Within the nonprofit world, electronic mail advertising stays the undisputed heavyweight champion of donor communication. Whereas social media algorithms shift and unsolicited mail prices climb, electronic mail provides a direct, private line to a supporter’s inbox. Nevertheless, as any growth director can inform you, an empty “despatched” folder doesn’t assure a full checking account. To really leverage electronic mail for fundraising, organizations should transfer past generic blasts and towards strategic, data-driven matching present electronic mail streams.
At Double the Donation, we see a whole lot of digital campaigns yearly. Essentially the most profitable amongst them have one factor in widespread: they don’t deal with matching presents as a footnote. As an alternative, they weave office giving into the very material of their electronic mail outreach.
To have a good time the innovation of our ever-expanding neighborhood, we need to spotlight 5 organizations (together with our 2026 Person Convention winner) which are setting the gold customary for matching present electronic mail advertising. These embody:
From surgical precision in concentrating on to heart-tugging donor spotlights, these methods supply a roadmap for any nonprofit seeking to flip “Ship” into “Success.”
Let’s get began.
1) Phillips Exeter Academy (2026 Person Convention Winner!🏆)
In immediately’s digital age, timing and personalization are the dual pillars of efficient fundraising. Phillips Exeter Academy demonstrated this completely with its fall attraction technique. Earlier than their bodily attraction ever hit a mailbox, the Academy launched a classy collection of focused emails.
Transferring away from the normal “one-size-fits-all” outreach, they as an alternative launched a collection of extremely focused messages despatched to alumni who labored at firms recognized for sturdy matching present applications.
The Technique: Pre-Emptive Personalization
Exeter’s brilliance lay largely within the marketing campaign’s timing. The college despatched this electronic mail collection forward of its mailed fall attraction, priming its viewers with digital touchpoints earlier than the bodily envelope reached the donor’s residence. By segmenting its record based mostly on employment knowledge, the varsity was capable of present company-specific program insights immediately within the electronic mail physique.
For instance, for an alum working at Constancy Investments, the e-mail didn’t simply point out matching usually. Quite, it highlighted that Constancy would match donations at a 2:1 ratio as much as $7,000. This instantly reframed the donation within the donor’s thoughts. As an alternative of a $50 present, the donor noticed a $150 affect. As an alternative of $834, they noticed a path to the 1781 Management Society with a complete affect of greater than $2,500.
Why This Technique Received
Think about receiving an electronic mail that doesn’t simply ask for a present, however exhibits you precisely how your particular employer participates. This technique succeeds partly as a result of Exeter’s emails laid out the maths clearly, thereby decreasing the cognitive load on the donor.
In any case, most supporters discover the method of trying up company coverage tedious. By offering these particular numbers upfront, Exeter turns a monetary transaction right into a strategic alternative. Moreover, by linking the match particularly to their explicit Management Society tiers, they used the matching present as a “level-up” instrument, encouraging donors to present extra personally as a result of the company match would carry them over the edge into an elite giving circle.
The Lesson: By displaying the donor the “new whole” of their affect underneath their employer’s guidelines, Exeter reworked a easy request right into a strategic alternative for the donor to maximise their legacy. This stage of personalization makes the donor really feel seen and valued, considerably rising the probability of a donation and matching present follow-through.
2) Kalamazoo School (Giving Tuesday Promotion)
Kalamazoo School supplies a masterclass in how small-scale, high-accuracy efforts can outperform huge, unrefined campaigns. In different phrases, the varsity’s growth workforce proved that you just don’t want an inventory of 10,000 names to boost important funds; you simply want the proper names.
Their strategy to Giving Tuesday (or “Giving ZooDay,” as they name it) targeted on a deep dive into their native company panorama.
The Stryker Technique
Kalamazoo, Michigan, is the headquarters of Stryker, a world medical expertise large recognized for its extremely beneficiant matching present program. Kalamazoo School, based mostly in the identical metropolis, acknowledged that it had a excessive focus of alumni and oldsters working there. Nevertheless, in addition they knew that employment knowledge is notoriously “perishable” (it goes old-fashioned shortly) and that their very own donor information had been possible outdated.
To fight this subject, the school’s prospect growth workforce partnered with a pupil employee to manually confirm and replace Stryker-affiliated electronic mail addresses. The ensuing record was small (solely about 42 emails), however these 42 people had been the highest-probability leads for a match, and the ensuing engagement was staggering.
Analyzing the Influence
The outcomes had been a testomony to the ability of prospect hygiene.
- 43% Open Fee: An unimaginable determine for chilly or semi-cold outreach, that is practically double the trade common for nonprofit emails. It proves that when a topic line is related (“Do you know Stryker provides an identical present program?”), donors hear.
- Estimated $40,000 Influence: From only a few dozen emails, the school noticed a major return in each presents and matches, elevating roughly $40,000 in mixed particular person and company contributions.
- Anecdotal Success: Even whereas ready for official company portal confirmations, the school confirmed that greater than a half-dozen donors gave particularly due to this focused immediate.
The Lesson: A small, extremely correct record will at all times outperform a big, messy one, particularly when you might have data of company clusters inside your community. All it takes is clear information, a neighborhood focus, and a direct reminder of the particular company profit the donor already earns by their exhausting work.
3) BEDS Plus (Matching Present & Volunteer Grant Integration)
BEDS Plus supplies a masterclass in Complete Supporter Engagement. For a lot of nonprofits, “donors” and “volunteers” are managed by totally different groups in numerous silos. However this group understands that the particular person giving $50 immediately is commonly the identical one who will give 5 hours of service tomorrow. Consequently, the workforce opted to interrupt down these partitions by integrating matching presents (cash) and volunteer grants (time) right into a single, cohesive electronic mail stream.
The Company Multiplier Impact
In its fundraising appeals, BEDS Plus doesn’t simply ask for a test. Quite, it urges supporters to contemplate their firm’s office giving applications as a complete. The workforce makes use of highly effective visible cues that visually combine matching presents and volunteer grants, equivalent to a graphic displaying that 1 (Volunteer Hour/Donor Greenback) + 1 (Matching Greenback) = 2 (Twice the Influence).
That is significantly efficient as a result of it appeals to the donor’s sense of effectivity whereas making office giving accessible at a look. BEDS Plus explicitly notes that if an employer matches, a contribution may go twice and even thrice as far. By mentioning volunteer hours in the identical breath as monetary donations, the group reaches the devoted supporter who could also be “money poor” however “time wealthy,” displaying them that their employer would possibly successfully pay the nonprofit for the hours they volunteer.
Why the Technique Resonates
This holistic strategy acknowledges the complete spectrum of a supporter’s contribution. It tells the volunteer that their bodily labor has a hidden financial worth, and it tells the donor that their monetary present is only the start of the story.
By offering a transparent name to motion (“Verify to see in case your employer will match your donation or volunteer hours”), they maximize each touchpoint and guarantee no income stream is left unexplored.
The Lesson: Donors and volunteers are sometimes the identical folks, but many organizations fail to bridge the hole between monetary giving and repair. By integrating matching presents and volunteer grants right into a single, cohesive communication stream, you empower supporters to maximise their affect, whether or not they give cash or time.
4) Lehigh College (Matching Present Donor Highlight)
Lehigh College holds the document for probably the most profitable volume-based campaigns in our community, proving that storytelling can scale and demonstrating that quantity doesn’t have to come back on the expense of engagement.
In 2025, the Lehigh workforce launched an enormous “Matching Present Month” marketing campaign in February, attaining ground-breaking metrics for the establishment.
The 9.1K Attain
Lehigh’s growth workplace despatched this particular matching present electronic mail to its largest viewers but: over 9,100 recipients. For context, its common attain since 2021 had hovered round 2,200. Regardless of the large improve in quantity (greater than 4x!), their engagement metrics didn’t simply maintain regular; they really improved.
Over the span of this marketing campaign, the varsity noticed:
- A 56% Open Fee, outperforming its historic common of 54%.
- Over 86 Distinctive Clicks: This was the very best recorded click-through quantity for a Lehigh matching present electronic mail, quadrupling earlier peaks.
The “Snippet” Technique
Lehigh’s secret weapon was the “Excellent Match Story.” They featured real-life donors, Brian Cunningham ’10 and Danielle Spar ’10, who shared how their company matches multiplied their skill to present again to the applications that formed their lives and in the end helped extra college students than would have been in any other case doable.
However the college didn’t cease at only one electronic mail concerning the couple. They included a small snippet of this story on the backside of each single electronic mail despatched by the Improvement division all through the month of February. This constant, low-pressure publicity served as a relentless reminder, driving regular site visitors to their Matching Present net web page, the place supporters may entry extra info.
This was then bolstered by a deep-dive function within the March subject of their Alumni Relations publication.
In-Depth Evaluation
The college’s engagement technique works by repetition and social proof. By showcasing friends (e.g., the Cunninghams) efficiently utilizing an identical present to develop their affect, different alumni are impressed to do the identical.
By together with the featured “snippet” in all outgoing growth emails, Lehigh College ensured that even donors who weren’t actively in search of matching present info had been continuously uncovered to the idea in a low-pressure, high-frequency method.
The Lesson: Profitable matching present advertising depends on the twin energy of storytelling and chronic visibility to rework a technical profit right into a relatable donor expertise.
5) FIRST Conjures up (New Donor Nurture Sequence)
Whereas the earlier examples targeted on focused campaigns or particular appeals, FIRST Conjures up targeted on optimizing its automated donor journey.
Why? The group acknowledged that probably the most vital occasions to teach a donor about matching presents is the second instantly following their first present.
Catching Them on the Peak of Engagement
The more than likely time a donor will take a second motion in your nonprofit is instantly after they’ve taken the primary one. FIRST Conjures up capitalizes on this chance by together with matching present prompts inside its New Donor Nurture electronic mail collection.
The Seamless Transition
As an alternative of ready six months to ask for a match, FIRST introduces the idea as a seamless “subsequent step” within the relationship. When a brand new donor contributes to the group, they obtain a nurture collection designed to welcome them into the neighborhood with methods to remain concerned.
This electronic mail:
- Validates the preliminary present: “Thanks once more… it’s already exhausting at work”.
- Affords a menu of engagement: Together with choices for mentoring, volunteering, or attending occasions.
- Provides the “Influence Multiplier”: A transparent name to “Double your affect with an identical present,” with a direct hyperlink to their devoted match web page.
By making matching presents an ordinary a part of their “welcome wagon,” FIRST Conjures up ensures that each new supporter is conscious of this profit from the very starting of their journey.
Standout UX Integration
The nurture collection electronic mail doesn’t make the donor work to seek out the matching present instrument. Quite, it explicitly states that “many employers match volunteer hours and/or donations” and supplies a prominently positioned hyperlink to entry beneficial subsequent steps: “See in case your employer will match.”
This hyperlink then brings the supporter to a devoted matching present web page the place Double the Donation’s firm search instrument is prepared and ready.
Evaluation of the Nurture Strategy
By that includes the matching present alternative all through the “Welcome” collection, FIRST Conjures up builds office giving into the very basis of the donor’s relationship with the group. It isn’t an afterthought; it’s a core expectation of being a FIRST supporter. This ensures that the donor’s very first present has the utmost potential to be doubled!
The Lesson: Making the company match a seamless “subsequent step” within the donor journey establishes an ordinary of high-impact philanthropy that may maintain the connection for years to come back.
Ultimate Ideas & Further Assets
The widespread thread amongst these 5 organizations is intentionality. These fundraisers aren’t simply sending emails; they’re engineering experiences.
By analyzing the success of groups like Exeter Academy, Kalamazoo School, BEDS Plus, Lehigh College, and FIRST Conjures up, it turns into clear {that a} mixture of data-driven concentrating on and emotive storytelling can go a good distance. Whether or not a nonprofit is using high-level personalization to indicate tailor-made tips or leveraging the height engagement interval of a brand new donor’s journey, the purpose stays the identical: to empower supporters to maximise their affect.
Need to see how your individual matching present electronic mail streams examine? Try these further Double the Donation sources:
Plus, when you’re enthusiastic about studying extra about incorporating matching presents into your electronic mail advertising (or submitting your workforce’s examples for our subsequent spherical of awards), make sure you register for the upcoming Office Fundraising + Volunteering Summit!
