Corporate Gift-Matching Software: A Must-Have Fundraising Tool
By now, you understand that the value of fundraising cannot be overstated—and that the best ways to collect funds are constantly evolving. As more organizations utilize pieces of the ever-expanding nonprofit technology landscape, you want to be sure your team is equipped with the right tools to provide an optimal experience for your supporters. Today that includes corporate gift-matching software!
Think of it this way: you likely already have a combination of donation tool, event management solution, donor database, and/or peer-to-peer giving platform in your nonprofit or school’s tech stack. With the right tools and resources, your team is set to make the most of existing revenue streams. And corporate gift-matching software allows you to add another valuable component to your existing fundraising experience.
But how can you know if it’s right for you and your team? We’ll cover everything you need to make an informed decision on this type of solution. This includes:
- Types of Corporate Gift-Matching Software to Know
- Key Benefits of Corporate Gift-Matching Software For Nonprofits
- What to Look For in a Corporate Matching Gift Software Solution
- Our Top Gift-Matching Solution: 360MatchPro by Double the Donation
If you haven’t already, the next step in your journey to fundraising excellence begins with implementing the right corporate gift-matching software. Do so, and watch your impact multiply.
Types of Corporate Gift-Matching Software to Know
Corporate gift-matching software can be sorted into two distinct categories. These include the following types of platforms:
Nonprofit Matching Gift Fundraising Software
Matching gift fundraising software serves as a dynamic tool that enhances the matching gift experience for nonprofits and donors alike. These software solutions generally aim to streamline the identification of match-eligible donations and drive more matching gift requests to completion.
The process looks something like this:
1. An organization integrates a matching gift tool with its online donation tool or CRM. This typically includes adding a company search widget on the giving page and a matching gifts plugin on the confirmation screen.
2. When an individual donates using the organization’s giving page, they’re prompted to enter their employer’s name in an optional search field.
3. After submitting their gift, the matching gift software screens the information for indicators of matching gift eligibility (e.g., corporate email addresses, company names, etc.).
4. On the confirmation screen, the user is provided with their company’s program information in real time, allowing them to access direct links to their online submission forms and view details such as minimum and maximum donation amounts, match ratios, and submission deadlines.
5. In the hours, days, or weeks following an individual’s donation, the matching gift platform triggers personalized donation follow-ups.
Complete with the same program details and online form links, the recipient is encouraged to take the outlined steps in order to secure a matching gift for the organization.
Corporate Matching Gift Management Software
On the other hand, CSR (or corporate social responsibility) software is often used by companies to manage their employee giving programs, in which matching gifts are generally included. This also means it can be considered a corporate gift-matching software of sorts!
The key difference with this type of platform is that it’s primarily designed for corporations offering matching gift programs rather than nonprofits benefiting from matching gift programs.
When an employee wants to request a matching gift, they’re encouraged to log into their employer’s matching gift portal. There, they can complete the submission process, which often involves providing details about themself, their recent donation, and the organization to which they’ve given.
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However, organizations on the receiving end interact with these solutions, too—so it’s a good idea for your team to be familiar with the platforms. After all, it’s how your nonprofit verifies donations to complete its part in the matching gift process.
Be sure to create an organization profile for each of the main platforms to enable donors to easily select and request a matching gift for your cause!
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Top tip: Keep an eye out for CSR platforms offering groundbreaking auto-submission functionality in partnership with Double the Donation. When a donor works for a company that has enabled auto-submission, they’re able to complete their request directly from an organization’s giving page—no separate submission process required!
Key Benefits of Corporate Gift-Matching Software For Nonprofits
A matching gift solution has the potential to completely transform an organization’s matching gift fundraising efforts—and produce monumental results. The tangible impact is multifold, ranging from increased fundraising efficiency to enhanced donor engagement and beyond.
Check out a few of the most noteworthy benefits here:
Gift-Matching Software Drives Additional Fundraising Revenue
As a nonprofit professional, you’re likely always on the lookout for new and exciting ways to increase revenue and do more good. While there are many effective funding methods available to your cause, incorporating gift-matching software can be an excellent place to start.
For one thing, a matching gift platform drives more matching gift submissions to completion than the industry average. As a result, studies show that organizations using an automation tool see an estimated 61% growth in matching gift funds. Plus more than 1% growth in total fundraising revenue. That supplemental corporate giving can have a substantial impact on your cause!
And that’s not even taking into account additional generosity by individual donors as a result of matching gift opportunities. The same research indicates that 84% of supporters are more likely to give if a match is offered, while 1 in 3 would give a larger gift overall.
