Double Your Donations with Matching Gifts

There are so many ways to enhance giving, but what if you could double it? Corporate matching gift programs essentially double an employee’s initial donation to an eligible nonprofit organization, like your parish, but are often overlooked. You could be missing out on many opportunities to match your donations.

- According to Double the Donation an estimated $4-$7 billion in matching gifts goes unclaimed per year.

- 78% of match-eligible donors have no idea whether their company offers a matching gift program.

- Only 7% of donors at companies with matching gift programs actually submit a match request.

Companies of all shapes and sizes have created matching gift programs to give back to nonprofits and encourage employee philanthropy. The process for requesting and receiving matching gifts is quite simple, but many nonprofits are still unclear on the best way to pursue or promote this untapped fundraising goldmine.

Every company has its own set of stipulations and may not match gifts to religious organizations. However, it never hurts to encourage parishioners to inquire if their organization will match their gift, especially if the gift is made to a capital campaign element or towards a school project.

Best Practices

Continually Educate parishioners – include educational text on your web page, in the bulletin, and all other parish communications

Include matching gift text on all donation forms - offertory promotional info, capital campaigns, fundraisers, galas, auctions, etc…

Send a matching gift reminder email to those who contribute

Include matching gift information in your acknowledgements - Sample Text: Did you know that many corporations offer employee giving programs where they match donations to nonprofit organizations. Check with your employer to see if your gift to our parish is eligible for a match. You could double your contribution!

or...“If your employer has a Matching Gifts program, please show this acknowledgement to the program administrator and ask them to match your donation and send the necessary documentation to: "

Promote Matching Gifts

Encourage matching gifts as donors are making initial contributions - you can let parishioners know about matching gifts by incorporating an optional field on your donation or online giving page.

One effective way is to include a matching gift search tool on your website - as a way for parishioners to check if their employer supplies matching gifts without having to leave your page.

For example - https://ww2.matchinggifts.com/search/rit

Promote matching gifts on social media

Don't forget bulletins, webpages and flocknote communications

Source: https://doublethedonation.com/tips/matching-grant-resources/matching-gift-statistics/