Understanding the Automated Email Streams

Understanding the Automated Email Streams

Email Streams Overview

There are four automated email streams within your 360MatchPro account portal.

When a donation record enters into 360MatchPro, that donation record will flow into one of the initial three email streams. These initial three email streams are the following: 
  1. Match Eligible: The donor has identified that they are match eligible.
  2. Unknown Company: The donor hasn't identified where they work and often use a personal email address.
  3. Ineligible [legacy]: The donor has selected a company likely not matching gift eligible as based on our database. 
 
Once a donor takes action, that donation record could flow into the fourth email stream:
  1. Thank You: The donor has indicated that they have submitted their matching gift.

Automated email process: How do donations flow into each email stream?

Step 1: Donor makes a donation. 
  1. If you have Double the Donation integrated with your donation form, they have the opportunity to search for their company and see if a matching gift program is available. 
    1. 84% of donors say they’re more likely to donate if a match is offered.
    2. 1 in 3 donors indicated they’d give a larger gift if matching is applied to their donation. 

Step 2: Donation flows into 360MatchPro and is categorized as either Match Eligible, Unknown Company, or Ineligible.  
  1. If the donor selected a company with a matching gifts program on the donation form, OR if the donor gave using a work email address that matches a matching company in our database, they are Match Eligible. 
  2. If the donor did not select a company and gave using a personal email address, their donation will be in the Unknown Company status.
  3. If a donor selected a company that does not have a matching gifts program, they are Ineligible. 

Step 3: Donor receives an initial automated, personalized email based on their status.  
  1. Match Eligible donors are prompted to submit their employer match request with a link to the exact portal where they can log in to submit the request form. 
  2. Unknown Company donors are prompted to search for their company on your dedicated matching gifts page.
    1. Employing multiple approaches to identify match-eligible donors results in 77% more identified match-eligible donations.

Step 4: Donor receives an automated, personalized thank you email based on actions they take.
  2. If your organization has configured the thank you stream, when a donor has submitted their matching gift request, the donor could receive up to 4 emails thanking them and suggesting additional actions. Learn more in the Thank You stream walkthrough below.
  3. Sometimes, companies require additional materials or actions from your organization or your donors to complete the matching gift process. Once a donor has started the matching gift process, they might need another nudge to complete it. The Thank You stream is optimized to move donors through any required post-submission steps as well as to thank them for their support of your organization.
  4. Thank you emails specific to matching gift request submission are proven to encourage donors to submit future gifts for matching as well.

Why use automated emails?
  1. Sending matching gift reminder emails within 24 hours of a donation results in a 53% open rate, which is 2-3 times higher than the average nonprofit email open rate.
    1. This is a more effective & efficient way to reach out to raise your donors’ awareness of matching gifts programs than following up manually. 
    2. Leveraging the automation of 360MatchPro can double or triple an organization’s matching gift revenue over time. View this article to learn more.

Email Configuration

For each email in any stream, you have the ability to do the following: 
  1. Enable/Disable Emails
  2. Change the sending time of the emails
  3. Change the subject line 
  4. Customize the body text of the emails

Enable/Disable Emails

You have the ability to enable and disable emails by clicking on the toggle button on the top of each email. 

Sending Time of Emails

You have the ability to change the sending time of any email. The sending time is always based on when the donation record enters 360MatchPro. 


Subject Line

You can edit the subject line of the email by changing the wording.  Remember to click the Save button for any changes you make to apply.


Customize email body text

You can edit the text in the body of any email. Make sure to keep the dynamic variables in the brackets within the templates as you edit so that the emails have the proper data and links within the messages. Remember to click the Save button for any changes you make to apply.

Additional Email Sending Functionality

  1. The email is scheduled at X time when the donation is made. This time cannot be changed after the fact. For example, if the setting says send the first Eligible stream email 1 hour after the donation is entered, then changing that value to 2 hours will not change the time - it will still be sent 1 hour after the donation.
  2. The text of the body is generated at the time of delivery, so changes can be made until the email is actually sent out.
  3. The stream can be turned on or off before the time of delivery. At time of delivery, if the stream is off, then the email will not be sent.

