8 Matching Gift Trends to Boost Revenue for Nonprofits & Higher Education Institutions

If you’re a nonprofit or higher education institution, you’ve likely had to get a lot more creative in your fundraising efforts as of late. With everyone looking for new solutions to similar issues, it’s also key to keep abreast of industry trends and see how others are successfully adapting to changing times.

But you don’t need to reinvent the wheel. In fact, you may already have what you need waiting in your donor database.

Here are 8 matching gift trends that can help boost revenue for your organization:

1. Donors Are Increasingly Unaware of Matching Gift Programs

If you ask the average donor if their employer offers a matching gift program, the odds are that they won’t know. It is usually not covered in a benefits program and unless HR is promoting this as an option, people won’t know and likely won’t take the initiative to find out. Which is why organizations are educating donors on what a matching gift is and how to find out if they are eligible. Even better, some organizations are doing the heavy lifting for donors and checking employers in a database.

2. Large Companies Are Expanding Their Matching Gift Programs

The changing times have proven to work in favor of non-profits and higher education institutions. Large companies are expanding their matching gift programs to include larger donations and opportunities for giving. Companies such as Google and Facebook have garnered multiple headlines for their matching gift donation opportunities.

3. Smaller Companies Are Starting Matching Gift Programs

Every single day, more and more small companies are starting matching gift programs. The pandemic hasn’t caused companies to miss a beat. It’s built into the values of the staff and companies themselves. People want to work for employers who value community and altruism, and this has made CSR much more than just a corporate buzz term.

4. Matching Gift Automation Is Becoming the Norm

Organizations are realizing that manually tracking matching gifts is time-consuming and prone to errors. As a result, many are turning to automated solutions that integrate with their existing systems to streamline the process, ensuring no matching gift opportunities are missed.

5. Increased Focus on Donor Education

Nonprofits and educational institutions are investing more in educating their donors about matching gifts. This includes providing information on their websites, in newsletters, and during fundraising events, ensuring donors are aware of the potential to double their impact.

6. Integration with Online Donation Platforms

To make the process seamless, organizations are integrating matching gift tools directly into their online donation platforms. This allows donors to check their eligibility and initiate the matching gift process at the point of donation.

7. Personalized Follow-Up Strategies

Recognizing that donors may need reminders, organizations are implementing personalized follow-up strategies. Automated emails and communications are sent to eligible donors, guiding them through the matching gift submission process.

8. Leveraging Data Analytics

By analyzing donor data, organizations can identify patterns and opportunities for matching gifts. This data-driven approach helps in targeting communications and maximizing the potential of matching gift programs.

By staying informed about these trends and implementing strategies that align with them, nonprofits and higher education institutions can significantly boost their revenue through matching gifts.

Automating the Matching Gift Proces

Matching gifts are a straightforward, surefire way to boost fundraising revenue. But for many organizations, it is an underutilized revenue tactic due to the manual resources it requires.

You’ve done all the hard work of securing a donation – so why not double it for free?

Here are a few things you can do to automate your matching gifts process:

Promote matching gifts at the point of donation.

Did you know that 80% of matching gift-eligible donors do not know their company will match their gift?

Promoting matching gifts at the point of donation is your best opportunity to double a gift, because 84% of donors say they’re more likely to donate if a match is offered.

Give donors the opportunity to quickly search to see if their employer offers a matching gift program and whether or not their donation is eligible.

Clients who use the eMatch Donor Link, an embedded search tool with HEPdata’s Matching Gift Solutions, can look up their employer before, during, and after a gift to see if their company will match.

Once the donor selects their employer, the search tool populates the company’s matching gift policy and guidelines that include minimum and maximum gift amount, eligible employees, contact information for submitting paperwork, and more.

Modernize your matching gift database.

The old way of determining whether a donor was matching gift-eligible is time-consuming and labor-intensive. For each donation, organizations had to look up the donor in the database, see who their employer was, and look up their matching gift policy in your company database or do your own research to find out if an employer has a program.

HEPdata lets users tap into our proprietary Auto Match database of 23,000 corporate matching gift policies that are updated in real-time. This database enables your staff to focus on driving donations instead of manual, time-consuming research and data entry.

Append donors’ employer information.

Research shows that 20% of a donor database will experience a change in job title or employer within one year.

Without the right tools, job changes and other employee-related challenges can create barriers for your team when you’re trying to maintain database accuracy.

