Beyond Volunteering: 3 Ways to Engage Employees in Giving

From sponsorships to employee volunteer days, businesses can help your nonprofit in a number of ways. However, while volunteers are always helpful—and can even provide valuable professional services—there may be additional ways your nonprofit can engage supporters through their workplaces that you’re not tapping into. 

Outside of volunteer programs, like Dollars for Doers and volunteer time off (VTO) initiatives, companies often offer other employee giving opportunities. For businesses, these programs increase employee engagement while also providing a reputation boost in their local community. For nonprofits like yours, you can earn additional support and build connections with valuable corporate partners.  

In this guide, we’ll explore three ways nonprofits can tap into employee giving programs.  

1. Join a nonprofit database.

To facilitate employee giving programs, businesses of all sizes leverage CSR software. These platforms enable them to offer a range of giving programs to employees and let their staff manage their own giving.  

Often, CSR platforms encourage employees to choose from a database of vetted nonprofits. These nonprofits have been confirmed by the CSR platform vendor to be reputable 501(c)(3) organizations, meaning employees and businesses alike can support them with confidence.  

For nonprofits, this means the more CSR software databases their organization is featured in, the more they can access employee giving programs. These programs commonly include: 

• Payroll giving. Payroll giving deducts donations straight from employees’ paychecks, enabling nonprofits supported by these programs to receive reliable revenue. Additionally, as 360MatchPro’s guide to payroll giving points out, these gifts lack transaction fees, meaning nonprofits can receive employees’ entire donations.  
• Matching gifts. Through a CSR database, employees can find nonprofits to donate to and immediately access their employers’ matching gift information. Some CSR databases even have partnerships with matching gift databases, allowing employees to automatically submit matching gift request forms.
• Volunteer opportunities. A nonprofit database is often the go-to place businesses and employees will look to find local organizations to support, whether they’re organizing a volunteer day or an individual employee wants to volunteer.  

To easily access these opportunities, your nonprofit will need to register with CSR databases. Fortunately, this is usually a fairly straightforward process. In most cases, your nonprofit will just need to follow these steps: 

1. Identify a CSR database you want your nonprofit to be featured in.  
2. Submit a free registration form to that CSR platform vendor.  
3. Confirm your nonprofit’s 501(c)(3) status and any other details.
4. Get confirmed and gain access to any profile management tools.  

2. Promote matching gifts.

Matching gifts are one of the easiest employee giving programs for your supporters to participate in. Through these programs, donors can double their contributions to your cause at no additional cost to themselves. All they need to do is know they’re eligible for matching gifts and fill out a matching gift request form with their employer.  

Often, that first point—ensuring supporters know they qualify for a matching gift—is where nonprofits run into challenges. Many donors are unaware of matching gifts, leaving money on the table. To boost awareness and matched donations, nonprofits should launch marketing initiatives focused on educating supporters about these programs and providing them with the tools to check their eligibility.  

Uncommon Giving’s guide to donation matching explains how matching gift campaigns can also promote your other marketing efforts: “By promoting gift matching opportunities across their marketing channels, nonprofits can catch the attention of more potential donors. The chance to double the impact of their donation might be the extra push needed to motivate someone who was on the fence about giving.” 

When a prospective supporter learns that they can make a large donation without excessive spending, they may feel motivated to give, helping your nonprofit acquire new donors. Along with providing directions for how to request matching gifts, ensure your marketing materials generate excitement for these programs by emphasizing their ease of access and potential impact.  

3. Share the impact of corporate gifts. 

Donors want to know their support makes a difference. Inspire your donors to seek out employee giving opportunities by sharing the impact their contributions make.  

This can take several forms, such as: 

• Statistics and reports. Emphasize the power of employee giving programs by sharing relevant data with your supporters. For example, in your annual report, you might highlight that your nonprofit earned $50,000 from matching gift revenue. Use your donor database or a specialized matching gift tool to capture this data.  
• Hypothetical examples of impact. For some donation appeals—such as the text on your online donation page—you aren’t exactly sure how every gift will be spent. In these situations, you can still inspire additional giving by providing examples of how you may spend funding. For instance, when making a matching gift appeal, a food bank might state that a gift of $100 can provide fresh fruit and vegetables for a family of four, and a matched gift can support two families.  
• Photos and videos. When possible, provide visuals of various giving programs at work. You might take photos during a corporate volunteer day, get quotes from your community about how additional donations from matching gifts have helped them, or request a testimonial from a business owner whose employees are enrolled in a payroll giving program. 

In addition to encouraging continued participation in employee giving programs, this outreach can also help you build relationships with donors. Donors will appreciate that their personal contributions are being acknowledged and may even feel inspired to engage with other employee giving opportunities.  

Engaging employee donors involves more than an occasional volunteer event. Connect with these valuable supporters by promoting popular corporate philanthropy programs and thanking donors whenever they participate in employee giving. Start taking an active approach to these programs by researching top CSR databases and signing your organization up as a vetted nonprofit.