Matching gifts offer an incredible opportunity for fundraising groups to double or triple donations by tapping into the generosity of their supporters’ employers. However, many organizations fail to realize their full matching gift potential, largely due to a lack of program awareness and insufficient resources for promoting the opportunity. Fortunately, a matching gift integration can eliminate barriers to entry, increasing familiarity and making it easier for donors to get involved.
In this complete, step-by-step guide, we’ll walk you through everything you need to know about matching gift integrations—from setting up the tools to optimizing the donor experience—so your nonprofit can maximize its matching gift success.
Specifically, we’ll cover the most popular methods of matching gift integration below:
When it comes to making the most of matching gifts, equipping your team with the right tools is a must. However, integrating the tools with one another will bring your success to new heights. And we’re here to show you how!
Method #1: Implementing our search tool on your donation pages.
The first method for integrating matching gifts involves implementing matching gifts directly within your donation pages. There are generally two opportunities through which this can be done, but it’s highly essential that you incorporate both in your strategy to maximize your success:
Donation Form Search Tool
One of the easiest ways to integrate matching gifts into your fundraising strategy is by adding a matching gift search widget directly to your giving forms. This donor-facing tool allows supporters to quickly search for their employer’s matching gift program while completing their donation.
By placing this feature directly within your donation forms, you streamline the process for donors, making it easier for them to take advantage of their employer’s matching gift programs while actively giving to your cause. This helps increase the likelihood of receiving matching gifts by targeting the opportunities as donors are at the height of their engagement.
Confirmation Page Widget
Once a donor submits their gift, they’re generally re-routed to a confirmation screen. For the best results, we recommend placing Double the Donation’s matching gift tool on this page to target donors while at the height of their engagement with your cause.
After a donor completes their gift, the widget provides company-specific program guidelines and forms (if an employer was selected during the previous step) or offers an additional opportunity to search for a company (if one was not previously selected). In other words, this post-donation touchpoint reinforces the opportunity to double their contribution, even if they didn’t explore matching gift options during the donation process itself.
Then, for qualifying donors, the confirmation screen widget also offers an opportunity to complete the auto-submission process. When a company enables this option—through a partnership between its CSR platform and Double the Donation’s 360MatchPro)—its employees can submit their matches in a single click. (Hint: to uncover companies with auto-submission enabled, look for CLMA-designated employers in the database search tool!)
Method #2: Integrating Double the Donation with your CRM or donor management system.
The next kind of tool you can integrate with matching gifts is your CRM or donor management system. Whereas a donation page integration involves the addition of a donor-facing widget in your giving forms, a CRM-based matching gift integration takes more of a behind-the-scenes approach. This provides more complete coverage of your donor base, enabling your team to identify matching gift eligibility and pursue those gifts for all donors.
After a donor makes a gift (regardless of whether it’s completed on- or offline, as part of an event, etc.), a record is created in your donor database. That record is then passed into 360MatchPro using a seamless and highly secure connection, and 360MatchPro triggers a series of follow-up communications designed to drive eligible matches to completion.
These communications segment donors by their likely eligibility for matching gifts, with dedicated streams for eligible, likely ineligible, and unknown recipients, ensuring each supporter receives the most relevant information possible.
Method #3: Embedding our database widget on your Matching Gifts Page.
Our final strategy involves creating a dedicated Matching Gifts page on your nonprofit’s website—then, adding a matching gift database widget to the online hub. This allows visitors to easily uncover information regarding matching gifts, including how the programs work, how to identify eligibility criteria, how to submit the appropriate forms, and more.
By having a centralized location that educates donors about matching gifts, you can drive awareness, ultimately leading to more matching gift submissions. Plus, it gives your team a place to send supporters who might have missed the opportunity during their initial donation process. When donors access your Match Page from an automated email, for example, you can identify their eligibility and track their employment data in the backend of the platform.
Bonus: Matching Gift Integration FAQ
Matching gift integration can be a game-changer for nonprofits looking to maximize their fundraising efforts. However, understanding the process and making it work seamlessly can raise a lot of questions.
Whether you’re new to matching gifts or looking to optimize your current setup, this Q-and-A section covers the most common inquiries nonprofits and schools have about integrating matching gift tools in their fundraising.
Can I receive matching gifts without a matching gift integration?
The short answer is yes, though there’s likely to be a significant disparity in terms of matching gifts you qualify for versus matching gifts you actually receive. While your organization may still receive matching gifts without a formal matching gift integration, the process is significantly more cumbersome for donors and nonprofits alike.
Without an integration, it often requires supporters to independently research whether their employer offers a matching gift program, navigate submission portals, and complete the necessary paperwork. In contrast, integrating matching gift tools streamlines the process by automatically identifying eligible donations and guiding donors through the submission process. This helps reduce friction in the process, which leads to missed opportunities, and ultimately increases the likelihood of securing matching funds. As a result, organizations that implement matching gift automation can expect to see revenue growth of between 20% and 50%!
Can my team implement multiple matching gift integration methods?
Yes, your team can implement multiple matching gift integration methods. In fact, it’s actually encouraged to ensure the fullest coverage of all matching gift donors in your network.
By integrating matching gift tools into both your main donation form and your CRM (along with any peer-to-peer software you have!), you create a comprehensive system that captures eligible matches at various stages of the donor journey.
A donation form integration allows donors to instantly see if their employer offers matching gifts during the giving process, while a CRM integration helps your team track and follow up with donors who may have given offline and, therefore, may not have been identified as such otherwise. Combining these methods ensures you maximize matching gift opportunities and reduce the likelihood of available matches slipping through the cracks.
We also offer duplicate record detection functionality, which ensures your team is not repeating any efforts!
How complicated is the matching gift integration process?
The process of setting up your matching gift integration can seem a bit intimidating at first. Fortunately for you, Double the Donation and its extensive network of integration partners have already taken care of the hard part—so getting started is actually quick and simple.
With the technology work completed, it’s never been easier to connect a matching gift tool using ready-built integrations. This eliminates the need for complex coding or technical expertise, making our tools accessible to teams of all sizes and abilities.
Once set up, the integration works seamlessly in the background, making it easy for donors to submit matching gift requests while ensuring your nonprofit can track and manage those gifts without lifting a finger.
Which fundraising platforms support matching gift integration?
Double the Donation integrates with over 100 leading fundraising platforms, including the majority of popular donation form providers, CRMs, peer-to-peer fundraising tools, and more.
This wide range of integrations allows nonprofits to easily connect matching gift tools to their existing systems, streamlining the process for both donors and staff. To learn about specific integration options or see if your platform is supported, we encourage you to visit our integrations page to search the partner directory for more detailed information.
What if Double the Donation doesn’t integrate with my fundraising tools?
If Double the Donation doesn’t currently integrate with your fundraising tools, don’t worry! Our team is constantly building out additional integrations with new fundraising platforms, CRMs, and more.
You can also contact our team to advocate for a new integration, as we’re always eager to expand our network of partnerships. Our goal is to ensure organizations like yours have access to the best tools for maximizing matching gift opportunities!
[For Fundraising Platforms] How can my platform build a matching gift integration?
If you’re a fundraising software provider looking to build a matching gift integration, we encourage you to contact the Double the Donation team to get started.
Our team is experienced in developing seamless integrations and will guide you through the process of connecting your platform to our matching gift solution. By partnering with Double the Donation, you can offer your users enhanced functionality that makes it easier for nonprofits to maximize their matching gift revenue.
Sample Matching Gift Integration: See it in Action
Now that you understand the basics of integrating matching gifts into your overall fundraising strategy, we wanted to walk you through an example of an organization doing this well.
Check out the following matching gift flow from the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society:
Step #1: Matching gifts on the organization’s peer-to-peer donation form
Donors are encouraged to provide their employment information using an intuitive, seamlessly embedded matching gift search tool within the donation form. All they need to do is begin typing the name of their company and select the appropriate listing from the drop-down menu!
Step #2: Matching gifts on the organization’s confirmation screen
Immediately after giving, donors are thanked for their support and encouraged to make their contributions go further with a match. If employment information is provided on the form, donors are presented with company-specific program insights and direct form links to complete their requests in real time.
Step #3: Matching gifts in a follow-up email
Within minutes of submitting their gifts, donors receive a personalized matching gift reminder via email as well, complete with company program guidelines and request forms to get started.
Step #4: Matching gifts on a dedicated web page
Throughout their matching gift communications, donors are continuously encouraged to learn more about the matching gift opportunity with a direct link to the organization’s Match Page. This online hub contains a step-by-step walkthrough of matching gifts along with a powerful company search tool to make uncovering matching gift programs as easy as possible.
As you can see, LLS uses every opportunity to engage its audience with matching gifts—from the initial contribution to a number of follow-up reminders. And it’s all thanks to its seamless matching gift integration setup, connecting its matching gift tool (Double the Donation) with its donation forms, peer-to-peer software, and more.
Getting Started — Next Steps for Matching Gift Integration
Integrating matching gift tools into your fundraising and donor management processes unlocks the potential to significantly boost your nonprofit’s revenue. With a seamless setup and strategic donor education, your organization can make the most of this often-overlooked revenue stream.
Take action now to leverage the full power of matching gifts. Then, watch your fundraising efforts soar while engaging both donors and their employers in meaningful ways.
Ready to learn more about matching gifts and other workplace giving opportunities? Check out the following recommended resources:
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