Host: Welcome back to another episode of the Go Beyond Fundraising podcast. Today, I’m sitting down with Amelia Baumann from Double the Donation to discuss matching gifts. We’re having this conversation in October, and end-of-year giving is right around the corner. But matching gifts can be a real accelerator of your campaigns year-round.
Whether you’re listening to this soon after we recorded it or later in the year, we hope you can learn something from it. So, Amelia, welcome.
Amelia Baumann: Thank you, Leah. I’m excited to be here and discuss some best practices for matching gifts you can use at year-end and throughout the year.
Host: Before we get into today’s topic, would you mind sharing a little more about yourself with our listeners?
Amelia Baumann: I’m a Partnership Success Specialist at Double the Donation. That basically means I manage our partner integrations and help nonprofits raise more from matching gifts. Our tool, 360MatchPro, is the industry-leading matching gift tool. It makes it super easy to highlight match-eligible donors while they’re in the giving process, which allows you to gather more matching gift revenue and see doubled or tripled donations.
Host: I love that, and we’ll explore more of that tool and its functionality later. But first, let’s talk about some different sources of matching gifts.
There are many places where people can get matching gifts. It can be a single donor or a group of major donors coming together to boost giving at the annual fund. One type of donor you can go after for matching gifts is corporations. So, Amelia, let’s break this down. What are corporate matching gifts?
Amelia Baumann: Some people have heard of corporate matching gifts, and they live in it — it’s their everyday. Other people have no idea what the concept is. So, if this is a refresher, hopefully, it’s helpful. But if you’re totally new, corporate matching gifts are the most popular form of corporate philanthropy for companies.
These programs allow companies to match employee donations to registered 501(c)(3)s at a predetermined ratio. Most companies match at a one-to-one ratio, but some even match at a two-to-one or three-to-one ratio. Around 65% of Fortune 500 companies offer these programs, which amounts to 26 million individuals working for them, so it’s much more popular than many people think.
When it comes to corporate philanthropy, companies benefit from being able to say they support the causes their employees care about and actively participate in social good. This is attractive to employees and customers and provides a great way for companies to show their social good track record.
Host: Some benefits of matching gifts are obvious, but let’s break down more specifics around the role that matching gifts can play in accelerating generosity.
Amelia Baumann: Across our research, we found that matching gifts act as a generosity motivator to fuel donor engagement. Around 84% of donors are more likely to donate if they know a match is offered, and around 70% more donors respond to fundraising appeals that mention matching. This means that when you strategically place a matching gift piece of context in your communications, you’re more likely to see a significant increase in both donation frequency and amount.
Matching gifts don’t require donors to go back into their wallets to give. Instead, they’re doubling or tripling the impact of the donation amount by requesting those funds from their employers. So, if I’m a donor and notice that my $50 gift could be matched, maybe I’ll give $100. That would equal a $200 total contribution to your cause.
Host: They’re definitely popular year-round, but especially at end-of-year giving because people like having that time-bound goal. This idea that if I give within a set amount of time, my gift can be tripled gamifies giving a little bit, so it’s cool to see some of those stats you shared.
Amelia Baumann: There’s a piece of matching gifts that has to do with deadlines. So, when we’re thinking about gamifying matching gifts and end-of-year, mentioning that matching gift deadlines occur at the end of a calendar year is a great way to push that generosity as far as it can go. Most eligible gifts are from January to December 31 of a calendar year.
Host: Let’s do a little myth-busting. What are a few common misperceptions donors and nonprofit organizations have about matching gifts?
Amelia Baumann: Around 80% of donors don’t know they’re eligible to submit a matching gift request. And even for those who do know they’re eligible, it can be unclear where to start. This is because matching gifts are covered on page 35 of a company’s employee handbook. So, if I’m new to a company, it’s going to be on the last page. When I go to your donation form, the company’s not top-of-mind.
