The perfect match
Valentine's Day can bring up mixed emotions for all of us. But for charities, finding the perfect match can bring a huge boost to your fundraising - yes, we’re talking about match funding.
Benefits of match funding
Running a short match-funded campaign gives you the perfect opportunity to shout about your cause on social media and can really motivate people to donate now, knowing that every pound is doubled. People love to get more for their money, even when they’re giving it away! Realising that their donation will be doubled can also inspire people to give more than they usually would.
A match funding campaign works with a short timeframe - “give THIS WEEK to have your donation doubled!” That creates a sense of urgency that prompts people not to put off (and forget) making their donation.
And of course, with double the funds, your impact as a charity will be doubled too.
Here are a few ways to make it happen.
1 / Match funding provided by a major donor
This is a great place to start if you want to test out match funding to see if it works with your supporters. If you have a major donor ready to make a significant donation, why not ask them if they would consider using it to match fund your next planned appeal, up to a certain value?
The major donor gets the satisfaction of knowing that their generosity has inspired others to give, resulting in more funding and more impact. This approach is often the easiest to administer as well - if you can make it work, go for it.
2 / Matching with businesses
If you already have a good relationship with a local business you could invite them to match fund donations to a specific project or appeal where you have funding gaps. This is a fairly straightforward way to try out match funding and see if it works for you.
Look out for businesses which offer their own match funding programme, such as Aviva Community Fund.
Alternatively, some companies allocate money to match fund their employees’ fundraising efforts. If you already have supporters fundraising for you, why not encourage them to ask their employers to match fund what they raise? This gives you an opportunity to share more widely about your work with a new audience and raise twice as much money.
3 / Crowdfunding platforms
Platforms like Crowdfunder sometimes offer match funding options which are well worth exploring to bring in additional money on top of your planned campaign. You need to design and run your crowdfunder as normal, but then opt in to +Extra Funding. Their system will automatically let you know if your project matches with any current match funding pots. Past match partners have included M&S, British Airways and Sport England.
4 / The Big Give
The Big Give is a well-known, widely used source of match funding. Your charity can apply to be part of a seasonal campaign such as the Big Give’s Christmas Challenge, or one of their issue-based campaigns, including mental health, arts, women and girls, children or green projects.
The Big Give network of philanthropists, foundations and businesses makes the match funding possible, but there is quite a bit of preparatory work involved for your charity too. The Big Give has four different match funding models (1-1, Multi, Collective and Pledge), so do your research to see what is realistic for your charity and watch out for the different campaign timelines to avoid missing deadlines.
Although there is a significant time investment, being part of a large, national campaign can be especially useful for small charities with limited communications resources because you can piggyback on collective activity on social media from The Big Give themselves and other participants, amplifying your cause and campaign.
5 / Matching for practical items instead of cash
We know that 2024 is going to be a tough year for small charities and that every little helps. As well as bringing in more income, reducing costs can be a positive way to increase financial sustainability.
If you have UK-based projects, don’t forget to explore the various platforms like Neighbourly, who match small charities with local and national businesses who provide surplus products like paint, food, drinks or toiletries which might just ease the pressure on your budget.
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We really do hope you find your perfect match in 2024! If your team is already stretched to full capacity, please feel free to get in touch with our team to find out how we can help with your next fundraising campaign.
