In the past year, 4.3 billion people (73% of the world’s adult population) donated their time or money or helped someone they didn’t know. Whether they’re driven by concerns about social inequality, healthcare, or climate change, people want to take action. You can bet that some of your employees do, too.
With workplace giving initiatives like donation matching, your company can team up with its employees to power generosity and generate meaningful impacts. In this guide, we’ll cover everything you need to know about donation matching programs, including:
- What Does Donation Matching Mean?
- What Are the Benefits of Matching Donations?
- Is It Challenging to Match Donations?
- How to Start an Employee Donation Matching Program
- Strong Examples of Corporate Gift Matching
Corporate giving is becoming more relevant than ever as a means of driving social change, and matching donations is the easiest way to start.
What Does Donation Matching Mean?
Donation matching is a corporate giving initiative in which a company matches the donations their employees make to charitable causes. Generally, the process involves these basic steps:
- An individual donates to a nonprofit.
- The individual checks their eligibility for a matching donation from their employer.
- The eligible employee submits a gift matching request.
- The employer reviews and approves the match request.
- The company makes its own donation to the nonprofit, typically at a dollar-for-dollar amount.
For example, if an employee gives $100 to a nonprofit, their employer would match the contribution with another $100 donation, which means the nonprofit receives $200 in total.
What Are the Benefits of Matching Donations?
The popularity of donation matching programs stems from the extensive benefits they bring to companies, nonprofits, individuals, and society as a whole. These include:
How Companies Benefit
Many companies include donation matching in their corporate social responsibility (CSR) strategy to make a commitment to improving the communities in which they operate. In doing so, they:
- Increase employee engagement. Almost three-quarters of employees believe businesses should take a public position on societal issues relevant to their industry. Employees want to know that their company supports their needs and values. By matching donations to causes they care about, companies can recruit and retain talented employees long-term.
- Earn more customer loyalty. Research reveals that 82% of shoppers want a brand’s values to align with their own, with 75% reporting that they’ve stopped supporting a brand due to conflicting values. Companies with a donation matching program stand out to socially conscious consumers, inspiring more brand loyalty.
- Enhance brand reputation. Today’s consumers know that companies can be a powerful force of societal change. A gift matching program is an easy way to fulfill this expectation and reinforce your company’s reputation as an innovative, socially responsible organization.
- Secure tax benefits. According to the IRS, donations to 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations are tax-deductible, which means companies can reduce their taxable income when they donate.
In turn, employees can make their dollars go further without giving away more of their hard-earned money. When your team knows their employment comes with opportunities to impact causes they care about, they’re much more likely to feel fulfilled in their roles.
How Nonprofits Benefit
Beyond providing more funding for their cause, donation matching programs allow nonprofits to:
- Expand reach. By promoting gift matching opportunities across their marketing channels, nonprofits can catch the attention of more potential donors. The chance to double the impact of their donation might be the extra push needed to motivate someone who was on the fence about giving.
- Secure larger gifts. When donors have the opportunity to make their dollars go twice as far, they’re likely to give more to take advantage of the expanded impact. In fact, according to Double the Donation, one in three donors say they would contribute a larger donation if they knew it would be matched and doubled by their employer.
- Build corporate partnerships. When several employees at a company care about a certain nonprofit, that company is much more likely to extend other types of support to that organization, from sponsoring events to providing pro bono services. Establishing these long-term, mutually beneficial partnerships can generate more reliable contributions and resources over time.
With an estimated $2-$3 billion donated through matching gift programs annually, nonprofits can tap into a significant funding source simply by promoting these programs to their donor base.
Is It Challenging to Match Donations?
You might be wondering: if matching donations is such a valuable opportunity, why doesn’t every company do it? How could employees not know about these programs, and why would nonprofits overlook them?
Matching donations comes with a few hurdles, but it’s easy to overcome them with the right software and support. With a workplace giving platform, you can easily:
- Set up eligibility guidelines and automate approvals.
- Encourage participation with personalized feeds and rewards.
- Track all your corporate philanthropy activity in one convenient place.
- Analyze your impact on causes across the country.
Matching donations doesn’t have to be difficult. All you need is a solid framework, intuitive software, and the passion for making a difference.
How to Start an Employee Donation Matching Program
If you’re starting from scratch, consider your specific goals and employee preferences to set your donation matching programs up for maximum engagement and impact. Follow these steps to outline and launch a program that’s built for lasting success:
1. Create guidelines for matching donations.
There’s no one way to match employee gifts. Each company designs, manages, and monitors its donation matching program in its own way.
