Matching gift programs have been revolutionized in the last several years, with companies of all shapes and sizes getting involved. And with this transformation is also that of matching gift forms. Ideally, employers want to offer a request process that is quick and easy for team members to participate and reduces administrative workload behind the scenes. So where does matching gift form e-sign come in?
Dive in to explore key trends and current happenings regarding employee match fundraising, particularly in terms of matching gift e-sign. We’ll walk through:
Double the Donation has long been at the forefront of corporate giving innovation. That’s why we’re here to provide your team with the context you need to understand matching gift technology, functionality, and more.
The historical significance of matching gift form e-sign functionality
Historically, many companies required donors to submit matching gift request forms on paper. After all, General Electric launched the very first matching gift program in 1954, when electronic mail was still the stuff of science fiction. Over the next few decades, many matching gift programs used the paper form model for their original program launches as they were created.
Now, let’s fast forward to 2011, when Double the Donation was established. Some forward-thinking companies had already begun offering online submission to simplify the matching gift process for their employees. As a result, Double the Donation was perfectly positioned to help these donors submit their matching gift requests by linking directly to those online portals. But some companies were dragging their feet and still requiring paper matching gift forms.
How could Double the Donation support donors whose companies required paper forms? Our solution was to develop cutting-edge matching gift form e-sign functionality. With Double the Donation e-sign, donors could simply complete a pre-filled online PDF and send it to their company’s matching gift program managers that way.
And it worked! We saw an immediate increase in the percentage of these paper-only donors who submitted matching gift requests. But at the same time, the transition to electronic-only submission in the industry was already accelerating.
The move away from paper matching gift forms
As online submissions are increasing, the inverse is true for historic paper forms—in the past few years, we’ve seen paper forms becoming significantly less popular.
For context, when Double the Donation got its start, about 70% of match-eligible employees had a paper or PDF option for submitting their matching gift requests. But by 2017, the percentage of match-eligible employees eligible to submit a paper form dropped all the way to 7.1%. And the number who actually chose to use the forms was even lower.
That’s because online portal submission is easier, faster, more secure, and all-around better for donors, the companies they work for, and the organizations they support. It’s been proven time and time again: When both an electronic submission option and a paper one are offered to the same employee group, more matching gift submissions are completed through the online process.
In fact, some of the most well-known philanthropic companies have adapted to an online-only submission process over the past few years. Check out these quotes from the following employers:
IBM: “New process for 2017. Next year, we will introduce an online process for matching grants and eliminate the use of printed applications.”
Merck: “Please discontinue the use of all paper request forms. Matching gift funds should be submitted via the Merck website.”
Alliant Energy: “We moved to an online request process only in 2015. This will provide a more efficient method for our Foundation.”
Prudential: “We will no longer offer paper forms for the Matching Gifts Program.”
And that was just the tip of the iceberg!
Discontinuation of Double the Donation’s prior matching gift form e-sign feature
So what did this mean for us?
With these process changes occurring, the percentage of donors submitting paper match requests continued to fall. By the end of 2018, only an estimated 4% of donors used the historical paper-only approach—and that figure has decreased steadily since then.
All these factors led us to the easy decision to shift our focus away from the e-signing of paper forms and toward the future of matching gifts.
Now, you might ask—But haven’t you heard the statistic that 50% of companies use paper matching gift forms?
We certainly have! But it’s important to remember that in a changing industry, statistics and assumptions have to be continually re-assessed. Double the Donation commits to always looking into the data to recognize when we need to re-evaluate. This is one of those situations.
It may have been true years ago that 50% (or so) of companies required paper matching gift form submission. However, more recent analysis has shown that this statistic is not just outdated—it doesn’t tell the full story.
Think about the different companies that have matching gift programs. Businesses of all shapes and sizes come to mind, from Home Depot with half a million employees to the local pizzeria that employs five individuals. Home Depot requires electronic form submission, while the local pizza joint requires paper forms. You can see that Home Depot’s program affects significantly more donors than the pizzeria.
In other words, ask yourself this:
What is more useful for your organization to know in this scenario: that 50%—or at this point, likely less—of companies require paper forms or that a tiny percentage of match-eligible donors use paper forms? Which statistic should you base your fundraising decisions on?
Our answer to the previous question is exactly why we’ve started weighing our analysis by employee count. And the resulting statistics tell a compelling story. The biggest matching gift programs affecting the largest percentages of donors have already moved away from paper matching gift forms. And we’re seeing smaller programs following suit, as well!
Therefore, at Double the Donation, we’re doing the same with our own development priorities.
The future of matching gift fundraising
The move to online matching isn’t the only trend we’re seeing in corporate social responsibility. In the past decade, we’ve also kept our fingers on the pulse of another trend: the increasing consolidation of workplace giving solutions.
More and more often, companies are turning to workplace giving platforms like Benevity, CyberGrants, YourCause, and more to help facilitate their matching gift programs. And it’s not just the Fortune 500 companies that are doing so! In fact, many breakthrough solutions—such as Millie, Selflessly, Givinga, and POINT—have been designed specifically to aid small and mid-sized businesses in offering powerful matching gift programs.
Leveraging this type of software empowers charitable companies to do more with their philanthropic initiatives while minimizing the administrative workload. Meanwhile, we’ve also noticed that companies that outsource facilitation of their giving process can offer more streamlined and optimized processes for employees wanting to get involved. This tends to result in elevated program usage, highly engaged team members, and more dollars funneling into nonprofit causes overall.
Breakthrough auto-submission with CSR partners
In the spirit of continuous improvement when it comes to matching gift technology and the match request process, Double the Donation has recently released a new game-changing feature—auto-submission.
This innovative functionality, made possible through strategic integrations with forward-thinking corporate giving platforms, enables employees to request matches directly from an organization’s gift confirmation screen. This allows them to bypass the request process almost entirely. All they typically have to do is provide their email address and authorize Double the Donation to submit their match.
We’ve certainly come a long way since paper forms; now, some donors don’t have to complete a form at all! And this benefits every party involved. Employee donors can request their matches in less time and with fewer roadblocks. Nonprofit organizations receive increased match funding and more highly engaged supporters. Companies see elevated program usage, satisfied employees, and better public images.
E-submission with our standard matching gift form
And that’s not all! The Double the Donation team has also developed a standard online matching gift form that employers can use to authorize automated electronic submissions themselves.
We recommend that all companies participating in workplace giving enlist the aid of a dedicated CSR platform. But for companies that may not be ready to take that next step but are interested in simplifying the matching gift request process, it’s now quick and easy to get started with our new standard submission form.
This basic form collects all the data an employer would need to review and approve a match request. This includes:
Donor information such as their name, corporate email address, and/or employee ID number;
Donation information such as donation amount and transaction date;
Nonprofit information such as name, website, mailing address, EIN, and more.
And it’s all automated so that donors can submit their matches quickly and easily, ultimately removing common roadblocks and driving more matching gifts to completion.
Top tip! Nonprofits looking to make the most of matching gift auto-submission and Double the Donation’s standard matching gift form should be sure to fill out their Organization Profile in 360MatchPro. This allows the right information to be incorporated into the automated submission form, making it more likely that the match is ultimately approved and paid out.
Final thoughts
Matching gift submission processes are becoming increasingly standardized, centralized, and digitized. So how can we support nonprofits, schools, and other fundraising organizations in this shifting environment? The answer lies in guiding donors through the electronic portal submission process.
At Double the Donation, we focus on giving donors confidence, speed, and accuracy when submitting their matching gift requests. That means prioritizing personalized automation flows and database accuracy.
We’re heading into the future, and we hope you’ll join us!
Interested in learning more about Double the Donation’s innovative matching gift tips and tools? Check out these other educational resources:
https://doublethedonation.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/DTD_New-and-Improved-Functionality-Matching-Gift-Form-E-Sign.png300800Adam Weingerhttps://doublethedonation.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/logo-dtd.svgAdam Weinger2023-01-05 12:41:252023-01-13 16:17:44New and Improved Functionality: Matching Gift Form E-Sign
It takes a lot to plan and execute a nonprofit event. From getting started with goal-setting and budgeting through organizing and promoting your event experience and finally hosting and engaging with donors, there’s a lot to juggle. Luckily, the right fundraising event software can make organizing an impactful event a breeze.
But even the software buying process can be overwhelming if you don’t know what you’re looking for. That’s where this helpful guide comes in handy!
Here, we’ll cover everything you need to know about event fundraising tools, including:
At Double the Donation, we’ve worked with many different providers in the space, and we gathered some of our top tips for choosing the best fundraising event software for your team. In the end, these practices should help guide your decision-making process as you continue to develop your perfect toolkit of nonprofit technology.
Not to mention, you’ll be all set to get started with optimal fundraising events with the right tools to power your efforts. Let’s begin!
Why Invest in Fundraising Event Software?
Fundraising event software is a critical component of any organization’s fully built-out tech stack. After all, a significant portion of many nonprofits’ overall revenue is collected through engaging fundraising events. And the right tools can make organizing and hosting as easy and effective as ever.
Not to mention, more and more fundraising events are involving increasingly technical aspects. Even in-person gatherings are becoming dependent on behind-the-scenes software and user-facing technology to run smoothly and elevate the event experience.
Thus, if your organization is looking to develop or optimize your event fundraising strategy, investing in the right tools to power your efforts is essential.
Features to Consider For Your Event Software
The term “fundraising event software” can encompass a lot of different kinds of tools. And each one offers key benefits to your organization, the events you organize, and the individuals who support your efforts.
Let’s explore a few of these key functions.
(Top tip: As you walk through the following types of features and functionality commonly associated with nonprofit event software, keep in mind that you may have to prioritize offerings in order of importance. Consider flagging elements as “must-haves” and “nice-to-haves.”)
Online Event Pages
In order to pull off an effective event, it’s crucial that your supporters are aware of the opportunity. And one of the best ways to spread the word about upcoming events involves engaging online event pages or microsites.
Here’s what this event software functionality should include:
Pre-built and customizable web page templates;
Landing page and microsite options.
Personalized branding that matches your organization’s existing materials;
Mobile-optimized pages that are easy to use on screens of all shapes and sizes;
Search engine optimization and accessibility tools;
Ticketing Services
Make sure your team and your attendees are prepared for your event with intuitive ticketing functionality. Consider these key features:
Easy-to-use online ticketing forms;
Free and paid ticket purchases for in-person and virtual events;
Online RSVP management and automated receipting;
Customizable questions, such as meal preferences and t-shirt sizes;
Multiple ticketing tiers and packages.
Payment & Donation Processing
Regardless of whether you’re hosting free or paid events, it’s essential that your team has the tools for processing payments from supporters. This should include:
Collecting donations, in addition to ticketing and other sales.
Peer-to-Peer Fundraising Capability
Peer-to-peer fundraising and nonprofit events often go hand-in-hand. Some of the most impactful social fundraising efforts cumulate in a final event to drive engagement and celebrate success. Think—run/walk/rides and other “a-thon” style events.
Here are a few peer-to-peer fundraising features to consider in your search for nonprofit event technology:
Online event participant registration;
Customizable participant fundraising pages;
Gamification tools, such as fundraising thermometers, badges, and prizes;
Donation and pledge processing and fulfillment.
Auction Management
Charity auctions are many nonprofit organizations’ most profitable fundraising events time and time again. So when it comes to event software buying, it’s a good idea to keep auction tools in mind. These typically include:
Item procurement and tracking capabilities;
Facilitation of live and silent in-person, virtual, and hybrid auction events;
Nonprofit events produce a lot of powerful data. It’s important to have the tools you need to collect, analyze, and leverage that information for the greatest results! That’s where an event software’s data reporting functionality comes in.
Consider these key features:
Event attendee supporter profiles to track ongoing engagement;
Budgeting and revenue tools to determine ROI calculations;
Real-time event data reporting;
Birds-eye view and in-depth options.
Matching Gift Automation
Did you know that nearly 27 million individuals work for companies that match gifts? But approximately 78% of this group has no idea that their employers offer these programs?
That’s why increasing awareness of match opportunities is essential—and your event software can help! Matching gift software, or event fundraising software with a dedicated matching gift component, should:
Provide donors and event attendees with employer-specific matching gift guidelines (eligibility criteria, online forms, etc.);
Automatically follow up with match-eligible or unknown donors post-engagement to remind individuals about matching opportunities and drive more successful matches to completion.
Organizations that enhance matching gift efforts by utilizing top software offerings tend to see elevated event and other fundraising experiences. In many cases, it’s the equivalent of a two-for-one sale on charitable donations!
Integrations
Expand your event software’s reach with seamless integrations—especially with the tools your organization already uses on a day-to-day basis.
Software integrations essentially form unified systems between varying platforms, allowing different tools to speak to one another. Therefore, integrating your event fundraising software with your organization’s existing fundraising solutions empowers your technology to do more with less manual tasks and configurations.
As you consider fundraising event software integrations, this might include:
Online donation tools;
Peer-to-peer fundraising platforms;
Data management systems;
Corporate giving software;
Marketing and outreach solutions.
How to Make Your Fundraising Event Software Choice
As you work to narrow down your event technology options, here are a few best practices to keep in mind:
Consider bundling event tools with a comprehensive fundraising platform. While some event tools are made available in an à la carte or piecemeal format, others are offered as a bundle in an overall fundraising software package. In the latter scenario, your event-specific technology may be integrated directly with an online donation tool, CRM, and more for an all-in-one solution. Many organizations prefer this type of software collection for ease of use and seamless communication between platforms.
Set a software budget to guide your buying decisions. One of the best ways to narrow down your available options is to go into the buying process with a set budget in mind. This way, you can devote your time to the software your organization can afford. As you look for cost-effective solutions, be sure to consider base price, startup costs, ongoing fees, expansions or add-ons, scalability, and more.
Seek software with matching gift functionality. Beyond typical event software features, one element that can drastically improve your team’s fundraising efforts—event-based and otherwise—is matching gift functionality. Corporate matching gifts enable many donors and event attendees to double their impact on your cause. Luckily, tools like Double the Donation integrate with top event platforms to enable seamless match identification and automated follow-ups.
Request a demo to see prospective tools in action. Before you make your final decisions, it’s a good idea to request some demos. Many companies can provide access to a pre-recorded video, though a live demo offers a more personalized encounter. As you experience the software in action, consider how the tools will look from a user’s perspective. And don’t be afraid to ask questions, either!
Final Thoughts
In the recent past, events of all kinds have become increasingly technology-based—from innovative in-person elements to virtual and hybrid experiences. And it’s important that your nonprofit has the tools to keep up with the times!
As you look to revolutionize your organization’s event offerings with powerful software, we recommend exploring Double the Donation’s integration partners. Many of these top-of-the-line fundraising software providers offer impactful tools that can bring your event endeavors to the next level. Then, don’t forget to factor matching gifts into your strategy, as well!
Want to learn more? Check out these other educational resources to elevate your organization’s event, workplace giving, and overall fundraising strategies:
Top Peer-to-Peer Fundraising Software (What to Look For). Nonprofit events and peer-to-peer fundraising go hand in hand. Explore our complete buyer’s guide to determine what your team should look for in a social fundraising solution.
The Expert’s Guide to Buying Fundraising Software. Fundraising software comes in all shapes and sizes. Find out what other solutions are available for nonprofits like yours and how to ensure you find the right provider for your needs.
215+ Amazing Fundraising Ideas for Your Organization. Looking for fun nonprofit event ideas? Check out our comprehensive list of fundraising campaigns that your organization can host—including more than 30 unique event ideas.
The importance of donor engagement is no mystery to nonprofit leaders. Engaged donors are loyal to your organization, meaning they’re more likely to support your nonprofit long-term. These supporters provide reliable revenue, attend events, and promote your cause to those around them.
For donors to form strong connections that inspire continued support, your nonprofit will need an effective donor retention program.
A structured donor retention program, backed by the right strategies and software, can keep your supporters coming back for years or even decades to come. In this guide, we’ll explore everything you need to know about standardizing your nonprofit’s donor retention practices:
Returning donors are fundamental for a nonprofit’s success. However, nonprofits are likely to approach creating a donor retention program in numerous ways. Let’s start our deep dive into how to retain more donors by going over the fundamentals.
