September 2011 - Council on Foundations...Consider any upcoming events—either held by your community foundation or more broadly by the community—that your Match Day might tie into

It’s the importance of an immediate need,and the incentive of giving more for less;

the urgency of a time limit,and the resources of a whole community; it’s…

The Magic of Match Day

© 2010 Midwest Community Foundations’ Ventures2011 updates made courtesy of Council on Foundations

September 2011

Design Your Own

COMMUNITY FOUNDATION CONTRIBUTORS

A very special “Thank You” to the Match Day veterans that contributed to this toolkit; each of whom has committed to being an ongoing Match Day resource for the field.

ACT for Alexandria, Virginia

The Columbus Foundation, Ohio

Community Foundation for Muskegon County, Michigan

Community Foundation of St. Clair County, Michigan

Findlay-Hancock County Community Foundation, Ohio

Fremont Area Community Foundation, Michigan

GiveMN, Minnesota*

Hillsdale County Community Foundation, Michigan

Kalamazoo Community Foundation, Michigan

The Pittsburgh Foundation, Pennsylvania

The Magic of Match Day features techniques, tips and tools from several community foundations that are very familiar with the power of a Match Day. While the end result of every event looks very different, each community foundation used a common model to drive the design of their Match Day.

KNOW YOUR REASONS WHY PAGE 2Develop a deep and explicit understanding of why a Match Day is valuable to addressing the urgent needs of your community and what the structure might look like to be most effective.

PLAN THE BIG DAY PAGE 5Include a broader group in the Match Day planning, and draw on the thinking of internal and external partners to define set parameters for the experience.

PREPARE YOUR PARTNERS PAGE 10Communicate completely and regularly with internal and external partners to create clarity around Match Day objectives, process and expectations.

GIVE IT PROPER PROMOTION PAGE 14Use personal connections, media vehicles and technology to communicate Match Day’s compelling messages consistently.

SEIZE THE DAY PAGE 17Expect that members of the community will be moved to give and be prepared to have the resources in place to make that a valuable experience for donors, partners and the community foundation.

MANAGE THE AFTER-MATCH PAGE 20Understand that Match Day doesn’t end when gifts stop coming in, so continue celebrating the stories of impact, collaboration and generosity.

STEP

1STEP

2STEP

3STEP

4STEP

5STEP

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* GiveMN is a supporting organization of the Minnesota Community Foundation, which designed the venture and launched it in collaboration with more than 20 additional foundations.

IN UNPRECEDENTED TIMES, communities across the country face growing

and urgent needs as a result of the recent economic upheaval. Community

foundations therefore have new opportunities to fulfill their roles as community

leaders and conveners and quickly draw on their vast experience, local expertise

and key partnerships to help sustain and strengthen the communities they serve,

here and now.

In a single day—backed by the right planning and preparation—a community foundation can generate urgency around focused giving, expand engagement among nonprofit partners and donors, spur greater interest in the community foundation as a local resource, and involve hundreds of individuals in the community. Match Day.

The options for Match Day are many, but at its core, the Match Day concept is simple: On one special day (or two, or three…), you offer matching funds to multiply the gifts of participating donors. By partnering with nonprofit organizations, your community foundation can live its role as a community leader in a new way through Match Day—providing an immediate response to the needs in your community.

THE BENEFITS are many:

•Donors find an exciting incentive for giving.

•Nonprofits gain new resources, donors, visibility and interest in their work.

•Community foundation lives its role as convener, catalyst and leader, responding to the community’s most pressing needs.

•Community enjoys the final outcomes of the gifts.

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NEW REALITY. NEW OPPORTUNITY.

The timing couldn’t have been more critical.

Match Day was a powerful solution for

a community that was in need.

FINDLAY-HANCOCK COUNTY COMMUNITY FOUNDATION

An online campaign or event with urgency will see

the best results. By creating urgency, you create

excitement, and you’re giving someone a reason to

give on that day—to Click ‘Donate Today,’ and do

something right then.

GIVEMN

We created Match Day at a time when many people

in our community and the organizations that serve

their most basic needs were struggling. Due to our

relationships and standing in the community, we

were well positioned to help.

COMMUNITY FOUNDATION FOR MUSKEGON COUNTY

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Now that you know the reasons other community foundations do Match Days, it’s time to ask yourself: What’s in it for us? To answer this important question, it’s wise to look to your community foundation’s overarching strategies. This concept needs roots in your plans and priorities.

Match Day might be a good way to support your plans that call for:

•Active donor development/engagement

•Raising local awareness of your community foundation, and showcasing its value, knowledge and expertise

•Deepening partnerships with local nonprofits

•Attracting new agency endowment while addressing present needs

•Fulfilling your role as community leader and convener in a way that is relevant in today’s new economy

•Building the capacity of local nonprofits and strengthening the philanthropic fabric of your community

Knowing why you’d want to make a Match Day will help you configure the best event and navigate through other planning decisions leading up to the event.

STEP

1Know Your Reasons Why

3

Find a focus for giving

Selecting the right giving focus gives your Match Day meaning. Look to your community foundation’s strategies, as well as timely issues to find this focus. Are you most interested in… prioritizing endowment for local organizations or generating spendable resources to address pressing immediate needs? Strengthening small organizations or small programs within large organizations? Addressing economic strain on basic human services or educational needs? Building on an arts and culture movement in your community? Your giving focus depends on the priorities you set for your community foundation and the current climate in the community you serve. Setting a giving focus for your Match Day is an important pre-step that will help you pitch the idea to your board and other potential Match Day stakeholders (see Step Two).

Identify the beneficiaries

Once you have narrowed in on the focus of your Match Day event, an obvious next step is to identify the nonprofit partners that will be invited as beneficiaries. If advancing a particular issue area is the focus of your event, you’ll likely want to limit participation to organizations that are best positioned to make an impact in that area. On the other hand, if supporting the philanthropic fabric of your community is the core priority, perhaps a broader group of participants is more appropriate. Community foundations featured in The Magic of Match Day approached this differently.

Many Match Day veterans suggest limiting nonprofit partners to a small group:

•With too many nonprofits eligible for donor gift matching, some may invest resources in participation yet receive few actual funds.

•If part of your reason for participating is to demonstrate the community foundation’s knowledge, you’ll want to concentrate giving around just those poised to create the greatest community impact. Other Match Day veterans however, suggest including as many nonprofit partners as possible:

•If building the capacity of nonprofits is the focus, opening Match Day to a broader group can be an effective way of spreading critical resources as widely as possible.

•Increasing awareness of their work is sometimes a community foundation’s focus, so benefiting a large group of organizations is a means of reaching a broader audience. Doing so also helps illustrate that the community foundation serves all local needs, not just a select few. Being clear about the reasons for conducting a Match Day will help assess which of these two approaches—or something in between—is best for your community foundation.

STEP

1 Know Your Reasons Why Continued…

4

STEP

1 Know Your Reasons Why Continued…

THERE’S PLENTY OF ROOM FOR EVERYONE

GiveMN has used the trends toward online giving for the good of Minnesota’s entire nonprofit sector. By asking how to keep donors’ dollars in Minnesota, and how to better leverage available technology, Give to the Max Day is positioned to offer matching support of every nonprofit organization in the state.

“We include every single nonprofit in Minnesota. That’s important because it’s about more than addressing basic needs and human services, it’s about addressing the arts and education too; it’s about Minneapolis and Duluth, but it’s also about the smaller communities.

“The fascinating thing about technology is that it no longer defines community by geography. You can be anywhere and care about anything in any place.”

CASE STUDY

GIVEMN

DANA NELSON

FOCUSED ON A FEW

Faced with an increasing need for basic services, the Community Foundation of St. Clair County decided a Match Day would be a valuable response. By focusing on just a few nonprofits, the foundation was able to create greater impact for the partners it selected.

“Our planning strategy was different for each of the two Match Days we’ve had. Our first year, we allowed every nonprofit that applied to participate in the event. For our second Match Day, we formed a committee to select our nonprofit partners. Agencies that participated had to provide for basic needs. This enabled us to use our knowledge of local resources to focus on the most immediate needs of the community. By tying Match Day into our overall strategy, we were able to integrate the planning and communication processes into our existing priorities.