However, to maintain consistency and transparency, it’s essential to outline all program details in an official employee-facing document from the get-go. You’ll need to set guidelines for:
Nonprofit Eligibility
Many companies limit which nonprofits are eligible to receive matching donations. For instance, some require nonprofits to be verified 501(c)(3) organizations, while others exclude religious or political causes. Depending on your company’s purpose, you might specify that you’ll only support nonprofits with certain missions, such as educational institutions or health organizations.
Matching Gift Ratio
Companies typically match donations at a 1:1 ratio, meaning an employee’s $50 donation will earn a $50 match from their employer. However, depending on your budget, you can go lower (0.5:1) or higher (2:1 or 3:1). You might even set a different match ratio for certain causes or organizations that are especially value-aligned.
Minimum and Maximum Amounts
Decide how large a donation must be to receive a corporate match from your company. For instance, you might match any gift that’s at least $15, up to $2,500. The average minimum match amount is $34, while the average maximum match is $3,728.
Employee Eligibility
Will your company only match donations made by full-time employees, or will you allow part-time employees to participate? Some programs even extend eligibility to retired employees and employee spouses.
Donation Eligibility
There are many ways to give beyond a standard credit card transaction. Will your company match non-traditional donations made by its employees? For example, you could apply donation matching to automatic payroll deductions or match stock donations by contributing the value of the stock on the day it was transferred to the nonprofit.
Submission Deadlines
Set a clear deadline for submitting match requests, such as six or 12 months after the donation date. To simplify the process, some companies set their deadline for the end of the calendar year in which the donation was made or the end of their fiscal year.
Distribution Guidelines
Consider how and when your company will disburse funds to nonprofits. Many companies have a monthly distribution schedule. If multiple employees submit matching gift requests to the same organization, decide whether you’ll combine your matches into a single donation or a separate gift per employee. In many cases, your CSR vendor will handle the distribution process for you.
2. Invest in corporate giving software.
The gift matching process has many moving parts. Your company must verify nonprofit eligibility, evaluate requests, track donations, and monitor your contributions’ overall impact. To facilitate these tasks, you need a corporate giving platform that fits your budget and needs.
The top corporate giving solution or CSR software will make it easy to:
- Donate to nonprofits and request matching gifts directly through the platform.
- Create a streamlined matching gift request form.
- Automatically approve or deny requests based on predefined criteria.
- Track employee donations alongside matching contributions.
- Distribute funds to designated nonprofits on a recurring basis.
- Access real-time reports on employee participation, donations, and impact.
Boost participation even further by choosing a platform that’s a Certified Leader in Matching Automation (CMLA-certified), like Uncommon Giving. CLMA-certificated solutions provide the industry’s most accessible and streamlined gift matching experience through auto-submission. With this feature, all employees have to do is input their company email address when donating, and a matching gift request gets automatically completed on their behalf.
Along with auto-submission, the Uncommon Giving platform offers an accessible and engaging app, individual employee wallets, in-depth impact reports, and support for a range of CSR programs.
To see the results of these powerful features, read Bloomerang’s story and learn how this company uses Uncommon Giving to automate the match request process and measure impact with real-time reporting and analytics.
3. Promote your donation matching program to employees.
To maximize employee participation in your giving programs, your company must first make them aware of these opportunities. Beyond providing your gift matching guidelines in an accessible location, such as your employee handbook and portal, promote the program via:
- A company-wide meeting or kick-off event.
- A dedicated page on your website with a program overview and FAQs.
- Email newsletters that highlight the benefits and steps involved.
- Social media posts spotlighting employee participants.
- Flyers and brochures in the office and break rooms.
To further incentivize employees to get involved, identify a nonprofit many of them are interested in supporting. Then, reach out to establish a partnership and create a custom matching gift program for that organization. If your typical match ratio is 1:1, you might match donations to this nonprofit partner at a 2:1 or even 3:1 ratio.
Or, designate specific days throughout the year during which you’ll increase your match ratio. For example, Omatic Software inspires employee participation in its streamlined donation matching program by offering increased matches on special corporate giving days, such as Giving Tuesday. Many employees who may have been considering donating to a nonprofit will jump at the opportunity to do so on a day with increased impact.
4. Measure and improve your results.
Matching donations can transform your workplace culture for the better, but any successful initiative takes time and improvement. Track metrics such as employee participation, number of donations matched, total match amount, and average donation size to assess your donation matching program’s performance over time.