What are donor retention programs?
Donor retention refers to the rate at which a nonprofit’s donors continue to give after their first gift. Retained donors continue to give repeatedly over time and often participate in other activities the nonprofit offers, such as volunteering, attending events, or buying branded merchandise.
A donor retention program is the standardized process your organization follows for implementing donor retention strategies. Taking a wholly unique approach to relationship cultivation with each donor is not practical or even possible for most nonprofits. Donor retention programs provide set guidelines your nonprofit can follow for nearly every donor to encourage them to continue giving.
In order to engage first-time donors, donor retention programs should take into account their entire support journey. This timeline includes:
Before the donation. During initial contact, nonprofits should aim to inspire interest and an emotional connection to their cause. To pivot potential first-time donors to recurring supporters smoothly, nonprofits should consider emphasizing the importance of continued support in their outreach.
During the donation process. Many donors will decide whether they will offer recurring support while making a donation. Ensure the process is streamlined, and make becoming a recurring donor as easy as checking a box or pressing a button.
Donation confirmation. Confirm to donors that you successfully processed their gift. Follow up your initial confirmation and donation receipt delivery with a thank-you message within 48 hours of when the gift was made.
Follow-up. Stay in touch with new donors to stoke their interest in your nonprofit and encourage them to pursue other engagement opportunities. For example, you might invite them to subscribe to your newsletter, explore your website’s content, attend an event, or volunteer.
The next donation request. For supporters who did not opt into recurring donations, plan to ask for a follow-up donation after a reasonable amount of time has passed since their last donation. For supporters who choose to become recurring donors, continue engaging them and thanking them for each gift.
Additionally, a donor retention program also takes lapsed donors into account. These donors used to give regularly but have recently stopped. The recapture rate for lapsed donors is only 4%, which means it’s often more effective for nonprofits to proactively focus on identifying donors at risk of lapsing and re-engaging them rather than waiting until they’ve stopped giving to take action.
What are the benefits of a donor retention program?
It’s easy to get caught up in the drive to attract new donors. After all, nonprofits need to continually grow their donor bases to scale their programs and better serve their beneficiaries. Acquiring new donors is also often a long and resource-intensive process, with it taking about eight touchpoints on average to earn a conversion.
With such high costs, nonprofits can maximize their resources by earning recurring support from as many donors as possible. For example, if you attract five new donors who only give once, you have to pay the costs for attracting them five times. However, if you attract one new donor who gives five times, you only spend the resources to earn those five donations once.
Along with being cost-effective, a donor retention program also systemizes your supporter engagement strategy. With processes in place for how to thank, communicate with, and re-engage donors, you can act more quickly, remove indecision paralysis, and grow your donor base.
How to calculate donor retention rate
You can calculate your donor retention rate by dividing the number of donors who gave in a previous year by the number of donors who gave in the present year. Then, multiply the quotient by 100 to get a percentage.
For example, let’s say 500 donors gave to your nonprofit last year and 275 of them gave again this year. 275 returning donors divided by 500 previous donors, multiplied by 100, would give you a 55% donor retention rate. This statistic means that more than half of last year’s donors stayed involved, beating the nonprofit sector average of 42.6%!
After calculating your retention rate, determine what that rate means for your organization and what rate you’d like to achieve. For example, you might make the following determinations about different retention rates:
0%-25%: Your nonprofit may have a lower rate in its early stages when cause and brand awareness are low. In this stage, share compelling calls to action that encourage active supporters to continue engaging with your nonprofit and focus on building relationships, such as by creating an email welcome series introducing them to your nonprofit. If you’re seeing rates like these, and your organization is not newly established, this should be a wake-up call that it’s time to make changes and reassess your donor outreach strategy.
25%-50%: If your donor retention rate falls in the 25-50% range, you’re likely about at or just below that nonprofit industry average. Pay close attention to your donors to spot signs that they may be at risk of lapsing and reach out before that can happen.
50%-75%: This range of retention is on the higher end, and your nonprofit should feel proud of its ability to forge strong connections with supporters. Keep hosting your engagement activities, showing your appreciation, and building a positive community that keeps supporters invested in your cause.
Keep in mind that donors give for all sorts of reasons, and attaining a 100% retention rate is virtually impossible. For instance, if you run a peer-to-peer campaign, your nonprofit will likely get a burst of support from new donors who give to your cause because of a personal connection to one of your fundraisers. Most of these new supporters will be one-time donors, but their support for that specific campaign is still valuable.
Tools to help retain donors
You wouldn’t start cooking before making sure you have all the ingredients, and the same is true about starting a donor retention program. Consider what tools you’ll need to reach out to and build connections with donors. We recommend exploring the following software solutions.
Auto-submission
What’s better than receiving regular gifts from a donor? Receiving regular gifts that are then doubled without your supporters having to spend a penny more!
Matching gifts are contributions corporations make to nonprofits that supplement their employees’ gifts, usually at a dollar-per-dollar ratio. For instance, if a donor regularly gives just $25 monthly but qualifies for a matching gift program, their employer will give an additional $25, totaling $50 each month. Over the course of a year, that donor and their employer will donate $600 to your nonprofit, all while barely impacting the donor’s budget.
However, the matching gift request process does require donors to take extra steps after making their initial contribution, which can result in them deciding that pursuing a match isn’t worth the effort, especially if they have to do it every time they give.
Fortunately, with Double the Donation’s matching gift auto-submission tool, your donors will have drastically less work to request a match. Auto-submission technology lets supporters jump from step two in the matching gift process all the way to step seven:
The normal process goes something like this:
Donor makes a gift.
Donor determines their matching gift eligibility.
Donor searches for the necessary forms and guidelines.
Donor fills out a matching gift request.
Donor submits the request.
The company assesses the donor’s match request.
The company approves the donor’s matching gift application.
Your nonprofit receives the matching gift funds.
With auto-submission, donors are done as soon as they determine their matching gift eligibility and agree to use auto-submission. From there, the tool completes the form for them and sends it off to their employer. Interested in learning a bit more about just how auto-submission technology accomplishes this? Here’s a breakdown of our revolutionary new tool:
To get started with matching gift auto-submission, your nonprofit will need matching gift software. Currently, Double the Donation is proud to be the only matching gift vendor that offers this cutting-edge feature. Qualifying supporters will also need to work for a company that uses CSR software that integrates with Double the Donation. This means not all of your recurring donors can take advantage of auto-submission, but those who can will have the easiest matching experience of their lives.
eCards
Picture this: you make two donations, one to nonprofit A and one to nonprofit B.
Nonprofit B sends you a confirmation email, but you don’t hear from them again until they send another donation request a month later.
Nonprofit A sends a personalized thank-you message shortly after your confirmation email. Then, they get in touch to give you an update on the program you donated to support. The following week, they let you know about an upcoming event in your area where you can meet other supporters in your community. Finally, they send a request for another donation.
Which nonprofit’s follow-up donation request are you more likely to answer? Most would say nonprofit A because they showed appreciation, helped the donor understand their impact, and made an effort to get them involved in their community rather than just jumping straight to asking for more money.
To be like nonprofit A, you need to follow the first essential step of showing your appreciation. There are numerous ways to recognize your donors, and one technology-driven strategy combines timeliness with memorability: eCards.
eCards are digital greeting cards that allow you to send eye-catching messages to donors through email, text, and even social media. Here’s a breakdown of how to use eCards in your retention strategy:
Create branded eCards. Most eCard platforms will have basic templates you can use to start designing your cards, including image assets and fun fonts. To make your cards memorable, upload your brand images and any other graphic design elements you might want to include. Then, create a series of eCards you can send off to donors to thank them for their support, celebrate special occasions, invite them to events, or engage them in any other way you want.
Determine when they’ll get sent out. You can set your eCards to get sent off automatically in response to a trigger, like a supporter donating, or you can choose to send out an entire batch of eCards at once. For instance, you might send all of your donors an eCard around the holiday season to remind them to get their gifts in before the end of the year.
Continue sending cards. Don’t just send one eCard after a donor’s first gift! Continue designing and sending eCards throughout the year to keep your nonprofit fresh in your donors’ minds. You can even set up your donation process so supporters can send eCards to their friends and family after making a gift, spreading awareness of your nonprofit even further.
So just what does an eCard look like? eCards are fully customizable, which means they can look like just about anything! However, they’ll usually be a decorative postcard-like image next to a short but meaningful message. For example, consider this eCard created by the Maryland Food Bank:
To target your outreach, you’ll need organized donor data. Invest in a donor database to track important donor information, such as:
Contact information
Preferred method of communication
Giving and involvement history
Participation in other organizations
Employer information
Payment method preference
Properly managed data is the key to collecting and using this information. If you’re missing data, consider conducting a data append to find missing or updated information, such as birthdays and mailing addresses. As you update information, look out for duplicate entries or irrelevant details that are cluttering your database.
Even if you only have a few details about your donors, you can encourage them to continue giving in specific ways. For example, with only a donor’s contact information and giving history, you might notice they only give at in-person events. Send an email inviting that donor to your next in-person fundraiser for a higher chance of retaining them.
Donor retention program strategies
Once you’ve set a target retention goal and acquired the tools you need, it’s time to develop your program’s strategies. The right approach depends on your unique community of supporters, but some time-tested strategies include:
Identify at-risk donors.
The best way to combat donor lapse is to catch them before they’re gone. To do that, you need to understand why donors stop giving. Gather data about your lapsed donors to analyze patterns in their behavior before they stopped giving by:
Surveying lapsed donors. Most of your lapsed donors are gone, but a few of them might still be willing to answer a few questions about their decision. Ask straightforward questions, and be prepared for tough responses, such as not feeling appreciated, forgetting about your organization, or assuming your nonprofit doesn’t need their gifts anymore.
Analyzing engagement data. For most of your lapsed donors, the signs were likely there. For instance, many lapsed donors will stop opening your emails or engaging with your content weeks or even months in advance before they finally cancel their donations.
Considering external factors. Sometimes donors stop giving not because they no longer support your cause but because of outside factors. These can be as easily fixed as a recurring donor’s on-file credit card expiring or more troubling like supporters needing to tighten their budgets in times of economic downturn.
With this data, craft an at-risk donor strategy. For instance, if donors tend to drop during times of economic hardship, keep them engaged during the rough patch with non-giving related opportunities. Or, if a donor stops opening your emails, send them ones with subject lines that are likely to catch their attention by acknowledging the situation, like “It’s been a while since we’ve heard from you, [donor name]!”
Personalize communication.
Donors engage with nonprofits that offer activities that interest them. Of course, it’s unlikely that a single donor will want to engage with every activity your nonprofit has to offer. Personalize your outreach to share the opportunities that are the most relevant to each donor.
For instance, when promoting your planned giving program, younger donors and supporters new to your profit are unlikely to show much interest. Show your donors that you understand their individual preferences by tailoring the content you send to their interests.
You can better personalize your communication by dividing your donors into segments. Donor segments are groups of supporters who share relevant characteristics. For instance, you might divide your donors based on:
Location
Age
Gift size
Length of time giving to your organization
After determining your segments, create messaging strategies for each group. You can use email templates to help you get started, then use the information stored in your donor database to personalize each message even further by referencing donors’ names, past donation amounts, and engagement history.
Make opting into recurring donations easy.
The easiest way to retain supporters is to make giving automatic with a recurring donation program. Recurring donations are gifts donors make automatically, usually on a monthly basis. Since these gifts are deducted from donors’ bank accounts without needing any additional input from the supporter, they’re a simple set-it-and-forget-it method of donor retention.
Make joining your recurring donation program as easy as possible. You can do this by including a check box to make the gift recurring on your donation form. Or, offer suggested recurring donation amounts alongside higher suggested giving amounts for one-time donors to subtly push them toward becoming recurring supporters.
Recurring donations are lower than one-time donation amounts but add up over time. When donors see the low financial commitment of a recurring gift in comparison to higher one-time amounts, they may decide a recurring gift is the way to go.
Keep in mind that research shows that when offered a range of giving options, donors are most likely to choose the second lowest option. Additionally, always let donors enter a custom amount to give in case they want to give more or less than your suggested options.
Show your gratitude.
We’ve already discussed how you can use eCards to express your gratitude, but there’s even more you can do to show donors you care. For example, you could:
Send letters in the mail. eCards are an amazing piece of technology, but traditional mail still has its place in many nonprofits’ donor appreciation strategies. Write personalized donor thank-you letters your supporters will want to hold onto and send out fundraising appeals at strategic times of the year, such as the week before Giving Tuesday to remind supporters to send in their gifts.
Call donors. For donations above a certain amount, get on the phone, and give your donors a brief call. Write a script that volunteers can easily follow to knock out these calls, or go the extra mile and get your board members involved to make donors feel extra important.
Send gifts. Celebrate the donors who have been with you for years by sending physical gifts in the mail. For example, on a donor’s birthday, you might mail them a t-shirt branded to your organization, or you might put together a welcome package to new donors who gave over a certain amount to persuade them to stick around.
These ideas are just the beginning, but if you need more inspiration for how to thank your donors, there’s an easy solution: ask them. Send out a survey asking donors how they want to be recognized so you can be sure you’re showing your thanks in a way they’ll appreciate.
Promote non-giving engagement opportunities.
As discussed in our earlier example of nonprofits A and B, if your only communication with supporters is strictly about donations, donations are likely to go down. Give your supporters more opportunities to get involved with your cause that don’t require spending, like:
Volunteering. Invite your donors to take a more hands-on approach to supporting your mission by promoting volunteer opportunities. If your donors’ employers have a volunteer grant program, often called dollars-for-doers, they can fill out an application with their company and get their employer to donate to your nonprofit depending on how much they volunteered.
Attending events. If a donor makes friends with other supporters in your community, they’re more likely to continue engaging with your nonprofit. The easiest way to introduce donors to the rest of your community is to invite them to events, whether they’re in-person or online, formal or casual, or meant for appreciation, fundraising, or spreading awareness.
Exploring your content. Written a new blog post? Hosted a webinar or lecture about topics relevant to your cause? Or maybe you recorded a new video of your volunteers in action? Whatever your latest content is, let your supporters know about it. Giving them regular updates on your mission and inviting them to visit your website shows your community that your nonprofit is an active, dynamic organization that’s putting its donations to good use.
Not every donor will become a dedicated member of your community who wants to participate in extra opportunities. However, even for donors who are content to give quietly, seeing that your nonprofit does care about them beyond just cashing in their monthly gift is likely to make them think more highly of your nonprofit.
Conclusion and Additional Resources
After creating your retention program, keep testing and revising it as needed based on your donors’ changing needs. Track your donor retention rate to measure your progress, and get feedback from supporters to see how you can improve your program. Remember, donor retention is always ongoing, and the strategies that work today will need to adapt to keep up with your donor base five years from now.
For more information about revamping your strategy or expanding your audience, check out these additional resources:
Prospect Research: The Ultimate Guide for Nonprofits. In order to retain or engage donors, you have to know who to reach out to. Read this guide to learn more about expanding your audience and targeting your communications.
Donor Engagement: The Complete Guide + 9 Strategies. When donors enjoy their involvement in your organization, they’re more likely to stick around. Use the nine strategies in this guide to engage your donors more effectively.
15 Volunteer Statistics That Impact Your Nonprofit. Interested in engaging your supporters by offering volunteer opportunities? Stay up to date on the latest trends in volunteering with this statistical report.
https://doublethedonation.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/Double-the-Donation_Donor-retention-programs_feature.png10802900Adam Weingerhttps://doublethedonation.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/logo-dtd.svgAdam Weinger2023-01-01 16:24:032023-12-20 18:27:24How to Start A Donor Retention Program for Your Nonprofit
Digital fundraising is more important than ever, and even traditionally “offline” engagement efforts are being powered more effectively and efficiently by newly developed fundraising software. In the move to increasingly software-driven fundraising, it’s time for many nonprofits, schools, higher education institutions, and more to reevaluate their current fundraising toolkits.
