BOGO Fundraising

Matching gift programs work in a similar way. If you can engage an employee of a matching gift company to donate, then you not only get the donation from the employee, but you also get the matching gift donation for free.

It’s BOGO fundraising!

So how does BOGO fundraising (I mean matching gifts) work? It’s as easy as one, two, three—and four!

Step 1:  Find out which organizations match gifts
How? Ask your individual donors if their employers match gifts. If the employers do, then add the matching gift information on the Org 1 tab of the organization’s constituent record (after you create the constituent record ... if the organization wasn’t already a constituent). Ask your organization donors if they match gifts. If yes, add the matching gift information to the organization’s constituent record.  

Step 2: Connect employees with matching gift companies
In Step 1, your individual donors let you know they work for a matching gift company. On the employee’s constituent record, create an organization relationship with the matching gift company. On the General 1 tab of the relationship record, mark the Employee checkbox. On the General 2 tab of the relationship record, mark the This organization matches gifts checkbox, to automate the matching gift process.  

Step 3: Solicit and enter donations from matching gift company employees
On the employee’s constituent record, enter the employee’s donation, following your organization’s policies and procedures. On the Matching Gift tab of the gift record, enter the details of the matching gift pledge.

Step 4: Enter the matching gift company’s matching gift
On the matching gift company’s constituent record, enter the matching gift as a pledge payment. And now you are even closer to your year-end fundraising goals—thanks to BOGO fundraising!

BOGO Bonus: Soft Credits
With soft credits you can record donations on multiple constituent records without double-counting or double-entering the gift. A soft credit is basically a copy of a donation noted on a constituent record other than the actual constituent who gave the donation. For example, Jody and Jack Smith are donors. Jody gave a donation to your organization. If you enter the donation on Jody’s constituent record, but want to be sure that people know that Jack was part of the donation, use a soft credit. On the Soft Credit tab of the gift record, you search for and add a soft credit recipient or recipients. Want to automate the process? On the General 2 tab of the relationship record between the two constituents, mark the Automatically soft credit this individual for gifts checkbox.