Individual Email Stream Walkthroughs

The following sections provide a detailed walkthrough of the available 360MatchPro automated email streams.

Match Eligible

There are up to 3 emails that can be sent to Match Eligible donors, which are the following:
  1. Initial email
  2. Follow up email
  3. Final email
The default timing of the match eligible email stream is: 
  1. Initial emails: 0 hours 
  2. Follow up emails: 72 hours
  3. Final emails: 720 hours 


We recommend enabling AT LEAST 2 out of 3 emails in the Match Eligible stream.

In a study of 360MatchPro clients, Double the Donation found that activating the second email in the Match Eligible stream resulted in a 48% increase in matches initiated by donors.

Match Eligible emails overview

Many donors are excited to learn that their employer has a matching gift program. You can let them know how easy it is to submit a matching gift request and how much more good a matching gift can do for your organization. View the example below:


Then, the 360MatchPro email will provide donors a link directly to their employer's online matching gift portal based on the matching gift information from our database. 


When the donor clicks on the "Click Here" button next to "Step 1: Click here to start the matching gift submission process!," they are taken to the employer's online portal where they can quickly submit their matching gift request. 



When the donor clicks on the second "Click here" button next to "Step 2: I've submitted my matching gift request," they are directed to a default thank you page. Below is a snippet of the page. 


Note that the default thank you page varies slightly depending on the information 360MatchPro knows about the donation. For example, if a donor gives and searches for a matching gift company in our database with no matching gift form and indicates they submitted their match, the thank you page will ask the donor to share a copy of their form or guidelines with us so we can update our database.

If you would not like to use this default thank you page, you can redirect donors to a thank you page on your organization's site. 

Finally, if a donor isn't eligible for a matching gift, they can report this to your organization by clicking the red link within the email that says "My donation is not eligible for a matching gift": 



If the donor clicks on the red link identifying that they are ineligible for a match, their donation status updates to Ineligible and they will be placed on the blocklist for 180 days and won't receive emails within that time period.

Donors in the match eligible email stream will get one of the two possible versions of the emails: 
  1. Forms Available: if their company has a matching gift/volunteer grant program that has an online form
  2. No Form: if their company has a matching gift/volunteer grant program with no online form (often has a PDF or no form available within our database)

Form Available

If there is an online form available for that company with a matching gift request or volunteer grant program, the donor will receive an overview of the matching gift/volunteer grant program that includes:
  1. Matching gift online form
  2. Matching gift guidelines
  3. Minimum and Maximum that is matched
  4. Match Ratio
  5. Type of employee that is eligible to submit a matching gift request
  6. Type of nonprofit organization that is eligible to receive a matching gift 
  7. Information about the submission process
  8. Volunteer grant information, if applicable 


No Form Available

If there is no online form available for that company with a matching gift request or volunteer grant program, the donor will receive an overview of the matching gift/volunteer grant program that includes:
  1. Matching gift PDF form (when available)
  2. Matching gift guidelines
  3. Minimum and Maximum that is matched
  4. Match Ratio
  5. Type of employee that is eligible to submit a matching gift request
  6. Type of nonprofit organization that is eligible to receive a matching gift 
  7. Information about the submission process
  8. Volunteer grant information, if applicable 

Unknown Company

There are up to 2 emails that can be sent to Unknown Company/Unknown Eligibility donors, which are the following:
  1. Initial email
  2. Follow up email
 The default sending time of the Unknown Company/Unknown Eligibility email stream is: 
  1. Initial email: 0 hours 
  2. Follow up email: 192 hours
We recommend enabling AT LEAST 1 out of 2 emails in the Unknown Company stream.

In a study of 360MatchPro clients, Double the Donation found that activating the second email in the Unknown Company stream resulted in at least a 40% increase in matches initiated by donors.

Unknown Company emails overview

The unknown company email stream is for donors that have not identified where they work. Within this email, you will direct donors to your matching gift page so they can use Double the Donation's matching gift search tool to instantly find out if their employer has a matching gift program or volunteer grant program. 


The email then directs donors to check to see if their company will match their donation. By default, 360MatchPro directs donors to the hosted matching gift page on Double the Donation's website. 




