Matching Gifts: 7 Schools That are Raising More Money

Matching gifts are the two-for-one deal of the fundraising world. Your school or university has the potential to receive twice as many funds from parents and/or alumni if they work at companies that match donations to educational institutions.

For those who aren’t familiar with matching gifts, they typically work like this:

A donor makes a contribution to your school or university.
The supporter submits a matching gift request to their employer’s HR department.
If the donation and your school/university are eligible, the company will write your school/university a check for the same amount as the initial donation.

Numerous companies offer matching gift programs, and if your alumni or the parents of your students work at these companies, you could potentially double your fundraising revenue!

The only problem is that many people simply don’t know that their company offers a matching gift program.

Because they are unaware of the possibility of doubling their donations, they don’t submit the proper paperwork or forms.

As a result, many schools and universities have taken it upon themselves to push matching gifts as a fundraising option for their supporters.

This article is going to cover 7 of the top schools and universities that are raising more money thanks to their promotion of matching gifts.

Morris Educational Foundation
Roosevelt Middle School
Birmingham-Southern College
Eckerd College
Piedmont College
University of Utah
Clarkson University

Let’s get started!

1. Morris Educational Foundation

The Morris Educational Foundation’s mission is “to generate and distribute financial and other resources to and for the Morris School District for enrichment programs and other projects aimed at enhancing the quality of education and educational opportunities for students in the district.”

To accomplish this mission, the Morris Educational Foundation actively promotes matching gift programs on their online donation confirmation screens:

After this person made a $100 donation, the Morris Educational Foundation lets them know that they could potentially double their contribution. The Morris Educational Foundation has also embedded Double the Donation’s matching gift search tool on the page, enabling donors to easily look up their company’s specific matching gift guidelines and paperwork.

[box border=”full”]What we love: The Morris Educational Foundation has included an image of the kids and educators that benefit from donors’ contributions. When supporters are taken to this confirmation screen, they are more likely to submit a matching gift request to help the students and teachers that the Morris Educational Foundation serves.[/box]

2. Roosevelt Middle School

Parents, staff, and community members that are involved with Roosevelt Middle School started the Friends of Roosevelt Foundation to serve the students and families of Roosevelt Middle School.

They have chosen to promote matching gifts on two separate pages on their website.

First, they have included a dedicated matching gift page that provides donors with more context about matching gifts:

This page even gives an example of how a matching gift program might work.

Additionally, the Friends of Roosevelt Foundation has set up a donation confirmation page that thanks donors for their generosity and promotes matching gifts at the same time:

Immediately after they’ve made a contribution, donors can look up their employer’s matching gift program and find the necessary forms and guidelines.

[box border=”full”]What we love: The Friends of Roosevelt Foundation manages to explain and describe matching gifts in an easy-to-understand way. Instead of offering a lengthy explanation of matching gifts, they choose to give a short and sweet description that still gives donors plenty of context for how matching gifts work.[/box]

3. Birmingham-Southern College

Birmingham-Southern College (BSC) seeks to, “prepare men and women for lives of significance. The College fosters intellectual and personal development through excellence in teaching and scholarship and by challenging students to engage their community and the greater world, to examine diverse perspectives, and to live with integrity.”

To this end, BSC has placed matching gift promotions in two different locations on their website.

First, they provide in-depth information on their dedicated matching gift page:

This page can be found under BSC’s “Give to BSC” tab on the right side of the top navigation.

Next, the Birmingham-Southern College Alumni Association has included matching gift information directly on their donation page:

When clicked, the text that says, “Click here to see if your company will match your donation” opens a new tab with a search tool that donors can use to look for their company’s matching gift program.

[box border=”full”]What we love: Birmingham-Southern College and their alumni association have used creative and effective ways to get the matching gift message out to their supporters. Specifically, including matching gift information directly on a donation form encourages donors to look into doubling their contributions right then and there.[/box]

4. Eckerd College

Eckerd College’s mission is, “to provide excellent, innovative undergraduate liberal arts education and lifelong learning programs in the unique Florida environment.” They are able to accomplish this mission by accepting donations from students, alumni, staff, and faculty.

Eckerd College has a beautiful website that lends itself very well to matching gift promotion. We’re going to cover the two different ways that Eckerd College has decided to educate its donors about matching gifts.

First, Eckerd College has included matching gifts as an option in a sidebar navigation that lists out various donation methods.

Eckerd College has also made it easy for donors to look up their employer’s matching gift program with an embedded tool on a dedicated matching gifts page.

Here are some sample images that detail the steps someone would take to research Bank of America’s matching gift program.

[box border=”full”]What we love: Eckerd College’s intuitive website makes it easy for donors to find information about matching gifts. While supporters are donating, they are reminded that they might be able to have their donations doubled. Additionally, the look-up tool allows donors to learn more about the specific aspects of their employer’s matching gift program.[/box]

5. Piedmont College

Piedmont College has made it their mission to dedicate the institution to “the transformative power of education through reciprocal learning, the development of compassionate leaders, and the stewardship of our local and global communities.”

One of the ways Piedmont College funds the activities that help them accomplish this mission is through matching gifts!

Piedmont College highlights matching gifts on their “Ways to Donate” page:

Piedmont College also includes matching gift information on their donation form:

In both instances, Piedmont College gives donors instructions on how and where to submit and send their matching gift requests once they’ve been completed.

[box border=”full”]What we love: Piedmont College includes a key phrase that puts donors at ease: “We will do the rest!” One of the reasons donors don’t apply for matching gifts is because they feel like the process will be complicated or cumbersome. Piedmont College lets donors know that they’ll be there to help supporters if they run into any issues.[/box]

6. University of Utah

The University of Utah seeks to “provide every student with a unique and enlightening education.” To fund their mission, the university promotes matching gifts to alumni and staff donors.

For instance, they have a designated matching gifts page that allows supporters to learn more about their employer’s specific matching gift program:

The University of Utah also includes a matching gift blurb on each of their donation pages, regardless of what department or program the donor is giving to.

[box border=”full”]What we love: The University of Utah highlights one of the unique aspects of matching gift programs: the fact that spouses and/or retirees are sometimes eligible to have their donations matched![/box]

7. Clarkson University

Clarkson University, “is an independent, nationally recognized technological university whose faculty of teacher-scholars aspires to offer superior instruction and engage in high-quality research and scholarship in engineering, business, science, health, and liberal arts.”

To this end, the university has decided to push matching gifts as an optional fundraising method for donors who want to double their donations.

They do so on a dedicated matching gifts page:

This page is simple, but it includes a search tool that enables donors to look up their company’s matching gift guidelines without leaving the website.

[box border=”full”]What we love: Clarkson University’s matching gift page is easy to find and gets straight to the point.[/box]

All of these schools have made the grade in our Matching Gift Class. For more information about matching gifts, check out this helpful guide.

And for additional school fundraising ideas, check out awesome list of over 70 ideas.