Corporate Gift Matching: An Easy Way to Raise More

This post is provided courtesy of Adam Weinger, President of Double the Donation. Updated 4/8/2026

TL;DR: Employer matching gifts are corporate giving programs where companies match donations made by their employees to eligible nonprofits. By using your fundraising tools to automate identification and outreach, organizations can recover billions in unclaimed revenue.

Most nonprofits are constantly on the lookout for new ways to raise money for and, as a result, better pursue their charitable mission. One profitable avenue that is continually overlooked, however, is corporate giving⁠, and more specifically, corporate matching gift programs. 

In fact, research shows more than $4 to $7 billion in available matching gift revenue is left on the table each year, despite 26 million individuals being eligible to participate in these workplace giving programs.

If your organization lacks a concrete matching gift fundraising plan (or you’re simply aiming to increase your existing efforts), this is the guide for you! Here, we’ll cover the following topics, providing fresh insights into effective corporate gift matching practices:

• The Basics of Corporate Gift Matching
• Why Matching Gifts Matter
• Top Matching Gift Roadblocks to Watch Out For
• 7 Standout Matching Gift Fundraising Strategies
• Bonus: Humane World for Animals’ Matching Gift Success

Ready to learn more about matching gift fundraising and equip your team with the best tips, tricks, and tools? Let’s get started!

The Basics of Corporate Gift Matching

Before you can expect to raise more through corporate gift matching funding, it makes sense to start at the beginning with a solid understanding of these programs. Here’s what you need to know.

What Are Corporate Matching Gift Programs?

Corporate matching gift programs are offered by thousands of companies that agree to financially match the charitable donations their employees make to qualifying nonprofit causes.

The process typically looks like this:

1. An individual makes a donation to a nonprofit organization.
2. The donor determines that their gift is eligible for a corporate match.
3. The donor submits a matching gift request to their employer.
4. The employer reviews the request and verifies the initial donation with the nonprofit.
5. The employer approves the match request and makes their matching donation.
6. The organization receives the bonus matching gift!

Matching gift programs are one of the most common types of corporate giving across the globe. They enable tons of businesses to support the charitable missions their employees care about.

Matching Gift Program Guidelines

Unfortunately, not every donation is eligible for a corporate match⁠. To qualify, an employee’s gift must meet a predetermined set of criteria. This typically includes:

• Donation minimums and maximums (typically between $25 and $1,000 or more)
• Eligible types of employee participants (full-time, part-time, retired, spouses, etc.)
• Eligible types of nonprofit organizations (exclusions or select mission types)
• Matching gift request deadlines (often 3 to 12 months post-donation or at the end of the calendar year)

Additionally, companies choose a set “match ratio” to determine the size of the donation match made to the nonprofit in question. The most common matching gift rate is 1:1, although some employers match at a lower (such as .5:1) or higher (2:1 or 3:1) rate.

When employees interested in matching gifts are provided with the program guidelines, they can quickly determine whether their gift is eligible and the amount the organization will receive on their behalf.

Why Matching Gifts Matter

As a prime example of a favorite workplace giving program, matching gifts matter to each party involved. This includes:

• Nonprofits receiving funding. The most apparent benefit of matching gifts to nonprofits is the additional corporate revenue. Beyond matching company gifts, nonprofits also see increased donor engagement, higher donation response rates, and larger individual donation sizes.
• Donors requesting corporate matches. Donors love participating in matching gift initiatives because they allow their dollars to be stretched twice as far (or more) for a mission they clearly care about. Participants also love knowing that their employers are giving to their favorite causes.
• Companies matching employee donations. The companies that provide matching gifts to nonprofits see increased employee engagement while retaining more of their staff year over year. In addition, consumers are increasingly inclined to support socially responsible businesses, and philanthropy plays a considerable role in this trend. Plus, they can’t forget the tax benefits of charitable giving!

The most direct perks to your nonprofit will be additional funding and donor engagement. However, keeping advantages to donors and companies in mind can help your team better position these giving programs as a clear win-win-win situation!

Top Corporate Gift Matching Roadblocks To Watch Out For

We know billions of matching gift dollars go unclaimed by eligible nonprofit causes each year. But why does this gap exist?

Let’s address a few main obstacles facing matching gift fundraising success:

1. Lack of Donor Awareness

The matching gift research cited above states that over 78% of the 26+ million individuals employed by companies that match gifts are unaware that their employers participate in the programs. Unfortunately, that’s because most businesses fail to communicate the opportunity to their employees. And according to Double the Donation’s recent Corporate Engagement report, over 57% of nonprofits rarely or never follow up with donors about matching gifts, either. When corporate employees have never been introduced to matching gifts in the first place, organizations can’t expect high participation rates.

2. Lack of Supporter Employment Data

Another key roadblock is a lack of employment data. If you don’t know where your donors work, you can’t identify who’s eligible for matching gifts, leaving valuable contributions on the table. Matching gift programs rely on knowing a donor’s employer to trigger participation, so without this information, you miss the chance to follow up and remind supporters about the opportunity.

To overcome this challenge, an employer append can help fill in the gaps in your data. By enriching your donor database with employment details, you can target eligible donors with personalized messages, ensuring they’re aware of matching gift programs and can easily take action.