Without this employer information for your donors, you are likely missing out on understanding your true matching gift potential. Using HEPdata’s data enrichment services, you can append up-to-date employer names and job titles to your donor records.

Set automatic email reminders until the paperwork is complete.

As a follow-up from the donation, schedule automated emails to remind donors to complete and submit the required paperwork to get their gift matched. Helpful resources to include in these emails are the company match policies, guidelines, and contact information.

Organizations that use HEPdata can manage all their matching gift-related emails in one place with a quick, one-time setup. The email feature lets you configure your reminder emails’ look, feel, and timing and populate all the information your donor needs to submit their paperwork.

Once a donor clicks the button in the reminder emails to mark the paperwork complete, all the organization has to do is wait for a check to arrive.

Automate matching gift reporting.

It can be challenging to report on matching gifts, much less automate the process when so many systems are in the mix.

Auto Match’s seamless integrations with your fundraising software and processing system make it easy to report on matching gifts, including potential matching gift amounts and an average donation. Auto Match also automatically generates reports for your reminder emails so you can track engagement indicators such as clicks, opens, and unsubscribes.

Bonus: Sync CRM to Auto Match.

Once a donation gets processed through your organization’s CRM, Auto Match will flag the gift and whether that donor works for a matching gift company, then send the matching gift opportunity over to the HEPdata Auto Match portal to activate the workflows.

This automation gives your team the ability to identify previously anonymous matching gift revenue from online and offline giving.

Learn more about HEPdata Matching Gift Solutions

Would you like to see some of these tools in action or uncover your organization’s matching gift potential? HEPdata can run a Matching Gift Scorecard on a sample file from your donor database for free to see how much matching gift revenue you could be leaving on the table or give you a demo of HEPdata Matching Gift Solutions including Auto Match and Match Lookup. Contact us to learn more.

The Matching Gift Strategy You Want Might Not Be The One You Need

Almost weekly, I get told by fundraising and nonprofit organizations, “I want to do what (insert organization name) is doing to raise more matching gift funds.”

The belief is that if they work with the same vendor and use the same data and technology, their results will be the same. The truth is, maybe they will be, maybe they won’t.

Why?

The general rule is that 10% of donors are matching gift eligible, so the common assumption is that 10% of your fundraising revenue should come from matching gifts. But think of all the other variables that make your organization different from the one you admire. Things like location, demographics, how you engage your constituents, fundraising campaigns, and even your mission all play into your potential for matching gift revenue.

This common assumption has formed the entire basis for HEPdata’s Matching Gift Solution set. Instead of a one-size-fits-all approach, we’ve developed a customizable solution tailored to your organization’s unique needs.

What platforms are you using?

The fundraising tools you use—digital engagement, peer-to-peer, day of giving, calling software, and general online donation platforms—all play a massive part in your ability to reach fundraising goals. Making matching gifts part of every fundraising conversation ensures maximum exposure and integration into your donation processes.

HEPData Matching Gift Solutions offer an easy-to-use platform that identifies matching-gift-eligible donors, tracks their donations, and automatically follows up until paperwork is complete. Implementing HEPdata can free up significant staff hours and provide a reliable, consistent revenue stream. Most organizations see a 53% increase in matching gift revenue in the first year.

How does your data look?

Employment data isn’t always readily available or easy to maintain, yet knowing a donor’s employer is critical for matching gift identification. HEPdata helps by screening constituent data to identify eligible matching gift donors proactively.

For example, consider an organization with 10,000 constituents. Typically, around 10% are matching gift eligible. Initially, you’d identify about 1,000 opportunities. With additional employer screenings provided by HEPdata, you can uncover even more eligible donors, significantly boosting your matching gift revenue.

Matching gifts require timely attention

Corporate matching programs often include deadlines. If an employee donation isn’t matched within a set period (usually one year), the opportunity expires. HEPdata ensures timely follow-ups to prevent missed revenue.

Customize donor engagement to build loyalty

84% of donors say they’re more likely to give when a match is available. HEPdata allows complete customization of branding, messaging, and timing, enabling tailored donor communication strategies that maximize responses and build loyalty.

The bottom line

Proactively managing matching gifts can significantly boost fundraising outcomes, but success requires tailored solutions. HEPdata provides comprehensive tools to make matching gifts a cornerstone of your fundraising strategy, helping your organization achieve—and exceed—your fundraising goals.

To learn more about HEPdata’s Matching Gift Solutions and see how we can help your organization grow matching gift revenue, contact us today.