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Matching Gifts
Double your dollars with matching gifts!
Many companies match their employees’ charitable donations, so looking for matching gift opportunities is a great way to boost the power of your fundraising effort. To find out if your company has a matching gift policy, check with your company’s HR department or go to:
It can be challenging to remember all the different companies that match employee donations, so the best approach is to always ask donors if their company matches.
Working with donors to request matching gifts
Each company with a matching program has their own process for employees to request matching gift funds, but the process is very similar. The one point in common is that the employee who donated to you always has to be the one to request matching funds – you cannot do it on their behalf. As each company has their own process, each also has their own forms to submit, so there is no single matching form you can use across the board. The good news is that most companies make it really easy for their employees to request matching forms. There are two common formats:
Online Matching Forms
The most common approach. If your donor works for a company that has online matching, they’ll simply go to a website to fill out a simple form. When they complete the form, they’ll get an e-mail confirmation that the matching funds have been requested and in most cases, LLS staff will also receive an e-mail notification. Note: it’s important to get a copy of the confirmation e-mail to forward to your team manager. This helps us track the matching gift so that it can be credited to your account right away.
Paper Matching Forms
Becoming less common, but many companies still use them. A paper form will usually have a section for the employee to complete and a section for LLS staff to complete. These forms should be submitted to your chapter office so that we can complete the part required of us and credit your account.
Both formats require us to verify the date and amount of the original gift and confirm that funds were received, so it’s very important that information on matching forms be correctly entered to exactly match how the original donation is recorded in your eTools account.
Tips:
If you work for a company that provides a matching gift program, get all the details in advance so that you can include a link to the matching gift website and instructions on how to request matching funds in your e-mail or letter to co-workers!
There are LLS offices all over the country, so be on the lookout to make sure donors select your chapter office.
Submit e-mail confirmations of matching gifts directly to your chapter office – we’re often notified directly by the company providing matching funds, but the confirmation e-mails contain a lot of great information that will help us research any potential problem areas such as gifts credited to the wrong chapter. The confirmation will help us credit your account right away.
How to handle matching gifts
Submit a gift that is going to be matched by the donor’s company as you would any other donation by check with one addition – send the matching gift form from the company to your chapter office along with a copy of the check. If the matching process was an online form, you can simply send us a copy of the confirmation e-mailand avoid complicated paperwork altogether!
A complete matching gift submission includes the following:
The donation -
If the original gift was a check, make a copy to submit to your chapter office and send the original to Paycor for processing. If the original donation was online, we can verify electronically.
The form -
There’s an important part of the process LLS must complete to prove we got your donation. This process begins with the paper matching form or the confirmation e-mail of the online matching request. The donor gets the form or access to the online matching form from their company, usually the HR, Employee Relations or Corporate Giving office.
The check copy -
Put this in an envelope (with the form, if the form is paper), and mail it to the chapter office. You can skip this step if the donation was made online.
Once the donation is received at Paycor and LLS receives the matching gift paperwork, we’ll communicate with the company to get the matching donation.
Most matching companies have a proven history with our office and we’ll soft credit your account total with the matching gift as soon as we process the form.
If a company is new to our office, we’ll have to wait until LLS gets the actual matching check from the company before we can update your total. In some cases, this can take months—don’t wait to submit your paperwork!
*Please note: Once we receive the actual check from your employer, the funds will show up on your fundraising page. Until then, we soft credit your account for the matching gift amount, but this soft credit won’t show up on your site. Soft credits are taken into account at final fundraising when we begin processing credit cards for those who did not reach their fundraising commitment. As long as you send your event coordinator a copy of the confirmation, the matching gift amount will be subtracted from any funds due at final fundraising.
Helpful Resources:
The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS) is the world's largest voluntary health agency dedicated to blood cancer. The LLS mission: Cure leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin's disease and myeloma, and improve the quality of life of patients and their families. LLS funds lifesaving blood cancer research around the world and provides free information and support services.
The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, New York City Chapter, 61 Broadway, Suite 400, New York, NY 10006