Announcing New Matching Gift Auto-Submission Functionality

The Double the Donation team is constantly improving our matching gift solution to provide users with the best possible technology for their fundraising needs. Today, we’re announcing innovative matching gift auto-submission, now built into our software platform.

This revolutionary feature will make it easier than ever before for donors to complete and submit their matching gift requests to employers. Looking to learn more about the functionality? You’ve come to the right place!

In this guide, we’ll share everything you need to know to make the most of matching gift auto-submission with Double the Donation’s flagship product, 360MatchPro⁠—including:

What is matching gift auto-submission?
Key benefits of matching gift auto-submission
How new auto-submission functionality works
Our trailblazing auto-submission partners

Let’s begin with the basics.

What is matching gift auto-submission?

Matching gift auto-submission is essentially the automation of the corporate matching gift request process.

Traditionally, donors looking to participate in their employers’ matching gift programs have been required to navigate to the company’s matching gift management portal. From there, they’ll be asked to search for and locate the organization to which they contributed. This is typically done by entering the nonprofit’s name, mailing address, and tax ID number.

Once the individual has selected the correct listing from the organization search tool, they’ll be prompted to provide information about their donation⁠—such as payment type, donation amount, currency, date of the gift, and more. They might even be asked to upload a copy of their donation receipt.

While developing your matching gift program, your company should try to eliminate as many barriers to participation as possible. One of the reasons your employees might turn away from participating in the program is if your company has a laborious and complex submission system.

When donors are able to automatically submit their match request, however, all they’re typically asked for is their corporate email address! Then, Double the Donation gathers data relevant to the donation and organization and transfers the information to the matching gift management platform to process the request.

Your employees might have to undertake many steps that overcomplicate the process without auto-submission. Empower your matching gift program to do good by making the giving journey as straightforward and effortless as possible. You’ll be motivating social good as well as improving the workplace environment and employee satisfaction!

Key benefits of matching gift auto-submission

Streamlining the matching gift process with auto-submission offers huge benefits to each party involved in the process. Specifically, these are some of the most significant advantages seen by all the key stakeholders of the initiative:

Benefits for Donors

Simplicity and elevated donation impact ⁠— Donors love getting their gifts matched (who wouldn’t want to see their dollars stretch further for an organization they care about?), but even the most dedicated supporters can be distracted and discouraged by complicated request processes. Double the Donation has long worked to streamline match submissions when possible by directing donors to their online forms, but auto-submission functionality brings simplicity to the next level. We can almost hear the donors saying, “All I have to do is enter my email address for my gift to be matched and bring my impact to the next level? I’m in!”

Benefits for Nonprofits

Increased matching gift revenue ⁠— When more donors successfully submit their matches, more matching gift funds are ultimately sent your way. That means additional streams of revenue that can be used to pursue mission programming and even help cover overhead costs. And it’s all without having to dedicate a ton of team member time and resources to pursuing matches, thanks to automation from start to finish.

Benefits for Employees

Decreased submission roadblocks ⁠— When employees find out that they’re eligible to participate in their companies’ workplace giving programs, they’re typically excited about the opportunity to give back in big ways—not to mention get their employers involved in the causes they personally care about. However, time-consuming submission processes can take some of the joy out of partaking and even lead to eligible employees not getting involved. But with auto-submission, corporate employees are able to give directly to a nonprofit, whether through their site or the peer-to-peer fundraising events that their friends and family are participating in. And from there, submitting their match requests to the companies they work for is so quick and easy that there’s nothing to get in their way.

Benefits for Companies

Increased participation rates among employees⁠ — Companies benefit from matching employee gifts by increasing their levels of social responsibility, and consequently better appealing to existing and prospective consumers and team members. The more their employees participate in matching initiatives, the more the companies give to nonprofit causes, and the more their CSR is elevated. When employees see the benefits of matching gift auto-submission, they tend to increase participation in their employers’ programming. As a result, the companies offering the programs reap increased benefits of maximal usage of their initiatives that they invested the time and resources into developing in the first place.

Benefits for Corporate Giving Vendors

Higher usage and satisfaction among clients ⁠— Corporate giving vendors (or CSR platforms) design software with the intention to streamline and improve companies’ workplace giving programs like matching gifts. Offering auto-submission makes each key initiative easier⁠—not to mention, it leads to increased usage and satisfaction among corporate clients who are aiming to make their end users’ experiences as optimal as possible. In the end, this improves these software vendors’ SaaS renewal rates, aids in attracting new corporate clients, and overall drives up long-term revenue.

Not to mention, there’s the key benefit of better supporting nonprofit causes (including 75% of the largest peer-to-peer focused nonprofits who have it enabled) by elevating corporate giving revenue while reducing administrative burden with a more streamlined approach.

Keep in mind that the quicker and simpler it is to participate in corporate matching gift programs, the more likely individuals are to take the required steps. As a result, organizations and companies alike can expect to see significantly more match-eligible donations being driven to completion⁠—which is a win-win for everybody!

How new auto-submission functionality works

Sounds great, right⁠—but how does it actually work?

