Matching gift process and tracking?

Elizabeth Fehringer

This question has many parts to I am very grateful for any answers or suggestions.

In the past we only created matching gift pledges if the donor sent in paperwork or we received a request from the Matching Gift company. A few months ago we decided to start creating matching gift pledges on all records where the donor has informed us that they work for a company that matches gifts. We did this so that our development team can send a note to the original donors informing them that they can double the impact of their gift by requesting that their employer matches it. We created a gift attribute called "Matching gift confirmed" that we put on all gifts that we send paperwork back for or that we confirm on the matching gift website so we know which ones to expect payment for.

Does anyone else work with this process of creating a MG pledge whether or not the donor initiates it? If so, do you have an easy way to track (query/dashboard/report, etc.) of which gifts have been approved and which ones haven't?

About a month ago we restructured our organization so that the gift processing role would be split among our team of 4 so that I wasn't the only person who processed gifts. In passed I kept track of gifts that needed to be approved on a matching gifts site by setting up reminders in my email. I was the only person who processed gifts so there wasn't an issue with it, but now that we have 4 people in and out of the records, I am trying to think of an easy way to track which gifts have been approved and which ones need to be approved. While we have divided the gift processing position up, I am the matching gift administrator so I am still in charge of approving all of the matching gifts.

 Any advice?

JoAnn Strommen

Elizabeth Fehringer:

This question has many parts to I am very grateful for any answers or suggestions.

In the past we only created matching gift pledges if the donor sent in paperwork or we received a request from the Matching Gift company. A few months ago we decided to start creating matching gift pledges on all records where the donor has informed us that they work for a company that matches gifts. We did this so that our development team can send a note to the original donors informing them that they can double the impact of their gift by requesting that their employer matches it. We created a gift attribute called "Matching gift confirmed" that we put on all gifts that we send paperwork back for or that we confirm on the matching gift website so we know which ones to expect payment for.

Does anyone else work with this process of creating a MG pledge whether or not the donor initiates it? If so, do you have an easy way to track (query/dashboard/report, etc.) of which gifts have been approved and which ones haven't?

About a month ago we restructured our organization so that the gift processing role would be split among our team of 4 so that I wasn't the only person who processed gifts. In passed I kept track of gifts that needed to be approved on a matching gifts site by setting up reminders in my email. I was the only person who processed gifts so there wasn't an issue with it, but now that we have 4 people in and out of the records, I am trying to think of an easy way to track which gifts have been approved and which ones need to be approved. While we have divided the gift processing position up, I am the matching gift administrator so I am still in charge of approving all of the matching gifts.

 Any advice?

We do not enter a MG in RE unless we are told by donor there will be a match.  I can see where a reminder to any donor who works for that company might be nice.  Just wondering, if you are dealing with a large #, will you have issues with writing off MG pledges.  Some orgs report stats on # of write-offs. 

If your gift attributes are getting entered correctly, I woud think you could track it by query or use that query for a dashboard of expected gifts. 

If your staff is good, do you think it would work to have them create an action assigned to you to track gifts that need to be approved? 

Just a thought...

Heather Heyd

Elizabeth Fehringer:

This question has many parts to I am very grateful for any answers or suggestions.

In the past we only created matching gift pledges if the donor sent in paperwork or we received a request from the Matching Gift company. A few months ago we decided to start creating matching gift pledges on all records where the donor has informed us that they work for a company that matches gifts. We did this so that our development team can send a note to the original donors informing them that they can double the impact of their gift by requesting that their employer matches it. We created a gift attribute called "Matching gift confirmed" that we put on all gifts that we send paperwork back for or that we confirm on the matching gift website so we know which ones to expect payment for.

Does anyone else work with this process of creating a MG pledge whether or not the donor initiates it? If so, do you have an easy way to track (query/dashboard/report, etc.) of which gifts have been approved and which ones haven't?

About a month ago we restructured our organization so that the gift processing role would be split among our team of 4 so that I wasn't the only person who processed gifts. In passed I kept track of gifts that needed to be approved on a matching gifts site by setting up reminders in my email. I was the only person who processed gifts so there wasn't an issue with it, but now that we have 4 people in and out of the records, I am trying to think of an easy way to track which gifts have been approved and which ones need to be approved. While we have divided the gift processing position up, I am the matching gift administrator so I am still in charge of approving all of the matching gifts.

 Any advice?

Hi Elizabeth,

We scan the completed matching gift forms and have them in our Scanned Gifts folder in a folder titled "Pending Matching Gifts." We check this folder regularly to look for outstanding gifts AND when we receive matching gifts to pair up the form with the donation.   

While we have only a small amount of matching gifts, I think if they grew we would still handle them the same way. As most matching gifts are dependent on employment and the matching gift program staying active, we felt it was more work to create pledges and then adjust them when they were not received. We decided to follow the process above and then enter them with at Matching Gift appeal (and soft-credit to the employee) when they arrive.

Hope this helps,

Heather Heyd