Track + Report Matching Gifts-Managing Your Nonprofit's Program

Track + Report Matching Gifts: Managing Your Nonprofit’s Program

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When it comes to nonprofit fundraising, tracking and reporting matching gifts is essential. In fact, it’s one of the most potent tools in maximizing donations and bolstering your program’s success. Still, many organizations fail to tap into the full potential of matching gifts due to inefficient tracking processes or a lack of awareness around available tools and strategies.

In this guide, we’ll explore how to track and report matching gifts, manage your program effectively, and discover untapped opportunities that can significantly boost your organization’s revenue. We’ll cover:

A matching gift is a charitable contribution made by an employee’s company to match their donation to a nonprofit organization. These corporate giving programs are designed to encourage employees to contribute to causes they care about by providing a financial incentive.

By understanding how to track and report matching gifts, your nonprofit can not only increase donation amounts but also cultivate stronger relationships with corporate partners, which in turn drives sustainability and growth. Let’s dive in to learn how you can streamline this process.

The Importance of Tracking Matching Gifts for Your Nonprofit

Tracking matching gifts is critical for several reasons:

#1: Maximizing Donations: If you fail to track matching gifts, you might be leaving money on the table. Many companies offer generous matching programs, and without diligent tracking, you may miss out on these funds.

#2: Improved Reporting: Accurate tracking and reporting provide transparency and accountability to both donors and corporate partners. This ensures that you can provide timely reports and updates to your stakeholders.

#3: Optimizing Corporate Relationships: Tracking matching gifts gives you insight into which companies are actively supporting your cause. By nurturing these relationships, you can increase repeat donations and even secure larger corporate partnerships.

Best Practices for Reporting on Matching Gifts Efficiently

To track matching gifts effectively, nonprofits should adopt a system that captures both the donor’s initial contribution and the employer’s match. Here are some best practices for tracking matching gifts efficiently:

Create a Dedicated Tracking System: Use a donor management system or CRM that includes features or ready-built integrations for tracking matching gifts. This allows you to record each gift and match in one place for easy monitoring.

Integrate Employer Information: Ensure that your donor records include detailed information about their employers. By identifying which employers match donations, you can streamline the process and enhance your outreach efforts. This can be a game-changer when it comes to tracking matching gifts.

Follow Up Promptly: When a donor’s employer offers matching gifts, prompt follow-up is crucial. Many companies have submission deadlines for matching gifts, so responding quickly helps ensure that you don’t miss any opportunities. We recommend doing so within 24 hours of receiving the initial gift in order to produce the best response and conversion rates.

Automate Processes Where Possible: Automating the process of matching gift tracking can save time and reduce errors. For example, a system like Double the Donation allows you to include a trackable button in your donor emails, enabling individuals to indicate when they’ve submitted their match request. This simplifies the tracking process, ensuring that no opportunities are missed.

Maintain Transparency: It’s essential that you accurately report matching gifts in your annual reports, donor acknowledgments, and corporate partner outreach. This transparency helps build trust with both donors and companies. You can even group reports by employer to understand which companies are contributing the most, which is valuable data for future fundraising and partnership efforts.

Leveraging Technology for Matching Gift Tracking and Reporting

The right technology plays a pivotal role in helping nonprofits manage and optimize their matching gift programs. Innovative, forward-thinking tools can automate much of the tracking and reporting processes, making it much easier for organizations to scale their efforts.

Key technologies to consider include:

  • Matching Gift Software: Tools like Double the Donation offer integrations with donor management systems, enabling you to automatically track matching gifts and even enable matching gift auto-submissions.
  • Donor Management Systems: Platforms such as nonprofit CRMs or donor management systems allow nonprofits to centralize all donor information, including matching gift opportunities, in one place.

To truly optimize your matching gift program, it’s important to integrate matching gift software and donor management systems into your overall fundraising strategy. These technologies work together to automate tracking and reporting, ensuring that matching gifts are processed efficiently.

Challenges in Matching Gift Reporting⁠—and How to Overcome Them

While matching gifts can be a significant source of additional funding for nonprofits, managing the reporting process effectively can sometimes present some challenges. Even organizations with experienced development teams can struggle to capture the full potential of matching gift programs if obstacles aren’t addressed proactively.

Some of the most common challenges you’ll want to be aware of include:

Incomplete Donor Information

One of the biggest hurdles in matching gift reporting is the presence of missing or incomplete donor information. Without accurate employer details, it’s impossible to determine whether a donation is eligible for a match. Some donors may neglect to provide their company information on giving forms, and in other cases, the data may be outdated or inconsistent across systems.

How to overcome it: Nonprofits can utilize data appending services to enhance donor records with current employer information and matching gift eligibility. By appending company data from reliable sources, your organization can identify potential matching gift opportunities that may have otherwise gone unnoticed. Additionally, designing donation pages to prompt for employment information early and prominently, and making it easy for donors to provide this information, can improve accuracy at the source.

Lack of Employer Engagement

Even when donor information is complete, some companies may be slow to respond to matching gift requests or have a cumbersome submission process. This can create delays in processing matches and a frustrating donor experience.

How to overcome it: Streamlined communication and education are key. Provide donors with clear, step-by-step instructions for submitting matching gift requests, including deadlines. Additionally, consider sending automated reminders to donors about outstanding submissions to keep the process moving efficiently.

Data Management Issues

Handling large volumes of matching gift requests manually is prone to errors and inefficiencies. Without an organized system, it’s easy for requests to be duplicated, overlooked, or improperly tracked, which can impact reporting accuracy and donor satisfaction.

How to overcome it: Leverage technology such as donor management systems or CRM integrations that can track matching gift requests in real-time. Automated workflows reduce human error, ensure that every gift is properly accounted for, and provide a clear audit trail for reporting purposes. By centralizing this data, nonprofits can produce accurate reports for both internal stakeholders and corporate partners, saving time and improving accountability.

Building a Streamlined Process

Beyond addressing each individual challenge, nonprofits can maximize their matching gift program by creating a streamlined end-to-end process. This includes integrating donor data, using automation to prompt follow-ups, and maintaining clear documentation of all matching gift activities. A structured workflow ensures that donor records are accurate, corporate engagement is nurtured, and reporting is consistent and reliable.

By proactively addressing these challenges, nonprofits can significantly improve their matching gift reporting, reduce administrative burden, and ensure that every eligible donation has the opportunity to be fully matched. Effective reporting not only maximizes revenue but also strengthens relationships with donors and corporate partners by demonstrating professionalism and reliability.

Wrapping Up & Next Steps

Tracking and reporting matching gifts effectively is the key to maximizing the potential of these valuable revenue streams. By integrating our best practices, leveraging the right technology, and utilizing resources like data appends to capture employer information, your nonprofit can uncover new opportunities, streamline its processes, and ultimately increase the success of its matching gift program.

Raise more with matching gift automation software