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Best Practices for Managing Your Double the Donation Account

This article walks through the recommended best practices for managing your Double the Donation account to see the greatest success with the platform.

Getting Started: Ensure Your Account is Fully Set Up

Best Practices:

1. Pass at Least 90% of Contributions into Double the Donation

2. Leverage Your Full Suite of Account Features

3. Follow Up with Eligible Supporters Who Haven't Taken Action

4. Keep Supporter Statuses Updated

5. Proactively Manage Corporate Portals

6. Promote Workplace Giving Across All Channels

FAQs

Getting Started: Ensure Your Account is Fully Set Up

Before diving into best practices, make sure your core account settings and technical connections are optimized:

  • Integrate your platforms: Connect your primary donation forms, CRM, volunteer management system, and event/auction platforms.
  • Enable automated outreach: Turn on automated email streams across both Matching Gifts (at least 2 emails in Match Eligible and 1 in Identification In Progress) and Volunteering (such as Volunteer Incentives Available and Discover Volunteer Incentives).
  • Set up custom sending domain: Configure your email settings so all automated outreach is sent from your organization's domain to build supporter trust.
  • Embed dedicated plugins: Embed search tool plugins across dedicated pages on your website for matching gifts, volunteering, and payroll giving.

 

Best Practices Checklist

  1. Pass in at least 90% of individual contributions (both online and offline).
  2. Leverage all workplace giving features (matching gifts, volunteer grants, payroll giving, and corporate sponsorships).
  3. Follow up with eligible supporters who haven't taken their next steps using targeted reports.
  4. Update donor and volunteer grant statuses (e.g., "Pending Payment", "Match Complete", or "Volunteer Grant Complete") as funds move through the lifecycle.
  5. Manage corporate verification portals regularly to keep workplace giving requests moving forward.
  6. Market workplace giving opportunities across all donor and volunteer communications.

 

1. Pass at Least 90% of Contributions into Double the Donation

Capturing complete donation data—from both online forms and offline contributions—is critical for driving automated outreach and identifying matching opportunities.

  • Online Donations: Include the streamlined matching gift search tool directly within every online donation form. Donors using the search tool are 2.5x more likely to identify their employer.
  • Offline Gifts: Record employer details when manually entering check, phone, or wire contributions in your CRM. Syncing these offline records allows Double the Donation to send automated outreach with company-specific match forms.

Passing 90–100% of your contributions into the system requires minimal ongoing staff time after initial setup and ensures no eligible gifts slip through the cracks.

Find integration instructions specific to your platform in our support resources.

 

2. Leverage Your Full Suite of Account Features

Matching gifts are just one stream of corporate philanthropy. To maximize your revenue potential, optimize your account to engage supporters across every corporate program offered by their employers:

 

3.  Follow Up with Eligible Supporters Who Haven't Taken Action 

Surfacing records of donors and volunteers who qualify for corporate programs but haven't completed their requests is low-hanging fruit for maximizing revenue. Reaching out with simple follow-ups can guide them through submission.

  • Eligible But Not Submitted Report (Matching Gifts): Highlights donors who work for matching gift companies but haven't initiated a match. Review this monthly or quarterly under Reports → Eligible But Not Submitted to send bulk follow-ups or connect directly with high-value donors. Learn how to use this report effectively. 
  • Volunteer Grant-Eligible But Not Submitted Report (Volunteering): Highlights volunteers who qualify for grants but haven't completed submission. Focus on volunteers in the Waiting for Volunteer (has not taken action) or Volunteer Grant Submission Initiated (accessed the form but hasn't confirmed completion) stages. Use built-in action buttons to send bulk emails after volunteer events. Learn how to use this report effectively. 

 

4. Keep Supporter Statuses Updated

Tracking matching gifts and volunteer grants through their submission lifecycles keeps your account metrics accurate and ensures timely stewardship.

Matching Gift Lifecycle Stages:

  • Donor gives → Donor initiates request → Employer verifies gift → Matching funds received.
  • Key Statuses: Mark records as Pending Payment once verified by the donor or employer, and update to Match Complete once funds arrive.

 Learn more about donor statuses. 

Volunteering Grant Lifecycle Stages:

  • Volunteer registers/logs hours → Employer identified → Grant request initiated → Grant approved/verified → Grant funds received.
  • Key Statuses: Automatic statuses track progress (e.g., Waiting for Volunteer, Submission Initiated), while manual updates let your team mark records as Ineligible (Did Not Attend), Volunteer Grant Approved, Pending Payment, or Volunteer Grant Complete. You can also export records via CSV to manage external outreach.

 Learn more about volunteering grant statuses. 

 

5. Proactively Manage Corporate Portals

Many corporate giving programs require nonprofits to access employer portals (e.g., Benevity, CyberGrants, YourCause) to verify employee donations or approve volunteer grant requests.

  • Centralize Access: Maintain a master list of portal links and secure credentials accessible to your administrative team.
  • Assign Ownership: Designate specific team members to log in and review pending verifications on a weekly or monthly basis.
  • Sync Updates: Once a request is confirmed in a portal, update the record status in Double the Donation to keep workplace giving requests moving forward smoothly.

Learn more about Portal Management: CSR Software Vendors.

 

6. Promote Workplace Giving Across All Channels

Organizations that actively promote corporate giving across multiple channels identify up to 77% more match-eligible donations.

Strategic Promotion Placement:

  • Website Pages: Embed search tool plugins on dedicated Matching Gift, Volunteering, and Ways to Give pages.
  • Donation & Volunteer Forms: Add search fields to online donation forms and volunteer registration portals.
  • Communications: Include workplace giving links in email receipts, newsletter footers, social media posts, and post-event follow-ups.
  • Marketing Assets: Access pre-built graphics, email templates, and copy in your Double the Donation account under Resources → Marketing Assets.

 Explore matching gift and volunteering grants marketing examples.

 

FAQs

Q: Do we need to use all of these best practices to see results?

A: No, but organizations that adopt a comprehensive approach across all features and communication channels consistently achieve the highest revenue lift.

 

Q: How much staff time is required to manage our account?

A: Most features—such as automated email streams and integrated donation/VMS search tools—run automatically after initial setup. Ongoing tasks, like reviewing the Eligible But Not Submitted report or checking corporate portals, typically require only 1–2 hours per month.

 

Q: What kind of revenue growth can we expect?

A: Organizations that consistently apply these best practices typically experience a 20% to 50% increase in overall workplace giving revenue within their first year.