If that sounds like you, you might be in the market to purchase or upgrade your organization’s tools—and we’ve put together this handy guide to help you along the way. Specifically, we’ll cover:
Are you ready to jump in and learn about how fundraising software can impact organizations like yours—and what you should look for if you’re in the market? Let’s get started.
Building Your Toolkit — Types of Fundraising Software
An optimized nonprofit fundraising toolkit will likely contain tools spanning a range of functionalities and purposes. While you might see a number of these solutions bundled into “all-in-one” type platforms, other providers can make the tools available via “a la carte” offerings.
That said, you’ll ultimately want to have access to each of the following types of nonprofit fundraising software to help aid in your overall efforts.
Online Donation Forms
One of the most basic—and essential—tenets of an optimized fundraising strategy is an organization’s online donation forms. These resources allow nonprofits to collect donations online with ease.
The best donation pages also empower fundraisers to:
Manage multiple online giving campaigns;
Offer suggested (or custom) donation amounts;
Accept gifts from desktop computers, mobile devices, and more;
Match their donation form branding to the organization;
Facilitate one-time or regularly recurring gifts;
Collect additional donor information through custom form fields;
Enable matching gift functionality through Double the Donation partnerships;
Integrate with other nonprofit solutions.
Peer-to-Peer Fundraising Pages
Peer-to-peer fundraising campaigns can be some of the best ways to bring existing donor engagement to new levels while simultaneously expanding the reach of your audience. Luckily, there are a number of peer-to-peer fundraising software available that should enable your organization to:
Equip volunteer fundraisers with customizable campaign pages;
Add images and other fundraising updates;
Spread the word with social sharing tools;
Track fundraising progress toward goals;
Prioritize an accessible and easy-to-use giving process;
Integrate with other nonprofit solutions.
Payment Processors
In order to accept donations and other payments online, you’ll need to have payment processing software in place to facilitate the transaction behind the scenes. This tool essentially functions as a mediator between the organization, the donor, and their financial institution.
An effective payment processor typically encompasses the following functionality, empowering nonprofit organizations to:
Process nonprofit contributions through multiple payment methods;
Offer a simple user interface;
Produce ready-built and custom reports;
Maintain high levels of payment security standards;
Integrate with other nonprofit solutions.
Data Management Systems
Your internal team powers your nonprofit and puts you on the course to fulfilling your mission—but there’s a lot for them to keep track of. Ensure your fundraisers are supplied with the tools they need to improve operations through a robust donor data management system.
Also known as a CRM (or constituent relationship management tool), your donor database should allow your team to:
Maintain detailed supporter records with constituent engagement histories;
Add helpful notes within donor profiles;
Segment your supporter base for targeted communications;
Automate administrative tasks and donor outreach;
Easily generate robust reports and data analytics;
Integrate with other nonprofit solutions.
Workplace Giving Software
Tons of available workplace giving revenue is left on the table each year—including more than $4 to $7 billion in unclaimed matching gifts alone. Luckily, dedicated workplace giving software helps organizations identify qualifying opportunities and drive more matches to completion to increase overall funding.
Keep in mind that the most successful fundraising organizations leverage these tools to preserve their teams’ time and resources while simultaneously increasing individual and corporate giving. After all, workplace giving programs like matching gifts and volunteer grants empower nonprofit donors to do more for the causes they care about without having to reach back into their own wallets to do so.
This type of fundraising software also enables nonprofits and other groups to:
Market matching gift program opportunities to donors and supporters;
Locate detailed information about matching gifts and volunteer grants;
Leverage an autocompleting search tool to identify employment information;
Trigger automated outreach to provide valuable matching gift program insights;
Ensure no matching gift falls through the cracks with timely follow-up cadences;
Integrate with other nonprofit solutions.
Because lack of awareness is a primary roadblock facing matching gift and other workplace giving success, the right software is a must-have for organizations looking to make the most of the opportunities. Not to mention, this solution integrates seamlessly into your existing fundraising strategy—and works alongside your other giving tools to elevate success on just about every avenue.
Nonprofit Event Tools
Hosting a fundraising event is often one of the most effective ways to bring in new supporters, boost donor engagement, and increase fundraising revenue. And nonprofit event software can streamline the entire experience from planning, hosting, and wrapping up your event initiatives.
Specifically, the best event fundraising tools should make it easy to:
Craft online event pages and/or microsites to promote upcoming opportunities;
Offer free or paid ticketing options;
Organize engaging in-person, virtual, and hybrid experiences;
Facilitate digital bidding at auction events
Collect additional donations beyond ticket sales;
Integrate with other nonprofit solutions.
Donor Acknowledgment Software
Appreciating your donors is a critical component of nonprofit fundraising—especially if you’re looking to steward long-term relationships with them. Thus, be sure you have some kind of donor acknowledgment or recognition software in your fundraising toolkit.
While a regular email or thank-you letter can make do in a pinch, we recommend elevating your gratitude strategy with unique and engaging acknowledgments—like eCards!
Regardless of what you choose, your donor recognition software should empower your team to:
Easily match your nonprofit’s existing branding style, including fonts, images, and colors;
Send acknowledgments in seconds;
Save money without shelling out funds for stamps, envelopes, printers, and ink;
Offer multiple digital communication channels, including email and SMS;
Customize communications to cultivate personal donor connections;
Track digital thank-you notes to determine when supporters interact with your outreach;
View other engagement statistics to gauge successes.
Choosing Your Software — Factors to Consider
When it comes to any type of fundraising software, there are a number of factors that go into making the right buying decisions. Together, these elements can provide a comprehensive look at the scope and abilities of your potential provider or product.
As you explore various software options, we recommend making detailed notes on the following components of each choice:
Functionality
Fundraising software is a broad term that can encompass many different types of platforms and features (like those highlighted above). That said, make sure you’re buying software that includes all of the necessary functionality for your organization and its needs.
At the same time, consider beforehand what you can live without. For example, if your organization has a ton of awesome event fundraising ideas, but isn’t so big on advocacy, consider forgoing the advocacy features in favor of a software with excellent event planning capabilities. Or perhaps you’re looking for a new CRM software, and you already have a donation platform that you love. In that case, you can look for exclusively database solutions that might not offer a built-in online giving tool.
Donor Experience
Your organization’s donors are most typically going to be the end user of your fundraising software. For example, they’re likely the ones who fill out your nonprofit’s online donation forms, participate in a peer-to-peer giving campaign, or interact with your matching gift database search tool.
That said, it’s important to prioritize fundraising software that makes their experiences as quick, easy, and painless as possible. If a process is too long, drawn out, or otherwise complicated, even your most dedicated supporters may consider abandoning their gift. On the opposite note, a seamless giving experience affair will keep donors coming back to support your cause time and time again.
Back-End Ease-of-Use
Another important element of any software has to do with its ease of use on a day-to-day basis—and this can depend on the organization itself as much as the software product in question. After all, one organization’s staff can have vastly different technical skill levels than the next.
All in all, organizations should prioritize a level of complication when it comes to their tech solutions that makes sense for their team. For example, if your nonprofit employs developers, a custom-coded solution might make sense. On the other hand, if no one on your team is particularly technical, you’ll likely want to prioritize an off-the-shelf fundraising platform for ease of use.
A solution that’s too technical—and ultimately inaccessible—will only complicate operations and discourage staff members from using it altogether. Remember: it’s not just the software but what you do with it that matters.
Scalability
Another key consideration when it comes to fundraising software (or any technology, for that matter) is the solution’s scalability.
For example, as your internal fundraising team grows, will your software enable enough authorized users? Be sure that all staff members who need to use your fundraising platform have access to do so—including taking into account where your team might be in one or multiple years.
Not only that, but when it comes to CRMs and other donor management systems, you’ll want to confirm that your potential platform can hold all of your donor data with significant room to spare. If you anticipate that your nonprofit will see major growth in the near future, you’ll certainly require a platform that has room for expansion. This will allow your new tools to scale up alongside your organization without breaking the bank—or requiring a software platform switch too quickly.
As you make your buying decision, keep in mind that organizations that jump at free or very low-cost solutions often find that their needs have rapidly out-scaled the capabilities of the software. If that happens, you’ll be back at software-buying square one with yet another data migration to handle—so it’s typically best to make a thoughtful, future-focused decision from the beginning.
Integrations
Even the most comprehensive software solutions might not have all of the day-to-day features your organization needs to function. In order to unlock heightened capabilities, you may have to integrate additional programs or systems to assist your operations.
Here are a few common scenarios when you might need integrations:
An organization might have specific or niche needs, where they may prefer to choose their own software solution (for example, a particular payment processor or email application) to best complement their existing tools.
The software company you’re buying from doesn’t offer tools to facilitate one of your major operations (e.g., corporate matching gifts), so you need to integrate a more specialized fundraising software (i.e., a dedicated workplace giving platform).
If you find that you’ll require a software integration, be sure to communicate your needs to your potential new vendor. That way, they can help determine the compatibility between the two systems. Perhaps there’s a native, ready-built integration—in which case, great! On the other hand, if it’s difficult or impossible to integrate two solutions, it might be time to reconsider your priorities.
Cost
It’s important to go into any major purchase with a budget in mind, and software is no exception. Before you take a deep dive and begin evaluating specific platforms, you should first decide how much your organization is willing to spend—taking into account base price, startup costs, and any additional ongoing fees.
The base price is the vendor’s list price on the platform you want to buy and will be what the majority of your investment will go toward. It encompasses the core functions of the platform but usually excludes any expansions or optional add-ons.
However, it’s important to ask exactly what it includes to make sure you’re getting all of the capabilities you need. If the base price doesn’t include one or more of your organization’s necessary features, be sure to consider how much the excluded features cost to add on.
From there, you might run into additional hidden costs such as these:
Staff training;
Maintenance fees;
Online donation processing fees;
Future updates, integrations, or expansions.
Going into the buying process with a clear budget will naturally limit your options, which makes the selection process a little easier. It also, of course, ensures that you won’t be spending more than you can actually afford.
Customizability
When you make your fundraising software purchase, you’re likely aiming to locate a solution that complements your organization’s needs and operations out of the box. Even so, many platforms remain particularly customizable and are open to being further tailored to fit your cause.
For the most optimal fundraising experience, consider software with expansive customization options—especially when it comes to the capabilities that most influence your major operations.
In your search, you may find that software customization can apply to many different features, including:
Supporter profiles;
Donation and sign-up forms;
Email marketing templates;
Reporting and tracking tools;
And more.
With customizable features, you can essentially mold your software to better fit your organization’s unique needs. Your software will feel like it was custom-made for you, more effectively driving impact toward your overall goals with ease.
Support
Most technology solutions will require some sort of support—not only to get up and running with the tools but also to aid in maintaining effective operations over time.
When you first get started with a new fundraising platform, you and your team will likely need to go through some sort of training or onboarding process in order to get set up and become proficient with the new tools. All platforms should have some kind of IT support, but the level of instruction and support can vary drastically from company to company, so it’s an important consideration in your vendor search.
Here are a few general questions for your fundraising software company in regard to team-wide training:
How long is the training process?
How is training administered (virtual, on-site, etc.)
What is the frequency of lessons?
What proficiency level does your training cater to?
What are the associated costs?
From there, it’s important to consider ongoing support availability as well. After all, even the technology whizzes of the nonprofit world will most likely need a little assistance from time to time when it comes to their fundraising software.
Compare software support options by making the following inquiries before you purchase:
Do you offer IT support?
How do I get in contact with support if there’s a problem?
What’s the typical response time?
Keep in mind that the better you and your team understand your software, the more functional it’s going to be, so be sure to locate a provider that offers the kind of support you need. With the right level of aid at your fingertips, your software will be functioning at top performance for years to come.
Software Buying Inquiries — Questions to Ask Beforehand
When considering software options, it’s important to think about your organizational operations and determine what is needed in a solution in the first place.
To make sure you locate a software that is the all-around right fit, you’ll want to have a number of questions on hand to explore. Here are a few that we recommend!
How difficult are the initial setup and data transfer?
Because you’re buying new software in the hopes that it will help you elevate your organization’s operations, chances are you’ll need to account for an initial software setup and data transfer from your previous solution.
Considering your data is the key to building and maintaining strengthened donor relationships and better optimizing your fundraising efforts, it’s essential that it translate to your new platform uncorrupted.
To ensure that this will be the case, first determine that it’s possible to transfer your data to the new system in its proper format. Then, consider how you’ll prepare your data for this process. If it turns out that transferring your data from one system to another requires a lot of time and labor on your part, consider whether the software offers other benefits that make it worth the effort.
From there, it will be time to think about actually getting your solution up and running. There are many steps to consider when setting up your new software, which might include:
Installation;
Customization;
Integrations;
Data cleaning;
Data testing;
And more.
Don’t forget to inquire about the overall length of the setup process, as well as any associated onboarding costs. If you decide to set up on your own (without the guidance of the software provider or consultant), make sure that you’ll have access to help if you end up running into any difficulties doing so.
Does it have the integrations my organization needs?
Remember—integrations are one of the most essential pieces of an effective fundraising software ecosystem. Without the right partnerships between your tools, your investments will be limited in scope and efficiency. Empowered with software integrations, however, your technology is able to function as a cohesive unit, rather than a collection of disparate tools.
Therefore, one of the most important questions you can ask when it comes to selecting a new software solution is “Does it offer the integrations my team—and technology ecosystem—needs?”
For example, Double the Donation integrates with 70+ of the industry’s largest nonprofit technology providers, including donation platforms, peer-to-peer software, CRMs, corporate giving solutions, and more. If you work with (or plan to work with) Double the Donation’s tools, we strongly recommend exploring the giving tools with which we partner.
How do I maintain effective use of my software over time?
The buying process doesn’t just end the minute your software is set up, and your staff knows how to use it. In order for your software to keep running at its highest capacity, you need to think about how you’re going to maintain it over time.
Before making your decision, ask if the software has any built-in features to help keep your data clean and up-to-date. This is one instance where automation can make a big difference. Automated features like deduplication can help maintain a lean and accurate database, ensuring your records never become so messy that they’re out of hand.
Second, make sure that your maintenance support includes installing updates—or if it doesn’t, that these updates are fairly easy to install yourself. And don’t forget to ask about the price!
By keeping your software up-to-date, you’ll get much more life out of it, ultimately leading to smoother fundraising processes over time.
What level of security does the software offer?
Chances are, your organization will be using its fundraising software to collect, store, and manage some of your supporters’ most sensitive data. Thus, it’s critical to confirm you’re choosing a highly secure platform that can protect this information properly.
For example, you might want to inquire about how much control the software gives you over user permissions. The most flexible platforms will allow you to offer some authorized users access to certain information while prohibiting others’ levels of access.
Pertaining to donor payment information, make sure you consider the highest industry security standards in your search. Consider asking about the following protections:
PCI compliance
SSL, or secure socket layer
AVS, or address verification service
Encryption and tokenization
CVV2 verification
IP checking
Password security
Multi-factor authentication
You want to confirm that your donors’ data will be kept safe and sound within your fundraising system—and you also want to ensure that supporters feel comfortable entering their payment information in the first place!
Fundraising Software In Action — Example Donation Flows
When comparing several fundraising software options, it can help to see each of the potential tools in action. We recommend getting personalized demos from each provider. But in the meantime, we’ve put together a few sample donation flows to be inspired by:
Marietta College
*Uses GiveCampus and Double the Donation
Marietta College is a private liberal arts school consistently ranked among the top colleges in Ohio. Let’s take a look at a few key components of Marietta College’s fundraising strategy and how their technology enables them to reach their goals:
Donation Page
This donation page from Marietta College is quick and easy for supporters to complete, prompting users to input basic information about their intended gifts and contact information. There are also optional fields, including employing company for matching gift programs, affiliation to the school, spouse/partner’s name, or class year, providing additional insights for the institution.
Once the form is completed, the school’s fundraising software enables donors to check out using Venmo, PayPal, Google Pay, debit/credit card, or bank transfer. Providing multiple methods for giving like so enables organizations to meet their donors where they are and drive more gifts to completion!