“We knew our approach of focusing on a few was paying off when the executive director of a very small grassroots organization dropped by to check on progress during the Match Day. She was hoping her organization would raise $3,000 from the day, but by mid-afternoon it had already received $13,000 in donations. It was amazing for us to see the excitement and joy from the nonprofit leaders and to know that they would quickly be putting that money to use for good.”

CASE STUDY

COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF ST. CLAIR COUNTY

LYNN ALEXANDERKAREN LEE

Match Day demonstrated how important it is for

the community foundation to live its role as a

convener. Through our event, we were able to see

our nonprofit partners interacting with one another

and making connections that will allow

collaboration in the future.

KALAMAZOO COMMUNITY FOUNDATION

5

Successful events begin way before the doors open or the Match Day webpage goes live. Before you approach others with the plans, make sure your internal house is in order: A successful event depends on having well-defined process, roles and responsibilities within your organization itself. When these elements are established, use the following prompts to guide your Match Day planning down to the details.

Present the idea

You can’t do a Match Day alone. Before you get too far down the planning path, consider informally floating the idea by your community foundation board, as well as some potential nonprofit beneficiaries. Gaining buy-in from potential funding partners such as private donors, banks and businesses can be particularly helpful if you plan to engage them to increase the match pool.

Some community foundations use Match Days to focus giving to one or more nonprofits with agency endowments, but with a goal of meeting the needs of the here and now by raising money that is immediately spendable by the organizations. Before making formal invitations to participate, ask potential partners informally what it would take to make a Match Day worth their while.

You might ask them about:

•Exclusivity: How exclusive would you need this giving opportunity to be to participate? For example, if the event focused on hunger, would you need to be the only food pantry participating to benefit?

•Match structure: Does it matter to you how the match is structured? Funds could be distributed evenly among participating nonprofits, or they could be distributed based on the amount each participating nonprofit brings in from its donors. The match might also be dollar-for-dollar or some different proportion. Do you have any capacity to help build the Match pool?

STEP

2Plan the Big Day

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•Capability: At this time, does your organization have the human and financial resources to help promote this giving opportunity among your donors?

•Technology: Do you have the technology and capacity to include an online component to the Match Day effort? Have you received gifts online before?

Set the time

Consider any upcoming events—either held by your community foundation or more broadly by the community—that your Match Day might tie into. Opportunities include anniversaries, community celebrations, an annual dinner... wherever people and community spirit are gathering, you may find a spark to ignite your Match Day. Create a timeline for use by you and your partners.

Resources

Use the Concepting Tool template to discuss the Match Day idea with those you’ll need on your team. The template characterizes typical Match Days but leaves room for you to customize and communicate why such an event aligns with your mission and strategies, how you’ll measure success and the types of resources you think you’ll need (human, logistical, financial) to pull it off. During your conversation, you can recommend and discuss other Match Day variables found in this planning section such as match amount, timing, partners, etc. Listen for interest as you present—if you feel supported on all fronts, go ahead and start planning your Match Day. Concepting Tool

A template to help narrow the focus and put structure to your Match Day.

STEP

2 Plan the Big Day Continued…

7

Strike the match

Through your own planning and conversations with the community foundation board, potential funding partners and nonprofit partners, you should have a good idea of how to set and structure your match. Note: Answers to the items below will likely be included in the guidelines you share with partners.

Match Day partners:Must have an agency endowment at the community foundationNot necessary to have an agency endowment

Match structure:Dollar-for-dollar match on funds raised (no organizational cap) 50-cents-on-the-dollar match on funds raised (no organizational cap)Dollar-for-dollar match on funds raised (match is capped for each nonprofit equitably)50-cents-on-the-dollar match on funds raised (match is capped for each nonprofit equitably) Other: ________________________________________________________

Match parameters: Up to $____________________ total funds raised will be matchedThe match has no limit

Minimum and maximum limit: To be eligible for a match, gifts must be at least $____________________To be eligible for a match, gifts may not exceed $____________________The match has no minimum or maximum gift requirements

Donation site:Nonprofits and Community FoundationCommunity Foundation (only)OnlineCombination of the above