3. Lack of Submission Follow-Through

Even when donors are aware of matching gift opportunities, some choose not to participate⁠, often fearing that getting involved will be a lengthy and tiresome process. But that couldn’t be farther from the truth! Most companies ensure their workplace giving initiatives are simple and intuitive, and allow employees to quickly play their part.

So again, the roadblock here concerns a lack of understanding surrounding matching gifts, what they are, and how to partake in these programs.

7 Standout Corporate Gift Matching Fundraising Strategies

If you’re looking to drastically scale your organization’s matching gift revenue, these seven tried-and-true practices can get your team on the right track.

1. Create a Dedicated Matching Gift Web Page

A dedicated matching gift page on your website serves as a central asset, educating supporters about matching gifts and providing everything they need to participate. By consolidating the information into one easy-to-navigate resource, you make it much simpler for donors to learn about the matching gift process and take action.

For the best results, you should include an overview of matching gifts, answers to frequently asked questions, and an embedded matching gift search tool.

Check out this example:

2. Highlight Matching Gifts in Fundraising Asks

Mentioning matching gift opportunities in your fundraising asks⁠ (whether that means email, social media, direct mail, etc.⁠) is one of the most effective ways to get donors interested in matching gifts, even before they make their donation. In doing so, organizations tend to see increases in donation response rates and average gift sizes.

This can be as simple as, “Looking to donate? Your employer might match any charitable gift you make! Learn more about this opportunity here.”

3. Provide Donors With Company-Specific Guidelines and Next Steps

For donors interested in company match opportunities but unsure how to get started, providing detailed, employer-specific matching gift guidelines can significantly streamline the process. As a result, you’ll see increased participation due to the ease with which donors can become involved.

Be sure to collect donor employment information early on so that you can ensure donors are aware of their match eligibility. For the greatest results, you can even share direct links to their company’s online match request forms along with any other instructions or next steps.

Here’s an example: “Thanks for your generous donation, Fred! Did you know the Home Depot can turn your $50 gift into $100 for our cause? Request your match here.”

4. Promote Matching Gifts on Social Media

Social media is a powerful tool for engaging your supporters, and it’s also an ideal platform to promote matching gift opportunities. By sharing matching gift information across your social media channels, you can increase awareness and drive action, ensuring that more donors are aware of the opportunity to double their impact.

Social media allows you to reach a broad audience quickly and efficiently. Since many of your supporters are likely to engage with your posts on Facebook, X, Instagram, or LinkedIn, promoting matching gifts on these platforms can help you reach a wider network. Regularly posting about matching gifts keeps the topic top of mind and can encourage donors to check whether their employer offers a program. Be sure to link back to your dedicated matching gift page for more information!

5. Organize a One-Off Matching Gift Campaign

Unlike standard matching gift programs that are available year-round to all qualifying organizations, one-off or exclusive matching gift programs are generally short-term and designed to create a partnership between a specific company and your nonprofit organization.

These dedicated matching initiatives allow you to target specific fundraising events, holidays, or campaigns by aligning with companies that want to make an impact during particular times. Such an exclusive partnership can provide your organization with a boost in donations, and the flexibility means it can be tailored to your organization’s needs and objectives.

6. Thank Donors for Participating in Matching Gifts

You already know that thanking your donors is essential for building long-term relationships and driving repeat gifts. When it comes to matching gift donors, this need is even greater.

Following up with supporters after they submit a match request, and again once you’ve received the corporate match, keeps donors in the know regarding the status of their donation match. This helps them feel more connected to your cause!

Consider sending something like this when a donor first indicates they’ve requested a match from their employer: “We see you’ve requested a matching gift from the Home Depot. Thank you for taking this step! Thanks to you, this corporate match will allow us to provide twice as many furry friends with their forever homes.”

7. Automate Outreach With Software Integrations

Incorporating these practices can seem like a lot of effort⁠, especially for nonprofits whose fundraising teams are already stretched thin. Luckily, innovative solutions are now available through software that integrates directly into your existing fundraising platform!

When you make use of software like Double the Donation (which partners directly with Engaging Networks for ease of use), you can automatically identify match-eligible donors, trigger customizable follow-up outreach, and drive more matches to completion. Not to mention, saving time and effort through automation ensures that no donors fall through the cracks while freeing up resources to dedicate to your highest-value opportunities.

Bonus: Humane World for Animals’ Matching Gift Success

Ready to see our recommended practices in action? Humane World for Animals is a global nonprofit that relies on a massive base of individual donors to fund urgent animal welfare initiatives. By integrating Double the Donation’s search tool directly into their Engaging Networks giving forms and following up with automated, branded reminders, Humane World for Animals ensured no opportunity slipped through the cracks.

The results were both immediate and quantifiable:

• Identification: The organization uncovered over $225,000 in match-eligible donations in just twelve months of automation.
• Revenue Growth: The team saw an increase of more than 17% in matching gift revenue in its first year of using the software.
• Operational Scale: The system delivered more than 64,000 personalized emails to donors, a feat that would be impossible for a manual development team to replicate.