Let’s take a look at a basic overview of the processes involved:

An individual makes a donation to a nonprofit organization. This step is typically business as usual. A nonprofit supporter fills out an online donation form, complete with basic contact information and payment details. Before you can get a gift matched, there has to be a gift made in the first place!
During the donation process, the individual supplies the name of their employer. This will allow your organization to determine and communicate whether the individual qualifies for a donation match and can be done quickly and easily by embedding Double the Donation’s auto-complete company search tool.
Matching gift program guidelines are provided. As soon as the donor is redirected to the gift confirmation screen, they’ll be met with matching gift criteria specific to their employer’s matching gift program. This should include minimum and maximum donation amounts, match ratios, qualifying employee and nonprofit types, submission deadlines, and more. This way, they can easily determine whether their donation is eligible for a corporate match.
The individual is asked to enter their corporate email address. If eligible, the donor is asked to provide their corporate email address for the match request. Then, before clicking to submit their email address⁠ on the confirmation screen—and, by extension, their matching gift request⁠—the individual is asked to confirm that they give Double the Donation permission to submit a match request to their company on their behalf.
The donor’s matching gift request is automatically processed. Double the Donation utilizes data collected during the individual’s donation process to provide the corporate giving partner platform with information to process the request. Data transferred will typically include the donation amount, organization given to, date of payment, and more.
Finally, the match request is verified and approved. As a result, the employing company (often by way of its corporate giving platform) disburses match funding to your organization.

In the end, corporate matching gifts are paid out to your organization the same way as if an individual had manually submitted their matching gift request on their own. The steps running in the background to make matching gifts possible, however, are significantly simpler when automated⁠—especially when it comes to your donors’ side of the process.

Our trailblazing auto-submission partners

Double the Donation relies on partnerships with other innovative technology providers in order to expand its services and functionality. Matching gift auto-submission is no different.

Recently, we collaborated with these three companies to launch the new auto-submission component of our matching gift platform:

Millie

Millie is a social impact platform designed to make workplace giving and volunteering accessible, fun, and impactful. They are big believers that change comes from everyone and are on a mission to empower businesses of all sizes to start and grow social impact programs. Whether a company has 100 employees, 5,000 employees, or anything in between, Millie helps engage teams around impact with donation matching, volunteer programming, fundraising campaigns, gifting, ERG tools, and more.

Employees of companies that utilize Milie’s software are now able to leverage matching gift auto-submission to more easily submit their requests for their companies’ approval. On the confirmation screen of their nonprofit donation (for organizations using 360MatchPro), the individual will be asked to enter their corporate email address. From there, an email is sent requesting that the donor verifies their recently submitted donation and subsequent matching gift request⁠—which will then be completed and processed by Millie.

Learn more about Millie and Double the Donation!

POINT

POINT is known for being a robust yet user-friendly volunteer management app for nonprofits, volunteers, and companies. Now, they’re expanding into an all-in-one solution with corporate social responsibility⁠—including volunteering, giving, matching, and partnering⁠—at the forefront of their strategy.

In order to make use of Double the Donation’s matching gift auto-submission with POINT, a qualifying donor is encouraged to enter their email address previously registered with the POINT app. The email address is automatically verified with POINT, providing the user with a list of organizations associated with their app profile to choose from. They are then asked to select the organization from which the donation match should be requested, with the submission being processed behind the scenes.

Learn more about POINT and Double the Donation!

Selflessly

Selflessly helps HR & Culture leaders increase employee engagement through its corporate giving and volunteering software solution. Selflessly simplifies social impact by providing all the tools a company may need. Employees can donate to nonprofits, coordinate volunteer opportunities, create team campaigns, receive matching gifts, and more. They prioritize inclusive workplaces to support all employees in the causes they care most about.

Individuals working for companies that use Selflessly to manage their matching gift programs are able to log into their employer’s Selflessly portal and request a donation match to their favorite organizations. Now, when those organizations utilize Double the Donation’s matching gift technology, the request process itself is as easy as entering their corporate email address. Double the Donation and Selflessly will handle the rest!

Learn more about Selflessly and Double the Donation!

Offering matching gift auto-submission is going to go a long way toward increasing the number of match donation requests submitted to employers. For organizations like yours, that will mean more corporate revenue and more engagement opportunities, with fewer eligible gifts slipping through the cracks. And best of all⁠—your donors are going to love it!

Interested in learning more about matching gifts and best practices your organization can take to increase corporate revenue? Check out these other educational resources:

Corporate Matching Gift Process: A Complete Step-by-Step Guide. Take a deep dive into the matching gift process for your organization and its supporters with this detailed resource. The more you know, the better you can guide donors through the experience.
4 Top Ways to Market Matching Gifts In Your Donation Process. Tons of individuals have no idea their employers offer matching gifts, which is why it’s important to market opportunities to your donors. Here’s how to do so directly within the donation process!
Matching Gift Disbursement FAQ: Your Top Questions Answered. Wondering exactly how the matching gift disbursement process works? We answered many frequently asked in this guide to provide insights into what really happens behind the scenes.
Interested in learning more about Double the Donation’s new auto-submission feature? Check out our immersive webinar on the topic!