Also, matching gift programs aren’t standard company-to-company. Different companies have different ratios and maximum matching amounts, so it can be a little confusing. But it’s easy to surface those opportunities to donors. Once a donor realizes they’re match-eligible, it becomes that much easier for them to submit a request and double that donation.
On the nonprofit side, many nonprofits think that gathering matching gift information is too time-consuming, and that’s true if you track individual donations. Nobody has a team big enough to track every single match-eligible donation within their database. But with the right tools in place, it can be very easy to automate those matching gift follow-ups and identify which donors are eligible — and maybe which ones aren’t — so you can drive those matches to completion.
Host: What are a few ways to address some of those misconceptions?
Amelia Baumann: One of the best strategies you can use to raise donor awareness is to create educational resources on your website and in your communications, and you can send these resources year-round. This way, matching gifts are a common topic that comes up in conversation. You could even do a campaign that’s easily woven into your marketing communications.
If you have a partnership with a company, another great strategy to raise awareness is to provide them with matching gift resources and impact statistics they can share with their employees. That way, you’re proactively providing context to their workforce, which is already donating to your cause.
For example, suppose I know a lot of my donors work for Home Depot, and they’ve already submitted some matching gifts in the past. In that case, I might go ahead and reach out to Home Depot’s HR department and say, “Hey, did you know you guys have already raised X amount of matching gift funds in the previous year? Here’s how you can request a matching gift this year. We’re so grateful for your previous generosity.” That way. You’re already providing those resources upfront.
Host: Yeah, that seems necessary, especially if there’s any turnover in the company and some historical knowledge is lost.
I have a quick, clarifying question about your Home Depot example with the matching gift eligibility. Is that because Home Depot already has in its employee handbook that it will match charitable donations, even if they don’t necessarily have a list of organizations listed in that handbook?
Amelia Baumann: Great question. Home Depot has a list of who they’ll match to and a list of who’s eligible. I don’t know about them specifically, but some companies will match to retired employees or the spouses of employees. So, if you can provide that information to your employees upfront, it’s much easier to raise those opportunities when the rubber hits the road and somebody’s donating.
Host: Do you see that companies are good at sending out proactive communications, maybe around the holiday season? For example, the HR department may send out a quick reminder that this is in the employee handbook for those who are philanthropic at the end of the year. Are companies usually pretty proactive with that, or is that an exception?
Amelia Baumann: It depends on the company. In the tech industry, many great companies are known for their corporate social responsibility (CSR) reputation. They’re very proactive about sending out those appeals.
But in other companies, maybe not so much. It may be something they’re not thinking about with all their other Q4 priorities — they’re not sure if they’re going to send out that reminder. That’s why it’s easy to get in front of that and say, “Hey, we just want to let you know your employees are eligible, and they’ve submitted gifts in the past.”
Also, companies have end-of-year CSR reporting. Some companies are really on top of it, like Disney, which has a great CSR report. By the end of the year, they’re sending out how their social good is seen throughout the entire year. That’s a company that would be responsive when it comes to sending out those reminders.
That would be a great way to gauge that: look at their overall reputation and see what they’ve been involved in in the past. Then, decide how persistent or detailed you want to be in providing resources.
Host: Let’s move on to communication strategies. How can a nonprofit introduce corporate matching gifts in their marketing appeals?
Amelia Baumann: If you haven’t already, ask how people find you. Then, use those channels to surface matching gifts. Sometimes, people can get caught up in creating their own matching gift channel and what that looks like. That’s something you can do. But I always recommend starting out super simple and thinking about how people already find you. That might be through email campaigns, social media, direct mail, or donation checkout.
You can also use these channels to create a sense of urgency by framing it as an opportunity for donors to double their impact with Double the Donation integration. We have easy-to-use tools on donation forms that make it easy for people to check their eligibility as they donate — they’re already in that donation process.
That’s just a brief overview of how you can consider adding that to your appeals. Instead of a full campaign, it could be one or two lines, such as, “Hey, did you know your gift could be matched?”
