool for driving action along with awareness. So make the most of it!

After awareness ⁠— next steps to consider

Informing individuals about matching gift opportunities is phase one in securing additional financial support. But you can’t stop there!

After ensuring awareness of matching gifts, there are a few next steps we recommend to ultimately drive matches to completion, determine success, and thank donors for their above-and-beyond support.

Remind supporters about matching gifts.

Sometimes the initial steps you take to inform your audience about matching gifts won’t be enough to actually produce results. In those cases, take the extra step to remind qualifying donors about their matching gift eligibility after the fact.

Increase matching gift awareness with reminders

To do so, it helps to track which identified matches have been submitted by donors and which ones appear to remain unclaimed. Then, follow up on incomplete matches by reminding donors about the opportunity and how easily they can get involved.

Here’s a hint: manually tracking and following up on matching gifts can be quite the undertaking. We recommend employing automation software like 360MatchPro to identify, pursue, and monitor matches throughout the process.

Thank donors for their submissions.

Once you’re notified that an individual has completed their end of the matching gift request process, be sure to thank them for doing so. Communicate the amplified impact of an individual donation when matched, and show your appreciation accordingly.

To make your gratitude stand out in your recipients’ inboxes, consider employing customizable donor recognition eCards. It’s a fun and creative way to thank your matching gift donors for taking the next steps to amplify their giving impact. And it will keep your organization at the forefront of the recipient’s mind for longer, too!

Matching gift eCard example - increasing matching gift awareness

Matching gift eCard example - increasing matching gift awareness

Communicate gratitude for completed matches.

Your supporters also want to know if and when your organization receives the associated match to their donation. Despite the matching gift not coming from an individual’s own wallet, it’s important to recognize that the additional contribution would not have been possible without their actions on your behalf.

Plus, it helps close the loop with the original donor, confirming with them that the match was ultimately successful. Otherwise, they might never know⁠ it was completed, and they wouldn’t be as likely to request a match in the future.

Bonus tip: In your acknowledgments, you can even link a survey that asks donors how they learned about matching gifts. Consider listing your primary marketing efforts along with an “other” field or free response option. This will help determine which efforts are worth prioritizing in the future as well as which may be less impactful for your particular audience.

Identify ongoing opportunities.

Your organization should also be able to determine if a majority of matching gifts are coming from one company in particular or from a wide array of employers.

This is noteworthy because if your matching gifts seem to be coming from a few major employers, consider publicly recognizing the company as a valuable partner to your organization.

Increase Donor Awareness of Matching Gifts and Pursue Ongoing Opportunities

You can even reach out to pursue additional corporate sponsorships. This might include upcoming events, cause marketing opportunities, in-kind donations, workplace giving campaigns, and more.

Measure matching gift marketing impact.

Our final recommended step involves ensuring that your above-mentioned marketing efforts are actually working. One key piece of advice we have is to visualize your data with a chart or graph. This way, you can easily view the total (number, revenue, or percentage) of matching gifts received in a set time period.

Then, compare that figure to your previous month, year, etc., to show the difference between your results pre- and post-marketing strategy. Can you see a discernible difference in the number of matching gifts being sent in?

 To get started, you can download our free, editable Matching Gift Dashboard here >

Sample matching gift dashboard to measure matching gift awareness

But to scale up your reporting capabilities, the right matching gift software can make a big difference here as well. For example, Double the Donation empowers organizations to easily track metrics such as their:

  • Total individual donations
  • Percentage of donations flagged as match-eligible
  • Total number of matching gifts submitted
  • Number of matching gifts verified by your organization
  • Number of matching gifts ultimately received
  • Percentage of matching gifts completed
  • Value of received matching gifts
  • Percentage increase due to matching gift revenue
  • And more!

From there, you can take a look at your data, locate apparent trends, identify successes, and explore areas with room for improvement.

Wrapping Up

There are a variety of ways to market matching gifts to your donors, and increasing awareness of the opportunity can go a long way.

Too much money goes unclaimed by nonprofits and their donors due to a lack of awareness about corporate giving initiatives. This shouldn’t be the case!

Make sure you’re educating your supporters on a consistent and ongoing basis, and you could be well on your way to a substantial increase in matching gift fundraising success.

Interested in learning more about matching gift opportunities and how to drive participation for your nonprofit cause? Check out these additional recommended resources:

  • 8 Ways to Encourage Donors to Submit Employee Matching Gift Requests. Increasing awareness of matching gifts is the first key step. But then you’ll need to drive matching gift requests to completion in order to receive funding. Dive into eight recommended practices here.
  • How to Get Matching Gifts Trending at Your Organization. How can you use current marketing trends to get the word out about matching gift opportunities? We share several innovative ideas, from social media usage to artificial intelligence, in this recent blog post.
  • Top Matching Gift Practices | Actionable Insights & Examples. Explore real-world examples of matching gift success. This guide walks through tried-and-true tips from the nation’s leading nonprofits⁠—and how they promote matching gifts to their audiences.
  • Interested in learning more about communicating the value of matching gifts and securing buy-in from your stakeholders? Check out our immersive webinar on the topic!Simple Steps to Score Matching Gift Buy-In from Board Members

Increase matching gift awareness with Double the Donation.

Learn how you can receive matching gifts for your nonprofit's special fundraising events.

Matching Gifts for Special Fundraising Events

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Many nonprofits host special event fundraisers like galas to boost them toward their revenue goals. However, only a few organizations realize that tickets and donations made during the event might be eligible for corporate matching gifts.

When brainstorming ideas for your next fundraiser, don’t steer clear of special events. Instead, research your donors’ employers and your corporate match opportunities. To kick off your research, review the following key examples and commonalities between companies’ giving programs:

  1. Examples of Donations at Annual Galas and Special Events.
  2. Eligibility of Donations Made at Galas and Special Events.
  3. Matching Gifts for Peer-to-Peer Fundraisers.
  4. Tips for Promoting Matching Gifts to Special Event Attendees.
  5. How a Matching Gift Database Can Help.

Ready to learn more about matching gifts for special event fundraisers? Let’s get started!
Take a look at these examples of special fundraising events that received matching gifts.

1. Examples of Donations at Annual Galas and Special Events

Because of your familiarity with the nonprofit world, you likely know that organizations typically incorporate donations with their special events.

Let’s take a look at some notable special events hosted by some major, well-known organizations:

  • The Greater Los Angeles Zoo Association gives individuals an opportunity to name one of its animals. For donations between $1,000-$50,000, you can name an animal, receive recognition in the zoo publication, have your photo taken with the animal, and get a VIP tour.
  • The Atlanta Botanical Garden has its Garden of Eden Gala, the organization’s largest annual fundraiser. Tickets range in price from a few hundred dollars to $25,000 if you want to be the presenting sponsor. Benefits include tickets to the organization’s Ball, a Patron Party, and much more.
  • NEXT for Autism (formerly New York Collaborates for Autism) hosts its annual “Night of Too Many Stars”. Celebrities such as Jon Stewart, Katie Perry, Amy Poehler, Tina Fey, Seth Rogan, and many others auction off once-in-a-lifetime opportunities to hang out with them. For instance, becoming “best friends with Amy Poehler & Tina Fey” for an evening was auctioned for thousands of dollars a few years ago.

Most nonprofits aren’t quite on this huge event level, but it’s a great place to start researching. Take the time to look at special events hosted by major nonprofits whose missions are similar to yours. Who knows? Their major fundraisers may inspire your next event!

Looking to host your own charity auction? Check out these great platforms.
Find out if you can receive matching gifts for donations made at special fundraising events.

2. Eligibility of Donations Made at Galas and Special Events

It may come as a surprise, but many companies that offer matching gift programs will match donations made at special events!

When reviewing a company’s matching gift form, you may notice a sentence similar to “the corporation will not match tickets or subscriptions.” For instance, if your organization is a symphony selling a concert ticket or a science museum selling an IMAX ticket, companies won’t match the ticket price.

The reason for this is that donors are receiving a tangible benefit that would be charged by other for-profit organizations. For example, an IMAX movie could be compared to a regular movie ticket while the symphony could be compared to a sporting event ticket.

If that’s the case, then why are gala tickets and special event tickets often eligible?

If you look at the fine print on many nonprofits’ special event tickets, you’ll notice that it mentions a tax-deductible amount for each ticket. The tax-deductible dollar amount is what’s eligible to be matched.

In general, at galas, you must subtract the cost of a similar meal and any gifts that guests receive. Otherwise, it won’t be considered matching-gift eligible. For instance, if you host a gala and sell $500 tickets, you have to determine the fair market value of the benefits. In other words, how much would someone spend on the event if it wasn’t a fundraiser?

Let’s say people would typically spend $100 for a gala like yours plus $50 on the meal at a local restaurant. That makes the fair market value $150, meaning the tax-deductible amount is $350. In this case, $350 is the amount that would eligible for matches.

If you’re interested in learning more, we wrote an entire article on calculating the tax-deductible matching gift value.

The Bottom Line: A significant percentage of a gala ticket’s price is tax-deductible and is often eligible to be matched by an employee’s company. However, corporate guidelines do vary by company.
Learn how to receive matching gifts for special fundraising events like peer-to-peer fundraisers.

3. Matching Gifts for Peer-to-Peer Fundraisers

When researching corporate match programs, you may come across some companies that match the fundraising efforts of its employees. In other words, if their employees voluntarily fundraise for your cause (i.e. peer-to-peer fundraising), a company that offers this program will match the entire amount up to a certain limit.

Some of the major companies that offer these generous programs are:

  1. Intuit
  2. McAfee
  3. British Petroleum
  4. State Street

Peer-to-peer fundraising is a common strategy for boosting nonprofit revenue. With these campaigns, your volunteer fundraisers receive their own personalized webpages where they raise money for your cause. The most common example of these effective fundraisers is walkathons. Though these campaigns are heavily reliant on online tactics, once you master the peer-to-peer approach, you’ll boost your fundraising potential!

Learn more about fundraising match programs.
You can promote matching gifts at your special fundraising events using these tips.

4. Tips for Promoting Matching Gifts to Special Event Attendees

Unfortunately, for organizations, it’s less common to receive employee matching gifts for galas and special events than it is for regular donations or annual fund contributions.

As with all donations, you have to raise awareness and make it easy for donors to submit matching gift requests. However, there’s an extra component when it comes to galas and special events.

Even if an individual knows about their company’s matching gift program, they rarely realize a portion of their recently purchased ticket is tax-deductible and often match-eligible. Therefore, you need to promote this. Start by doing the following:

  • Include the tax-deductible amount on the ticket with a line such as “Did you know $X of your ticket is tax-deductible? If your employer offers a matching gift program, it may be eligible to be matched.”
  • If you subscribe to Double the Donation’s matching gift service, consider setting up a laptop with your organization’s page about matching gifts that’s easily accessible at your event.
  • At payment stations where donors pay for auction items, make sure your staff asks each individual or his or her spouse if they work for a company with a matching gift program.
  • Do you give donors an acknowledgement card after they buy a ticket or make an additional donation? If so, this is a great time to encourage donors to see if their employer or their spouse’s employer offers a matching gift program.

Before creating your promotion plan, make sure to review our list of top ways to promote employee matching gifts year-round.
A matching gift database can help you receive matching gifts at your special events.

5. How a Matching Gift Database Can Help

In addition to helping your day-to-day fundraising strategy, a matching gift database (like Double the Donation) can help your organization pinpoint additional revenue opportunities at special events.

Your nonprofit should promote corporate giving at any special fundraising event. Before going into ways to do this, here’s how Double the Donation works:

  1. A nonprofit embeds the tool on its website or online donation page.
  2. A donor (or volunteer) starts typing his/her employer’s name.
  3. The database autocompletes the search, suggesting companies for the user to click.
  4. The user receives all available updated information on his/her employer’s giving program.

Best of all, the tool easily integrates with other fundraising software. Larger nonprofits might benefit more from 360MatchPro by Double the Donation, which streamlines the process even more through email automation and email domain screening.

There are multiple ways you can promote corporate philanthropy with Double the Donation’s services:

  • At your event, set up a laptop with your page that has the search tool embedded.
  • Analyze your guest list prior to the event and research attendees’ employers. That way, you’ll have more insight on who to approach at your event.
  • For your event, create and hand out educational pamphlets on matching gifts and local employers that offer them.

