What Is Corporate Matching?
Corporate matching is a form of charitable giving certain companies participate in. Essentially, these companies will make the same donations their employees make. This allows companies to directly support causes that are important to their employees.
For example, let’s say a parent donates $100 to your school. If that parent’s employer offers corporate matching, then you can get another $100 from that company.
How Does Corporate Matching Work?
In corporate matching, employers match employees’ donations. That said, only certain companies do this, and only certain donations are eligible. To make corporate matching work, you need:
- Donations from parents/donors who work for companies with a corporate matching program
- Donations that are tax-deductible
Thankfully, 30% of parents work for a company that offers corporate matching, and most school donations are tax-deductible (as long as the parent wasn’t paying for something, like school supplies).
How Does Corporate Matching work for Donations from Parents?
The beauty of corporate matching is that it’s easy to add to donations you’re already getting from parents.
Parents make their donation to their school, as usual, submit the donation information to their employer, and then the employer sends your school a donation for the same amount. Typically, this donation will come as a check in the mail.
How Can Corporate Matching Benefit a School or Cause?
Tons of companies offer corporate matching. For example, Apple offers corporate matching to its employees, up to $10,000 per year.
Most schools aren’t aware of this extremely simple way to increase donations. And because most parents work for companies in your area, it’s pretty easy to compile a list of employers that offer corporate matching.
How Corporate Matching Increases Donations by 60%
Encouraging parents and other donors to use corporate matching is essentially free money. Corporate matching can increase school donations by 60%, with no extra fundraisers.
All it takes is a bit of administration work to get thousands of dollars worth of extra donations. Some schools find that gathering corporate matching donations is so effective they even have a dedicated administrator or PTA/PTO member in charge of it.
It makes sense too since around 60% of donations qualify for corporate matching. That means if you’re raising $10,000 for a project, like a new playground, you only need to raise $6,500. The rest can all come from corporate matching donations.
How Does FutureFund Help With Corporate Matching?
Automatic Tracking & Reporting
FutureFund seamlessly reports on your corporate matching activities and progress, giving you a clear picture of companies that offer matching, how much you may be eligible for, and how much you have received so far.
Read more: Corporate matching reports.
Making it Simple for Parents
The old-school way of submitting corporate matching information was tedious, so it’s not surprising so many fundraisers opted not to include it. FutureFund organizes this information and walks parents through it, making it easy to take advantage of corporate matching!
Every time a parent donates, FutureFund sends an automatic email with details about corporate matching. FutureFund targets these emails to parents who work for corporate matching companies and who make a tax-deductible donation. The email contains all the information the parent needs to submit their donation for corporate matching, including the receipt and tax code.
Consistent Communication
Another way FutureFund helps increase corporate matching donations is through our consistent communication tools. After all, the best way to get more corporate matching donations is to talk about it as much as possible!
FutureFund makes it easy to tailor your communications to include corporate matching through your school:
- Newsletter
- Website
- Registration page
By reminding parents about corporate matching and keeping it top of mind, you can make sure your school is getting as many donations as possible.
