5 Tips and Examples to Help Market Your Matching Gifts

Marketing matching gifts can sometimes be a lower priority for many nonprofits. The reasons for this include not having the:

• Time or resources to pursue gift matches from donors
• Personnel available to perform outreach, or not
• Understanding of the immense value matching gifts can offer in nonprofit fundraising strategies.

Because of this, billions of dollars in matching gift funds go unmatched every year. As partners, Classy and Double the Donation are trying to change that.

Double the Donation, the leading provider of matching gift and volunteer grant solutions, hosts the most comprehensive matching gift database with information on thousands of companies and their matching gift programs. Here’s how you can use Double the Donation’s database:

1. The donor donates to a nonprofit and is prompted to search for their employer in a company search tool embedded on the page.
2. The donor searches for their company and, if they are match eligible through their company, will see the instructions for submitting a match request.
3. The donor submits the match request.
4. The donor’s employer reaches out to the nonprofit to verify the donation.
5. The donor’s employer submits their match.

One of their solutions includes 360MatchPro by Double the Donation, software that automates much of the identification, promotion, and data collection processes.

If users don’t provide their employer information while submitting a donation, 360MatchPro can search based on other self-identification factors, such as email domains. Once the platform has determined whether a donor is match eligible or not, it will automatically send out communication to those donors (that your nonprofit composes!) citing next steps.

Users of Classy’s donation tools can now activate 360MatchPro on the back end as well. This can significantly boost the amount of match-eligible donors who submit a request to their company.

While automation makes a huge impact, there are additional matching gift marketing tips you can use to inform your strategy and supplement your outreach. In this article, we’ll cover our top avenues:

• Confirmation Pages
• Dedicated Matching Gift Pages
• Email
• Social Media
• Direct Mail

Below, we’ll take a closer look at these matching gift marketing tips. Let’s dive in!

5 Matching Gift Marketing Tips

1. Confirmation Pages

When it comes to marketing matching gifts, it’s important to target the moment when your supporters are most engaged. For that reason, marketing matching gifts directly on your donation page’s confirmation screen is a great way to boost your matching gift revenue.

Donors are already engaged with your cause and are considering completing a donation if they’re on your donation page. Right afterward is an opportune time to raise matching gift awareness, when they’re most receptive.

The simplest thing to do is to modify the wording on your confirmation page. Tell donors why, and how, they should submit a matching gift request.

Try wording like this real-world example from the Leukemia-Lymphoma Society:

As you can see from this example, it’s important to explain not only why matching gifts are important (“last year we raised $7.8 million from matching gift programs”) but also how donors can participate (“visit our matching gift page to see if your company will match your gift and to access the forms, guidelines, and instructions to submit your match”).

Many donors who are eligible for matching gifts don’t know they are, so you need to provide them with a way to check their eligibility and get clear instructions for participating.

2. Dedicated Matching Gift Pages

Beyond featuring your company search tool within your donation process, there are other ways you can educate your supporters about matching gifts and raise awareness. After all, you want to make sure that your donors know about their matching gift eligibility, not just when they’re donating. One of the best ways to accomplish this wide-spread awareness is through a dedicated matching gift page on your nonprofit’s website.

For example, you can create a matching gift page that provides donors with company-specific matching gift forms, guidelines, and instructions. Then, your nonprofit can share this with your supporters.

This is a great resource for promoting matching gifts, so be sure to make it as informative and comprehensive as possible. Take a look at how ASPCA built their matching gift page.

ASPCA’s page offers a helpful summary of matching gifts and their impact, and then incorporates Double the Donation’s company search tool. Visitors will be able to check their matching gift eligibility and their company’s instructions anytime before, during, and after the donation process.

3. Email Outreach

Email is most closely tied to the automation capabilities offered by 360MatchPro by Double the Donation. Those automated emails reach every donor who gives through your Classy forms, even if the donor doesn’t know they’re eligible for matching gift programs.

Beyond automating outreach, however, you can also take advantage of the regular emails or newsletters you send to donors.

Be sure to educate your donors and raise awareness around matching gifts by including prominent calls-to-action and encouraging your supporters to check their eligibility with their employers.

For example, the National Kidney Foundation sent out this excellent email with a prominent button leading to the company search tool:

Promote matching gifts either in a dedicated email or as a section in your newsletter, and you’ll set your nonprofit up to boost its donation revenue and bring in more gift matches.

4. Social Media

For donors who aren’t as inclined to open regular emails or newsletters, social media serves as a great way to reach out and educate them about matching gifts. Cover all of your bases by reaching those who spend much of their time each day on social media.

You can do this by scheduling posts for your social media pages that include matching gift reminders throughout the year. Take another example from the National Kidney Foundation:

This Facebook post offers useful information about corporate matching gift programs and features a direct link to their matching gifts page. By scheduling regular posts like this throughout the year, you’ll reach individuals on the platforms they’re constantly using anyway, driving in more matching gift requests from an audience that may not be as receptive to more traditional marketing methods.

5. Direct Mail

While some may think that direct mail isn’t as effective, it’s still an impactful communication method, especially for major donors or older supporters. Plus, it’s more effective when combined with online marketing strategies.

Just as you would mail thank-you letters and information about your nonprofit to supporters, supplement these letters with matching gift promotional material.

Diversifying your marketing channels to include direct mail, can expose as many donors on as many communication platforms as possible. Check out this postcard from the Florida Institute of Technology:

The postcard includes a direct link to the institution’s matching gift page and offers a straightforward explanation of how to use it. This is a simple way to make the case! Expand your audience by using as many channels as you can to communicate about matching gifts, including direct mail, and you’ll see more results than if you had only used one or two channels.

Marketing your nonprofit’s matching gifts can be easier than you may think. With the right tools and approach, you’ll be more likely to drive matching gift requests through to completion and see a boost in your fundraising results.

Remember to use these matching gift marketing tips to inform your strategy, and consider all the possible channels you can reach your audience. Download our guide below and find out how you can use matching gifts as a critical touch point in your annual communications with donors.

Adam Weinger is the President of Double the Donation, the leading provider of tools to nonprofits to help them raise more money from corporate matching gift and volunteer grant programs. Connect with Adam via email or on LinkedIn.