Get creative with your matching gift promotion! Think your nonprofit can benefit from Double the Donation?

Corporate philanthropy represents a major opportunity for nonprofits. By taking the time to incorporate it into your fundraising and outreach strategies, you set your nonprofit up for success. Few nonprofits take the time to do proper research on these programs. Because of that, they overlook major revenue opportunities.

Now that you know special event tickets and donations can be matched by most employers, get started boosting your revenue!

Bring matching gift success to your own organization with Double the Donation's matching gift practices, tips, and tools.

Nonprofit and Corporate Relationships Matching Gifts

Leverage Matching Gifts to Strengthen Nonprofit-Corporate Relationships

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We recently had a reader ask Double the Donation about how to strengthen relationships with corporations that offer generous matching gift contributions to their organization. She said she wished she had more ways to reach out to these companies post-matching gift donation to show them how a strong relationship could provide some great public relations benefits.

This is a great point! When corporations offer matching gift donations to a nonprofit organization, they may not realize how positive of an impact the contributions are having on the work of the nonprofit. It’s important for nonprofits to leverage matching gifts into positive PR for both you and the corporation to ensure future collaboration, and therefore, a stronger nonprofit-corporate relationship.

Suggestions of “Extra Thanks” for Generous Matching Gift Donations

Does your organization have one corporation in particular (or even a few!) that really stands out in the field of matching gift donations? It’s important that this company knows how big of an impact they are having on the work you do, and sometimes a simple, albeit wonderful, acknowledgement letter (that acts as a tax-deductible receipt, too) is not going to emphasize your thanks enough. So, what else can you do?

Press Releases

A simple and highly visible form of extra thanks is a press release to local publications. This could include information about the circumstances of the donation, how big of a matching gift partner they are (if, for example, you have many donors who work for one company that offers matching gifts on a recurring basis), and the kind of programs and nonprofit work the donations help progress.

And don’t forget to highlight the company on your own website. It’s not only positive publicity for the company but also encourages your other donors to see if their employers will match their donations.

The important thing here is that the company or companies providing matching gifts to your nonprofit organization are getting a public, positive recognition for the donations they make. They are more likely to donate in other capacities in the future, as well, when they see the kind of public acknowledgement they can get by donating to your organization.

Social Media

This one is seemingly a no-brainer, but it’s always amazing what kind of far-reaching impacts a Facebook or Twitter post can have on relationships. By thanking a corporation for their generosity with matching gifts and including the positive impact they are having on the community, your nonprofit is taking an extra (and again, simple) step to show the company and the public how thankful you are for their commitment to the cause.

Here’s a sample thank you post from the Children’s Craniofacial Association:

Thanks for the Matching Gifts

In case you can’t read the text on the image it says

It’s #ThankfulThursday & CCA thanks @Corning Inc. for the Foundation Matching Gifts Program, doubling employee donations to CCA!

It was retweeted four times and favorited six times, including from the main Corning account.

Donation Page Acknowledgements

On your website’s donation pages, you could include information about some of the benefits of matching gifts (for your donors), and also mention some of the top-giving companies in the area. This shows many donors the commitment of their employers to the community, which in turn increases the chances an individual will donate to your cause and also ask their company for a matching gift. Increasing the number of eyes that see a corporation’s name in a positive light also increases the likelihood of forming a stronger relationship with a company. Positive PR for a company (by a nonprofit organization) is a huge key for ensuring future collaboration.

Event Recognition

This is another easy way to recognize some of the major community players in the matching gift arena. Even if these companies are not sponsoring your charitable event, just mentioning the impact they are having on the work you do (without outshining the actual corporate sponsors, of course) is going to make a difference. Every company wants a positive image in the community because this increases their like-ability, and therefore their success. When your nonprofit organization is a key factor in increasing their success, the bond between the two will be stronger than ever.

Creating a Stronger Relationship

The above suggestions are just a few extra ways to say thanks to the corporations who have a strong commitment to matching gift donations. When a company sees the effort your nonprofit organization is putting forth to thank them for their generosity, it increases the chances of future giving, whether it’s with more matching gifts, grants, or even some form of sponsorship.

Make sure you’re saying thank you – it really can make all the difference!