Time when nonprofit partners can collect funds raised:Anytime prior to Match DayOn Match Day only

Matching funds will be underwritten by:The Community FoundationOne or more funding partners (individual/corporation/financial institution/nonprofit partner): ______________________________________________________________Both of the above

Match funds from funding partners will:Be part of an unrestricted match poolBe directed by the funding partners to particular organizations/needs

Money raised from donors will:Be entirely spendable by each organizationGo toward agency endowment

Match money will:Be entirely spendable by each organizationGo toward agency endowment

STEP


8

Define the experience

Match Days may be real-live events including everything from cookies to cocktails, or they can be completely virtual online campaigns—or both. Deciding what type of experience to create for prospective Match Day donors depends on your organizational interests and capabilities, the preferences of your nonprofit partners and the culture of your community.

Make Match Day fun—especially if your event includes an onsite component. It’s important to create an enjoyable, memorable experience for donors (and your nonprofit partners). Match Day veterans offer these ideas:

•Hold Match Day in a fun public space, like a park or theater

•Feed and entertain your guests

•Mark donations received in some visible way to encourage giving

•For online events, stream a live-feed ‘telethon’

SET LIMITS, PROMPT GIVING

Findlay-Hancock County Community Foundation opted to limit its dollar-for-dollar match ($100 minimum; $10,000 maximum) to encourage greater giving and maintain more equitable distribution of match dollars.

“Setting a minimum and maximum donation amount worked very well for us. Our nonprofit partners were able to point to the minimum in asking donors to consider making a larger gift than they might otherwise. And the maximum gift amount allowed us to distribute funds more equitably across our nonprofit partners without strictly limiting the amount they could receive.”

CASE STUDY


MARIE SWAISGOODCHRISTA STEINER

STEP


9

GET WITH THE (RIGHT) PROGRAM

The first Match Day event at The Pittsburgh Foundation, called Day of Giving, was a success, but it also taught the Foundation the importance of having a solid platform for managing online donations. The technology simply wasn’t reliable: screens froze, and the checkout process was clumsy. In short, it needed a whole new platform.

“We switched technology for our second year. We designed a simple gateway over our donor platform. Donors had the option to search for a nonprofit, but they didn’t have to. They could just select a nonprofit from a drop-down menu, put in the amount they wanted to give, and check out. We cannot emphasize enough the importance of independent testing to figure out the stress points.”

CASE STUDY

THE PITTSBURGH FOUNDATION

KELLY URANKERLEIGH HALVERSON

STEP


THERE’S MORE THAN ONE WAY TO MAKE A MATCH

Inspired by the successful GiveMN model, ACT for Alexandria used the same technology and process on a much smaller scale. The community foundation was faced with limited matching funds at a foundation level, so they turned to their nonprofit partners to help Match Day succeed.

“One donor advised fund put up $20,000, but since we didn’t have a large corporation to provide an overall matching grant, we coached the nonprofits on how to seek matching donations from their own donor pool. We have a great relationship with our nonprofit partners, so we got their buy-in from the very beginning. Having them raise their own match funds really gave them ownership of the event.”

CASE STUDY

ACT FOR ALEXANDRIA

LAUREN GARCIABRANDI YEETRACY VISELLI

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After you’ve pinned down your initial planning, it’s time to formally enlist and prepare the nonprofit organizations you’ve selected as Match Day partners. This is also the time to assess your internal capacity and prepare staff for the day.

Match Day pre-meeting

Match Day veterans suggest holding a mandatory meeting to clearly explain the details of the event, establish expectations and requirements for participating nonprofits, prepare these partners and answer their questions. This meeting can be done in person or offered remotely in the form of a webinar or teleconference.

Strengthen your meeting by providing participant guidelines and by requiring participants to sign an agreement on how they’ll support the effort. Just in case: Get to know the fundraising savvy of your prospective Match Day partners. Some might need coaching to be successful. Key agenda items:

•Promotion—In what ways would you like to involve your nonprofit partners in promoting the Match Day? Should they send out email blasts, mailings, or play a role in garnering media coverage? How should they use social networking and word-of-mouth? Consider supplying communications materials to guide the message going out and avoid confusion or mixed signals.

