The Power of Donation Matching
Wouldn’t it be great if you magically had twice as much money to donate to your favorite causes (like, say, Ragtag)?
If you’re a full-time employee of a corporation, there’s a decent chance that your company has a donation matching program.
If you’re already planning on donating to nonprofits, this is free money that you can spend on your company’s behalf.
Online giving programs have made this really easy to do. And even if you donate through another channel, like a fundraising page or other donation site, you can submit a receipt, and your company will kick in a matching amount.
A note on nonprofit status: These matching programs are typically just for 501c3 designated nonprofits, but it’s not uncommon for mission-driven organizations to have a 501c3 arm, or a fiduciary sponsor that can take donations, comply with 501c3 rules, and pass along the funds to a sponsored project that fits the 501c3 designation.
If you haven’t done it before, here’s how it works.
Your company probably uses a third-party platform to handle donations and matching. My company–and many others–use Benevity, so I’ll show you what the process looks like on that platform.
- Get the link to your company’s Benevity site. (You might find this on your benefits site, under “employee giving program,” or something similar.)
2. Search for the organization or project you’d like to support.
4. Click the “Donate now” button.
At this point, you’ll have the chance to do a one time donation or recurring (always better!) and to pay via payroll deduction, PayPal, or credit card.
That was pretty easy, right?
Now, if you’ve already donated, it’s also really easy to request a match.
- Click the “Request a match” menu item under the “Make a Donation” navigation.
2. Search for your cause, then put in your donation amount and upload a copy of your donation receipt.
If your match is accepted, your money gets doubled!
Now tell all your friends! There’s no easier way to increase the impact of your giving.
