December 2011

Bishop Feehan High School Creates Matching Gift Success in a Tough Economy

For Christopher Servant, President of Bishop Feehan High School in Attleboro, Massachusetts, successful fundraising is about more than building a culture of giving. "You also need to build a culture of matching," he says. "And that requires a lot of education." A teacher by training and an outgoing fellow by nature, Servant spends much of his time educating Bishop Feehan alumni and families about the benefits of matching gifts.

Last year, as the school was wrapping up a multi-year, $4.5 million capital campaign, Servant was persuaded to try matching gifts by the campaign's director, Larry Furey of Partners in Mission, as a way to boost the school's annual campaign. From the outset, however, Servant found that donors didn't know much about their companies' matching gift policies. "I had thought that if you worked at a company with a matching gift program, you would not only know about it but you would also do something about it. But it turns out that we were wrong on both counts." Servant notes that many alumni didn't even know that the school, which turned 50 this year, was a 501c3 nonprofit and therefore eligible for donations of any kind, not just matching gifts.

So Servant and his small staff of paid and volunteer workers set out to educate families of current students whose gifts that year were match eligible but who hadn't applied for a match. Using HEP Development's matching gift brochures and E-Match Donor Link™ instant match eligibility lookup service in addition to reminder letters, calls, and e-mails, Bishop Feehan High School was able to boost matched gifts from $50,000 to over $100,000 -- helping the annual campaign reach $465,000!

Based on that success, Servant says that matching gifts are now a mainstay of the school's fundraising plan. He'll be contacting alumni and their spouses, including information about matching gifts in all fundraising mailings and other communications, and discussing it at scheduled lunchtime gatherings with alumni at individual companies in the area.

The benefits of educating donors about matching gifts have made the effort worthwhile, says Servant. "It's been truly a blessing for our school," he says. "If it worked for us, it will work for anybody."

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Matching Gifts are an Increasing Part of Corporate Giving, Survey Shows

According to Giving in Numbers, 2011 Edition, the annual corporate philanthropy benchmarking report by the Committee Encouraging Corporate Philanthropy (CECP), 57% of the companies surveyed increased the dollar amounts contributed to their matching gift programs from 2009 to 2010. Furthermore, median matching increased slightly from $1.67 million to $1.70 million. Another interesting change noted in the report was that in 2010, 40 companies added disaster-relief matching programs that had not been offered the previous year.

"Matching gifts are a bigger part of overall corporate cash giving," says Margaret Coady, CECP's Director. What's driving that trend? "We're seeing that people are seeking out places to work that give them a chance to express their values. As a result, companies have tried to strengthen programs that demonstrate their commitment, whether it's Dollars for Doers programs, workplace giving campaigns, or disaster relief."

CECP is the only international forum of business leaders focused exclusively on increasing the level and quality of corporate philanthropy. Members include over 180 global CEOs and company chairs, collectively representing more than 40% of the corporate giving reported in the United States. The 2011 Giving in Numbers report looked at data from 184 leading corporations, including 63 in the Fortune 500. Giving in Numbers, 2011 Edition is available as a free download from the CECP website.

Especially for Match Points readers, Coady and her staff analyzed data from the current and previous editions of Giving in Numbers to prepare a custom analysis of changes in matching gifts, specifically programs for disaster relief, between 2007 and 2010. Many thanks to CECP Senior Analyst Carmen Perez, Manager of Strategic Engagement Courtney Murphy, and Director Margaret Coady for preparing these data for Match Points!

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Matching Gift Tips from Mike Westfall

In this issue, we inaugurate a series of useful matching gift tips and techniques from a veteran fundraiser. Here are the first two:

1. Reminder Letters: Institute a monthly matching gift reminder letter process where a program is run to identify all donors who have made a gift in the previous month, are coded within your database as working for a matching gift company, but did NOT submit a matching gift form. Mail a standard mail merge letter noting company information and possible match. Include a postage paid return envelope.
2. On-Line Look-Up Tool: Contract with HEP to provide a matching gift look-up tool on the annual giving web page so that alumni can see if their company is a matching gift company. This is very inexpensive and is just a link to their respective site which is made up to be consistent in look to your website. This website address should be posted on materials encouraging prospects to investigate.

-- Compliments of Mike Westfall, Annual Giving Consultant, (509) 863-2665. Watch Mike's HEP Development webinars here.

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News Bits

• New White Paper -- HEP Development's new white paper, "Use Matching Gifts to Stretch Your Fundraising Budget," features practical, real-world tips and techniques from veteran fundraisers that are sure to help you boost your matching gift revenue. Download the free white paper today and try them out on your next fundraising campaign!
• Announcing HEP MatchForm Depot -- Approximately 65% of the 19,000 firms in HEP Development's matching gift database make their forms available online. With HEP's new MatchForm Depot, now you can provide your donors with their employer-specific match forms immediately, through e-mail or snail mail. When you subscribe to MatchForm Depot, you'll receive an Excel file with an alphabetical listing of all companies for which HEP has match forms, along with company intranet logins and PDF copies of the company's match application forms. The file is updated daily, and updates are included as part of the subscription.
• February is Matching Gift Month -- It's hard to believe, but Matching Gift Month is fast approaching. HEP Development has been asked to provide ideas on how nonprofits can promote matching gifts during that time, and in response it has developed two free website ads that you may download and use as reminders that link to your E-match Donor Link page. Your webmaster should be able to assist you in taking advantage of these matching gift ads. You can download the ads from here.
• HEP's Marianna Funk Quoted in WSJ -- The November 19 edition of the Wall Street Journal's "Getting Going" blog discussed matching gifts as a financial incentive that employers can use to keep their employees healthier while also reducing health costs. Author Karen Blumenthal cited Marianna Funk, HEP Development's Director of Research, on the number of companies that match employee charitable contributions. See "Milking Company Benefits" by Karen Blumenthal for the whole story.

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