February 26, 2016 Paula M. Santa Assistant Director School Relations & Matching Gifts Point, Set, Match! How awesome are Matching Gifts! SAMPLE IMAGE

What exactly are Matching Gifts? Definition: "A type of corporate giving program in which a company matches donations made by employees to eligible nonprofit organizations." Characteristics of Matching Gift Programs: While the definition of matching gift programs is fairly broad, each company defines the specifics of its own program.

What Firm Pioneered Matching Gifts? In 1954, the General Electric Foundation created the Corporate Alumni Program to match donations to the colleges and universities that employees graduated from. This eventually broadened to other charities. The best estimate today is now over 3,000 US firms participate !

Sample Scenario: An employee of XYZ bank which matches gifts decides to make a gift to his or her non-profit of choice. Since this bank is a matching gift corporation, it will match the donor's $100 gift to the non-profit at a 1:1 ratio, for a total gift to the non-profit of $200. In this manner, this donor increases the value of his or her gift simply by participating in the matching program, and may be recognized at that giving level by the non-profit.

Five Steps of Matching Gifts: 1.Individuals donate 2.Nonprofits notify eligible donors or donor finds out on their own 3.Donors submit matching gift requests, either paper or online 4.Nonprofits validate grant requests 5.Corporations cut checks according to their timeline

Think beyond the possible! In changing economic times where trends show that many companies are changing the parameters of their matching gift program, or dropping them all together, it is important to take advantage of the donors who do work for matching gift companies. With a little focus you can watch your matching gifts grow!

Matching Gift Industry Overview What has been the trend in your overall matching gift revenues over the last 3 years? Source: Supporting Advancement 2012 Best Practices Survey

Council for Aid to Education Voluntary Support of Education Survey The 650 institutions that provided matching-gift data reported they received $142.2 million in matching gifts, a slight (1.09%) increase over the amount reported in the 2013 survey. The average amount received in matching gifts per reporting institution was nearly $219,000, which is 3.6% more than the amount reported in the 2013 survey. The average size of each reported match was $917, which is nearly 6% more than the average reported in 2013.

Voluntary Support Survey Continued Overall, matching gifts represented 4% percent of the corporate support received by respondent institutions, representing a half- percent decline from 2013’s reported average of 4.5 percent. The percentage of corporate support represented by matching gifts ranged from 0.7% among public specialized institutions to 19.8% among private baccalaureate institutions.

CWRU Matching Gift Successes Phonathon – Direct interaction with donors Specific matching language on all solicitations, campaigns and receipts Post-It Notes Monthly Inserts Monthly letters with instructions on how to match Thank you post card when we receive matching forms Hand addressed thank you note when match dollars arrive In February – Matching Gift Month Special Insert Blast

CWRU’s Matching Gift Month Pledge Inserts in Monthly Pledge Reminders Mass Provide talking points to Schools and Development Officers New this year: Video for and web page!

Video for Matching Gifts Video created by our Production Department For CWRU YouTube page After 2 weeks of being up and running, we had 47 views! After 2 weeks, listed 4 th on a Google Matching Gift search! To view video: Case.edu/annualgiving/matching

CWRU Failures Corporate Agents – Declining Support The use of corporate agents has continued to drop from the 2006 survey 30.8% with a significant 2012 survey downward turn to only 16.9% of organizations reporting use of this matching gifts strategy. Gathering Employment Information Source: Supporting Advancement 2012 Best Practices Survey

What you can do to increase your matching gifts! Direct interaction with donors in Phonathon/Call Centers Specific language inserted into all solicitations, campaigns and receipts Post It Notes Monthly Inserts Monthly matching instruction letters Leaflets inserted into solicitation pieces and receipts Post information on web site Focus Groups – Volunteer Matching s Matching gift s with link to matching gifts look ups Corporate Agents/corporate visits Talking points at alum events and visits

With a little creativity your matching gifts will appear like this:

Contact Information: Paula M. Santa Phone: CWRU: Matching Gift Web Page: