Kicking off fundraising in the new year doesn’t have to entail an overworked staff or strained resources for your organization. The solution is to use matching donations to increase your fundraising revenue and drive your first campaign of 2021.
We Were Live with Double the Donation January 2021
We chatted with Double the Donation in January 2021 about matching campaigns, new years fundraising, and more. Watch the replay or continue reading below.
Double Your Donations with Matching Gifts
Matching gifts provide the boost your kick-off campaign needs to get to the next level. They double the impact of every donation made to your organization this year and help you effortlessly reach your new year fundraising goals.
Matching gift programs are a form of corporate philanthropy in which employers match donations their employees make to nonprofit organizations like yours. Over 18 million individuals work for companies that offer matching gift programs. Yet, an estimated $4-7 billion in matching gift revenue goes unclaimed each year.
This article reviews a few simple ways to maximize matching gift revenue during your organization’s new year fundraiser:
- Boost Revenue with Matching Gift Integrations
- Drive Donor Engagement with Matching Gift Social Media Appeals
- Spark More Returns on Gratitude Messages with Matching Gift Appeals
- Create Buzz with a 2021 Matching Gifts Giving Day
- Empower 2021 Insights with Matching Gift Fundraising Data
Read on to capitalize on this oft-missed fundraising opportunity: matching gifts.
Boost Revenue with Matching Gift Integrations
With matching gift programs, employees at eligible companies can ask the company to match their charitable donations. Some companies even give at a 2:1, 3:1, or even 4:1 ratio.
When is the best time to make your donor aware of their ability to double their donation? The answer is during the donation process. Ask when they’re feeling the most connected to your organization’s mission.
Most eligible donors have no idea their company has a matching gift program. Integrating matching gift software directly into your online donation forms increases donor awareness by offering a streamlined way to access it.
Plus, donors love to know they can increase their contributions at no extra cost!
Matching gift software makes the process simple and intuitive for donors. It also increases your organization’s odds of capturing as much fundraising revenue as possible.
360MatchPro by Double the Donation offers a matching gift integration solution that allows donors to enter their employer information during the donation process. This directly links them to their employer’s matching gift forms to drive every gift match to completion.
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Drive Donor Engagement with Matching Gift Social Media Appeals
You can increase awareness of your matching gift opportunities by adding information about it to social media. Better yet, doing so can dramatically increase your donor pool.
84% of participants in a survey from The Big-Give Research Initiative said they’re more likely to donate if a match is offered!
– Corporate Giving and Matching Gift Statistics [Updated 2021]
This means you can turn viewers into donors just by mentioning matching gifts in your social media appeals.
Helpful information to provide in social media appeals can include:
- Common matching gift program guidelines
- Top matching gift companies
- Tips for checking matching gift eligibility
Your organization is likely already using social media to get the word out about your 2021 fundraising campaign. Including a brief message about matching gifts in your appeals can inspire more donors to give to your organization this year.
Spark More Returns on Gratitude Messages with Matching Gift Appeals
Donors love to know how much you value their gifts. So gratitude messages and thank-you emails are an important part of building and maintaining any donor base.
Donors contribute to your nonprofit because they feel close to your mission and want to make a difference. Gratitude messages help secure your donor’s attachment to your cause. You can make your gratitude messages do twice the work with little to no extra effort by including information on matching gifts.
When writing thank-you emails, include information on the impact every donation has had for your organization. Let your donors know what you were able to achieve last year with their valued help. In this context, matching gift appeals serve as a guided next step for donors who want to continue supporting your organization.
To enhance this kind of appeal, customize those emails to include a direct link to the donor’s employer matching gift forms. This provides donors with another chance to double their donation more directly.
Create Buzz with a 2021 Matching Gifts Giving Day
Plan an event to generate more buzz about your matching giving program. Organize a giving day drive, an allotted 24-hour window to reach a particular fundraising goal for your organization. This gives donors a sense of urgency to donate and share information about your organization in a brief time. Ideally it will also bring in a surge of donations that help your organization reach its goals, even at the start of a new year
Giving days also help to encourage fundraising on a peer-to-peer level through social media. You can use them to reach more individuals about your organization’s mission this year.
Including a focus on matching gifts can take a giving day event to a whole new level. One in three donors said they’d give a larger gift if matching is applied to their donation. So, make the most of your giving day by including information about matching gifts.
Empower 2021 Insights with Matching Gift Fundraising Data
Make sure you’re also using the powerful donation data you’ve gathered, especially from last year’s End-of-Year campaigns. Last year’s EOY campaigns can provide you with powerful insights to create more success in the new year.
The 2020 holiday season may have prompted new donors to contribute to your organization. With the right data-tracking tools you can turn those one-time donors into repeat donors and bolster your base for the new year.
360MatchPro collects and organizes data on:
- Donor names
- Donor email addresses
- Employer and match eligibility status
- Email tracking, including: which emails have been sent to donors, what emails are scheduled for sending, and even whether a donor has opened an email yet or not.
Armed with these insights, donor relationships and outreach produce more success with less effort. For example, if a donor has already submitted a matching gift request through your forms, you now have their employer information. This allows you to target matching gift outreach tailored to that donor for the duration of the year and onward.
The 360MatchPro dashboard even includes a function that allows you to track your donor progress in the matching gift submission process. This way, if they forget to finish it, you can remind them that they can still double their donation and complete the process.
Use Double the Donation with GiveWP
Don’t let your potential matching gift revenue go unclaimed this year. After all, it’s money set aside for charitable organizations like yours! Better yet, discover how to work smarter, not harder, by implementing a matching gift strategy with tools that do the heavy-lifting for you.
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