Confirmation Screen
After a donor submits their donation to the college, they are automatically rerouted to a gift confirmation screen. This web page thanks supporters for their generous contributions and provides detailed information concerning their employers’ matching gift programs—including eligibility criteria and how they can complete their matches.
By providing prominent and actionable ways for donors to pursue available matching gift opportunities, more matches are ultimately driven to completion, and more revenue is generated for the institution in question.
Follow-Up Email
Just a few minutes after finalizing their donations, Marietta College supporters receive customized email follow-ups directly in their inboxes. These messages contain notes of gratitude in addition to reminders about matching gift program availability, links to online submission portals, and actionable encouragement to complete their matching gift requests.
This keeps the college and its fundraising needs at the forefront of donors’ minds for longer and ultimately results in increased corporate matching revenue to amplify gift impact and help the school reach its goals.
GMHC
*Uses Classy and Double the Donation
Formerly known as Gay Men’s Health Crisis, GMHC was the world’s first nonprofit organization dedicated to the treatment and prevention of HIV and AIDS. Since 1981, GMHC has continued to provide impactful health and human services to key communities in New York.
Let’s walk through an overview of the GMHC giving experience using the fundraising software the organization currently has in place:
Donation Page
The first step involved in the GMHC donation process involves completing an online giving form made readily available on the organization’s website. Once a donor has arrived at the form, they are provided with a high-level overview of the nonprofit’s mission and vision, and are prompted to select their one-time or recurring donation amount. The frictionless process encourages giving and helps aid donors as they give to support their favorite causes.
Donors are also given the opportunity to enter the name of their employer in an optional, auto-completing search tool with the context that the individual may receive corporate matching information sent directly to their email. By incorporating workplace giving opportunities directly within the giving form, this organization is able to increase awareness of the programs and help drive more matching donations to completion.
Follow-Up Email
Soon after submitting their gift to the organization, GMHC donors receive a matching gift follow-up email informing them of their eligibility for a corporate matching initiative through their employer. This includes instructions and documentation required for the individual to submit their matching gift request, as well as a link the user can follow to keep the nonprofit up to date on the status of their corporate match! The technology essentially guides donors directly through the matching gift process, simplifying the experience and ultimately resulting in elevated match revenue for the organization.
African Impact Foundation
*Uses Fundraise Up and Double the Donation
The African Impact Foundation was established in 2008 with a mission to equip children and youth in Southern and Eastern Africa with the education and skills to uncover pathways out of poverty.
Here’s a look at how the foundation collects donations using powerful fundraising tools:
Multi-Step Donation Page
The African Impact Foundation leverages a multi-step donation form with which donors can submit their gifts to the organization. On the first page, individuals are able to select their intended donation from suggested gift sizes (or enter their own amount), as well as upgrade to a monthly recurring gift, choose a dedication or designation, or add optional comments. The fundraising software ensures there are multiple opportunities throughout the giving process for donors to upgrade their donations and further their nonprofit support.
On the next page, donors are encouraged to double their gift impact with a matching donation and are provided with access to a matching gift company search tool to name their employer (with which to identify guidelines and forms for ease of use). Then in the final step, donors are given the opportunity to cover their transaction costs and check out using a credit card, PayPal, or Google Pay.
Follow-Up Email
Using the employment information provided within the initial donation process, the African Impact Foundation’s fundraising software triggers automated matching gift follow-up emails—providing donors with access to company-specific program information and detailed next steps for submitting requests. They also use the follow-up email as an opportunity to thank donors for their support of the cause and encourage them to get their gifts matched by their employing companies.
Do’s & Dont’s — Tips For Buying Fundraising Software
As you enter the final steps in the fundraising software buying process, keep these tried-and-true tips in mind. Here are a few things that we recommend you do—and don’t do.
Don’t overcomplicate the fundraising process.
The hope is that your new software will update your organization’s current operations and better them in some way. At the same time, if the new solution appears to overcomplicate things for your team and your supporters, it’s probably not the one.
Think of it this way: buying software is like hiring a new staff member. As a key player in your efforts, you want it to complement your organization’s unique culture without flipping your current processes on its head.
Although the goal is that your software will simplify the fundraising process, it will only become more difficult if you have to drastically change the way your organization runs—or your donors give—to use it.
Learning how to use a new platform is already a big adjustment. Make it easier on yourself by finding one that shapes to fit you, not shapes you to fit it.
Do get a demo.
Often, the best way to determine if you’ve chosen the right software is to see the tools in action. That’s why most software vendors offer informational demos, allowing prospective clients to get a better idea of their product before they decide to buy.
Start by checking the vendor’s website to see if they feature any pre-recorded demo videos. Some providers may require some basic information first, then send an on-demand demo (or perhaps even a free trial) over email or through their site.
For those further along in the buying process, many solutions also offer live online demos upon request. These experiences are more personalized and can provide a closer look at how the software will work for your organization.
Don’t forget to check out the reviews.
You don’t have to go through the buying process alone. In fact, organizations that have previously used a particular software can be a huge help when it comes to deciding whether or not to buy. Because they’ve had experience with the product, they can attest firsthand to how it functions.
Before making any decisions, get online and see if you can find a second opinion. Consult reviews other organizations have provided about the software you’re evaluating. If you see certain patterns emerging regarding the platform’s strengths or weaknesses, it’s fairly safe to expect that your nonprofit will encounter a similar experience.
Do explore Double the Donation and its integration partners.
With so many fundraising software options available, it can be difficult to know which one to select for your organization. To narrow it down a bit, we recommend heading over to Double the Donation’s partnerships hub to check out the range of innovative, best-in-class solutions that we work with.
Still too many choices? Use our software search tool to filter for different platform types, verticals served, and even key functionality. In doing so, you can be sure you’re finding the right tools for your organization and equip your team with Double the Donation’s matching gift solution to drive corporate giving revenue as well.
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Our Top Fundraising Tool Pick to Drive Engagement + Revenue
After the insights listed above pertaining to how to choose the perfect fundraising software for your organization, you might be wondering what our key recommendation is. If you want to make every donor dollar count while maximizing fundraising efficiency, we suggest 360MatchPro—our complete matching gift automation platform.
360MatchPro Overview
360MatchPro by Double the Donation automates the matching gift experience for nonprofits, their staffs, and their donors. This solution aims to uncover matching gift-eligible donors through multiple identification methods, trigger personalized and company-specific outreach, and ultimately drive more matching gifts to completion—with an end goal of maximizing each organization’s matching gift revenue.
The platform works by integrating with a nonprofit’s existing fundraising tools (i.e., your donation tools, peer-to-peer software, and donor management systems). When a donor gives, 360MatchPro automatically scans their provided information to determine if they are eligible for a matching gift from their employer.
If they are, the software triggers an email with company-specific instructions on how to submit their matching gift request. If their eligibility status remains unknown, outreach is sent encouraging donors to search for their employer using the embedded company search tool and follow the tailored instructions available in real time.
Plus, 360MatchPro aids fundraisers in tracking incoming matches to more accurately forecast match revenue, push forward stuck matches, and provide in-depth reporting and analytics to demonstrate matching gift success over time and locate areas with room for improvement.
Not to mention, studies show that employing a matching gift automation tool (like 360MatchPro) increases matching gift revenue for nonprofits by 61%! And it even drives individual giving as well—with 84% of survey participants being more likely to donate if a match is offered, and 1 in 3 donors indicate they’d give a larger gift if matching is applied.
This process is entirely automated, saving your organization significant time and resources. Matching gifts have never been easier!
Innovative fundraising software exists to assist organizations like yours in the move to increasingly digitized fundraising campaigns. With the right tools and resources in your team’s tech stack, you’ll be able to bring in more fundraising revenue easier without a hitch.
Interested in learning more about strategic nonprofit fundraising and the solutions available to your team? Check out these additional fundraising resources below:
The Comprehensive Guide to Fundraising Technology. This free downloadable resource dives deeper into the topic of innovative fundraising technology, best practices for making software buying decisions, and more.
Database of Matching Gift and Volunteer Grant Companies. The right matching gift software can elevate the rest of your fundraising tech stack. Explore Double the Donation’s comprehensive database and automation software here.
Peer-to-peer fundraising has the ability to bring any nonprofit (or school, higher education institution, etc.) to the next level in terms of fundraising, donor engagement, and more. And equipping a team with the right peer-to-peer fundraising software to get the job done can go a long way.
In this resource, we’ll guide you through the process of locating the perfect peer-to-peer platform, thus empowering your organization to grow its network, develop deeper supporter relationships, and increase fundraising revenue overall.
Looking to locate optimal peer-to-peer fundraising software for your organization? We’ve been in the nonprofit fundraising and peer-to-peer space with thousands of clients—including a majority of the top social fundraising events each year—working with dozens of different platforms.
Here are a few insights that we’ve picked up on when it comes to choosing and buying the best P2P technology. Let’s begin!
Key Considerations for Peer-to-Peer Fundraising Software
When it comes to making software buying decisions, going into the process with a solid understanding of your organization’s needs and priorities is essential. Keep these top considerations in mind as you explore various providers and aim to locate the right peer-to-peer platform for your team.
Integrations
One of the best ways to substantially increase the functionality of your peer-to-peer fundraising software (or just about any software platform, for that matter) is by enabling technology integrations. These partnerships between separate solutions allow organizations to make the most of each tool they employ within their overall tech stacks.
For example, your organization likely leverages a donor management or CRM system to keep track of supporter information, engagement history, and more. Opting for a peer fundraising solution that offers a seamless integration with your donor database can streamline data syncing, reduce errors, and simplify efforts for your team. Thus, it’s certainly something you’ll want to look into in your software search.
Accessibility & Ease of Use
One of the most significant benefits of peer-to-peer fundraising has to do with its increased reach, allowing organizations and their supporters to engage with new donors near and far. In order to make the most of the opportunity, however, it’s important that nonprofits prioritize accessible fundraising tools that are simple for all supporters to utilize.
Not only do accessible and easy-to-use platforms result in increased funding for nonprofits, but they also ensure positive experiences for all donors and supporters utilizing the tools.
Here are a few areas to consider in your search:
Web accessibility standards — Ensure your existing or potential fundraising platform is highly accessible for everyone who might land on your giving pages, including those with disabilities. And one of the easiest ways to do so involves seeking out peer-to-peer fundraising software that prioritizes accessibility standards, such as sufficient color contrasts, image ALT text, and more.
Mobile optimization — You want your donors’ experiences to be quick and easy, regardless of whether they completed the transaction using a smartphone, tablet, laptop, or desktop computer. Be sure to communicate this need to your P2P provider, especially as many peer-to-peer donations are made from mobile devices.
Matching Gift Functionality
Corporate matching donations have the power to bring peer-to-peer giving success to the next level. And many peer fundraising providers have built-in solutions to simplify the process and amplify individual and corporate giving. With the right matching gift tools working smoothly alongside your peer-to-peer software, your organization can effectively utilize the power of corporate gift matching.
For example, 360MatchPro is Double the Donation’s leading donation-matching platform that helps nonprofits and other institutions raise more money, better engage donors, and save staff time. It also integrates seamlessly with many of the industry’s top peer-to-peer fundraising tools to simplify corporate gift matching for organizations across the globe. So as you make your P2P software buying decisions, be sure to keep matching gift functionality at the top of your mind!
Payment Processing Capabilities
Today more than ever before, optimizing the peer-to-peer giving experience involves diversifying the types of payments accepted from donors. This ensures that donors have multiple options for giving, increasing the likelihood that they’ll complete the transaction and simultaneously removing potential roadblocks.
Traditional forms of payment include debit and credit cards as well as ACH bank transfers, and you’ll certainly want a P2P provider that incorporates these giving methods. However, online fundraising tools are increasingly adopting innovative payment methods, such as digital wallets (e.g., Apple Pay, Google Pay, and Samsung Pay), financial services like Venmo and PayPal, and even cryptocurrency—so keep an eye out for these capabilities as well!
Support Availability
Technology support typically falls into one of two categories: initial onboarding and ongoing support. And each can play a significant role in an organization’s overall success with the platform. After all, there’s no point in purchasing software if you don’t have the resources needed to get set up and make the most of it!
However, each company has its own offerings in regard to tech support, and you’ll want to locate a provider with the right assistance levels for your team. For example, if your nonprofit has its own well-built-out tech department with the capabilities to get set up and maintain effective software usage on its own, you may be able to locate a provider that offers minimal external support at a lower cost to your organization. On the other hand, an organization without its own dedicated technology experts may opt for additional assistance at a higher price point in order to ensure they have the support they need.
And don’t forget to consider the ROI of your support offerings, either! In some scenarios, it can be beneficial to select a provider with high levels of support that can help your organization in its drive to maintain high levels of fundraising success. In this case, opting for more hands-on tech support can ultimately result in elevated revenue, meaning that the cost is well worth the investment.
Sample Peer-to-Peer Fundraising Pages to Be Inspired By
Each peer-to-peer fundraising platform offers a unique donation flow that impacts the ways in which donors and fundraisers interact with your organization’s efforts. If you’re looking to make the most of your upcoming initiatives with optimal technology, consider these three sample social fundraising pages to be inspired by.
As we walk through the giving experiences, be sure to note what the organization does well and which pieces can be emulated in your own fundraising efforts!
The George Washington University
*Uses GiveCampus and Double the Donation
The George Washington University is a private research university located in Washington, D.C. This institution participates in a range of fundraising initiatives, backing scholarship opportunities, student life, athletics, and more.
Here’s a look at the university’s peer-to-peer giving experience using innovative social fundraising technology:
Step 1: An individual navigates to a peer-to-peer campaign landing page.
The George Washington University hosts a wide range of peer-to-peer fundraising opportunities, and each one is provided with a campaign landing page from which to give, track progress toward objectives and deadlines, share the fundraising site, and more. Not to mention, it incorporates a brief video outlining the campaign efforts and goals.
Step 2: The individual selects their intended donation amount on the giving form.
Once the donor has navigated to the donation form from the campaign landing page, they are encouraged to choose their donation amount, determine recurring status, select a designation, and even add an additional gift.
Step 3: The individual provides employment information and submits their gift.
On this final page of the GWU peer-to-peer giving process, donors are encouraged to enter their employer name to uncover employee matching gift information using Double the Donation’s embedded search tool. From there, they are prompted to review their gift selection and finalize their contribution using the payment method of their choice.
Step 4: The individual is thanked and provided with matching gift information on the confirmation page.
Once a donor has submitted their donation via the peer-to-peer giving form, they are automatically redirected to visit a dedicated confirmation page. On this page, GWU thanks its donors for supporting the campaign and provides detailed matching gift information. When available, the information provided is specific to the individual’s predetermined employer for the most relevant next steps, guidelines, and forms.
Breast Cancer Research Foundation
*Uses Classy and Double the Donation
The Breast Cancer Research Foundation is one of the largest nonprofit organizations dedicated to breast cancer research, offering some of the most innovative advancements toward the prevention and curing of breast cancers.
Since its inception in 1993, BCRF has raised over $500 million for breast cancer research, funding nearly 300 researchers across 15 different countries—much of it through social fundraising efforts.
Here’s a brief overview of this organization’s peer-to-peer giving process using dedicated P2P fundraising software:
Step 1: An individual selects their intended donation amount on the P2P giving form.
Once an individual lands on a BCRF peer-to-peer donation form, they are met with a brief description of the organization and its mission—and how individual donors can help. From there, they are encouraged to select their gift amount from a number of suggested donation sizes (or select an alternative amount from the fill-in-the-blank box) and determine whether their contribution will be a one-time or recurring gift.
Step 2: The individual assigns their gift to a particular fundraiser or team.
Next, the individual is able to credit their donation to a specific person or team participating in the campaign by typing a name in the auto-completing search box. Once they’ve selected a fundraiser, that individual or group’s progress is displayed using a real-time goal thermometer.
Step 3: The individual provides current employment information.
At this stage in the giving process, the donor is prompted to “see if [their] employer will match [their] donation.” BCRF has embedded a matching gift search tool within their peer-to-peer giving form, which instructs individuals to enter their employing company in the search box below. The individual is also informed that they may receive follow-up emails from Double the Donation with detailed instructions regarding how to submit their match request.
