June 11, 2024
Corporate matching gifts are a powerful yet often underutilized tool in nonprofit fundraising. Companies match their employees' charitable contributions to organizations like yours, ultimately boosting funds raised and doubling—or even tripling—the impact of each donation.
As we move into the summer fundraising season, which is a prime opportunity for rallying donors in support of your cause, it's crucial to leverage matching gifts to their fullest potential. In this guide, we’ll walk you through six effective practices that will help you do just that:
Now, without further ado, let’s dive into some sizzling summer strategies!
Setting a clear, achievable goal for matching gift funds can provide focus and motivation for your summer campaign. How? Establishing a specific target or KPI (key performance indicator)—such as a total dollar amount or percentage increase from the previous year—helps your team stay on track and measure progress toward its goals.
Then, share the goal with your donors to foster a sense of shared purpose and urgency. For example, a blurb like this one: “Help us raise $50,000 in matching gifts by the end of summer!” will motivate supporters with a tangible objective and encourage them to contribute to reaching the goal.
Tons of companies already offer traditional matching gift programs—but not all do. Fortunately, one-off matching gift partnerships can be an excellent way to engage with employers who are interested in giving back and supporting their staff’s philanthropy. And they work particularly well alongside time-based campaigns such as summer fundraisers!
Here’s how it works: Your organization approaches local businesses or corporate sponsors to pitch a mutually beneficial partnership. If interested, your prospective partners agree to match employee donations specifically to your cause during a set period.
Social media provides an excellent opportunity for organizations to engage with their audiences and, therefore, spread the word about matching gifts. For the greatest impact, we suggest regularly posting content about the availability and impact of matching gifts across a number of leading platforms. Not to mention, sharing eye-catching visuals, compelling facts and figures, and inspirational success stories can help capture and retain your followers’ attention as they learn more about the chance to double their impact.
As you ramp up your organization’s summer fundraising, it’s important to consider the impact of matching gift availability on your fundraising appeals. Specifically, Double the Donation studies indicate that 84% of donors are more likely to give if a match is offered, while 1 in 3 would give a larger gift if a match is applied.
That said, we recommend incorporating matching gifts into every appeal you send—both this season and beyond. Whether it involves sharing information through email, direct mail, your website, or other means, ensure your donors are knowledgeable about how they can increase the impact of their contributions. Then, provide easy-to-follow instructions or links to resources where they can find more information.
Donors are often at the height of their engagement with an organization while actively donating to the cause. Therefore, you want to make it easy for individuals to take advantage of matching gifts by integrating the option directly into your nonprofit’s donation pages.
To do so, we recommend including an optional form field where donors can search for their employers and access company-specific matching gift program guidelines and submission links. This is a particularly easy task when your team is equipped with a matching gift solution that integrates directly with your online donation platform and other fundraising tools.
Remember: the simpler the matching gift process, the more likely donors will follow through and secure funding on your behalf.
Social proof can go a long way in inspiring fundraising action. If a prospect sees numerous examples of donors making a significant impact on a cause they care about through matching gifts, they’ll be more inclined to get involved themselves.
One of the best ways to do so is by recognizing and celebrating existing matching gift donors in your outreach. Sharing matching gift success stories like these not only acknowledges the generosity of participating donors but also serves as a powerful testimonial to drive action among eligible supporters.
For example, you might feature a story like this one in your marketing materials: “Thanks to Jane Doe’s donation—and her company’s generous matching gift program—we were able to fund an additional 50 meals for families in need!”
As the summer fundraising season begins, you have the perfect opportunity to maximize matching gifts in your upcoming campaigns. And, in doing so, substantially boost your organization’s impact, deepen individual donor engagement, and draw in socially responsible companies in your efforts.
By setting clear goals, pursuing strategic partnerships, leveraging your communication channels, and more, your team can unlock the full value of these programs. Good luck, and happy fundraising!