When the donor clicks on the first "Click Here" button next to "Step 1: Check if my company will match my donation!" it will direct the donor to a matching gift page. When your account is set up before a matching gifts page from your own website is added, donors are taken to a hosted default page like the one below. 
Please note: This hosted matching gift page cannot be edited. 


We recommend creating a dedicated matching gift page on your website to direct donors to that page instead. View this article to learn more about creating a dedicated matching gifts page. Below is an example of a dedicated matching gifts page: 



When the donor clicks on the second "Click here" button next to "Step 2: I've submitted my matching gift request," they are directed to the default thank you page. If you would not like to use this default thank you page, you can redirect donors to a thank you page on your organization's site. 

Finally, if a donor isn't eligible for a matching gift, they can report this to your organization by clicking the red link within the email that says "My donation is not eligible for a matching gift": 



If the donor clicks on the red link identifying that they are ineligible for a match, their donation status updates to Ineligible and they will be placed on the blocklist for 180 days and won't receive emails within that time period.

Ineligible [legacy]

The Ineligible automated outreach stream was sunsetted in the August 2022 release. We are excited to have simultaneously launched the new Ineligible survey approach to learn more from ineligible donors and provide tailored next steps. Learn more about the Ineligible survey approach here.

Thank You

There are up to 4 emails that can be sent to donors who we believe have submitted their matching gift request.

Notes on scheduling:
  1. Emails will be scheduled 30 minutes after the donation enters the status indicated in the title of the email. This delay is intended to leave room to correct mistakes before emails are sent. Once the 30-minute delay has passed, the sending delay you configure on the email itself will go into effect. For example: If you set the sending delay to 1 hour, the email will be sent 1.5 hours after the donation enters the indicated status.
  2. If the donor moves out of a status before the status' email is sent, they do not receive the email. Instead, they are put in the queue for the next status' email.

Thank You emails overview

Thank you emails are triggered by a status change. 

The following 2 emails are triggered by the Match Initiated - Donor Verified status. This is an automated status in 360MatchPro. Learn more about donor statuses here.

Initial email:



Follow-up email:



If your organization uses the manual status in 360MatchPro, donors could also receive the following thank you emails. Learn more about manually updating donor statuses here.

Pending Payment status:



Match Complete status: 


End-of-Year

There are two end-of-year emails can be sent to donors that fulfill the criteria below: 
  1. For the Unknown Company End-of-Year stream, the donor eligibility is unknown and the donor must have made at least one donation of $100 or more.
  2. For the Match Eligible End-of-Year stream, the donor is match eligible but they have not identified that they have submitted a matching gift request.
  3. The donation was made between January 1st and November 30th of the current year. 
During the month of December, the end of year email stream is your organization's end-of-year reminder to donors about submitting their matching gift request. 

Unknown Company End-of-Year email overview

The unknown company end-of-year email stream is for donors that have not identified where they work. Within this email, you will direct donors to your matching gift page so they can use Double the Donation's matching gift search tool to instantly find out if their employer has a matching gift program or volunteer grant program. This email can be sent to donors who meet the following criteria:
  1. The donor eligibility is unknown.
  2. They have made at least one donation of $100 or more.
  3. The donation was made between January 1st and November 30th of the current year.

Match Eligible End-of-Year email overview

The match eligible end-of-year email stream is for donors that have been identified as working for a matching gift company. Within this email, 360MatchPro will provide donors a link directly to their employer's online matching gift portal based on the matching gift information from our database. This email can be sent to donors who meet the following criteria:
  1. The donor is match-eligible. We know where they work, and we know their company offers a matching gift program.
  2. The donor has not indicated that they have submitted their matching gift.
  3. The donation was made between January 1st and November 30th of the current year.


FAQs:

Q: Will the automated emails be sent to donors who entered my 360MatchPro account before the automated email streams were enabled? 
A: No, the automated emails will only be sent to donors who enter your 360MatchPro account after the automated email streams are enabled. If you would like to send emails to donors who entered your 360MatchPro account before the automated emails were enabled, you can do so using manual email outreach. View this article to learn more. 

Training Video: Automated Outreach








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