Step 4: The individual reviews and submits their donation.
From there, each donor is encouraged to review their donation information and select a payment method to complete their gift. BCRF currently accepts donations through PayPal, Venmo, credit card, and bank transfers!
Step 5: The individual receives an email follow-up prompting them to submit their matching gift.
Mere minutes after clicking submit on their peer-to-peer donation, Breast Cancer Research Foundation donors receive a customized email follow-up straight to their inbox providing matching gift information and communicating gratitude for the individuals’ support. When the donor had previously provided employment data within the giving form, the email content is company-specific, providing targeted details on matching gift eligibility and actionable next steps for submission.
Soles4Souls
*Uses Fundraise Up and Double the Donation
Soles4Souls is a Tennessee-based nonprofit organization dedicated to collecting and redistributing shoes, clothing, and other apparel. By partnering with individual supporters, retailers, and community organizations, Soles4Souls gathers new and gently used shoes and provides them to people who need them across the globe.
And while Soles4Souls greatly benefits from in-kind product donations, they also participate in additional fundraising activities such as peer-to-peer giving campaigns. Let’s take a look at the basic process using this organization’s fundraising software:
Step 1: An individual selects their intended donation amount on the P2P giving form.
Similar to the previous donation flow, the first step in Soles4Souls’ peer-to-peer giving process begins with a donation selection. An individual donor is prompted to select a recommended gift amount or enter their preferred number and opt to give once or to make it a monthly donation. Donors can also choose to dedicate their donation or provide an additional comment alongside their gift.
Meanwhile, in the left panel, the donor is met with compelling imagery and a brief overview of the purpose behind the organization’s mission and fundraising efforts.
Step 2: The individual provides current employment information.
In the next step of this multi-page peer-to-peer giving experience, Soles4Souls donors are encouraged to double their donation impact with a matching gift. To drive this process forward, each individual is asked to provide the name of their current employer. From there, the P2P software searches Double the Donation’s extensive database of corporate matching gift information to provide eligibility details.
Step 3: The individual reviews and submits their donation.
Finally, donors reach the payment screen, where they are led to multiple options, which include credit card, PayPal, Google Pay, Venmo, and bank transfer, to finalize their gifts. Individuals are also given the option to cover their transaction costs, thus ensuring 100% of the contribution goes to the organization they’re supporting.
Step 4: The individual receives an email follow-up prompting them to submit their matching gift.
Once an individual finalizes their Soles4Souls donation using the organization’s peer-to-peer fundraising software, a personalized email is automatically triggered to their inbox. The follow-up messaging contains additional matching gift resources, including direct links to donors’ matching gift submission portals, as well as an easy way to communicate status updates with the nonprofit team.
Smart Tips for Choosing Your P2P Software
Ready to begin making buying decisions for your organization’s peer fundraising software? Here are a few additional practices to keep in mind as you do so.
1. Consider scalability.
When purchasing peer-to-peer fundraising technology for your cause, it’s important to look to the future in terms of whether the software has the ability to grow alongside your organization. If your team is on the smaller side at current, it might be tempting to opt for a free or low-cost solution, often with limited functionality. However, you don’t want to be back at square one in the buying process just a few years from now when you determine that the platform was unable to meet your needs as you grew.
Thus, consider a software provider’s potential for scalability as you search. You’ll want to locate the right technology that meets your needs now and in the future, growing seamlessly alongside your organization in order to produce the best and smoothest results.
2. Consider integrations in your overall tech stack.
Before making any software buying decisions, it’s important to keep your overall technology ecosystem in mind. For example, does that donation tool offer a built-in payment processor or does it integrate with one that you’re open to using? Does your fundraising platform have a native integration with your existing CRM, enabling peer-to-peer giving data to flow seamlessly into your donor database? Does the system partner with your matching gift fundraising tools through Double the Donation to identify and follow up with potential matches?
You’ll want to be able to consider these questions ahead of time and be satisfied with the answers prior to making your investment. Otherwise, you may end up with limited functionality and have a difficult time expanding your tech system without easy, ready-built integration options.
3. Rate your highest and lowest priorities.
Unfortunately, you may not be able to locate a peer-to-peer fundraising tool that meets all of your organization’s desired criteria. Perhaps you’ll be drawn to Feature A from Provider B, though Provider C offers innovative Feature D—all the while, Provider E has a significantly reduced price point.
Simplify things going into the process by first determining your organization’s highest and lowest priorities and finding a solution that coincides. For example, one group may order things like this—functionality → accessibility → integrations → cost—while another prioritizes like this—cost → accessibility → functionality → integrations.
4. Get personalized demos to see the tools in action.
Before buying a car, you’ll usually take it out for a test drive to see how it runs and determine whether it would be a good fit. That’s essentially what a software demo is, and it’s a critical step in the buying process—especially when it comes to peer-to-peer and other types of fundraising technology.
Getting a software demo will allow your team the opportunity to see the fundraising tools in action and ask any questions before making a buying decision. We recommend narrowing your choices to two or three solutions and getting personalized demos of each one.
5. Keep your fundraisers and end donors in mind.
Peer-to-peer fundraising is a unique form of engagement in that it encapsulates an additional key player that you’ll want to consider when making software decisions. For example, in a typical fundraiser, those experiencing your giving platform tend to be your behind-the-scenes team in addition to those contributing through the platform. P2P technology, however, must account for your organization’s internal team, the end donors contributing, and the new “middle-man” in the situation—your volunteer fundraisers.
As you go through the buying process, it’s important to keep each of these players in mind. Consider the experience from each possible perspective. Is it easy to set up a fundraising page and share it with family and friends? How about updating the online hub with personal stories, images, and progress toward goals? And then, from the giver’s point of view—how simple is it to go through and make a donation to their loved ones’ campaigns?
Asking these questions beforehand can equip your team with the knowledge to make the best peer-to-peer fundraising software decisions, keep an eye out for potential roadblocks, and help troubleshoot concerns along the way.
Next Steps
Double the Donation works closely with over 70 of the sector’s top fundraising technology providers. When looking for a best-in-class peer-to-peer fundraising software platform, we recommend getting started with our integration partners.
Navigate to our integrations page here to explore the solutions we work with, filter by industry and functionality, and determine whether one is right for your needs.
Want to learn more about nonprofit fundraising technology and how you can provide your team with the right tools? Check out these additional Double the Donation resources:
The Comprehensive Guide to Fundraising Technology. Download our free eBook to explore a wider range of fundraising tech solutions, what to look for in a provider, and how to make your buying decisions!
Database of Matching Gift and Volunteer Grant Companies. Elevate your organization’s peer-to-peer fundraising initiatives with our comprehensive workplace giving database and ensure your donors have access to the program information they need.
You likely gather many details about your donors—those who support your cause with their funds, time, or resources. Perhaps you collect names, contact information, engagement history, interests, and hobbies. The more comprehensive an understanding you have of each supporter, the better you can tailor your fundraising strategy to effectively reach your target audience.
However, one critical piece of the puzzle that’s often overlooked is employment data. Knowing where your donors work can play a significant role in how you relate to them in terms of fundraising, corporate giving opportunities, and more. And if you don’t already have this data point on file? That’s where employer appends come in.
In this guide, we’ll provide a walkthrough of all things employer appends—including:
Understanding your donors’ employment status can elevate your fundraising efforts in huge ways. You won’t want to discard the wealth of information gathered through employer appends, nor the amplified impact it brings.
Let’s get started!
The Basics of Data Appends
Data appends are a particular type of data enhancement strategy that allows nonprofits and other fundraising groups to learn more about the individuals in their networks. These efforts aim to provide organizations with more comprehensive and up-to-date information, often concerning their donors and other supporters. This empowers fundraisers to adjust their messaging and overall engagement strategies by better discerning who a donor is and what makes them tick.
Organizations typically provide the information they do have to a company dedicated to data enhancement services. The company then compares donor information against a mega-database of individual data, filling in the details the organization lacks as they go.
Employer appends, in particular, empower organizations to collect new and optimized data regarding the companies their supporters work for. Beyond employer information, other common types of data appends include mailing addresses, email addresses, birth dates, and phone numbers.
As you’ll notice, these types of appends primarily fill in missing or outdated contact information. That makes connecting with supporters easy for email outreach, phonathon fundraisers, direct mail solicitations, and other campaigns.
What Are Employer Appends?
Employer appends are one of the most common types of data appends for nonprofits, schools, and other fundraising organizations. In this case, the unknown information an organization seeks is that of a donor’s employer.
By providing other data points—such as the person’s name, location, phone number, education experience, etc.—the intended result is to locate the company that the individual works for (and sometimes even their job title!). In the end, the organization receives invaluable insights that can help uncover matching gift and other workplace giving opportunities, estimate wealth data, and more.
How Employer Appends Work for Fundraisers
The employer appends process is simple. After locating a data appending service (we’ll cover what to look for below), you’ll want to collect as much existing data about your donors as possible. This should include:
Name
Unique ID number
Mailing address (home, business, or both)
Region (state, city, and country)
Email address(es)
Phone number(s)
College or university (along with class year and major/degree, if available)
Last gift amount
Date of last donation
Date the entry was last updated
You will likely not have every data point available for each donor. And that’s okay! However, starting with as much information as possible increases the likelihood that the appending service provider can locate and match supporter records to the right employer information.
From there, the appending service will conduct its own research, typically scanning a number of public and privately held databases, which may include government records, SEC filings, social media profiles, business registrations, and more.
When the service provider is able to match a donor record with an employing company, they make a note of the identified information, check the newly collected data for accuracy, and share their findings with the organization. Ultimately, the organization is able to utilize the information to its best advantage in terms of optimal fundraising and donor relations.
Benefits of Employer Appends for Nonprofits and Universities
Employer appends can bring big results to nonprofit fundraising. Knowing where your donors and other key supporters work plays a significant role in overall engagement strategies, not to mention enabling targeted efforts regarding available workplace giving opportunities.
Specifically, employer appending can help your team:
Determine matching gift eligibility —
Thousands of companies offer matching gift programs where they agree to match employee donations to charitable organizations.
However, you likely won’t know which donors are eligible for (and, as a result, which to follow up with about) matching opportunities if you don’t know where they work. In fact, this knowledge gap even results in over $4 to $7 billion in matching gift funding going unclaimed each year!
Once you have the information you need, however, you’ll be able to prompt qualifying donors to complete the match process and secure additional funding on your organization’s behalf. This is true not only in the form of corporate match revenue but in elevated individual giving (and donor engagement), as well.
Keep in mind that matching gift services—like Double the Donation’s 360MatchPro—can help nonprofits target and follow up with matching gift opportunities as well. However, employer appends are often able to provide additional data points with which to guide an organization’s strategy, allowing fundraisers to capture supporter information even if the individual is not currently in the donation pipeline.
Here’s an example: “Jody, did you know that your employer, the Home Depot, matches full- and part-time employee donations up to $3,000 per person each year? Click here to request your matching gift!”
Uncover volunteer grant opportunities —
Similarly, if your organization has a supporter base of dedicated volunteers, corporate volunteer grants can help stretch their donated time even further. These are additional giving programs offered by philanthropic-minded businesses, the difference being that employers contribute monetary funds to the organizations with which their employees volunteer their time. Volunteer grants, which are also referred to as “dollars for doers,” can be an excellent way to multiply the impact of volunteer time for your organization, and supporters love being able to get involved in that way as well.
But again, you’ll need to know which companies your volunteers work for, which is where your employer appends come in. That way, you can be sure to inform them about the opportunities, encourage participation, and direct them to their employers’ request processes to get involved.
Here’s an example: “Thanks for all of your help at the shelter this weekend and over the past several months, Sam!As a Verizon employee, your volunteer hours likely qualify you to request a corporate volunteer grant on our behalf. Click here to learn more about how to request your grant!”
Identify potential corporate sponsorships —
Corporate sponsors can bring your nonprofit’s next fundraising event to the next level, and knowing which companies your supporters work for can aid in determining top prospective sponsors and help get your foot in the door! Once you know where your donors work, leverage the information as an in with a potential sponsor or encourage donors to advocate for a partnership on your behalf.
Here’s an example: “Ashley, it’s great to connect with the Microsoft team. More than 100 of our nonprofit’s donors work for Microsoft, and we’ve received thousands of dollars in matching gifts from your company in the past. As it’s clear that we already have a lot in common, would you be interested in sponsoring our upcoming event?”
Estimate wealth data —
Your donors’ wealth levels can play a significant role in their ability to give charitably, and understanding their limits can help organizations determine ideal fundraising asks. Knowing which companies your donors work for, their roles in the businesses, and more can help shed light on their estimated incomes and, by extension, giving abilities.
Here’s an example: “Sarah, we thank you for your continued support of our nonprofit cause. Will you consider making a $10,000 donation to help us reach our year-end giving goal?”
Tailor donor communications —
You want your donor outreach to be as personal and targeted as possible. Including direct references to donor-specific information helps develop relationships and shows that you’re not sending the same copied-and-pasted message to each person in your contacts. And, as you likely know, targeted messaging can be one of the best ways to develop strengthened, beyond-surface-level donor relationships, build connections with the cause, and ultimately drive more nonprofit involvement among supporters.
Highlighting an individual’s employing company can be a great way to do so, especially regarding getting involved with workplace giving programs. And if you don’t already have your donors’ employment information, that’s where employer appends can help.
Here’s an example: “Jeffrey, the Walt Disney Corporation offers a range of corporate giving opportunities that can benefit our organization in big ways. As a member of the Disney team, you have the chance to participate in matching gifts, volunteer grants, and more.”
Learn more about your supporters —
The more you know about your supporters—donors, volunteers, and prospects alike—the better you can connect with the individuals who make your mission possible. Since most people’s careers are a key component of their lives and what makes them who they are, understanding where they work and what they do can be a key piece of the “getting to know your donors” puzzle. Plus, it can even help shine a light on their own interests and hobbies.
Here’s an example: “As a Petco employee, you likely care about the wellbeing of the little, furry friends in our community. That’s exactly what our organization, the Atlanta Animal Shelter, is dedicated to, as well. Learn more about how you can get involved with the cause here!”
Overall, employer records are an extremely beneficial tool for designing targeted and effective outreach. However, you likely don’t have that information on file for all of your supporters. By leveraging employer appends, you can collect the information you need to guide your organization’s engagement efforts toward success.
Employer Appends Services | What to Look For
It’s possible to conduct donor research on your own; however, your organization is significantly more likely to uncover accurate and up-to-date information about more donors more quickly when you outsource the efforts to a third-party provider. And employer appends services are dedicated to doing just that in the most effective and efficient ways possible.
So how can you select the right employer (or other donor data) appends provider for your needs? Be sure to do your research beforehand.
For example, here’s how it works with Double the Donation:
Organizations typically see successful appends rates between 20% and 50% of the records they provide to the appending service (which is significantly higher than the industry average).
Employer appends are typically completed and provided within a few days of the organization submitting their inputs.
Appends records are assigned an accuracy rating. This takes into account the uniqueness of a donor’s name and the level of detailed inputs initially provided, as well as the comprehensiveness and recency of the data source used.
As an added bonus, previously unknown corporate executives are often identified and flagged as potential major donors.
Multiple appending options are available, including real-time employer appends for Double the Donation’s 360MatchPro users, as well as one-time bulk appends services for any organization.
Employer appends can then be uploaded into an organization’s 360MatchPro account in order to trigger matching gift emails and other automated donor outreach.
If you’re interested in exploring Double the Donation’s employer appends service, fill out the contact form here to request a quote!
Concluding Thoughts
The more you know about your donors, the more effectively you can target and attract them to your cause. Not to mention, having employment data on file empowers organizations to seek workplace giving opportunities as well.
You may have a solid base of information pertaining to donors’ employing companies already. However, employer appends can go a long way toward filling in the blanks and connecting the dots. This is especially true in terms of matching gift programs, volunteer grants, and more.
