How to Increase Your Nonprofit’s Matching Gift Revenue

If your nonprofit is looking for an easy way to increase donations, earn more during year-end fundraisers, and strengthen donor relationships, it might be time to consider a matching gift fundraiser. 

Matching gifts are a type of corporate philanthropy where businesses match their employees’ donations to eligible nonprofit organizations. Most employers have a 1:1 match rate, meaning your donors’ gifts can be doubled at no additional cost to them, making the matching of gifts exceptionally effective at increasing the value of your mid-level donors and potentially some major donors. 

Almost any non-political or religious nonprofit can benefit from matching gifts. You just need a few strategies to increase your match revenue.

1. Create a matching gift education campaign. 

Chances are that many of your supporters are unfamiliar with the concept of matching donations, including donors who work for employers who offer generous match programs. This means your nonprofit’s first step for increasing its revenue from matching gifts is to inform supporters about what it is and how they can claim that revenue for your nonprofit. 

A few ways you can educate your supporters about matching their gifts include: 

• Add matching gift content to your website. NXUnite’s matching gifts promotion guide suggests nonprofits spread awareness by adding information about matching gifts to their donation form and even creating a dedicated information page on their website about getting gifts matched. This page would include information about what matching gifts are, how supporters can check their eligibility, and a matching gift database search tool. 

• Incorporate gift matching into your emails. If your nonprofit has a regular newsletter, feature information about matching gifts in it. This can serve as an introduction to new supporters and a reminder to current ones to check their eligibility and submit requests to their employers. You can also send out emails entirely about matching gifts if you have never actively promoted them before. 

• Create videos. Rather than typing out your explanation about matching gifts, film a short video supporters can watch and share with ease. For your video, include relevant visuals that help explain matching gifts, like someone entering an employer’s name into a search tool or an example company’s matching gift information page. 

Education isn’t just a one-and-done marketing push. After your initial awareness campaign, continue promoting and discussing matching gifts to remind your supporters to complete their application for matching a donation.

2. Include Your Mission in the Event’s Branding

By prompting supporters to start the matching gift process when they’re making a donation, you can dramatically increase the number of supporters aware of the opportunity. The easiest way to do this is through matching gift software. 

Matching gift software platforms come with a variety of features, but the major two to be aware of are:

• A database. As the name implies, matching gift databases contain information about companies’ programs. This type of database allows supporters to look up their employer and find information about their program. Ensure you choose a regularly updated database with information on a large number of employers, so you’ll have access to the most accurate company guidelines.

• Embeddable search tool. To make navigating your matching gift database as convenient as possible, many matching donation solutions offer search tools that your nonprofit can embed into your website, including your donation page. This allows supporters to check their eligibility with ease during the donation process.

Matching gifts are essentially a free way to raise revenue. Dedicated software is likely to be the only expense your nonprofit will need to pay to leverage this fundraising method. Be sure to check in with potential vendors if your nonprofit is a good candidate for matching gift software. 

3. Follow up with eligible supporters. 

After a supporter donates, stay in touch to ensure they see their matching gift application through to completion. 

If your nonprofit uses software to monitor matching gifts, you should have tools that allow you to send automatic messages to supporters when they take actions related to matching gifts. In general, the three types of messages your nonprofit will send supporters include:

1. Asking supporters to check their eligibility. 
2. Following up with eligible supporters to remind them to submit matching gift application forms. 
3. Thanking supporters for completing their matching gift requests. 

Use your CRM and matching gift database to keep accurate records on supporters to track who’s matching gift eligible and whether they requested a match for their gift. This will help you know which supporters to follow up with and prevent sending unnecessary messages to supporters who do not qualify. 

4. Form corporate connections. 

Unlike most corporate sponsorships, your nonprofit doesn’t need to negotiate with businesses to access their program for gift matching. Some businesses may reach out to your nonprofit during their approval process to confirm information about the donation, but for the most part, your nonprofit will only interact with donors and eventually the business’s CSR vendor when you receive payment. 

However, there is an exception to this, which is when your nonprofit advocates for a company to establish a new matching gift program. Let’s say you notice many of your supporters work for a company that doesn’t have a program in place. In that case, consider reaching out to them to discuss creating a solution specifically for your nonprofit. 

These conversations will be similar to most corporate sponsorship pitches, but instead, you’ll primarily focus on the company’s employees. Share data about how CSR initiatives like matching gifts can increase employee engagement. To help your case, see if any of your supporters employed by the businesses you’re reaching out to would agree to set up an introduction between your nonprofit and their employer. 

5. Explore auto-submission options. 

The more obstacles that your nonprofit can remove in the matching gift process, the more likely donors are to complete their request for matching gifts. The latest innovation in matching gift technology aims to do just that with auto-submission functionality. 

Some matching gift software solutions have auto-submission, which allows certain donors to have their match requests completed by the database automatically on their behalf. 

360MatchPro’s guide to matching gift auto-submission explains how this feature transforms the process of matching gifts:

1. Individual supporters donate directly to a nonprofit through the organization’s website. 
2. The donor enters their corporate email address to locate their employer’s guidelines. 
3. If the donor is eligible for matching gift auto-submission, they can opt in to have their gift completed automatically for them. 

To qualify for auto-submission, donors have to work for an employer that uses a CSR software vendor that’s partnered with your matching gift software vendor. While only some donors will qualify, you’ll maximize auto-submission’s capabilities by selecting a software solution that integrates with popular CSR software vendors.

Matching gift revenue powers your nonprofit to grow, expand your programming, and generally do more good in the world. By leveraging your technology and experimenting with marketing strategies, you can educate supporters about matching gifts and make the match request process as easy as possible for everyone involved.

Written by Adam Weinger | Double the Donation

Adam Weinger is the President of Double the Donation, the leading provider of tools to nonprofits to help them raise more money from corporate gift matching and volunteer grant programs.

Double the Donation's robust solution, 360MatchPro, provides nonprofits with automated tools to identify match-eligible donors, drive matches to completion, and gain actionable insights. 360MatchPro integrates directly into donation forms, CRMs, social fundraising software, and other nonprofit technology solutions to capture employment information and follow up appropriately with donors about their matching gifts.