•Presence—Depending on whether your event is live onsite, virtual online or both, you’ll want to set expectations for when and where nonprofit partners should be present. If you’re hosting a live event, which people (executive directors? everybody?) from each nonprofit should attend and what will their duties be?

STEP

3Prepare Your Partners

Match Day made a big difference

for our nonprofit partners. One organization,

a health clinic that was seeing increased demand

for its services due to the economic situation in our

community, announced that the funds it raised on

Match Day were going to enable it to open for an

additional day of service each week. That kind of

impact is why we do Match Day.


11

•Training—Consider the possibility that your nonprofit partners may have different levels of comfort and capacity when it comes to many of the activities necessary for a successful Match Day. Common examples may be online giving and social media strategies. It may be helpful to ask about the nonprofit organizations’ online capacity? What might they need to ensure a seamless and successful event? Several foundations—including ACT for Alexandria, Kalamazoo Community Foundation, GiveMN and The Pittsburgh Foundation—hosted webinars and trainings well in advance to make sure the event was as turnkey as possible for their partners.

•Donors—If your community foundation will be collecting donor information at the event, it’s advisable to let nonprofits know this intent in advance.

•Money—Depending on your match money decisions, you’ll need to let partners know what to expect in terms of the structure and limits of the match, and how and when match funds will be distributed to them.

•Frequency—If you don’t want nonprofits to become reliant on Match Day or donors to hold their gifts, be sure to set expectations accordingly. Let them know that Match Day is not necessarily going to be an annual event, but that it is designed to pack a powerful punch in responding to the community’s most pressing needs in difficult economic circumstances.

Keep in touch

Following the meeting, stay in touch with nonprofits who’ve agreed to participate to answer any questions that arise and to check in on whether the prep and promotion they promised to do are progressing according to plan.

Plan your process

Put together a plan for how you will track donations on the day of the event. Who in your organization will be involved and what will be each person’s role? Provide any training that is necessary to ensure that donations are recorded and reported properly and as efficiently as possible.

STEP

3 Prepare Your Partners Continued…

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Resources

Pre-meeting handout Use this document at the pre-meeting to kick-off your discussion, share the goals and set expectations for Match Day.

Participant guidelinesSee how Kalamazoo Community Foundation set participant expectations with these detailed example guidelines. Use this sample document to help develop your guidelines.

Training presentationLearn how GiveMN prepared its nonprofit partners for every aspect of its Match Day event, Give to the Max Day. Consider how the content in this tool can help you engage your community partners.

Statement of agreementUse this template to specify and get partner sign-off on requirements for participating in Match Day.

Social media overviewThis online video from The Pittsburgh Foundation provides a helpful introduction to social media designed specifically for nonprofit organizations. Use it to guide any capacity building efforts your partners need regarding the social media opportunity. www.pittsburghfoundation.org/intro_social_media

STEP


http://www.pittsburghfoundation.org/intro_social_media

http://www.pittsburghfoundation.org/intro_social_media

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STEP


AGREE TO GATHER, SUCCEED TOGETHER

In planning a Match Day to tie in with its 85th anniversary celebration, Kalamazoo Community Foundation found that clear communication with its nonprofit partners prior to the event helped make the day a success.

“We invited all agencies with an endowment at the community foundation to participate in our Match Day, with the idea that the money they raised would go toward their endowments and the match money would be entirely spendable to help with immediate needs. We learned that we needed to follow up on our initial invitation, as many of the organizations didn’t understand or even acknowledge it.

“In the end, the 56 agencies that decided to participate were required to attend a one-hour informational meeting several weeks before the Match Day. We went over the details and agenda for the day, including how the nonprofits would be responsible for promoting the event, who had to be there on the day of, how donor information would be handled and how the match money would be distributed. We had each organization sign a participant agreement stating that they understood how the Match Day would work. It was important for us to provide marketing materials to all the nonprofits, too, as we wanted them to be active in getting the word out.

“Our preparation paid off on the day of the event. It was very neat to see all the nonprofits interacting with one another and making connections that will allow collaboration in the future.”

