The Power of Email Domain Screening For Matching Gifts
Find out how email domain screening can bring your organization’s matching gift fundraising to new heights.
Matching gifts supply a powerful revenue source that allows nonprofits to amplify individual generosity by leveraging corporate philanthropy. These programs, through which corporations match employees’ donations to charitable causes, hold immense potential for bolstering fundraising and driving growth.
However, despite the widespread availability of matching gift programs, nonprofits often struggle to fully capitalize on this funding channel. Many supporters remain unaware of the opportunity, and identifying eligible donors on your own can be a time-consuming process.
Fortunately, there are a few ways organizations can uncover match-eligible gifts in their donor base with varying levels of ease. In this guide, we’re going to focus on one in particular: email domain screening.
Table of Contents
- What is Email Domain Screening?
- The Email Domain Screening Process
- How Email Domain Screening Uncovers More Matching Gifts
- Other Ways to Identify Matching Gift Opportunities
By reading this guide, you’re already on your way to identifying and collecting more matching gifts. Now, let’s dive in to explore the role that email domain screening can play in this endeavor.
What is Email Domain Screening?
As donors give online, they’re generally asked to provide an email address within an organization’s donation form. While some choose to share a personal email (think: addresses ending in gmail.com, yahoo.com, outlook.com, etc.), others opt to use their business emails (e.g., name@company.com) to make their gifts.
This can be a great way to uncover match-eligible gifts using an email domain screening process.
So, how does it work? When it comes to uncovering matching gifts, email domain screening involves an organization (or a dedicated software solution it enlists) checking for donations made using corporate email addresses.
Domain screening streamlines the identification of eligible donors using information your supporters are already sharing. In the end, it simplifies the matching gift process for donors and maximizes the funds your organization collects through the programs.
The Email Domain Screening Process
The better your team understands the email domain screening process, the more equipped you’ll be to boost your organization’s matching gift revenue. Take a look at the following walkthrough to learn more about each stage involved.
How Email Domain Screening Uncovers More Matching Gifts
Email domain screening can significantly benefit an organization’s matching gift strategy. In fact, vetting donations made using a corporate email address can result in tons of new donors being flagged as matching gift eligible. All in all, that leads to more than a 1% increase in total revenue for nonprofits each year.
Let’s see what this means by the numbers for a few types of organizations:
- Small nonprofits raising $100,000–$250,000 a year tend to see a return of $1,000 to $2,500 from email domain screening.
- Medium nonprofits raising between $250,000 and $1 million a year tend to see a return of $2,500 to $10,000 from email domain screening.
- Large nonprofits raising over $1 million a year tend to see a return of $10,000 or more from email domain screening.
But the benefits don’t end there, either! In addition to direct financial returns, email domain screening also empowers fundraisers to…
- Learn more about the supporters in their networks while building out increasingly well-rounded donor profiles
- Encourage individual donors to take advantage of available corporate matching gift opportunities
- Implement tailored communications using employment insights gathered from corporate email addresses
- Maximize fundraising performance by streamlining the matching gift identification process
- Allocate resources more efficiently, freeing up staff time to focus on other valuable fundraising and mission-relevant activities
- Identify some of their most valuable corporate partners with which they share key audiences
The best part is that, with the right matching gift software, conducting an email domain screening requires little to no added effort from a nonprofit’s fundraising team. By enlisting this strategy to uncover more match-eligible gifts, organizations like yours can amplify their impact and achieve their goals more effectively than ever before.
Other Ways to Identify Matching Gift Opportunities
So far, we’ve talked a lot about email domain screening in this guide. And while it’s a sound strategy for organizations looking to give their matching gift efforts a boost, it’s certainly not the only way to determine donors’ eligibility.
On average, nonprofits report that between 5% and 7% of donors use corporate email domains when completing their initial gifts. So, what can you do to supplement domain screening and engage with the remaining portion of your supporter base?
Let’s quickly walk through some other leading ways nonprofits can uncover matching gifts from within their networks. Keep in mind that the more screening mechanisms you enlist, the greater the likelihood that you’ll capture every opportunity without letting matches fall astray.
Enlisting multiple identification methods allows fundraisers to identify up to 30% more match-eligible donors.
Source: https://doublethedonation.com/matching-gift-statistics/
1. Embed a company search tool on your donation form.
Make it as easy as possible for donors to provide employment information directly as they give—even if they opt not to use a corporate email address. When an individual makes a contribution through your online donation form, ensure they encounter a field where they can input the name of the company they work for. Even better would be an auto-completing search tool, such as the one powered by Double the Donation!
(P.S. Our company database search tool integrates with nearly all leading donation platforms and CRMs, making it a seamless opportunity to connect the solutions.)
2. Add a matching gift widget to your confirmation screen.
After donors complete their gifts, they’ll generally be directed to a confirmation page on your site. Here, they should be thanked for their gift and provided with recommended next steps. And when you incorporate a matching gift tool on your confirmation screen, donors will have yet another chance to supply employment data.
Such a widget allows each donor to quickly search for their employer’s matching gift program by typing in the business name. If a program from their employing company is found, the individual can be marked as match-eligible in real time and encouraged to complete a matching gift request on your behalf.
3. Enlist email follow-up outreach.
Following a donor’s contribution, send a personalized follow-up email thanking them for their support and inviting them to provide their employment information if they haven’t already.
This email should also supply instructions on how donors can uncover their own eligibility—such as by reaching out to their company’s HR department or CSR team.
4. Consider an employer append service.
Regardless of the methods you use to collect employment information and identify match-eligible gifts, you’re going to have some gaps in your donor records. And that’s where a data enhancement service—specifically an employer append—can come in handy.
All you need to do is partner with a data appends provider and supply the company with the information you have in your existing records. From there, the appending company conducts a variety of enrichment processes to augment each profile with fresh insights gleaned from a wide array of data sources—including employment information and matching gift eligibility.
5. Conduct a bulk matching gift screening.
If you already have accurate and up-to-date employment information for your donors, there’s another type of data enhancement service you can consider. That’s a bulk matching gift screening, where you provide an appends provider with your donors’ names, the companies they work for, and other data insights. Then, the appending company screens your donor profiles against its database of matching gift information and indicates each individual’s likely matching gift eligibility.
Wrapping Up
Email domain screening offers nonprofits an invaluable opportunity to uncover more matching gifts and transform their fundraising endeavors. By utilizing this technology, organizations like yours can tap into the vast pool of matching gift opportunities provided by corporate employers.
In doing so, you’ll reap benefits like streamlined identification practices (driving operational efficiency), heightened donor engagement, and increased revenue for your mission.
Interested in learning more about matching gifts and other fundraising strategies? Check out these recommended resources:
- Top 20+ Matching Gift Companies: Leaders in Corporate Giving. Explore this list of companies leading the way in corporate giving. Check out examples of generous matching gift employers and see if your donors work for them!
- Free Download: The Ultimate Guide to Marketing Matching Gifts. Master the art of marketing matching gifts with the complete downloadable guide. Learn proven strategies and tips for promoting matching gift programs to your donors effectively.
- Matching Gift Process | A Complete Step-by-Step Guide. Understanding the ins and outs of matching gifts is essential for guiding donors through the process. Walk through each step to learn what’s required of you and your supporters.
