Does my organization need to register with each company before we can receive matching gifts?

Does my organization need to register with each company before we can receive matching gifts?

In almost all cases your organization does not need to register in advance.


Each company establishes their own guidelines around the types of organizations that they'll match to. The broad categories generally include one or all of the following:

  • Higher educational institutions
  • K-12 schools
  • Health and human services
  • Arts and cultural organizations
  • Civic and community organizations
  • Environmental organizations
  • And nearly all other 501(c)(3) organizations


Typically most organizations don't need to register with a company. Rather an employee at a company would make a donation to a nonprofit of his/her choosing and then submit a match request to the company with the nonprofit's name and information on it. Then the company makes a really quick determination on whether the organization meets its guidelines based on the nonprofit's mission statement and IRS registration.