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Plain-English guide · for nonprofits
What is a matching gift?
Updated September 2026
A matching gift is an employer's promise to match what its employees give: a donor gives you $50, their company sends another $50. The money is real, the paperwork is the donor's, and a lot of it goes unclaimed simply because nobody mentions it.
Plenty of employers match employee donations to eligible nonprofits, commonly dollar for dollar. The donor submits a short form to their employer after giving; the employer verifies the gift with you and sends its own check. Your whole job is to remind donors the program exists and confirm gifts quickly when asked.
How it actually works
The donor gives
Normally, through any channel.
The donor asks their employer
Usually a short form or portal on the company intranet. This is the step that gets forgotten, which is why matches go unclaimed.
The employer verifies with you
You confirm the gift happened, sometimes through a portal, sometimes by email. Speed matters; verifications that sit for weeks miss company deadlines.
The match arrives as a separate gift
Record it as coming from the company, linked to the donor who triggered it, and thank both. Thanking is not the same as receipting: the written acknowledgment for the matched amount goes to the employer, for the employer's amount only, and the donor's acknowledgment covers only what the donor gave. The donor gets no deduction for their employer's match.
What a small nonprofit should actually do
Add one line everywhere the thank-you lives
"Many employers match donations. Ask your workplace if they will double your gift." Receipt, thank-you email, donation page. That single line is the whole program for an org your size.
Answer verifications within days
Put whoever reads the info@ inbox in charge of them. A missed verification is a match refunded to the company.
Note employers when donors mention them
Over time you learn which local employers match, and year-end appeals to their employees can say so by name.
Do not buy a matching database yet
Lookup tools exist and larger shops use them. Under a few hundred donors, the reminder line and fast verification capture most of the value for free.
The fine print worth knowing
Eligibility varies: some companies exclude religious or political organizations, some match only for full-time staff, and annual caps and submission deadlines are the norm, often the end of the calendar year or a set number of months after the gift. Retirees are sometimes eligible, which surprises people. The donor's HR page is the authority; you never need to guess.
This is general information, not tax advice. Each employer sets its own matching rules, so the donor's employer decides what qualifies. Ask a CPA how to receipt and record a match.
Matching gift is one of 41 terms in our plain-English nonprofit glossary.
The Ember tool for thisEmber Giving
Ember Giving puts each gift you record with a donor on a needs-a-thank-you list and drafts the note for you to send, so every donor hears from you promptly. Unlimited users on every tier.
Sources: Definition and method content; no external statistics cited.