Individual donors are the largest contributors when it comes to charitable giving. In fact, they account for 69% of nonprofit gifts. What’s more, in five of the past six years, individual giving has seen annual growth. This means there is an opportunity for your nonprofit. And matching gifts is one way to get twice the donations without twice the work.
If you’re looking for fresh, creative ways to encourage people to give more, we offer four new ideas on using matching gifts to maximize your donations.
Present a challenge
Ask your top donors to host a matching gift challenge. This provides your largest supporters the opportunity to donate a certain amount if your organization can raise that same figure.
Smaller donors also get excited for the opportunity to maximize their contribution’s worth. Matching gifts are not only good for drumming up excitement, they’re effective too. A matching gift challenge can garner 23% more supporters and increase donations by 18%. Be sure to promote the challenge with mentions in your newsletter, email blasts and social posts. Offer a small gift to those who donate, such as a stress reliever or an acrylic ornament.
Optimize donation forms
One of the most well-known ways to match gifts is when a business matches their employees’ donations. But it turns out that most employees don’t request the match because they’re unaware their employer offers it. These missed opportunities can leave billions in matching gift funds on the table every year.
Be sure to include space for employer’s matching gifts on your online donation form. There are even software tools that make optimizing your donation forms easy. Offer a free gift if donors hit a certain amount. T-shirts or tumblers imprinted with your cause are great options.
Reach out to influencers
See if your organization has any influencers who support your cause and reach out to them. Or reach out to an influencer who supports causes that align with your mission (such as animal rescue if your nonprofit supports animals).
Influencers can promote matching gifts by:
- Sharing that they’ll match donations up to a certain dollar amount given by their followers.
- Asking their followers to raise a certain amount that will then be matched through other fundraising efforts. (For example, your board may match the amount with personal donations).
To help garner as many donations as possible, offer a nonprofit promotional giveaway, such as lip balm or soft touch metal pens, to each of your influencer’s donors.
Partner with local businesses
Many local businesses would be happy to participate in matching gift programs because it’s a great way to show the community they care. When looking at the potential for a partnership, keep these questions in mind:
- What do we as a nonprofit expect this partner to do for us? What does our partner expect from us?
- How will everyone measure success? By a certain dollar amount or something else?
- How will we partner promote this partnership? Social media? E-mail? Printed flyers?
Clearly understanding each other’s roles and expectations will ensure your partnership is a great experience, which potentially opens the door for future projects together.
Grow the love with matching gifts
Matching gifts let you help more people than you otherwise could. With ideas like matching gift challenges and influencer partnerships, plus simple nonprofit promotional giveaways to encourage and reward donations, you’ll be able to maximize your fundraising efforts. Best of luck!