Host: We mentioned year-end giving a few times throughout today’s episode. As a reminder, matching gifts isn’t an exclusive tactic for year-end, but it’s top of mind for us as we discuss this topic in October.
We’re just a few weeks away from the full force of year-end giving season, and we’ve already mentioned a few times throughout our conversation today how complimentary matching gifts can play, especially at this time of year. What are some additional benefits to consider when you’re thinking about including matching gifts at this time of year?
Amelia Baumann: Great question. Everybody knows the end-of-year fundraising season is a busy and charged time for charitable organizations. Research states that around 50% of nonprofits are majority-funded by end-of-year giving. And, as we’ve already mentioned, matching gifts can act as that generosity motivator. That’s so important to consider during this time. As you can imagine, there’s a lot of revenue potential to be had.
A couple of other meaningful reasons to consider matching gifts during year-end are that most companies have an eligibility window for these gifts. If I donate in 2019, my gift is probably not match-eligible. But it’s the end of the calendar year, so gifts made in January 2024 — or, if you’re listening to this in the future, gifts made in January 2025 — are still eligible to be matched until December 31 of that year.
Additionally, identifying where your donors work is an incredible data point you can use to set your organization up for success in the next year. Employment data can tell you how to structure more relevant asks and remind your donors of their specific program eligibility.
For example, I’m from Atlanta, and I know Coca-Cola has a great matching gift program. They match at a two-to-one ratio. So, if I know a lot of my donors work for this company, I might say in a donor conversation, “Hey! Did you know your company is one of the most generous companies when it comes to matching gifts? And, by the way, your gift is still eligible to be matched before the end of the year.” It’s a great way to nudge donors.
It’s also a great way to thank them. You could say something like, “Thank you so much for your generous gift. Did you know it could go twice as far?”
Those are just a few reasons why matching gifts and year-end really do go hand in hand.
Host: I love all these tips. As we wrap up today, I like to leave our listeners with a few practical takeaways. What’s one practical, tactical step a nonprofit organization can take to boost matching gift awareness?
Amelia Baumann: Yes, practical steps are always good. My first response to this question is always to consider your current matching gift strategy. What does it look like for you to hunt down those donations? Are you doing that individually? If the answer is yes — in many cases, it is yes — my first response is to suggest using some sort of software to save your team some time and make sure you’re getting the most out of every single donation.
In our integration with Allegiance Group + Pursuant, people can access the next steps for matching gifts directly from the donation form and then access their company portal from their confirmation page. That means if I’m on your donation form, I can type in my company name, whether it’s Coke or Home Depot. Then, on that confirmation page, I can access my company portal — Coca-Cola’s or Home Depot’s — and submit a matching gift right from there. If somebody doesn’t interact with that, they can rely on email automation. We have follow-up emails that make sure employees know they’re still eligible or include another link to their company’s portal. They enable donors to be reminded, especially ahead of year-end.
Aside from that process, another quick tip is to make sure you have a place on your website that chats about matching gifts. This is easy to link to in communications. If a donor is more interested in understanding what that process looks like, I would use that space to outline in depth what matching gifts are and what they’ve been able to do for you in the past. For instance, if X percentage of your donations from the previous year were for matching gifts, I would mention it there.
I’ve also seen organizations list out the top employers that match to them, and that’s an easy signal for donors. If I work for Microsoft, and I see that Microsoft is a top company that matches to your cause, that’s an instant realization that I can request a gift from them. It’s so much easier for donors to make that connection, and you can bridge the awareness gap.
Host: Well, Amelia, thank you for sharing these timely and evergreen tips about corporate matching gifts with us. This is the first time we’ve discussed corporate matching gifts on the podcast; we’ve talked about more major donor matching gifts in the past. I’m glad we could have this conversation today, and thanks for joining us.
Amelia Baumann: Thank you so much for having me, Leah. It’s been so much fun. Hopefully, this advice is timely, no matter when you’re listening to it.