CASE STUDY

KALAMAZOO COMMUNITY FOUNDATION

COBY CHALMERS

ONLINE TRAINING = ONLINE SUCCESS

When GiveMN launched with Give to the Max Day in 2009, online giving was brand new. Organizers offered webinars for interested nonprofits to share the value of online fundraising and to help them learn how to leverage technology to reach new donors.

“In addition to outreach, we offered webinars. We had over 1,000 nonprofits participate in these webinars in 2009. They helped nonprofits understand how online fundraising differs from traditional fundraising and what nonprofits need to do differently to successfully raise money online.”

“Nonprofits in Minnesota really vary in terms of social media savvy. Many organizations have staff dedicated to digital communication and many do not. We found a niche in helping nonprofits strategize and create content for Facebook and Twitter and make it as turnkey as possible. We really helped build their capacity in this area.”

CASE STUDY

GIVEMN

DANA NELSON

Resources

Get the message Take the lead in establishing key messages (and specific communications materials, graphics, etc., if budget permits) to define the Match Day giving opportunity. Doing so helps ensure that messages won’t mix or conflict between community foundation and nonprofit partner messengers, and that the role and identity of the community foundation is conveyed clearly and accurately.

Our event really demonstrated the power

of philanthropy in the community. Not only

did existing donors show up, we were able to

connect with new donors—those who want to help

their community but might not be able to set up

an endowed fund. We even had a kindergarten class

participate, saving their pennies to give

$100 to be matched. It’s been exciting to see

the generosity in the community.

THE COLUMBUS FOUNDATION

14

With plans set and partners prepared, it’s time to go public. Prioritize Match Day promotion efforts to ensure you reach those audiences most likely to be excited about an opportunity to give more with less through a match. Promoting Match Day doesn’t require a lot of money—in many cases, the event is compelling and timely enough to attract attention from local media and the community without the need for a big budget promotions campaign. Though your plans will vary based on your goals and the extent to which you’ve enlisted your nonprofit partners in the effort of promotion, this section contains general tips and suggestions for getting the word out.

STEP

4Give It Proper Promotion

Communications Briefexamples from the Findlay-Hancock County Community Foundation and The Columbus Foundation

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Resources continued…

Get personalBegin with personal connections, reaching out to community foundation donors who have a known interest in your issue of focus and your nonprofit partners’ existing donors and volunteers. If your list includes high-profile individuals, you may wish to ask their permission to feature them in Match Day promotional materials (e.g., expressing why they plan to give) and to see if they would be willing to serve as media ambassadors to stir up interest among local media.

Choose your channelsMost campaigns benefit from using multiple channels of communication. Methods that experienced Match Day community foundations endorse include website and social media posting, e-newsletters and postcard mailings to target audiences, and advertising and promotion via local media. Social media, in particular, was favored as an effective and inexpensive way to build a network: If you’re interested in going this route, designate a person or team (possibly including people from partner organizations) to proffer postings and tweets in the time leading up to Match Day and throughout the day for consistent and focused promotion. If you’ve decided to target a specific group of likely donors (a club, a neighborhood), take advantage of any existing channels (a newsletter, a meeting) for reaching them.

Start a friendly competitionSome Match Day veterans found that incentives provided nonprofit organizations additional motivation to get the word out to their donor networks. Consider a creative prize that will get your partners excited—it could be an extra $1,000 or an iPad to the organization with the greatest number of individual gifts.

Promotion Samples

STEP

4 Give It Proper Promotion Continued…

Banner ad: The Columbus Foundation

Web copy: Community Foundation for Muskegon County

Postcard: The Columbus Foundation

Postcard: Community Foundation of St. Clair County

The beauty of social media is that something

creative has the chance of going viral. You tell your

friends, your friends tell their friends... and it just

takes off. Something can spread so quickly and that

is why the results happen—there is always a chance

of something big happening!

GIVEMN

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LET’S GET VISIBLE

For The Columbus Foundation, Match Day has become an important part of its donor engagement strategy, so a comprehensive promotion plan was critical to drawing attention and drumming up excitement for the event.

“We’ve held three Match Day events now. Each one has been tailored to support the showcasing of the Foundation’s knowledge and expertise.