Interested in further developing your organization’s donor data strategy? Dive into these other forms of data appends services—and how they can benefit your team—below:
What Is a Date of Birth Append? A Comprehensive Guide.Uncover more about your organization’s supporters with date of birth appending. Find out donors’ ages for strategic segmentation, send birthday outreach, and more.
https://doublethedonation.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/DTD_The-Ultimate-Guide-to-Employer-Appends-for-Fundraisers_Feature.png300800Adam Weingerhttps://doublethedonation.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/logo-dtd.svgAdam Weinger2022-10-28 19:14:372023-11-09 14:47:51The Ultimate Guide to Employer Appends for Fundraisers
How the Next Generation Influences Fundraising and Workplace Giving
According to charitable giving research, overall giving revenue was reportedly elevated in 2021. However, the number of individual donors giving had dropped.
So what does that mean for organizations like yours that rely on contributions from supporters to bankroll mission programming? More than likely, you have an opportunity to reach new, previously under-targeted segments of supporters to continue growing your donor base—and with it, your total funding. One of the best markets to consider is that of young donors.
Many nonprofits, educational institutions, and other fundraising organizations are interested in learning how to engage donors to drive the best results. At the same time, donor retention remains at top-of-mind for most. Young donors are a critical piece of the puzzle, and yet they continue to be overlooked in terms of fundraising potential.
In this guide, we’ll walk through the basics of young donor fundraising, how it can differ from traditional engagement efforts, and how you can make the most of those relationships as they grow. We’ll cover:
Adapting your marketing, fundraising, and overall donor engagement strategies to attract and connect with individuals of all ages is one of the greatest ways to ensure your team is leveraging your supporter base to its fullest potential.
Want to find out how to do so—particularly in regards to the youngest of donors in your network? Read on!
Why Engaging With Young Donors Matters
Engaging with all of your donors is an essential component of a successful fundraising strategy. What many organizations are seeing, however, is that young donors continue to be an under-targeted market when it comes to seeking donations.
Gen Z and young millennial donors are often referred to as “the donors of tomorrow” or “the donors of the future.” But the truth is that these up-and-coming generations are the donors of NOW. So why are organizations overlooking their potential? It might be because young donors tend to have more limited funding at their disposal to contribute as compared to older, more established supporters.
But consider this: is it easier to ask a new donor for a $10,000 donation and hope they spring for it, or to start out small with a $20-50 donation ask from a young donor who will then become increasingly engaged with your organization over time? In most cases, the answer is the latter.
Not to mention, young donors bring with them nearly unlimited potential. That college-aged individual making a $25 gift out of their part-time paycheck could very well become the CEO of a multi-billion-dollar company that doesn’t even exist yet. And as their income grows, their gifts would likely grow alongside it.
The bottom line?
Be willing to start small and watch the impact of continuous engagement increase drastically over time.
Acquiring & Retaining New Generations of Donors
Like any group, to engage with young donors, you’ll need to focus on two crucial components of your strategy—getting them and keeping them. As far as the basics of the donor lifecycle go, this refers to acquisition and retention.
Here’s what you should know about each pertaining to younger generations of donors;
Acquiring Young Donors
Young donor fundraising involves bringing young donors into your network of support, to begin with. And you may need to take an adjusted approach than what you might use with your general, middle-aged-and-older audience.
For one, attracting young donors can be particularly impactful when using social proof to your best advantage. Social proof, or the idea that people are more likely to do something if they see their peers doing the same—and a founding principle behind peer-to-peer fundraising—tends to be even more effective among the younger generations.
In other words, once you get one young donor in your corner, you have one of the best tools to draw in others in their circle. At the same time, other key practices include reaching donors where they are, such as on social media sites and mobile technology—but more on those tips later.
Retaining Young Donors
Once you’ve laid the groundwork for a supporter relationship and even secured your first donation, you’ll want to put in the time and effort to elevate the connection to new heights.
Even more than your typical donor, Gen Z and young millennials desire to feel connected to the organizations with which they get involved. They want to know that their funding is going to impactful causes, so excellent financial stewardship efforts are essential (top tip: demonstrate that you’re making the most of each dollar you receive by emphasizing corporate matching opportunities!).
It’s also a great idea to offer streamlined recurring giving options—and to ensure donors of all ages are aware of the opportunities. After all, what better way is there to ensure your new donors return time and time again than to essentially get them set up on auto-pay? In fact, research into young donor trends reports that young donors are more likely than the average donor to be enrolled in a monthly giving program (36% overall enrollment rates, with donors aged 18-29 coming in at 48%). Be sure to give them what they want, and market the ability accordingly.
Factors That Can Impact Gift Size Over Time
Many young donors are likely to start out by giving low-level donations to the organizations they support. But every dollar counts and their potential to give can increase exponentially as time goes on.
Here are a few factors that can impact gift size and lead to continually growing donations;
Increasing income
The average person’s income tends to rise over time, whether by receiving promotions, moving employers, diving into new industries, or even exploring an entrepreneurial spirit. As donors of all ages benefit from elevated incomes, their ability to give to the causes they care about tends to rise proportionately as well—oftentimes at an even higher rate than the income or salary increase itself.
Deepening connections to the organization
Finally, an individual’s personal connections to a nonprofit can be a significant factor when it comes to determining their gift size. Sure, a charitable-minded donor might make a $25 gift to a random organization when asked, but they’re likely to reserve more substantial funding for the causes and groups they feel most passionate about. And when you start developing that personal relationship early on, these individuals (i.e., your young donors) will be more likely to continue supporting your organization in larger and larger amounts as time goes on.
Young Donors & Workplace Giving
Another key factor that can have a substantial effect on young and old donors’ giving alike is employer giving—otherwise known as workplace giving or philanthropy. Thousands of companies offer employee or workplace giving programs such as matching gifts and volunteer grants, and over 26 million individuals can qualify for the opportunities through their personal nonprofit contributions. Obviously, these programs benefit the nonprofits receiving the corporate funding, but there’s a lesser-known benefit as well: employer giving eligibility tends to drive increased individual engagement.
In fact, our corporate giving data reports that 84% of individuals are more likely to donate if a corporate match is offered, while 1 in 3 donors indicate they’d give a larger gift if matching is applied to their donation. All in all, this brings about findings that donor messaging that mentions matching gifts leads to a 71% increase in response rate and a 51% increase in the average donation amount, thus resulting in elevated conversions, gift sizes, and donor engagement. Though the exact reasoning behind the increase is unknown, organizations theorize it has to do with donors aiming to meet their employers’ minimum match requirements along with the understanding of magnified donation impact.
So what does that have to do with the young donors in your network? As these individuals enter the workforce, and more specifically, the corporate world, their chance of qualifying for donation matching, volunteer grants, and other forms of workplace giving skyrockets—and with it, their individual donations.
Not to mention, young donors are increasingly demanding corporate social responsibility from the brands they buy from and work for. In fact, nearly 2/3 of young employees won’t take a job at a company with poor CSR practices. Thus, your younger supporters are more likely to work for businesses that match employee donations in the first place, effectively elevating their chances at eligibility.
Meanwhile, as Gen Z and millennials continue taking up more and more of the workforce and consumer population, more and more companies are following suit by implementing and improving their workplace giving programs. And when offered, young donors partake in employer giving in droves with studies showing that over 59% of young professionals gave through a workplace program in 2022, compared to 37% of professionals overall.
Best Practices for Strategic Young Donor Fundraising
The better you engage with your donors of all generations, the more likely you are to raise funding effectively. Prepare your team to deepen relationships with young donors by incorporating the following tips;
1. Segment fundraising efforts by age group.
Fundraising is not a one-size-fits-all effort, and as a result, one-size-fits-all donor engagement strategies are not likely to be particularly effective. And, as you likely know, one of the largest segmenting factors has to do with donor age.
Young donors want to get involved with the organizations and causes they care about, but you’ll want your tactics to reflect a targeted approach. A 22-year-old, fresh-out-of-college graduate and a 70-year-old retired schoolteacher can each be excellent supporters of your nonprofit—but it might take different initiatives to reach them both.
For example, giving studies indicate that younger donors tend to be most inspired to donate via social media, while older supporters are more impacted by email fundraising—and that’s not even taking Gen Z-ers into consideration!
Overall, we recommend reaching younger supporters and prospects by prioritizing mobile and digital engagement strategies, incorporating valuable and eye-catching visuals (through images and video), and demonstrating donation and organization impact whenever you can.
2. Offer multiple ways to get involved with your organization.
Young donors often desire diversity in the ways they engage with an organization. And not receiving that can lead to donor fatigue and, ultimately, lapsing support.
Thus, be sure to provide a plethora of methods for individual donor involvement—whether they involve financial support or not.
So, what kinds of opportunities can you establish (and promote to) your donors? These might include (but are certainly not limited to):
Volunteering at a dedicated event or on a regular basis;
Taking part in a corporate giving program like matching gifts or volunteer grants;
Attending a fundraising event like an auction, gala, or walk-a-thon.
Participating in the organization’s board of directors;
Exploring a peer-to-peer fundraising role by soliciting donations from friends and family on the nonprofit’s behalf.
Regardless of the many ways an individual chooses to get involved, remember to communicate your gratitude as well as the tangible ways their engagement impacts your cause.
3. Increase suggested donation amounts over time.
As online giving becomes more and more prevalent, studies have been conducted to determine the impact of suggested donation amounts on total fundraising revenue. And overall, organizations tend to see elevated average donation amounts when they do so (meaning if you’re not already providing gift size suggestions, you should be).
Taking this concept a step further, however, is the idea that your team can increase the amount you request from donors over time to continue growing relationships and donor contributions.
For example, an individual might bring in four times the salary they had when they started giving to your organization. But if they donate on a regular basis, they might never take the initiative to increase their gift size—that is, unless your team chooses to coax them in that direction. And it can be as simple as requesting $100 from Donor A in your next annual fund appeal after determining they’ve contributed $50 for the last few years.
4. Inform donors about workplace giving programs.
We mentioned that donors often choose to give more often and in larger amounts when workplace giving opportunities (like matching gifts) are in place. And with many young donors becoming eligible for these programs for the first time, it’s essential that they’re made aware of the programs.
After all, over 78% of individuals employed by companies that match employee donations have no idea that they do so—or that they themselves would be eligible to participate. This knowledge gap regarding the programs is one of the leading causes of billions of dollars in unclaimed matching gift funding being left on the table each year.
So get proactive about it! Be sure donors are informed about matching gifts and other employee giving initiatives by highlighting the programs within your organization’s —
Workplace giving marketing is a particularly impactful engagement tool, driving participation in corporate philanthropy programs alongside individual contributions. And if you’re looking to take your young donor engagement to new heights, you won’t want to overlook these initiatives and the impact they bring.
Interested in learning more about engaging young donors? Check out our immersive webinar on the topic!
https://doublethedonation.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/DTD_The-Benefits-of-Acquiring-and-Retaining-Young-Donors_Feature-1.png6001600Adam Weingerhttps://doublethedonation.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/logo-dtd.svgAdam Weinger2022-10-17 18:54:282023-04-08 13:04:04The Benefits of Acquiring and Retaining Young Donors
Corporate matching gifts are one of the best ways for nonprofits to maximize their fundraising with bonus donations and increased donor engagement. And how exactly do nonprofit organizations receive funding through these matching programs? It all starts with a request from the initial donor and typically is processed through a corporate giving or CSR platform.
In terms of CSR platforms, one key platform to keep in mind is CyberGrants.
Corporate giving platforms like CyberGrants are sold to corporations looking to manage their philanthropy. But there’s another side of the platform that is designed specifically for nonprofits—a portal with which fundraisers can manage their incoming matches, verify initial donations, facilitate volunteer grant requests, and more. And best of all? It’s free!
If you’re interested in learning more about CyberGrants for nonprofits and how to best manage your CyberGrants portal for maximal success, you’ve certainly come to the right place. In this guide, we’ll walk you through the following:
In the end, you should have a solid foundation of knowledge surrounding CyberGrants and its nonprofit-specific tools that can lead your organization in the right direction.
Ready to dive in? Let’s get started with the basics.
What to Know About CyberGrants
With over 400 corporate customers, CyberGrants is one of the largest providers of matching gift and corporate giving software for companies, and it’s known for allowing the most customization of any CSR platform. In summary, each company that organizes a matching gift program through CyberGrants can adjust its donation verification process, types of gifts to match, email notifications, number of subaccounts, and more.
From the perspective of the organizations receiving the matches, this can sometimes lead to an overwhelming process. That’s why we recommend nonprofits setting themselves up for CyberGrants success by documenting and keeping up with the information they need to complete their end of the matching gift process. And we’re here to provide you with tips and tricks on how to do so!
Benefits of CyberGrants for Nonprofits
Some of the largest matching gift companies in the world—including Verizon, General Electric, Johnson & Johnson, PepsiCo, American Express, and many more—use CyberGrants to manage their corporate giving. The more companies that utilize any particular platform, the more likely your organization is to qualify for matching gifts made available through said platform. Thus, CyberGrants is a particularly beneficial portal to get started with.
From there, registering your organization with the nonprofit portal will allow you to increase the visibility of your cause among charitable givers, elevate your matching gift eligibility, and simplify matching gift requests for your donors—all of which elevate the likelihood of matches being driven to completion.
Not to mention, pre-registering your cause with platforms like CyberGrants will streamline the process for you and your team when matching gifts do become available. You’ll already have the legwork down, meaning you’re ready to verify gifts and accept matches with ease.
CyberGrants’ Matching Gift Verification Process Overview
The exact matching gift process—from initial donation and employer match request to nonprofit verification and corporate match disbursement—can vary greatly from one company to the next. On the nonprofit end, one of the biggest priorities has to do with verifying with the company that an employee donor’s contribution was actually made.
Today, the majority of companies that use CyberGrants require the NPO in question to verify that the organization received the employee’s initial donation. However, other employers do not require manual verification at all, instead opting to authenticate donations through gift receipts or rely on the goodwill of their employees.
For each matching gift request from CyberGrants, the NPO will receive a unique Gift ID to identify that donation via automated email. From there, the Gift ID and donor’s last name will be used to verify the donation in the CyberGrants portal. Depending on the company’s settings, a donation amount, contribution date, and access code may be provided as well.
Take a look at this example of a matching gift request;
Meanwhile, here’s a sample matching gift request with different information, including an access code;
In each sample email, the organization is prompted to follow the instructions provided by CyberGrants on behalf of the donor’s employer. In both cases, the matching gift recipient is asked to navigate to the CyberGrants website, enter the supplied information, and verify the donor’s gift.
From there, the company can approve the match and disburse the appropriate funding to the organization.
FAQ | How to Manage Your CyberGrants Portal
Still have questions? Many organizations do. We’ve compiled a list of some of the most-asked questions (and answers) from nonprofits looking to manage their CyberGrants portals to produce the greatest results.
What is FrontDoor?
FrontDoor is CyberGrants’ consolidated portal with which nonprofits can register to manage and verify gifts across employers and programs with ease.
Currently, companies that utilize CyberGrants for matching gift management have the choice to opt into participating via FrontDoor’s portal. At this time, CyberGrants is actively advocating for more companies to get started with FrontDoor and make the most of innovative features, such as the Donations Tab. This allows nonprofit users to verify donations in a single window, rather than requiring that they manually log into each company or subaccount’s portal through a separate URL.
Here’s what it looks like for nonprofit users;
Overall, FrontDoor makes the verification process faster and easier for users and enables nonprofits like yours to get more out of available matching programs.
What are subaccounts?
Subaccounts are essentially additional accounts nested within an organization’s main account and can be created by the nonprofit itself or by a donor, depending on a company’s subaccount creation and management settings.
Let’s take a look at a company with a few subaccounts nested in their main portal;
And here’s a company that chose to create a central portal with no subaccounts;
Generally, subaccounts can reflect an organization’s multiple chapters, branches, or locations within the organization, or they can be nominated by a donor who didn’t see an account that reflected their desired organization. However, it’s important to keep in mind that the more subaccounts in a portal, the greater the likelihood that there will be matching gift requests that end up “hiding” from them.
Most companies have subaccounts within their company portal. The number of subaccounts able to be created is dictated by the company (for example, there might be an unlimited number of subaccounts that can be created or this ability may not even be available to their employees). Some have over 70, while others have only a central portal or 2-3 subaccounts.
