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Do Good|Ethical Banking

Are Matching Donations Real? How to Maximize Your Charitable Giving

By LeBach Pham|June 25, 2021
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What’s ahead:

Everybody has probably seen advertisements from charities and nonprofits claiming to offer matching donations that can enhance the impact of your charitable giving. 

You will see claims that these matching donations will double or triple your impact. Many people will get excited about the opportunity to do something for a good cause, but may also be wondering, “Are these matching donations real?”

Before moving forward you will want to understand exactly what you are signing up for. How do matching donations work? What is matched giving?

The following is a breakdown of what is involved in matched giving along with important information you need to know before you start donating to your worthy cause.

What is a matching donation?

Matching donations are funds that are promised to be donated to a certain charitable cause in proportion to the amount donated from other donors.

Many times foundations and corporations will offer to donate to a nonprofit or charity at a preset ratio, usually 1:1. 

For example, a foundation may promise to donate one dollar to match each dollar raised from individual donors responding to a particular solicitation sent in the mail or a specific email. 

Is donation matching legitimate?

Offering to match donations is completely legal and is a legitimate method for charities and nonprofit organizations to encourage people to give more. 

Sixty-five percent of Fortune 500 firms are companies that match donations. More than 18 million people in the U.S. work for a company which offers matching donations to charitable and humanitarian causes. 

How can I get matching donations?

Now that you have a good idea of what matched donations are and how they work, you may be excited at the potential of enhancing the impact of your charitable giving.

At this point, you might be asking yourself, “How do I get my donations matched?” In fact, there are a variety of different ways to have your charitable giving matched.

One way to get your donations matched is to see if your current employer is offering donation matching. Contact your HR team to learn more about giving options. 

Another avenue for matching donations is through a foundation which has granted a nonprofit a certain amount of funds in the form of matching donations. Usually, the nonprofit will have to raise a specified amount of money from individual donors before the matching funds are released. 

These kinds of arrangements help a nonprofit to leverage its already-existent constituents, enhancing the impact of these individual donors in helping a worthy cause.

Banks and financial institutions are some of the types of companies most commonly offering their employees the opportunity to enhance their giving through a matching donation program. 

However, it is not often that a banking services provider will offer its customers this same opportunity. 

This is what makes Spiral unique.  Spiral is the pioneer of an Impact-as-a-Service™ platform that helps banks and financial institutions offer donation matching to their customers. Spiral allows banks and financial institutions easily embed sustainability, social impact, ESG, and CSR into their businesses. Their mission is to empower 10,000+ U.S. financial institutions and millions of people to contribute to a better world.

The following are some of the top charitable causes:

Are Matching Donations Real? How to Maximize Your Charitable Giving
Photo by Spiral

Matching campaigns can enhance the impact of your charitable giving.

The following are some of the top charitable causes that qualify for Spiral’s matching donation program.

These charities have been carefully selected based upon legitimacy and the positive impact on society.

1. Culture For One – Provides opportunities to expose New York City foster children to the arts and creativity.

2. HERHealthEQ – Focuses on providing women with equitable standards of healthcare in the developing world. The organization provides medical device equipment that is needed for the treatment of non-communicable diseases.

3. Foundation for Climate Restoration – Advocates for climate restoration and environmental issues through educational conventions, training and conferences. Also, the organization advocates for policy changes at a local governmental level through petitions and other activities.

4. David Ortiz Children’s Fund – Provides support for children needing critical cardiac services in the Dominican Republic and New England.

5. Wayuu Taya – Focusing on improving the quality of life for indigenous communities in Latin America. This organization helps indigenous communities obtain access to healthcare, water, food and livelihood. 

6. Knock Knock Give A Sock – Helps to organize sock drives which aim to provide homeless individuals with fresh socks, a resource which is always in high demand among the unhoused population. 

7. Campaign To Keep Guns Off Campus  – Works to organize against policy proposals that would result in more guns on college campuses. The organization advocates for colleges and universities to ban together to oppose the agenda of the gun lobby.

8. The Forbes Funds – Assists in building management capacity for Pittsburgh-based nonprofit organizations. The organization has helped over 530 nonprofits to improve their operations. 

9. Backpacks For Life – Distributes backpacks to homeless veterans. The organization also provides coaching and mentoring for unhoused veterans in order to help them overcome a variety of hardships with the aim of improving their quality of life.

10. Cerebral Palsy Alliance Research Foundation – Funds researchers who are working to develop new treatments and ways to prevent cerebral palsy. The foundation forms global partnerships with researchers, institutes, and other foundations to enhance and enable scientific research on cognitive disorder. 

Start giving back and make an impact now

Are Matching Donations Real? How to Maximize Your Charitable Giving
Photo by Spiral

There is no better time than now to start making a difference in the lives of others. The world is full of suffering unfortunately, but the good news is that you have the power to do something about it.

Learn which are the best charities to donate to

Are Matching Donations Real? How to Maximize Your Charitable Giving
Photo by Nico Smit on Unsplash

Key Takeaways

  • Matching donations can allow you to enhance the positive impact of giving to charitable causes.
  • Donation matching is legitimate and completely legal.
  • Employers may offer donation matching programs.
  • Some banking services, that use Spiral, also offer donation matching initiatives.
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LeBach Pham
I started writing professionally after receiving my Bachelor’s of Art in English Literature from the University of California, San Diego in 2002. I write mainly about financial, business and legal topics with a focus on investing and trading. Also, I earned a Paralegal Certificate from University of San Diego.

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