“Even though all three of our Match Day events have been conducted online, it was important to promote via multiple channels to make sure we reached the broadest possible audience. Our promotion plan included radio, television and newspaper ads. It was also important to us that our nonprofit partners be supported as they promoted the day, so we created postcards and online banner ads that they could use to reach their donor bases.

“All of these events have given us an opportunity to show new donors the work we are doing in the community. It really was a celebration for them. And it’s an exciting new way for us to connect with our community.”

CASTING A WIDE NET(WORK)

Email and social media gave the Community Foundation for Muskegon County a great platform for getting the word out and helped the foundation stretch its Match Day budget.

“For our Match Day, we held a community event at a local theater with live entertainment and concessions. We didn’t have the budget to do any paid promotion or advertising, so we used email and social media sites like Facebook to promote our event. Facebook was an especially great way for us to reach donors because they could then turn around and promote the event to their networks.”

CASE STUDY

THE COLUMBUS FOUNDATION

JOYCE RAY

CASE STUDY


HEIDI SYTSEMA

STEP

4 Give It Proper Promotion Continued…

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The community response to Match Day

was incredible. By mid-morning, it was clear what

a powerful and uplifting day of giving we were in the

midst of. It was exactly what our community needed.

HILLSDALE COUNTY COMMUNITY FOUNDATION

17

When Match Day arrives, expect a frenzy of activity. If you’ve prepared your plan and your partners well in advance, you’re likely in store for a smooth event. Community foundations with Match Day experience share these tips for managing the day of:

•All hands on deck—Whether your event is online or onsite, you’ll want to have plenty of staff and board members available throughout the day. For onsite events, it’s a good idea to think about accepting and tracking donations, promoting the event with live updates, interacting with and assisting donors, and troubleshooting when unanticipated issues arise (inclement weather, confusion about directions, etc.). Even if a smaller team of staff is responsible for the majority of the work on Match Day, it’s a good idea to have additional staff or board members on hand to create a fun atmosphere and mingle with donors. And for online events you’ll certainly want to make sure you have an IT staff person on hand to respond to any unforeseen technical issues, as well as people available to field donor questions, interact with partners to report as donation milestones are met, and manage Facebook, Twitter or other social media promotion live throughout the day.

•Track with care—Keep meticulous record of donations as they come in. With funds arriving from multiple sources, for multiple recipients in a rapid timeframe, there’s no room for sloppy accounting. Having a good tracking system set up in advance will make it easier for you to report the results of your Match Day and determine how funds should be divvied up. Consider creating an online giving form that donors can download and complete in advance, which will help you speed up your onsite giving logistics. Less time in line. More time mingling.

STEP

5Seize the Day

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•Keep promotions coming—Be prepared to continually promote Match Day, even on the day of the event via your selection of media, e.g., television, radio, Facebook, Twitter. Day-of promotions can include updates on milestones, such as:

- moving the first 100 donors - using half of the match money - receiving large donations - receiving donations from community champions or people who have a

special story related to the focus issue or organization - achieving/surpassing the Match Day goal

STEP

5 Seize the Day Continued…

Resources

Social media tip sheetEnable and encourage your partners to be active on their preferred social platforms before, during and after your Match Day event. Draft your own pointers by using ACT for Alexandria’s tip sheet—and don’t miss the links to their Facebook and Twitter pages to see how it translated to real posts and tweets.

Tracking spreadsheetCustomize and use either worksheet in this spreadsheet to track gifts from one or multiple donation sites, collect donor information and figure remaining match dollars.

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FEELS LIKE A SHOW

A live event can bring the community together, as the Community Foundation for Muskegon County discovered.

“We held our Match Day at a local theater. We really wanted it to be a fun event with a lively atmosphere. Our nonprofit partners were set up in the lobby; we had live music playing throughout the day as donors waited for their turns to give.

“There were definitely things we learned from the day as well. We would have liked to have had extra staff and board members on hand to mingle with donors as they waited and to help explain the process—that would have helped speed up the line. But overall, having donors come to the theater to give created great excitement and made everyone feel that they were part of something big.”

LIVE COVERAGE

Promoting its Match Day ahead of time and on the day of the event paid off for Hillsdale County Community Foundation.

