Getting more from employer matching gifts and volunteer grants

This guide is for small charities that know employer matching gifts and volunteer grants exist, but rarely see the money. Our guide to DAFs, IRAs and matching gifts explains what these gifts are and who to thank. Here we focus on outreach: how to find out where your donors and volunteers work, when to ask, how to follow up, and how to make it easy for companies to say yes. After reading, you'll have a simple routine you can run all year.

Why the money goes unclaimed

Most of the work is on the employee's side: they have to know their employer offers a program, find it, and submit a request, often within a deadline the company sets. Many never do, because nobody reminded them. Your job is to remind, at the right moments, and to make the paperwork painless.

Each company sets its own rules: which charities qualify, minimum and maximum amounts, how many volunteer hours earn a grant, and the deadline for requests. Never promise a donor that their gift "will be doubled." Say it "may be" matched, and ask them to check.

Step 1: Find out where people work

You can't follow up on a match if you don't know the employer.

• Add an optional "Employer" field to your donation form, volunteer sign-up and event registration.
• Add a tick box: "My employer may match my gift or volunteer time."
• Ask in conversation. Board members and staff often know where long-time donors work.
• Record it in your donor database, with the date, so you can see which companies come up most often.

Only collect what you'll use, and say why you're asking. Our guide to donor stewardship covers keeping records tidy.

Step 2: Ask at the right moments

Step 3: Follow up before deadlines

• Keep a short list of donors and volunteers who mentioned an employer program, with the gift date.
• Check in once, politely, a few weeks later if no match has arrived.
• Don't nag. One reminder is service; three is pressure.
• Thank them for trying, even if the request was turned down.

Step 4: Confirm quickly and accurately

When a company or its program administrator asks you to confirm a gift or volunteer hours:

• Answer within a few days. Requests can expire.
• Check your records. Confirm only what you actually received, or hours you actually logged.
• Keep volunteer hour records that show the person, date, activity and hours. A simple spreadsheet, filled in after each shift, is enough.
• Don't confirm what you can't verify. If records don't match, ask the donor before you answer.

Some company programs exclude certain kinds of organizations or activities. If you're told you don't qualify, ask which rule applies and note it for next time.

Step 5: Thank the company and the employee

The matching gift legally comes from the company or its foundation, so thank and acknowledge it as the company asks, and thank the employee for making it happen. Keep the two records separate; the employee's own acknowledgment covers only what they gave. The DAFs, IRAs and matching gifts guide explains this in more detail.

Workplace giving campaigns

Some employers run workplace giving campaigns, where employees pledge through payroll deduction to charities on a list.

The largest is the Combined Federal Campaign (CFC), overseen by the US Office of Personnel Management (OPM), through which federal employees and retirees give to participating charities.

If OPM opens applications again, the federal rules (5 CFR part 950) set the eligibility, accountability and fee rules. For example:

• An organization that has applied for, but not obtained, 501(c)(3) status from the IRS by the application deadline can't take part that campaign year.
• Applicants certify that they file a complete Form 990 with the IRS, or that they don't have to, and send a copy of the Form 990, or a pro forma Form 990 if they don't file one. Form 990-EZ isn't an acceptable substitute.
• An organization with annual revenue under $100,000 doesn't need an audit, but must certify it has controls to account for funds properly; with revenue of at least $100,000 but less than $250,000, it needs financial statements reviewed by an independent certified public accountant or audited by an independent public accountant; otherwise, the general rule is an annual audit by an independent certified public accountant.
• Charities pay an application fee, due when they apply or by the application deadline, whichever is later, and approved charities pay a listing fee by a date OPM sets. OPM sets the fee amounts each year and must announce them by October 31 of the year before the campaign.

Check OPM's CFC pages for the current status before you spend time on an application. Some state and local governments and large employers run similar workplace campaigns with their own rules.

Measure it

Once a year, count:

• how many donors listed an employer
• how many matches and volunteer grants arrived, and their total
• which companies matched most often

If one company comes up again and again, it may be worth a conversation about a sponsorship or partnership. See working with businesses.

Matching gift outreach checklist

• Our donation, volunteer and event forms ask for an optional employer
• Our website has one page with our legal name, address and EIN for employer programs
• Thank-you letters and emails mention matching gifts and volunteer grants
• We send one friendly reminder to donors who listed an employer
• We confirm gifts and volunteer hours within a few days, and only what our records show
• Volunteer hour logs show the person, date, activity and hours
• Company gifts and employee gifts are recorded and acknowledged separately
• We've checked whether we could take part in a workplace giving campaign, and whether the CFC is accepting applications