This article describes how you can use your Double the Donation to manage and track your organization's matching gift funds.
How will I receive the matching gift funds?
Track your matching gift revenue using donor statuses
Register with the CSR software vendors
Use the information in Double the Donation's database to check in with the company
Double the Donation is fully automated matching gift software designed to identify donors who work for companies with a matching gift program and connect them with the information needed to submit their matching gift requests. When clients configure their matching module accounts according to our recommendations, they typically see a 20 to 50% increase in their matching gift revenue after a full 12 months of usage/onboarded and passing in 90% or more of their total individual contributions. To learn more about our best practices for managing your account, view this article.
How will I receive the matching gift funds?
While Double the Donation streamlines the matching gift submission process for your donors, we do not manage the matching gift funds or disburse the funds to your organization. In most cases, the matching gift funds will be disbursed to your organization directly from the matching gift company or through the CSR software vendor that manages the company's program. You can learn more about CSR software vendors in this article.
Here's more information about the lifecycle of a matching gift:
- Eligible donor donates to your organization.
- Double the Donation Matching connects the donor with their matching gift form and the donor submits their matching gift request to their employer.
- The matching gift company or CSR vendor processes and approves the match.
- The matching gift company or CSR vendor sends the funds to your organization.
While Double the Donation does not directly disburse the funds to your organization, the platform does offer several features proven to help nonprofits and educational institutions grow and track their matching gift revenue.
Track your matching gift revenue using donor statuses
To track your donor's progress as they work through the matching gift submission process, you can refer to their donor status. Learn more about donor statuses in this article.
Some donor statuses, such as Waiting for Donor, Match Initiated, and Unknown Employer, are updated automatically in your account based on the activity associated with the donation record. The matching module also offers manual statuses that can be used by your organization to track the matching gift funds as you receive notifications from companies and/or CSR vendors. The manual statuses are:
- Pending Payment: Updated by the nonprofit when a match has been verified and has been sent to the company for approval and disbursement.
- Match Complete: Updated by the nonprofit when the matching gift has been received and the process is complete.
To update the status of a donor, select the pencil icon that appears next to their donor status in the Donations table. Here are step-by-step instructions.
For organizations who do not use the manual statuses to track matching gift funds, we recommend referring to the Match Initiated status as a good estimate of the matching gift funds you can expect to receive.
To see an overview of the different statuses your donors are in, navigate to Reporting --> Statistics --> Breakdown by Status. Learn more about reporting here -
Register with the CSR software vendors
When donors work at a company that will match their gift, they generally have to submit an online form, providing details about their donation so that their company can issue the match. Usually, companies use a third-party CSR platform to process these matching gift requests.
Registering with the CSR platforms is one of the best ways to ensure your organization receives as many matching gifts as possible while simultaneously streamlining the processes involved for your donors and your fundraising team.
You can use the matching module to determine what vendors manage your donor's matching gift programs. To locate the vendor, navigate to the Donations table ---> Search for the donor --> Refer to the Corporate Giving Platform column:
View this article to learn how to register with the CSR vendors.
Use the information in Double the Donation's database to check in with the company
If it has been more than 90 days since a donor indicated that they submitted their match and your organization has not received the matching gift funds, we recommend following up with the company directly.
If you are unable to locate any record of the match in the CSR software vendor portal, you can reach out to the company directly. To do so, click on the name of the company and scroll down to the Corporate Contacts section to access the corporate contact information.
Matching Gift Auto-Submission
Double the Donation is partnering with several corporate giving platforms to provide auto-submission functionality that allows your donors to complete and send in their matching gift requests to their employers directly from the confirmation page widget on your donation confirmation screens. This functionality simplifies the matching gift submission process for your donors and, ultimately, leads to more matching gift revenue for your organization.
View this article to learn more about matching gift auto-submission.