“We promoted our Day of Giving (Match Day) via newspaper, our website and the radio. Radio in particular was an effective way to get the message out. On the day of our event, we had a live remote broadcast. We gave each agency participating in Match Day five minutes to talk about its work. About 50 percent of the donations we received that day came from people who heard about us on the radio.”

CASE STUDY


HEIDI SYTSEMA

CASE STUDY

HILLSDALE COUNTY COMMUNITY FOUNDATION

SHARON BISHER

STEP

5 Seize the Day Continued…

Match Day raised the visibility of the community

foundation, and it also raised spirits to help carry

the community through some very tough times.


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Don’t let go of Match Day when your date has come and gone. It’s just as important to communicate with partners, participants and community after the big day as it is beforehand to build on the positive momentum you’ve created.

•Tell the total—On the day after the event, announce in some public way (via your website, social media and traditional media outlets) your grand total and, if appropriate, totals going to each participating organization. If something especially interesting or encouraging happened at your event, don’t forget to include that tidbit in the news. It’s important to announce immediate information about the success of your event to capitalize on the energy you created the night before and to give reporters something timely to publish.

•Give thanks—Let donors know that their gifts are much appreciated with individual and collective shows of thanks. Plan ways to further engage the new donors you reached on Match Day soon after the event.

•Celebrate as a team—Treat community foundation staff and anyone else who worked hard to make the day a success. Bringing in lunch or dessert (or other celebratory ideas) can be a simple way to thank them for their efforts.

STEP

6Manage the After-Match

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•Tag on—If you have another event in the works (such as an annual dinner or open house), use the occasion to announce results of your Match Day, present checks to participating nonprofits and celebrate the success of all involved.

•Wrap up—The bookend to your pre-Match Day meeting, a wrap-up session gives you and your nonprofit partners the opportunity to debrief, tie up any loose ends, and suggest ways to do things better. Ask nonprofit partners to report back to you any stories about how they put Match Day funds to use so you can share them in community foundation communications. These stories are also great material for planning and promoting a future Match Day.

STEP

6 Manage the After-Match Continued…

Resources

Presenting the resultsThis PDF is a comprehensive example of how an organization can present the results of its Match Day event to nonprofit partners, donors and the community.

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STEP

6 Manage the After-Match Continued…

MATCH POINT

One of the ways to wrap up a successful Match Day and foster good will is to personally connect with your nonprofit partners. Shortly after holding its Match Day, Findlay-Hancock County Community Foundation hand-delivered checks with the money raised from the event to the nonprofit agencies that participated.

“People are still talking about the event and thanking us for holding Match Day. It brought donors in our door that we had never seen before, and it brought the community together in new ways.

“Match Day was the perfect event at the perfect time for us. It was a powerful solution for a community that was in need.”

MAKE NOISE

By integrating its Match Day wrap up with another community foundation event, the Community Foundation of St. Clair County drew greater attention from the media and community.

“Both years that we have held Match Days, we gave the money out at our annual dinner. The first time, it coincided with our 65th anniversary, which drew a lot of press coverage. The next year we held a very family oriented event with more than 700 people and gave the money out there. It really gave us the opportunity to hear stories from our donors and to see how much of an impact we can have.”

CASE STUDY


MARIE SWAISGOODCHRISTA STEINER

CASE STUDY


LYNN ALEXANDERKAREN LEE

DON’T FORGET THE PERSONAL TOUCH

The Pittsburgh Foundation learned early on the importance of having a solid platform for managing online donations.

“One week after the end of our Day of Giving, we send a packet that contains all the donor information to each nonprofit. Two weeks after the event, we send the money in the form of a check for operating support.

“It’s also a great time for follow-up. We ask them to do a post-day survey to measure how effective the day was, and to track how many of the donors were brand new. We saw great results from our 2010 survey: 50 percent of the gifts were from new donors.”

CASE STUDY

THE PITTSBURGH FOUNDATION

KELLY URANKERLEIGH HALVERSON

Documents

September 2011 - Council on Foundations...Consider any upcoming events—either held by your community foundation or more broadly by the community—that your Match Day might tie into