Why do we receive grants from companies for which we have not confirmed any matching gift requests?
Not all companies require verification from the organization for matching gifts and volunteer grant requests. Typically, if a company doesn’t ask the nonprofit to verify a gift or volunteer hours, it is because the employee has already verified the gift by attaching a donation receipt or proof of hours volunteered with their submission request.
Some, but not all, of these companies will send email notices of approved requests that let the nonprofit know when a payment is on the way. Companies may also utilize CyberGrants to allow their employees to make payroll deductions to an organization, which may or may not result in an email notification being triggered through the system.
What happens if we receive a request we don’t qualify for?
Occasionally, your organization may receive a gift verification request from a company even though your cause doesn’t qualify for the company’s matching program. For example, this may occur in cases where a company matches solely to educational institutions or won’t match to religious or politically affiliated organizations, and your organization falls into an excluded category.
However, regardless of the company’s requirements, employees can still submit match requests, which is why your team may see ineligible verification requests flowing in. Even if your organization verifies the initial gift in your portal, it’s likely that the company will reject the match request and no payment will be sent.
Will all pending matching gift and volunteer grant requests show up on the Donations Tab?
Unfortunately, not all requests will show up in FrontDoor’s Donations Tab. Some companies have opted out of using the tab entirely, whereas others have opted in only partially. In these cases, some requests may not populate in your organization’s Donations Tab.
To know if a particular company has opted in, you can submit a support request to the company via CyberGrants. From there, we recommend recording and organizing their response so your organization can develop the proper verification process in the future.
Why is there a gift under the Donations Tab that is from a company not listed under the Company Portals Tab?
If a gift is listed under the Donations Tab and not under the Company Portals Tab, the company might be new to CyberGrants and is still being configured. Or alternatively, this is your organization’s first gift request from the company.
The gift can be confirmed in the Donations Tab, but you will likely want to add the company to your sidebar for easier access to future gifts. To do so, input the donor’s last name and the gift ID into the Add Company section at the bottom of the portal’s sidebar. Submit and confirm access, and the company should be visible immediately after refreshing the page. If not, you can send a support ticket, and CyberGrants should be able to add the company from their end.
Best Practices for Nonprofits Using CyberGrants
Now that you understand the basics of CyberGrants, let’s go over a few tried-and-true tips for making the most of the platform.
To simplify the process as much as possible and minimize the amount of overhead required, we recommend the following;
1. Create a login sheet.
Companies that have yet to fully transition to CyberGrants’ FrontDoor have a different link to their company portal that cannot be accessed through the main FrontDoor link.
As such, it’s a good idea for organizations to identify those that don’t use FrontDoor and establish and maintain detailed documentation for these companies—including the URL and login information for each.
Additionally, it’s ideal that an organization uses the same contact information for each company portal beyond FrontDoor. Most essentially, be sure to utilize a single email address for your CyberGrants logins as the main notification channel for gift verifications. This will establish that all emails requesting confirmation of gifts will be sent to the correct inbox that your staff will have access to and know to check on a regular basis.
2. Establish a process for locating “hidden” gifts.
Each company that uses CyberGrants can configure if and how they want to notify organizations about new matching gift requests—and some companies opt not to enable notifications at all.
As a result, nonprofits should have an established system in place to regularly check for matching gift requests that either —
Don’t show up in the Donations Tab;
Haven’t been automatically emailed to the organization.
Fortunately, these “hidden” gift requests should make up a small percentage of the total gift requests that the nonprofit receives, so these checks could be infrequent—such as a few times a year.
Keep in mind that although many companies allow twelve or more months for submitted requests to be approved by the organization, some offer as little as 90 days from the date of submission. Thus, teams should factor each company’s deadlines into their decision-making process regarding exactly how frequently to check that company’s portal for gifts.
3. Make a plan for subaccounts.
Sometimes, an organization will receive an email from CyberGrants informing them that a company’s employee has nominated the nonprofit for inclusion in their Employee Giving Program. When this occurs, the organization has a few options regarding how it can respond.
For example, the nonprofit can choose to follow the instructions provided in the email to review and edit the information in the nomination request. Then, they can later confirm it, which will create a new subaccount in that company’s portal.
Alternatively, the organization can respond to the request and ask that CyberGrants associate the nominated account with one of the existing subaccounts for that company. This option can be helpful when the organization has several existing subaccounts and does not want any more to manage and follow up with. (Hint: Nonprofits should especially monitor and limit the number of subaccounts created in portals that utilize hidden gifts.)
4. Produce a “Portal Information” document.
To simplify gift verification, we recommend that nonprofits have a dedicated document they can reference while confirming initial donations. This document should host basic details about your organization (such as mailing address, contact information, EIN, and more) and ACH information, if applicable.
Each company requires different data for its verification process. Some ask for little to no information, while others may request a list of current board members, race/ethnicity breakdowns of the population served, and even the nonprofit’s annual budget. Having a unified location from which to derive all these particulars will make it significantly easier for the organization to confirm its pending gift requests.
CyberGrants is an invaluable tool for nonprofits looking to make the most of matching gifts. By managing your organization’s portal well and taking steps to streamline and standardize matching gift requests, you can set your team up for ongoing success using all the resources at your disposal.
Interested in learning more about matching gift programs and best practices to maximize your organization’s success? Check out our other educational resources:
Registering Your Org with CSR Platforms + Key Steps For Each. CyberGrants isn’t the only CSR portal with which you’ll want to register your nonprofit. Explore other top platforms and additional tips for getting started with the right tools for your nonprofit’s matching gift strategy.
Matching Gift Process: A Complete Step-by-Step Guide. A solid foundation of knowledge surrounding the matching gift process can enable organizations to better prepare for the steps they’ll need to take. Plus, see how CSR platforms like CyberGrants can fit into the process!
https://doublethedonation.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/DTD_How-to-Manage-Your-CyberGrants-Portal-For-Smart-Nonprofits_Feature.png300800Adam Weingerhttps://doublethedonation.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/logo-dtd.svgAdam Weinger2022-09-12 19:29:162022-09-12 19:29:16How to Manage Your CyberGrants Portal [For Smart Nonprofits]
Thousands of companies host matching gift programs that encourage and amplify employee giving to nonprofit causes. When an individual works for such a company, they are able to make a donation to their favorite charitable organization and request a corporate match as well. This stretches the impact of their initial gift further, allowing them to make a more significant difference with their dollars.
While these types of programs are continuing to grow in popularity among companies and their employees alike, unfortunately, not all businesses offer gift-matching. But it’s not too late to get started!
If you’re a corporate leader looking to find out how to start a matching gift program for your company, you’ve come to the right place. In this step-by-step guide, we’ll walk through the key actions that, when done right, will enable you to develop an effective matching program for your business. These steps include:
Companies match gifts for a wide range of reasons. These typically encompass business-related benefits such as increased employee engagement, improved reputation, tax deductions, and more. In fact, employees and consumers alike are now more than ever demanding corporate social responsibility from the brands they support.
Studies show that more than 77% of employees reported a sense of purpose as a part of the reason they selected their current employer, while 2/3 of young employees won’t take a job at a company with poor CSR practices, and 55% of employees would even take a pay cut to work for a socially responsible company. At the same time, 90% of consumers worldwide are likely to switch to brands supporting good causes, while 66% would pay more to CSR-focused businesses.
However, genuine altruism can be another key driver behind matching gifts and other workplace and corporate philanthropy programs. Corporate leaders know they have the opportunity to make a real difference in the world and utilize their businesses to do so. And launching a matching gift program is a particularly impactful way to go.
Let’s dive in with the first step.
1. Set a budget and goals for your donation-matching program.
Before you can (or should) launch any new corporate initiative, it’s important to begin with your budget and goals. The same is true for matching gifts. These two criteria will guide the rest of your efforts—your budget because it allows you to determine your new program’s limits and goals to help prioritize objectives and establish what success looks like.
When it comes to budget, we recommend setting a figure that is on the higher end of realistic for your business. That is because, although not every employee will choose to partake, you want to be sure you have the funding should you end up with higher participation rates than you’d initially expected.
You’ll also need to determine where this money will come from. Keep in mind that, though some companies reallocate funding for their matching gift programs from an existing philanthropic budget, others opt to establish a match reserve that is above and beyond any prior giving.
Now, for your goals; two of the most common types of objectives that a company might set in terms of matching gift program success have to do with dollars donated or employee participation. For example, you may decide that your goal for the first twelve months of your program is to contribute $X thousand dollars through employee matching gifts. On the other hand, perhaps you set a primary objective to incite X% staff participation in your matching gift program’s foundational year.
For additional context, take a look at the participation rates from several top matching gift companies in the financial, technology, consumer goods, and pharmaceutical industries:
Regardless, either objective structure works; it’s just a matter of ensuring your team is on the same page.
2. Identify matching gift threshold criteria.
Once you have your budget and goals set, it’s time to establish the boundaries of your program. Essentially, this criteria determines the total amount of funding that is available to each employee on an annual basis and should include the following details:
Ratios — Your matching gift ratio is the rate at which you agree to match employee donations. 1:1 is by far the most common match rate, with 91% of companies match donations doing so at a 1:1 ratio. However, some companies (approximately 4%) choose to match at a lower rate, such as .5:1, while others (5%) match at a higher rate, such as 2, 3, or even 4:1. For context, if an employee were to make a $100 donation, a 1:1 match would involve a $100 corporate gift, while a .5:1 match would result in a $50 match, and a 2:1 ratio would produce a $200 match.
Minimum amounts — Next is the minimum amount that your company agrees to match. Minimums are typically set in order to ensure employees are requesting corporate funds for the organizations they truly care about and support with their own dollars. Overall, 93% of companies with matching gift programs have a minimum match requirement of less than or equal to $50, with the average falling at $34. However, minimums can be as low as $1, and some companies choose not to set minimum gift amounts in the first place.
Maximum amounts — On the other end of the spectrum, nearly all companies set maximum match amounts that they’re willing to pay. Maximum caps allow corporations to manage their budgets properly and ensure there is funding available for any eligible employee to participate. Our research shows that 80% of companies’ matching gift maximums fall between $500 and $10,000 annually per employee, the mean amount coming in at $3,728.
Some businesses even vary their guidelines depending on an individual’s employment status or job type. For example, executive-level team members may be eligible for a 2:1 match up to $20,000, while all other employees receive a 1:1 match up to $10,000. In the same vein, you may decide that part-time and retired employees can request a particular amount of match funding, while current full-time staff are eligible for a higher level.
3. Determine eligibility for your matching gift programs.
Beyond monetary amounts, many companies also set specific eligibility criteria regarding the employee types that qualify to request matches, nonprofit mission types that qualify to receive matches, and contribution types that qualify as initial donations. Let’s take a look at each in further detail as you decide which kinds of gifts your company is willing to match:
Employee participants — Most matching gift programs are divided into eligibility status based on employment with the company offering the program. Typically, any combination of current, full-time, current part-time, and retired employees will qualify to get involved. However, some companies take things a step further by offering program eligibility to spouses and other family members of current and former staff members as well.
Donation types — By this point, you should have already determined the amounts you’re willing to match per employee in a pre-determined period. Now comes the question of which types of donations are eligible for corporate matching. Nonprofit donations can be made through a wide range of channels, including (but not limited to) an organization’s website, online donation tools, peer-to-peer giving campaigns, text giving, direct mail, recurring donations, phonathons, paycheck deductions, event pledges, stock donations and other gifts of securities, and more.
Nonprofit recipients — Though many companies will match gifts to any nonprofit organizations, others will choose specific mission types to either focus on or exclude from the matching initiative. For example, churches and other strictly religious organizations are some of the most common exclusions from companies’ matching programs. On the other hand, some companies will choose a specific cause type (often educational institutions) to which they will exclusively direct matching gift funds. Overall, companies typically choose from organizations in categories such as higher educational institutions, K-12 schools, health and human services, arts and cultural organizations, civic and community organizations, environmental organizations, and more.
In order to ensure an optimal employee giving experience, experts recommend providing a large number of choices for employees to give and to get their gifts matched. Similarly, your company will likely see significantly increased participation levels should you open the program to as many employees and nonprofits as possible.
However, if your company does not have the budget or the bandwidth to introduce a fully-fledged matching gift program, another option to consider would be a custom matching gifts program. What’s the difference? Rather than matching gifts to any or all nonprofit causes, a custom matching gift initiative involves a more direct partnership with a single fundraising organization. From there, a time constraint is typically established (for example, doubling all staff donations to a breast cancer research center made throughout Breast Cancer Awareness Month). You’ll want to encourage employees to support the selected nonprofit during the span of the campaign, then your company will match the total given to make each dollar go farther toward the organization’s mission.
While more limited in scope, custom matching gift programs can be an excellent way to forge mutually beneficial nonprofit-corporate partnerships, rally employees around a particular cause, and gain critical experience in matching gifts. When you see the impact you can make with a custom program, you might even decide to go all in with a traditional matching gift offering!
*While 360MatchPro offers custom matching gift management functionality, this feature is designed specifically for fundraisers looking to manage custom matching gift initiatives—360MatchPro does not work directly with corporations. If you’re a company interested in creating a matching gift program, contact us, and we’ll share information about our corporate vendor partners.
4. Decide how your company will facilitate matching.
Even after launching your matching gift offering, maintaining an effective program will require some continuous upkeep from company leadership. However, you don’t have to do it all manually if you choose not to.
There are generally two key management methods you can choose from:
In-house program management — Many companies—particularly small businesses—start by matching gifts on their own. While this can keep program overhead costs low, it will require additional investments of time and effort from corporate management. After employees submit their matching gift requests, there must be a process in place to facilitate the review of employee submissions, verify initial donations meet matching criteria, approve corporate matches, and disburse match funding.
Outsourcing to third-party solution — The alternative to in-house management is outsourcing aspects of your matching gift program to a third-party solution. Though this path will typically involve paying fees to various software vendors, it ultimately saves your team time, effort, and resources. Working with a matching gift software vendor (we have reviews of several top providers for businesses of all shapes and sizes here) allows your company to take a more hands-off approach to matching gifts while streamlining the processes involved for employee participants.
Either practice works, and many companies find that they begin with an in-house management style but later upgrade with corporate giving technology to elevate their efforts. As you make your decision, keep in mind that CSR is an investment that tends to bring substantial benefits to your business as a whole.
5. Establish your matching gift request process (and deadline).
In order to participate in your newly developed matching gift program, employees need to know how to participate and how long they have after making their initial nonprofit donations to complete the request process. Regarding the latter, most companies set their program participation deadlines according to one of the following schedule approaches:
Number of months following an initial donation — Most commonly six or twelve months following the date of an employee’s initial donation, this type of matching gift deadline works on a rolling basis. If an employee donated to a nonprofit on a certain day one year, they might qualify to request their match until the same date the following year. Or, they might remain eligible for six, nine, or even eighteen months after their original gift, depending on the company offering the program.
End of the calendar year — For companies that utilize the calendar year to organize their matching gift programs, it’s simple to determine when a match request is due. Whichever year the initial donation was made, the match must be submitted by December 31st of the same year. This is true regardless of whether the gift was contributed on January 1st or December 1st. However, this can result in employees who give later in the year having significantly less time to submit their matches.
End of the calendar year + grace period — Similar to the previous type, some companies choose to enact a matching gift deadline based on the end of the calendar year and then add on a grace period. The grace period is typically a few additional months into the next year. This means that an individual’s match request would typically be due by February, March, or April following the year in which the initial donation was made.
End of the fiscal year — If your company operates on a schedule other than the calendar year, it might make sense for your team to set your matching gift deadline in relation to the end of that year instead. Drawbacks to this method may occur if employees are not aware of the fiscal year the company runs on, so be sure to proactively communicate your deadline to employees if so.
Other common stipulations include that the employee must be gainfully employed by the company at both the time the donation is made and the time the match request is submitted and paid out.
