Are you looking to increase matching gift revenue but don’t have much time to invest in the programs?
If you can find just 30 minutes in your schedule, there are small adjustments that have the potential to significantly elevate your organization’s matching gift strategy. These enhancements may include:
- Publishing a matching gift post on social media.
- Implementing a matching gift CTA on your confirmation screen.
- Modifying your donation acknowledgments to promote matching gifts.
- Adding a blurb about matching gifts to your staff email signatures.
- Sharing information about matching gift companies in your area.
- Sending an email to all “Eligible but Not Submitted” donors.
- Following up with unclaimed repeat matching gifts.
- Looking into potentially miscategorized ineligible donations.
After all, maximizing matching gift revenue doesn’t need to be a lengthy or complex process. Many nonprofits miss out on this opportunity simply because they assume it will take too long or require significant resources to implement. But in reality, there are many effective and simple strategies that can drive substantial results in just a few minutes.
Let’s begin!
Method #1: Publish a matching gift post on social media.
Do you maintain Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, or Twitter accounts for your organization? More than likely, you have some combination of all four. And if so, odds are donors and members are scrolling through your messages on a regular basis, making it a particularly impactful tool when it comes to fundraising.
Take a few minutes to create a post about matching gifts. Not only will it appear on your fans’ walls today, but your matching gift post will linger on your organization’s page forever.
For a headstart, Double the Donation’s 360MatchPro users can access customizable marketing samples within the platform at no additional cost. Just choose a templated graphic, personalize it to your organization, and post it to your social accounts!
Not a 360MatchPro user yet? Click here to request a personalized demo and get up and running with our tools and resources ASAP!
And don’t forget, if you use a service to schedule messages in the future, go ahead and create a few matching gift messages to post automatically over the coming months. Regularly sharing matching gift information is key to building familiarity with—and participation in—the programs.
Time Investment Required: Ten minutes
Method #2: Implementing a matching gift CTA on your confirmation screen.
Immediately after donors hit “submit” on their gift, they’re likely redirected to a confirmation screen or thank-you page on the website. This page generally thanks individuals for their support, and often offers suggested next steps to get further involved with the organization. One key way to do so is with matching gifts.
Therefore, we recommend incorporating a prominent CTA, or call to action, on your confirmation page that encourages donors to submit a matching gift.
Highlighting the opportunity so close post-donation allows you to pick up on the donors’ heightened momentum and engagement with your cause, translating that into more matching gift submissions overall.
Time Investment Required: Ten minutes
Method #3: Modify your donation acknowledgments to promote matching gifts.
More than likely, your organization sends an acknowledgment letter or email to each individual after they give. If so, this is a great place to promote matching gifts. And since acknowledgments are generally automated, all you need to do is plug a quick blurb about matching gifts into your template or workflow. Then, it will be automatically triggered to all donors once they submit their initial gifts—driving awareness and visibility of the opportunity across your dedicated supporters.
Keep in mind that if you subscribe to Double the Donation’s matching gift service, make sure you include a link to your organization’s custom matching gift page. This makes it easy for your donors to access everything they need to submit their matching gift requests with ease.
Time Investment Required: Five minutes
Method #4: Add a blurb about matching gifts to your staff email signatures.
Email is likely one of your most essential communication channels when it comes to engaging with individual donors. As a result, your email signatures—and those of your entire fundraising team—offer valuable real estate for donor-facing promotions. And we recommend utilizing the space as an easy way to remind donors about matching gifts.
For the best results, you’ll want to link directly to your organization’s dedicated matching gifts page, complete with an embedded matching gift search tool. Otherwise, you can ask donors to “please check with your company to see if they’ll match your donation.”
Time Investment Required: Ten minutes
Method #5: Share information about matching gift companies in your area.
Promoting matching gifts to your external audience often starts with getting your internal team on board, too. While there are a ton of training resources available, one thing you can do in 30 minutes or less is send a list of top matching gift companies to your fundraising staff. You might be surprised to find out that some of your colleagues have never heard of employee matching gift programs—let alone have familiarity with the companies offering them.
While you’ll only be able to include a handful of companies representing a small percentage of companies in your area that will match donations, it can be a good way to raise awareness about the potential of matching gifts.
To kick off your research, this guide from Nonprofit Source provides an insightful look at different matching gift companies across the globe. Plus, it includes a breakdown of popular matching gift hubs by geographic region.
Time Investment Required: Fifteen minutes
Method #6: Send an email to all “Eligible but Not Submitted” donors.
Note: While the previous ideas could be completed with or without Double the Donation’s matching gift software, the next several methods focus on tools within 360MatchPro. Interested in getting started? Request a demo now!
If you subscribe to Double the Donation’s tools, there are a number of ready-built reports available within the 360MatchPro platform. One of these, called the “Eligible but Not Submitted” report, is designed to identify those who have been marked as matching gift eligible by employer but have not yet submitted their matching gift requests. Those are your best matching gift prospects, and they’re currently letting their gifts go unclaimed.
Luckily, there’s even an easy way to bulk send emails right from the dashboard, meaning you can select this segment of recipients, trigger a pre-written email, and drive submissions to completion.
Time Investment Required: Twenty minutes
Method #7: Follow up with unclaimed repeat matching gifts.
Donors who have secured a matching gift in the past are going to be significantly more likely to do so again in the future. And if they haven’t yet submitted a match for their repeat gift, a little nudge can go a long way.
Fortunately, Double the Donation has a tool for this, too! All you have to do is quickly navigate to the Repeat Donors report, select the intended recipients from the provided list, and send a bulk email letting them know that they can amplify their impact just like they’ve done before.
Time Investment Required: Twenty minutes
Method #8: Look into potentially miscategorized ineligible donations.
Sometimes, donors are marked as ineligible for matching gifts within 360MatchPro due to a company name misspelling or because they didn’t actually select a company from the dropdown list. However, by updating these records to reflect the correct place of employment, you can recategorize these individuals correctly as eligible for matching. And—you guessed it—there’s a report for that in 360MatchPro!
By navigating to the “Potentially Miscategorized Ineligible” report, your team can compare the information a donor typed (i.e., “home depot”) with Double the Donation’s best guess at the company record they meant (“The Home Depot”). From there, you’ll be able to trigger the “Match-Eligible” email stream so these recipients can access company-specific guidelines, instructions, and request forms to complete their matches with ease.
Time Investment Required: Thirty minutes
Take your matching gift efforts even further.
In just 30 minutes or less, your organization can make significant strides toward increasing its matching gift revenue—and making an even greater impact overall. By implementing these quick, targeted strategies, you not only maximize funds but also build awareness among donors about how easy it is to amplify their contributions.
Matching gifts represent a valuable yet often underutilized source of revenue. With these small, time-efficient efforts, you’ll ensure that more donors are aware, more gifts are matched, and your organization benefits more from every dollar.
Don’t let time constraints hold you back. By setting aside a bit of time to prioritize matching gifts, you’ll be able to unlock untapped funds, motivate donors to double their impact, and strengthen your organization’s overall giving strategy—all with minimal effort.
Interested in learning more about matching gift fundraising and beyond? Check out these additional resources:
