Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash

By Gabe Schneider

NewsMatch, the largest grassroots fundraising campaign for nonprofit news, kicks off this week, but there are many other ways to find matching dollars for your newsroom this fall. Many companies run employee giving programs – including media and technology companies like Disney and AT&T — which can be a great opportunity to rally support for nonprofit journalism. In many cases employers will match donations made through these programs.  However, it is not always clear or easy to navigate how to be included.

Below we’ve pulled together some tips for newsrooms who want to tap into local and national giving programs. Here are four things to consider if you want to develop a strategy around encouraging individual donations through employee matching programs at businesses in your area.

1. Get Registered:  Many companies use third party platforms to manage their employee giving programs so you need to be registered and approved by these platforms. Get registered on platforms like Benevity, Causecast, YourCause where thousands of corporations have already set up their gift-matching programs.
2. Make a Clear Ask: Have a specific ask for local companies and employees. If they have a gift matching policy, ask them if there are opportunities to share the impact of your journalism with employees, or find creative ways to get your organization in front their staff. Make it easy for people by ensuring potential donors can find your address, Tax-ID number, legal organizational name and other basic information about your newsroom they will need. Make sure your donation page provides contact info for someone on your team who can help potential donors.
3. Build it In: You may not know who has an employee giving program so be sure to remind your individual donors to ask about potential gift matching policies at their jobs.
4. Read Up: Here are a few more articles on helping you take advantage of employee matching programs:
   • Matching Gifts: The Definitive Guide for Nonprofits – Donor Search
   • Corporate Matching Gift Programs: The Basics – Double The Donation
   • Challenge Gift Drives and Corporate Matching Gifts – Nonprofit Quarterly

Read more about NewsMatch at NewsMatch.org.

Gabe Schneider is Democracy Fund’s Fall 2018 Intern. Schneider is a journalist with a love for hyper-local and non-profit newsrooms. As an undergraduate at UC San Diego, he co-founded The Triton, a digital-first, independent, student-run news source. He served as Editor-in-Chief from 2015-17 and News Editor from 2017-18, focusing on gathering public records and establishing a paper of record for underserved communities on campus. His work has been published in The Columbia Journalism Review, Rewire.News, and Los Angeles Magazine. Follow him on Twitter @gabemschneider.