Matching Grants are MAGIC
Are YOU working to secure one for Giving Tuesday/Year End? If you’re not, you should be!
Learn to love Matching Grants because:
It’s THE Way to Connect ALL of your Donor Bases
I’m super-inspired by the Community-Centric Fundraising Principles. (https://lnkd.in/e3mfb3zp) While Matching Grant (aka Matching Gifts or Challenge Grants) still center around monetary gifts, they're an opportunity for EVERYONE in your community to work together. A Match encourages collaboration between your major donors [the individual(s) who are donating the 4-6 figure Match] and the average community member at your org.
It’s THE Perfect Built-In “Event”
Events are fun, collaborative, and inspiring–you should always be looking for ways to “make an event” out of your fundraising. With a Matching Grant, you have LOTS of specific, celebratory messaging to share (in emails, letter appeals, social media posts, and–my fav–phone calls). Make an “event” out of every milestone on your journey: the kick-off, the first 25% reached, going over the halfway point, the final 10%, and–of course–reaching the goal. A graphic you can change along the way (perhaps a thermometer – or get more creative/specific to your org!) & sharing via email/social media/your website is quite an effective tool!
It’s THE Opportunity to Highlight “New” and “Upgraded” Gifts
I highly recommend your guidelines for the Matching Grant specifically designate the Match towards NEW gifts and INCREASED giving. If a donation was already going to come in–and isn’t a “stretch”--there’s no added benefit to “Matching” it! (I’ll get into how to create guidelines for your Matching Grant in another post!)
It’s THE incentive you need to pick up the phone!
Sharing the progress on your Match is a GREAT reason to make those 1:1 phone calls to your community. The personal touch of a call (even if they don’t pick up & you need to leave a voicemail) is a super-effective personal touch to accompany your more passive outreach (letters, emails, social media posts).
BONUS: you can give the community member the MOST up-to-date info on your Match’s progress (which will inspire them to get involved TODAY!).
And no worries if you’ve already made a call: a Match update is a superb reason to follow-up.
Do you have thoughts or experiences to share around Matching Grants? How about any follow-up questions?