Gift-Matching Software Reduces Administrative Overhead
One significant advantage for organizations using corporate gift-matching software is the efficiency gained throughout the fundraising workflow. With the automation of matching gift identification, outreach, tracking, and more, the need for manual matching gift activities by fundraising staff is significantly reduced.
Minimizing the administrative overhead then enables your team to preserve its time and energy. Not to mention scale up the financial impact and maximize the return on your fundraising investment. Then, the excess resources can be reallocated into other valuable tasks for your mission.
Gift-Matching Software Enhances Donor Engagement
Implementing corporate gift-matching software is a win-win for you and your donors. In addition to providing ample funding for your cause, the tool also significantly enriches the giving experience for your donors.
A matching gift solution empowers supporters to multiply their impact on your cause without asking for a greater contribution. This ultimately facilitates a deeper connection between the donor and the mission they care about.
Not to mention, a key facet of matching gift software is its automated donor outreach. It should be no surprise that personalized communication capabilities foster increased donor engagement—and retention—in the long run!
Gift-Matching Software Opens Doors For Corporate Partnerships
A gift-matching solution can play a pivotal role in unlocking partnerships for nonprofits or schools like yours—and not only in terms of corporate matching gifts. One of the primary ways matching gift software facilitates corporate relationships is by strategically collecting employment data from an organization’s donors. In addition to discovering available matching gift programs, these insights can also point to broader corporate relationship potential.
For example, imagine you see 100 donors work for the same employer without an existing matching gift program. In this scenario, you might have an opportunity to pitch a mutually beneficial partnership (e.g., a custom matching gift program!) to the company.
Remember: you’ll want to cite your shared audiences as a primary motivator for the relationship—and maybe even ask a donor employed by the company to facilitate a warm introduction.
What to Look For in a Corporate Matching Gift Software Solution
The right corporate gift-matching software can help your organization collect more funds through corporate giving avenues, better engage its donors, and save invaluable staff time and resources.
As you embark on a journey to select the ideal solution, it’s essential to know what you should be looking for. Here’s what we recommend keeping an eye out for in your search!
A Comprehensive Database of Corporate Program Information
If you’re going to provide a matching gift database, you want to ensure your team and your supporters will find the information they need. An inaccurate, outdated, or poorly designed search tool won’t do much to aid donors in the matching gift request process. In fact, it might even introduce new—and unnecessary—obstacles.
Instead, look for the most comprehensive compilation of corporate matching gift information possible. As a frame of reference, Double the Donation’s database consists of more than 24,000 company policy records, which cover nearly 27,000,000 employees. That translates to an estimated 99.68% likelihood of a match-eligible individual being able to locate their program information!
Meanwhile, a quick look at an alternate database solution indicates that it provides only 1/6th of the company records that Double the Donation does.
Streamlined Search Functionality to Identify Matching Opportunities
A key feature of optimized gift-matching software is a user-friendly search field that streamlines and simplifies the matching gift process. After all, having a convoluted giving (or matching gift) experience is a quick way for a nonprofit to lose a donor.
With an intuitive search bar located directly on the donation page, though, the individual can easily identify their employer and complete their gift in one place. For example, 360MatchPro’s dynamic search tool auto-completes and suggests employers for the user to select straight from the form.
Meanwhile, affinaquest’s HEPdata tool requires users to enter the name of their employer in full, click a link from the online donation page, re-type their employer’s name in full, click the “search” button, and choose the appropriate company from a list of 20+ results.
And in order to judge the search tools’ accuracy, we conducted a sample search for the company “Apple.” Using HEPdata’s widget, an Apple Inc. policy comes up as #7 from the suggested search results. Meanwhile, Apple Inc. populates in 360MatchPro as the top result as soon as the user types the first three letters of the company name!
Top tip: Consider also how a solution handles subsidiaries, alternate spellings, and even typos to ultimately provide the user with the correct company listing.
Formalized Integration Processes For Simple Implementation
In order to best benefit from a matching gift automation platform, you’ll want to ensure it’s seamlessly integrated into your fundraising ecosystem. Fortunately, your matching gift software provider might offer a native or ready-built integration option to do exactly so.
In that case, the technology implementation process is generally quick, efficient, and easy to execute. This means your team can get up and running with the tool in no time, even without a dedicated tech expert or consultant.