From there, brainstorm improvements to boost employee engagement and amplify your program’s impact. For instance, you could:
- Expand your program criteria. If not as many employees are participating as you’d like, consider lowering your minimum match amount so it’s easier for them to donate amounts that fit their budget. Or, extend eligibility to your part-time and retired employees.
- Engage in special giving days. Depending on your company’s purpose or employee interests, consider increasing your matching ratio on special cause awareness or giving days. For example, a medical devices manufacturing company might increase donation matches on World Health Day in April and International Nurses Day in May, while a publishing company might do so on World Poetry Day in March and International Literacy Day in September.
- Celebrate employees who participate. Reinforce participation by recognizing employees who get involved. You can send animated eCards, spotlight key contributors on social media, or even invite these employees to an annual, exclusive event where they can mingle with their colleagues and learn about the impact of their donations.
- Collect feedback from employees. Tailor your donation matching program to employees’ needs and expectations by sending an annual or bi-annual survey to gather their input. Ask employees what would motivate them to participate, which causes they are most interested in supporting, and whether they have any suggestions for improving your program.
Be patient as you refine your gift matching program over time, and be upfront about the changes you decide to make. Transparency is key when managing your corporate giving programs and reporting on impact to stakeholders, from employees to customers.
Strong Examples of Corporate Gift Matching
Businesses of all sizes can launch and maintain a successful corporate gift matching program. Explore how these leading companies approach donation matching to set your own program up for success:
Vertex Pharmaceuticals
As a biopharmaceutical company dedicated to researching medicines for serious diseases, Vertex empowers its employees to make an impact through its matching gift and employee volunteering programs. When it comes to matching donations, Vertex offers:
- A 1:1 match ratio
- Eligibility for all full- and part-time employees
- $5,000 maximum match amount per employee each year
In 2024, Vertex and its employees contributed nearly $5.5 million to over 2,500 nonprofits worldwide. Additionally, the company has an annual Day of Service, during which it encourages employees to give back to their communities by signing up for team volunteering opportunities.
Mission Wealth
Every year, Mission Wealth donates a percentage of its profits to around 150 nonprofits worldwide. Beyond that, the company’s donation matching program offers employees up to $2,000 in matches per year.
The company’s main charitable focus areas are environmental protection, health and human services, youth and education, and financial literacy. Since Mission Wealth has offices located across the country, it provides team volunteering events and philanthropic budgets for each area. Its volunteer time off (VTO) policy makes it easy for employees to contribute their time and energy to nonprofits without sacrificing their hard-earned free time.
RingCentral
RingCentral, a cloud-based communication company, focuses its CSR strategy on environmental impact, social initiatives, and governance practices. Through its 1:1 donation matching program, the company and its employees have contributed over $420,000 to charitable causes in its community. Throughout the year, employees can even take advantage of special double and no-limit matching opportunities.
In addition to matching donations, RingCentral provides product discounts and donations to registered nonprofits. Plus, when employees volunteer a certain number of hours with an eligible organization, the company donates to that organization as part of its Dollars for Doers program.
Wrapping Up: Taking Your Impact Beyond Matching Donations
Starting a donation matching program opens the door for increased engagement and impact for your company, but you don’t have to stop there. As your program expands and thrives, explore initiatives such as Dollars for Doers, payroll deductions, and company-wide volunteering events. With a comprehensive workplace giving platform like Uncommon Giving, you’ll have all the tools to manage and streamline these opportunities at your fingertips.
If you’d like to learn more about corporate giving programs and the tools that facilitate them, check out these additional resources:
- What Is Workplace Giving? 5 Steps to Boost Engagement. Explore the ins and outs of workplace giving and how your company can develop programs employees can’t wait to participate in.
- 11+ Best CSR Software for Impact, Engagement, and ROI. Discover the industry-leading software solutions that will help your company stand out as a CSR leader.
- 12 Top Corporate Volunteering Platforms for Making an Impact. Want to engage your employees in volunteering? Find the right tools to support your efforts.
Andy Howell is the CEO of Uncommon Giving, which provides modern, cost-effective workplace giving and volunteering tools for employers to live their corporate values, improve employee morale, and enhance brand reputation. Andy has years of experience working with SaaS companies serving the nonprofit, HR, and social impact spaces, including Blackbaud, Benevity, Benefitfocus, and Bloomerang. He has served as a featured speaker at the DisruptHR conference, and his company was recognized as one of the best tech startups in South Carolina by the Tech Tribune multiple years running. In his role today, he brings a distinct point of view to the meaningful connection between CSR and employee engagement.
