Matching programs make donors feel great about the value they’re offering nonprofits. These programs also enable companies to donate funds in a meaningful way and in support of nonprofit organizations. Everybody wins with matching gifts, but it can be extremely difficult for nonprofits to administer these programs and capitalize on all corporate matching opportunities, leading to missed opportunities.
The startling reality is that nearly 7 billion in corporate matching dollars are left on the table each year. And from a psychological standpoint, 1 in 3 donors would increase their giving amount if they knew corporate matching applied to their donation.
Amply is pre-integrated with over a dozen donation processing and CRM platforms, so you can centralize all your matching and status data.
To provide additional assistance in maximizing your matching gift donations, we have identified some proven tactics you can use to boost donations that qualify for matching and increase the amount raised.
- Educate your donors
First and foremost, nonprofits must educate donors about matching gifts in a clear and concise manner. Donors are busy people. They’re juggling home, business and philanthropy all at once. And they’re probably on your website to just get the job done.
You only have a few seconds to educate your donors about corporate matching programs. Make it clear and concise so that your donors will take advantage of the opportunity. Once they select the option for matching, make the next steps apparent and easy-to-follow to ensure you get those matching funds. Plus, the more obvious you can be about corporate matching and what’s available to the donor, the more likely they’ll be to increase their donation.
Additionally, donors need reminders about matching gifts. Even if donors have given to your organization before, they might not remember to input information for corporate matching. And, if the donor makes an offline gift, they’ll need to provide information about their employer to ensure that gift is matched.
- Add company search feature to your website
A simple way to ensure you maximize matching gifts is to have a search feature on your website where donors can input their company name and learn if their donation is eligible for corporate matching. You should add the is website or a vanity URL to all offline fundraising channels and make it accessible from your homepage.
Using a matching gift widget like Amply can ensure you never miss matching gift opportunities and your donor doesn’t skip over the information because it’s too complicated. By answering just a couple of questions, donors can amplify their gift through corporate matching and your nonprofit can increase online revenue 10-20 percent on average.
- Use Amply’s auto-complete forms and instant follow up
Furthermore, matching gifts must be simple for the donors. If your matching gift process takes additional follow-up after your donor has sent their gift, you’re less likely to collect these funds. You have to make the matching gift process incredibly simple for the donor.
Amply has digitized all paper forms to simplify the form submission process to an easy sign and go system. This way there are fewer boxes a donor has to complete in the form and no additional follow-up is required by you or your donors.
- Update your profile with matching gift vendors
It is important to build quality relationships with corporate partners. Take the time to update your profile on sites like Guidestar, which companies use to offer giving choices to employees. Other matching gift vendors like Benevity and YourCause also have a basic profile for your organization. Make sure you log on to claim your nonprofit and update your profile on those sites.
Consider adding information about the impact your organization has in the community and why a donor should support your work. Make a plan to review your profile quarterly, especially for companies you see make up a good portion of your corporate support.
- Engage your matching gift donors to grow corporate partnerships
Another benefit of corporate matching gifts is that you’ll have more background and information about donors and the places they work. Having employee support is a great first step to getting other support from a company. Using Amply’s Top Company List gives you a personalized quick reference for companies that should become a regular part of your special event and Gala solicitations. Reach out to your donors to help navigate their companies for greater support, such as corporate sponsorships or volunteering opportunities.
A donor who donates to your cause regularly has a passion for what you do and might be seeking additional ways to get involved. Invite them to an event, rally or volunteer opportunity to learn more about your organization. The more involved they get, the better you can solidify your relationship with them. And once you have a relationship with the individual, you can work to learn more about their corporate social responsibility team to grow closer to the organization as a whole.
- Plan and grow your fundraising
Finally, it’s important to keep close tabs on corporate matching funds to reduce processing time and offer clarity to your leadership team about what resources you can expect and where there may be opportunities for growth. Connect with your Board members and leadership donors to see where they work and use our corporate databases to inform them of possible matching gift opportunities. The more you know about your donors, the better you can connect them with meaningful ways to give and use matching as a way to “step up a donor” to the next leadership donor level.
Contact Amply to learn more about how we can help you collect more donations through corporate matching and track every dollar that comes into your organization.
