This article outlines three different ways that your organization can manage your Double the Donation.
Approach #2: Automated Outreach with Revenue-Generating, Report-Based Actions
Approach #3: Automated Outreach with Full Lifecycle Tracking:
The lifecycle of a Matching Gift:
Double the Donation is a fully automated matching gift software that helps identify matching gift opportunities and sets up an automated plan in place for your organization. When it comes to matching gifts, there can be challenges in gifts not being confirmed or properly tracked so the nonprofit may not know an accurate depiction of the matching gift funds they’ve received annually. This often happens because the nonprofit may not have a centralized approach when it comes to matching gifts, staff are not aware of the matching gift lifecycle or how the matching module plays a role, and there is no defined strategy that best fits the organization.
Therefore, it is important to provide training and education materials to the staff member(s)/teams at the organization so they understand the matching gift lifecycle, how the matching module works for their organization, and what it can be used for to identify/track the full lifecycle of a matching gift, and effectively spread awareness to donors on matching gifts as well.
So, what are the options for the role your operations team plays in using the matching module when it comes to the matching gift process?
Below are three approaches your team can take to maximize the use of the matching module.
Approach #1: Rely on Automated Functionality to Drive Incremental Revenue with Minimal Ongoing Staff Time
How it works: Much of the additional revenue your organization can raise comes from the matching module's automated processes.
What you need to do: The matching module customers that take this approach aim to get at least 90% or more donations flowing into the matching gift module:
Staff Time Required: This requires minimal ongoing staff time.
The key is to spend time initially ensuring you’re passing nearly all your donations into the matching module, that our matching gift tools are integrated into your donation experience, and that your Double the Donation account is fully set up with our automated, personalized follow-up emails enabled to encourage more donors to submit their matches.
How Common is This Approach?: About 65% of Double the Donation clients employ this approach.
Who would we recommend following this approach? This approach is best for a nonprofit organization that doesn't have a dedicated member or team that can focus on matching gifts but still wants to see many of the benefits of the matching module.
Approach #2: Automated Outreach with Revenue-Generating, Report-Based Actions
How it works: Double the Donation customers take this approach to utilize the matching module's Reporting module to drive more matching gift revenue. This approach allows the matching module automation to do most of the heavy lifting while highlighting the most valuable additional action items for staff members to take.
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Donation form(s) and CRM integrated with Double the Donation Matching
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The streamlined search tool is on your donation form.
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Turn on the matching module's automated outreach: match eligible and identification in progress email streams
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Dedicated person(s) that log into the matching module weekly/monthly to review Reporting recommendations
How Common is This Approach?: About 25% of Double the Donation clients employ this approach.
Who would we recommend following this approach? This approach is best for a nonprofit organization that doesn't have a dedicated member or team that can focus on matching gifts but still wants to see many of the benefits of the matching module.
How it works: The nonprofit has a dedicated staff person or team that focuses on Top Opportunities, consistent follow-up to those donors identified, and tracking the full lifecycle of the matching gift process for their donors. So what is the lifecycle of a matching gift and how does the matching module track that cycle?
The Lifecycle of a Matching Gift:
- Donor Donates to your organization
- Donor initiates matching gift requests with their employer
- Option A - Non-verification (Benevity, YourCause, Brightfunds)
- Option B - Verification (CyberGrants/Easy Match).
- The nonprofit receives the matching gift funds
- Donation form(s) and CRM integrated with Double the Donation Matching
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The streamlined search tool is on your donation form.
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Turn on the matching module automated outreach: match eligible and identification in progress email streams.
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Dedicated person(s) that log into the matching module weekly/monthly to review a subset of Top opportunities and provide personalized outreach to those donors.
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Dedicated person(s) that log into the matching module weekly/monthly to update statuses when you receive a verification request and/or the matching gift funds.
Staff Time Required: This requires a dedicated person or team that logs into the matching module consistently (weekly/monthly) to update the statuses of the matching module based on the responses from donors and the correspondence with the matching gift company after the matching gift request is submitted by the donor.
- Donor donates to your organization and use our tools on the donation form or through automated matching gift emails.
- If the donor is directed to the matching gift form during the donation process (post-transaction) or through the automated matching gift emails, automatically the donor's status changes to "Match Identified." The donor has the option to verify through the automated matching gift email that they've submitted their matching gift request to their employer and their status will change to "Match Initiated - Donor Verified."
- When the match-eligible donor submits their match to their employer, you as the nonprofit will receive either a verification email or non-verification based on the matching gift vendor. If your organization receives a verification email from a vendor like CyberGrants or Easy Match, a team member can change the status of that donor to "Pending Payment". Please keep in mind that not all companies will require verification so the "Pending Payment" isn't often used.
- When the nonprofit receives the matching gift funds (typically within 1-3 months), the team member can log in to the matching module, search for the donor, and change the status of the donor to "Match Complete." Want to learn more about the donor statuses? View this article here.
Now when you consistently track the lifecycle of a matching gift through the matching gift module, the statistics in your account will be an accurate representation of the matching gift funds received. See the example that shows a breakdown by status. You can see below that in the past year, the nonprofit organization updated statuses to both "Pending Payment" and "Match Complete"; 8 donors are in the "Match Complete" status which means that the matching gift funds have been received and the process is complete. Learn more about using statistics in the matching module.
How Common is This Approach?: About 10% of Double the Donation clients employ this approach.
Who would we recommend following this approach? This approach is best for a nonprofit organization that has a team or multiple teams that will be using the matching module to increase matching gift revenue, establish/grow corporate relations, increase volunteer grant participation, etc.
