Meet Your Match

Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation

Team Challenge ½ Marathon

Participant Information: Matching Gifts Explained

Matching gifts are a great way to raise additional funds for the Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation, funds which will aid in advancing the Foundation’s research and awareness efforts.

However, because of the length of time that it takes for most corporations to process matching gifts, they will most likely not be received by the Foundation in time to be counted as part of monies raised for your goal.  This handout is intended to help explain the matching gift process, as well as provide you with information on how you can help move the process along.

What is a matching gift?
Matching gifts are donations made from your employer that matches a charitable contribution that you have made.  Matching gifts can double or even triple the amount of the original contribution.  Many companies have matching gift programs.  If you are unsure if your company has a matching gift program, or if you need information on how to apply for a matching gift from your employer, you should visit your company’s Human Resources department.  

How do matching gifts work?
• Once an employee makes a charitable contribution, they submit a matching gift form to their company. 
• The company then sends a request to the charity to confirm receipt of the donation to be matched.  This confirmation request is sent by either mail or email.
• The charity then has to confirm that they did in fact did receive the donation, as well as confirming how much of the received donation is tax-deductible.
• Once the charity has verified the gift, the form is resubmitted to the matching gift company.
When the company receives the verified form from the charity, the matching donation is processed as a payable item.

How long does it take for a matching gift to be paid by the company?
Most companies do not process matching gifts on a rolling basis; they are often done on a quarterly, bi-annual or annual basis, meaning they only issue payment checks at specific points in the year.  Additionally, many matching gift programs have cut-off dates for verified submission forms.  Checks are often sent out 4-6 weeks after the cut-off date.  It is important to find out if your company has cut-off dates for their payment schedules, as missing cut-off dates can delay a payment.

To better explain how checks can be delayed, consider this example:
Mary works for Microsoft, and her sister Jane is participating in Team Challenge.  Mary makes a $100 donation to CCFA in support of Jane.  She then submits a matching gift form to the Microsoft Employee Matching Gift Program.  Microsoft notifies the Foundation that a match has been requested, and the Foundation verifies the gift.  However, during the submission and verification process, the company’s cut-off date for the payment has passed, and Mary will now have to wait another full quarter until her matching gift is paid out.

How can you help in the matching gift process?
Happily, there are several easy steps that you as a participant can do to ensure that the matching gift process move as smoothly and as quickly as possible.

1) Ensure that all matching gift notifications are submitted to your chapter Team Challenge Manager by entering their mailing and e-mail address on the form submitted to the employer.

2) Do not send Matching Gift Verification Forms to the processing center.  Submit them with a copy of the corresponding donation to your chapter TC Manager.

3) If a donor submits a matching gift form to their company using an online system, they will receive a confirmation email. They should forward that email to  you to forward to your chapter Team Challenge Manager so they are aware that a confirmation is required.

4) Most matching gift forms have an area on them where the donor can chose what program they want the gift designated to.  For Team Challenge, the donor designation should be completed as “Team Challenge—Event Year and Site—Participant Name. For example:
Team Challenge—2011 Napa—Jane Smith
The designation is the ONLY way we know that the gift should be credited to a Team Challenge participant.

5) Be sure that you communicate these directions to any of your donors who will be submitting a matching gift to their company on your behalf.

6) Have patience. As you can see from the description of the process, matching gifts take a long time to materialize.  It is because of this lengthy process that we caution you: do not count un-paid matching gifts as part of your fundraising minimum.