As you craft your submission deadlines, you’ll also want to determine which information you’ll request from employees looking to submit their match requests. Common requirements include the employee’s name, organization name, mailing address, and tax ID number, and donation amount and type. You may also ask for a copy of the individual’s donation receipt, and some companies choose to verify each donation with the organization itself (though that can be a hassle for all parties involved).
You’ll also need to establish and ultimately communicate the way in which employees will go about requesting their matches. If you choose to manage your program with a matching gift software vendor, be sure to direct team members to the company’s online match request portal. If you end up facilitating your program in-house, ensure individuals know how to complete the submission process and have the resources they need to do so.
6. Explore matching gift auto-submission to simplify participation.
When you offer a matching gift program for your employees, you want them to partake. Otherwise, you limit the benefits of the initiative that you’ve invested your time, energy, and resources into developing.
Thus, in order to boost participation in your program, it’s important that you make the process involved in doing so as quick, easy, and painless as possible. And the best way to do so is by enabling matching gift auto-submission!
Auto-submission functionality is a trailblazing initiative made available through Double the Donation and its innovative CSR platform partners—including Millie, Selflessly, POINT, and more.
When a company leverages one of these corporate giving solutions to facilitate its matching gift program, they automatically empower employees to get their gifts matched directly from their favorite nonprofits’ websites. Whereas previously, donors were required to complete a separate request process and provide nonprofit and donor information, all they need to do with auto-submission is provide their corporate email address (or another piece of identifying information).
From there, the software systems process the request seamlessly behind the scenes, reducing roadblocks for employees and resulting in elevated engagement in the programming.
7. Craft an employee-facing matching gift policy document.
Some of the biggest reasons employees fail to participate in their companies’ matching gift programs, even if they make qualifying donations, is that they are unaware of their eligibility or lack understanding of the match request process and, subsequently, end up missing the deadline. Therefore, it’s essential that you take steps to communicate your program’s guidelines and instructions for participation to eligible employees.
One of the easiest and most effective ways to do so is by producing employee-facing documentation with all the information your staff will need to get involved. This should include your company’s match criteria, such as:
Match ratio
Minimum and maximum donation amounts
Qualifying employees and nonprofit causes
Types of donations and submission deadlines
Matching gift request process and links to online forms
Participation in auto-submission
Once you have all the information in one place, it’s easy for employees to determine whether their most recent donations are eligible for matching and take the initiative to participate. Keep in mind that, as you make adjustments to your matching gift program, it’s important to ensure your corporate giving policy documentation is as accurate and up-to-date as possible.
8. Inform employees about your matching gift initiative.
Once your program is live, it’s time to begin promoting the opportunity to your employees. This is an essential, though often overlooked, step in the process. In fact, our research shows that despite 26 million individuals working for companies that match gifts, more than 78% of the group has never been made aware of the programs.
Unfortunately, many of those individuals never go to request corporate matches regardless of their eligibility to participate. In the end, that means companies are not reaping the maximum benefit of the programs they worked to establish.
Thus, in order to make the most of your business’ match initiative, it’s imperative that you take the time to ensure your workforce is aware. What this looks like specifically can vary from company to company.
You might:
Send out a team-wide email;
Announce the inception of your program at a meeting;
Add a section to your office policy handbook;
Incorporate matching gifts in your onboarding process going forward;
Or even all of the above.
The bottom line is that your employees should know about the program and be reminded of the opportunity multiple times throughout the year.
9. Ensure your matching gift program is added to the top matching database.
Directly informing your staff about your newly developed matching gift program is critical. Now your team should be aware of the initiative and ready to get involved. But you also want to ensure that employees are reminded of the program opportunities directly after making eligible nonprofit donations—ideally from the organizations themselves.
For that to occur, you’ll need to first confirm that your matching gift program is added to the leading database of corporate matching gift program information: Double the Donation. Once added, employees will be able to search your company and receive program-specific details straight from the organizations they support, often within a donation confirmation screen widget or follow-up email.
From there, employees can navigate to your company’s matching gift request forms online and complete their submissions while leveraging their post-donation momentum. It simplifies the process involved for team members and results in significantly more matches being completed—meaning more nonprofits receiving funding and increased benefits for your company.
To add your company, follow this link and provide the information requested. This includes your company name, submission materials (such as links to online forms, PDF uploads), and eligibility criteria.
(Hint: the more information you share, the easier it will be for employees to participate in your program.)
10. Collect data, track impact, and make program improvements.
This last stage of the matching gift development process involves taking a look at the program you’ve created and determining whether it meets the criteria previously set in place during step #1. You should be collecting and analyzing data throughout the process (made particularly simple when utilizing program management software). Now, this data comes in handy to help determine program success.
For example, did you meet or exceed your goals? If so—what happens now? Will you set loftier goals for the future and continue matching? If not, how will you adjust your program strategy to ensure your team is on track to reach your goals this time around?
You can also take a closer look at your company’s data to determine and communicate program impact. This should answer questions like how many and to which nonprofits did your company give? What amounts were donated through both employee gifts and corporate matches?
Finally, you’ll want to explore ways to continuously improve your matching gift program in the months and years to come. Consider ways to drive employee engagement in your programming. Elevate giving by increasing your match ratio or maximum donation cap. Or simplify participation in your program by enabling matching gift auto-submission for your employees! You can even use dedicated employee recognition platforms to call out those who participate. As your company grows, your matching gift initiative should grow alongside it.
It doesn’t have to be difficult to get started with matching gifts, and your company’s programming doesn’t have to be the most built-out initiative before you can make it available to employees. Everyone has to begin somewhere, and following the nine steps above will allow you to build a solid foundation for your workforce.
Good luck, and happy matching!
Interested in learning more about matching gifts and developing optimized employee giving initiatives? Check out these other educational resources for companies here:
How to Offer the Ultimate Employee Giving Experience. Find out what your employees want in a workplace giving program with this insightful guide! Follow the provided tips and suggestions to develop a top-notch philanthropy initiative.
Why Workplace Giving Matters for Nonprofits + Companies. Learn more about workplace giving programs, the benefits of these initiatives, and how they help build mutually beneficial relationships between nonprofits and corporations.
https://doublethedonation.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/DTD_How-to-Start-a-Matching-Gift-Program-For-Companies_Feature.jpg300800Adam Weingerhttps://doublethedonation.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/logo-dtd.svgAdam Weinger2022-08-03 20:29:242023-11-30 02:52:52How to Start a Matching Gift Program [For Companies]
Every day, millions of people use Venmo to send and receive money from each other. Nonprofits receive money in the form of donations all the time, so of course, they also benefit from using Venmo!
While there isn’t a specific version of Venmo for nonprofits, organizations can still leverage regular Venmo accounts to effectively collect donations on the app. Venmo simplifies the fundraising process and allows nonprofits to reach a wider audience of supporters, including younger donors.
Whether you’re familiar with Venmo or not, we’ll make sure you understand how to use it effectively for your nonprofit.
At Double the Donation, we connect nonprofits with matching gift opportunities. We know how important it is to maximize your organization’s fundraising potential. Just like matching gifts, Venmo fundraising is another way to ensure that you’re collecting as many donations as possible. We’re happy to share this guide to Venmo for nonprofits to help you reach your fundraising goals and continue running your organization smoothly.
Follow along to learn how Venmo works, why your nonprofit should use it, and how you can leverage it to its fullest potential.
The Venmo for Nonprofits Basics
Let’s start with a basic definition of Venmo. Venmo is a peer-to-peer mobile payment service that allows people to request and accept funds from each other. Instead of using cash, checks, or direct bank transfers, Venmo securely deducts money from users’ bank accounts and sends it to the intended recipients. That way, transactions are easy and protective of your sensitive information.
Venmo is one of many payment processing apps, but it’s certainly one of the most popular options. Check out these statistics about Venmo’s size and scope:
Venmo has more than 83 million users.
Its largest user age group is 25-34-year-olds.
The app processed about $230 billion in payments in 2021.
Why do so many people rely on Venmo for their payment processing needs? For starters, it’s extremely simple to use. Once you link your bank account, debit card, or credit card to your account, all you have to do is find who you want to pay, type in the payment amount, and send it.
Another useful feature of Venmo is that you can keep money in your account to use in the future or transfer it to your bank account for safekeeping. For a combination of the two, you can input the amount you’d like to transfer and leave the rest in your account.
You might already use a more traditional payment processing platform like PayPal. While Venmo supports nonprofits in the same way PayPal does, it’s still an effective and secure fundraising method.
Advantages of Venmo Fundraising
People use Venmo all the time to pay their friends, family, and even some businesses. Making a Venmo account for your nonprofit changes the game for donations. Instead of going through the formal process of filling out your donation form, donors can now send you money just like they would for people they know. That way, the process is easy and familiar to donors.
Benefits for Donors
Venmo fundraising provides a whole new donation experience. Here are some of the key benefits the app offers to donors:
Ease of use. Since people are familiar with Venmo, using it for donations makes it easier for donors to lend their support. The app itself has a simple interface that new users can quickly pick up on. Instead of navigating to your donation page, donors now have the ability to donate to as many nonprofits as they would like all within the same app.
Reliability. Venmo is a reputable payment processing platform with ample encryption. They take care to protect your account information and monitor your account activity to thwart suspicious transactions. Using Venmo, donors can feel comfortable donating to their favorite causes without worrying about their information being compromised.
Smaller transactions. With an average transaction amount of around $60, Venmo invites donors of all giving capacities to contribute. People can feel comfortable giving $10, $100, or $1,000 through Venmo because of the nature of the app.
Donors will appreciate the opportunity to donate through a well-trusted, easy-to-use platform.
Benefits for Nonprofits
While Venmo is a great platform for prioritizing the donor experience, it also boasts many advantages for nonprofits that create an account, such as:
Affordability. Nonprofits are always looking for ways to keep their costs down. Venmo makes it easy because they don’t charge any monthly fees. They also don’t charge any fees for sending money with a linked bank account or debit card. When accepting donations, the associated fee is only 1.9% + $0.10. Other than that, the only other fees are for sending money with a credit card or initiating instant transfers to your bank account, both of which are optional.
Free publicity. One of the unique features of Venmo is that it functions like a social media app. You can add your friends and family to see their transactions and vice versa. This feature allows donors to show off their support for your cause and encourage others to do the same.
Stronger donor relationships. Since people use Venmo primarily with friends and family, they associate the app with people they know. Therefore, using Venmo to donate to your organization may help donors feel a more personal connection to your nonprofit. Additionally, nonprofits can comment on the donations they receive to thank donors and even start a conversation with them.
Using Venmo for nonprofits is a win for both donors and organizations accepting donations. The app is easy to use and invites donors to form a deeper connection to the causes they care about. Your nonprofit can obtain all the benefits we’ve discussed by simply setting up an account.
Creating Your Venmo for Nonprofits Account
Just as using the app is easy, creating your nonprofit’s Venmo account is even simpler. While Venmo doesn’t yet have a nonprofit account option, they are performing a private beta test for a select group of nonprofits, so nonprofit Venmo accounts could be coming soon.
For now, though, nonprofits can create regular accounts following these steps:
Download the Venmo app or visit the Venmo website.
Choose your sign-up method and create your password.
Verify your phone number and email address.
Add and verify your bank account.
Change your username and add a profile picture that represents your nonprofit.
It couldn’t be easier to create your account. As soon as your nonprofit sets up its Venmo account, you can spread the word to your donors so they can start taking advantage of your new fundraising method.
Promoting Your Nonprofit’s Venmo Account
Once you create your nonprofit’s Venmo account, the next step is to let your supporters know about it. Current donors will be excited about this new and easy way to donate, and prospective donors may be more enticed to start giving with this option.
There are several ways that you can tell your donors about your new capacity for Venmo fundraising. Check out some of our ideas:
Create a Venmo donation tutorial. It’s safe to assume that many of your supporters know how Venmo works, but not all of them. Help them out by filming a video tutorial that teaches donors how to set up their own Venmo account and how they can use it to donate to your cause. Post the video on your website and social media to spread the word.
Link your Venmo account to your social media. Speaking of social media, it’s one of the most powerful tools for communicating with your supporters. Create a post introducing the concept of Venmo donations and provide a link to your account in your bio. Additionally, include your Venmo username in all email newsletters alongside your other social media profiles.
Share your Venmo QR code. Venmo provides each account with a unique QR code, making it easier to find the Venmo account you’re looking for. You can post your nonprofit’s QR code on social media, include it in email newsletters, and print physical copies to hand out at events.
Indicate Venmo as an option on your donation page. You likely feature a donation form on your nonprofit’s website. However, telling visitors on this page that Venmo is another option for donations can allow people to decide which method they prefer and donate accordingly.
Your supporters will be thrilled to hear that your nonprofit is making strides to create a seamless donor experience with Venmo. However, there are extra steps your organization can take to strengthen relationships with your supporters through the app.
Connecting with Donors Through Venmo Fundraising
Venmo presents a unique opportunity to build relationships with your donors when they lend you their support. While the format of the app itself allows you to interact with others like on other social media platforms, there are additional ways your organization can intentionally connect with donors on Venmo.
Ask for small donations.
Of course, large donations are always appreciated, but every donation counts. Considering that Venmo has a younger audience, you might be better off encouraging smaller donations. That way, you can acquire new donors who never would’ve considered donating before through more traditional methods.
Try asking your nonprofit’s social media followers to direct message your organization with their Venmo username and how much they’re willing to donate. Then, you can send them a request for that amount so that they won’t forget.
Respond to each donor.
It’s important to show your appreciation for your donors. Venmo makes it easy by allowing you to like and comment on Venmo transactions. Use it as an opportunity to thank donors and maybe even start a conversation about your cause.
You can ask donors why they chose to donate to learn more about them. Then, feature the best answers on your social media with their permission. This way, you can show others why your donors feel compelled to support your organization.
Know your audience.
Younger generations dominate Venmo, so it’s important to keep that in mind when running your account. Make your responses fun by using emojis and GIFs that Venmo provides.
You also might want to select certain donors and give them a shoutout on your social media. Younger donors will love being recognized for their fundraising efforts.
Incentivize donations.
A little healthy competition can make donating more fun. Plus, you’ll raise even more for your cause. Try hosting a fundraising competition by splitting supporters into teams. You can let people form their own teams, create teams based on demographic factors, or choose groups randomly.
Each team will compete for who can raise the most money. Give the winning team a prize such as a social media shoutout, gift cards, or free branded merchandise. Turning donating into a game will encourage more people to join in on the fun.
Bear in mind that this serves as a form of peer-to-peer fundraising, and some employers will match the amount their employees raise for an organization. Promote the opportunity to incentivize participation and drive greater fundraising results!
Encourage more Venmo donations with matching gifts.
Matching gifts allow you to double or even triple the amount you earn for your organization. Plus, donors will feel good knowing they had an even larger impact on your organization than they anticipated.
Using employer appends, you can determine which of your donors’ employers have matching gift programs. Then, you can reach out to those donors letting them know that their employers will match their donations to your nonprofit, even those made through Venmo. That way, you can maximize your fundraising potential and highlight Venmo as a viable donation platform.
With Venmo, you can really get to know your donors, make the donation process fun, and raise more for your cause.
Additional Resources
Nonprofits are always looking for ways to increase their donations. While most typically search for new ways to promote their organization as a whole, why not try out a different fundraising platform altogether?
Using Venmo for nonprofits is the best way to encourage donations by connecting with younger supporters on an app they already use regularly. For Venmo users, donating to your cause can become just another part of their Venmo routine alongside splitting checks and paying rent.
Once you’ve set up your nonprofit’s Venmo account, you might start looking for new ways to maximize your fundraising potential. Matching gifts allow you to gain the support of your donors’ employers. With your new Venmo donations rolling in, you’ll want to check out these resources to see how you can double or even triple them:
Top Matching Gift Companies. This resource lists out the most philanthropic companies so you can see which of your donors’ employers can lend the most support.
https://doublethedonation.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/Venmo-for-Nonprofits_Feature.jpg3801000Adam Weingerhttps://doublethedonation.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/logo-dtd.svgAdam Weinger2022-08-03 11:00:322023-09-20 18:44:53How Venmo for Nonprofits Can Help Organizations Raise More
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