Are You Leaving Money on the Table? Maximize Matching Gifts

An estimated $4-7 billion in matching gift funds goes unclaimed every year, yet 84% of donors are more likely to give if their contributions get matched. For healthcare and nonprofit organizations, matching gifts represent one of the most underutilized yet accessible revenue opportunities available today.

If you’re reading this, you probably understand the basics of matching gifts—a way for employees to request their employers match their charitable donations. But do you know how to maximize their full potential? The statistics reveal a sobering reality: only 1.31% of individual contributions are matched at the average nonprofit organization, even though over 26 million individuals work for companies with matching gift programs.

The question isn’t whether matching gifts work—the data proves they do. The question is: how can healthcare institutions and nonprofits maximize matching gifts to leave less money on the table?

Matching Gift Architecture

Many organizations make the mistake of treating matching gifts as an afterthought—a checkbox to tick rather than a strategic revenue driver. True matching gift maximization requires a systematic approach that goes beyond simply mentioning it in your donor communications.

• Trust an Expert. Appoint a dedicated Matching Gift Specialist within your development team. This isn’t about adding another task to someone’s already full plate; it’s about recognizing that matching gifts require specialized knowledge and consistent follow-through to generate meaningful results.
• Use Tech to Your Benefit. Your technology should include sophisticated matching gift automation tools, such as Double the Donation, Bonterra, ThankView, Donor Perfect, and Givebutter. These tools help your organization raise more money, engage donors, and save your staff time.
• Ensure Multiple Touchpoints. The most successful organizations implement matching gift awareness across every donor touchpoint. This means incorporating matching gift information into your donation forms, providing company-specific program details on confirmation screens, and sending personalized matching gift emails post-transaction.
• Timing matters! Sending matching gift reminder emails within 24 hours of a donation results in a 53% open rate, which is 2.6 times higher than the average nonprofit email open rate. Similarly, the average matching gift email has a 7% click-through rate, which is 2.4x the average nonprofit email click-through rate.

Healthcare and Nonprofit Industry Targeting

Healthcare organizations should particularly focus on donors who work within the healthcare industry, as these companies often have among the most generous matching gift programs.

Target your outreach to employees of healthcare companies, pharmaceutical firms, medical device manufacturers, and health insurance companies. These donors not only tend to have access to robust matching programs but also possess an inherent affinity for healthcare causes.

Similarly, nonprofits should focus on donors who work for organizations with strong corporate social responsibility programs and established giving cultures. Fortune 500 companies are particularly valuable targets, with many matching up to $10,000 or more annually per employee. Technology companies, financial services firms, and major retailers often have generous matching programs. Don’t overlook smaller local businesses either. Regional companies offer matching programs as part of their community engagement efforts, and these donors often have strong local connections to your cause.

Grateful Patient Program Integration

When patients or their families make donations following exceptional care, they’re often in their most motivated state to maximize their impact. Materials provided to patients, such as thank-you letters, brochures, and discharge information, should include details about matching gifts.

Rather than treating it as a separate program, make matching gift identification and submission support a standard part of your patient donor stewardship process.

Advanced Matching Gift Structures: Beyond Employee Programs

While employee matching gifts form the foundation of most programs, organizations are expanding into other matching gift structures to maximize revenue potential.

Challenge Gifts and Campaign Integration

Matching gift challenges create urgency, which amplifies fundraising results. Through donation match challenges, a major donor agrees to contribute a match up to or equal to the total amount of other donations collected within an established time frame. These initiatives work particularly well with time-based efforts, such as Giving Tuesday or capital campaign deadlines.

When donors know their gift will be doubled, it changes their calculation of impact versus investment. This is why one in three donors say they’d give a larger gift if a match were applied to their donation.

Volunteer Grant Programs

Many organizations overlook volunteer grants or “Dollars for Doers” programs, where companies provide monetary grants to organizations where their employees regularly volunteer. For healthcare organizations with volunteer programs, this represents significant untapped revenue.

The process is straightforward: volunteers record their hours and submit volunteer grant requests to their employers, who then verify the hours with your organization before providing the grant. This allows you to generate revenue from volunteer engagement without requiring additional financial commitment from the volunteers themselves.

Custom Partnership Programs

Custom matching gift programs involve establishing dedicated partnerships with specific companies to match their employees’ donations exclusively to your organization. While these require more relationship development, they foster deeper connections and often result in higher match ratios and maximum amounts.

Healthcare organizations are particularly well-positioned for these partnerships with companies in adjacent industries such as medical suppliers, pharmaceutical companies, or businesses whose employees have been served by your facility.

Looking Forward

The organizations that will thrive in the increasingly competitive nonprofit landscape are those that recognize matching gifts are a fundamental component of their revenue strategy. The window of opportunity is open, but it won’t remain that way indefinitely. As more organizations adopt sophisticated matching gift approaches, the competitive advantage will shift to those who move beyond basic implementation to strategic optimization.

The question facing healthcare and nonprofit leaders today isn’t whether to pursue matching gifts—it’s whether to continue leaving millions of dollars on the table while mission-critical work goes underfunded. The tools, technology, and proven strategies exist to unlock this revenue stream. The only remaining variable is your organization’s commitment to implementing the solution.

Ready to unlock your organization’s matching gift potential? Start by conducting a comprehensive audit of your current processes, identifying gaps in your technology, and establishing clear ownership and accountability for matching gift cultivation. The donors—and the revenue—are waiting.