Matching gifts is easy for donors and monumentally beneficial to your organization. A matching gift is a donation made to a nonprofit by a matching donor (e.g., an employer) under the provision that an original donor (e.g., an employee) makes the gift first toward that organization (source).
Matching gifts are a huge, untapped source of fundraising for many nonprofits—because they’re an easy way to double any single donor’s donation! You’ve already done the hard work of getting a donor to your online page to make a donation, so why not seize what is essentially free money by offering a matching gift option?
Many companies offer matching gift programs, and with Greater Giving Online Payments, you have an easy, built-in way for donors to get their gift matched when donating online.
What is a matching gift?
If a corporation offers a matching gift program, it will double any gift made by an employee to a nonprofit organization (sometimes with an upper limit of how much it will match). For example, if the employee writes a check for $100, the company will write one for $100 too.
Now a single $100 donation has become a $200 donation, just by giving donors the option to see if the employer will match gifts.
Promote matching gifts with a campaign or challenge
Often, donors aren’t aware their employers offer a matching gift option. The key to getting donors to make a matching gift is to make looking up their employer’s matching gift policy, and making the actual gift, as easy as possible.
Bring awareness to matching gifts by starting a campaign, or issuing a “challenge” to donors to get their year-end gift matched. In your matching gift appeal, outline specifically what that extra money could accomplish for your organization (such as “50 new books” or “sending 10 more kids to school”), and emphasize how a matching gift is a fast and simple way to double the effectiveness of a single donation.
How do I collect matching gifts?
Tracking matching gift information can be tricky for a small, or even medium-size nonprofit, so Greater Giving offers an easy Matching Gift option for you to include on your online donation page. With a matching gift look-up URL (purchased separately), the tool looks-up each corporation’s matching donation policy—so your donor can find a donation match directly from your donation page. Easy!
To enable to Matching Gift box on your page, simply edit the page and check the box labeled Matching Gifts? Then plug in your matching gifts look-up URL, add instructions, save it, and you’re done.
Now your donors can easily look up their employer’s matching gift policy and make a matched donation—and you’ve just doubled your fundraising!
Need a matching gifts platform? We love HEPdata and Double the Donation.