For example, Double the Donation offers extensive (and well-documented) integration options that include nearly all of the leading donation platforms, peer-to-peer tools, CRMs, and more. As a result, there’s a greater likelihood that you’ll have an easy way to connect the software to the tools your team already uses, which helps facilitate a smooth transition and seamless implementation into your fundraising workflows.
Automated Yet Personalized Matching Gift Outreach
Sometimes, a donor will exit the completed donation form without taking steps to request their matching gift—and, unfortunately, many do. This makes it incredibly crucial for your gift-matching tool to point donors in the right direction after the fact.
With an automation platform, for example, your team typically has the ability to re-engage supporters and remind them about the opportunity without lifting a finger. And that’s using matching gift outreach flows!
Ideally, gift-matching software allows organizations to do the following:
- Automate follow-up emails that are sent according to an established cadence in a timely manner post-donation;
- Empower donors to initiate the gift-matching process right from the email with direct links to submission portals and digital forms;
- Personalize messaging to include an individual’s name, donation information, employer name, and relevant program details;
- Update individual records as donors indicate they’ve completed their submissions.
P.S. Studies show that emails sent in the first 24 hours after a donation have a 53% open rate. That’s 2-3 times higher than the average nonprofit email rate!
Data that Drives Results (Securely!)
Finally, a gift-matching platform also has the potential to provide organizations with unique and powerful insights directly from their donors. This might mean tracking match reminder open rates, gifts by eligibility type, commonly selected employers, or even submissions moving through the conversion funnel. Once collected, the data allows fundraising teams to refresh their donor records and adjust communication strategies as they see fit.
However, with great data comes great responsibility. That’s why it’s absolutely imperative that your gift-matching software prioritizes data security to protect your donors’ personal information. For example, Double the Donation builds its platform using best-in-class security protocols such as AES-256 data encryption, vulnerability scanning, intrusion detection software, and more. As a result, it has achieved SOC 2 Type II compliance with an unqualified opinion, which reflects the platform’s ongoing commitment to donor data security.
Our Top Gift-Matching Solution: 360MatchPro by Double the Donation
We’ve shown you what to look for in a premier matching gift solution. But if you’re looking for our opinion on the best software out there, we recommend Double the Donation’s complete automation platform, 360MatchPro.
Among the various options (and we’ve reviewed them all if you’d like to take a closer look at the comparison), Double the Donation’s 360MatchPro stands out. Its all-encompassing features and advanced workflows include:
- Numerous screening methods that identify and triage donors by matching gift eligibility in order to inform tailored engagement strategies
- The most comprehensive matching gift company database, covering more than 99% of match-eligible donors and their employers
- Personalized email outreach (and SMS for Enterprise-level users) that informs and reminds nonprofit supporters about matching gift opportunities
- Widespread integration options that make incorporating matching gifts into your existing fundraising ecosystem a breeze
- Groundbreaking auto-submission functionality that empowers donors to submit their matching gift requests directly from an organization’s giving page, thus eliminating roadblocks and boosting completed matches
- Insightful tracking and reporting capabilities that allow your team to identify stuck matches, stay in touch with donors throughout the process, and forecast incoming revenue
With this tool, you can unlock the full potential of corporate philanthropy, ensuring no matching gift opportunity falls by the wayside. It’s especially the perfect choice for organizations aiming to scale up their gift-matching endeavors without investing a ton of time and effort into their strategies.
Check out this two-minute overview to learn more about the leading corporate gift-matching software for nonprofits and education institutions:
Interested in the benefits such a tool can bring your organization?
Get a demo to see the software in action!
Concluding Thoughts
Corporate matching gifts provide a substantial yet consistently underutilized form of nonprofit funding. And a look at philanthropy trends indicates that the extent of available programs only continues to grow, with new companies matching employee gifts every day.
Thus, corporate gift-matching software is a strategic investment in the future of your fundraising efforts.
Adding a solution to your toolkit allows you to maximize the value of every donation and propel your nonprofit toward heightened success. As you navigate the matching gift landscape and determine what’s right for your organization and its unique fundraising needs, keep in mind the features and benefits we discussed.
Check out these additional resources to learn more about corporate gift-matching and other innovative fundraising strategies:
- Corporate Matching Gifts FAQ | Your Questions, Answered
- Incorporating Matching Gifts Into Your Donation Forms
- A Guide to Peer-to-Peer Fundraising and Matching Gifts
- The Top 18 Matching Gift Programs Your Nonprofit Should Know
- 7 Steps to Maximize Corporate Giving Avenues for Your Org
