As Giving Tuesday approaches, nonprofits everywhere are getting ready to make the most of the international day of charitable giving.
What is Giving Tuesday?
Giving Tuesday occurs the first Tuesday following Thanksgiving. It’s a day of giving at the beginning of the holiday season, where individuals across the globe give to charities all over.
Obviously, this is a great day for nonprofits to leverage. But did you know there’s an even more effective way to leverage this day?
Use matching gifts.
Between $4-$7 billion in matching gift funds goes unmatched every year because donors are unaware that their gift can be matched by their employer. Nonprofits frequently don’t have the time, staff, or resources available to pursue matching gift opportunities. The result is lower revenue and missed opportunities to double donations.
As proud partners, Virtuous and Double the Donation are working to change that. Double the Donation is the leading provider of matching gift solutions and helps streamline the matching gift process with its comprehensive database of participating companies.
In this article, we’ll discuss two main points:
- How to raise awareness around matching gifts for this Giving Tuesday
- How to automate the matching gift process to see more matches through to completion.
Are you ready to successfully leverage this giving season? Let’s get started!
1. Raise awareness around matching gifts.
Part of doubling donations on Giving Tuesday means making donors aware of matching gift programs. This means you should be proactively promoting matching gifts just as you would promote your cause.
But don’t wait for Giving Tuesday to start promoting! Plan your approach to the international day of giving far in advance so that you know exactly what your staff should be doing. This includes ensuring posts are scheduled and focusing on exactly what you need when it matters most.
Use a Multi-Channel Approach
- Social media: Social media is a big motivator during Giving Tuesday. Donors will be learning about new causes they may want to contribute to and checking up on their favorite causes that they’re already familiar with. Be sure to schedule posts in advance alerting donors to the fact that their gifts may be match eligible. Encourage them to know their eligibility before they give. Feature a link to a matching gift database that lists participating companies so they can search for their employer.
- Dedicated matching gift pages: One of the simplest ways to raise awareness around matching gifts, both on Giving Tuesday and any other day of the year, is to have a dedicated matching gift page on your website. This page can include information on what matching gift programs are, how to search for a donor’s eligibility, and how to determine specific guidelines to submit a match request.
- Donation forms: Feature a matching gift search tool right on your donation form. When web visitors land on your donation form, it’s likely they’re serious about giving to your nonprofit. Feature your matching gift company search tool right on the form so they can determine if their gift will be matched, as they make their donation! This can actually encourage 1 in 3 donors to give in larger quantities, as well, if they know their donation will go twice as far.
Encourage Giving Tuesday donors to look up their eligibility for a match when they give to your nonprofit. Because donors are more likely to want to contribute, it’s important to raise awareness around this valuable program that can help boost revenue.
2. Automate your matching gift process.
As you work to raise awareness about matching gifts this Giving Tuesday, why automate your process? With automation, you can streamline your outreach to match-eligible donors and bring in more revenue without putting in the extra work.
This is where Virtuous and Double the Donation’s integration comes into play. Using 360MatchPro by Double the Donation, your nonprofit can automate outreach. It helps collect donor employment information through self-identification and email domain captures during the giving process.
Integrate In 4 Easy Steps
- When a donor gives to your nonprofit on Giving Tuesday, you’ll collect the information you need about their employment information. Using the Virtuous online giving pages and 360MatchPro, you can include a field on your form where donors can identify their employers.
- 360MatchPro will then use the provided information or recognize company email addresses and automatically search Double the Donation’s matching gift database to identify donors who are matching gift eligible.
- Giving Tuesday donors will then be segmented into groups of match eligible, unknown eligibility, and likely ineligible.
- Those who are match-eligible automatically receive an email encouraging them to submit a matching gift request to their company. Donors who have unknown eligibility will receive an email encouraging them to check if their company offers a program. Those who are ineligible will receive an email prompting them to double-check whether their employer or spouse’s employer offers matching gifts.
When donors feel inspired to give on Giving Tuesday, they will automatically receive information about their matching gift eligibility.
The biggest issue that comes with doubling donations on Giving Tuesday is a lack of donor awareness. That’s why readily offering information about matching gifts is so important. Raising awareness through social media, giving pages, and informational pages on your website can make a huge difference. Automating your process takes it a step further. 360MatchPro’s automated emails handle all of the follow-up needed to ensure that matching gifts are completed.
Make the most of matching gifts this Giving Tuesday and double your donations!
