How Matching Gifts Serve as a Bridge for Non-Alumni Donors
This is a guest post from Adam Weinger, President and Founder of Double the Donation. Learn more about Adam at the end of the article.
Every advancement office faces a common challenge: an extensive database of non-alumni supporters who actively participate in the institutional community but lack a tailored path to philanthropy. Most traditional solicitations still rely heavily on the alumni playbook. That strategy centers on degree completion and class year loyalty, which non-alumni simply do not share.
Corporate matching gifts completely transform this dynamic. They do not require a diploma or years of cultivation. Instead, they rely on two simple factors: a supporter motivated by their connection to your institution and a development team that shows them how to amplify their impact at no additional cost.
While parent donors represent one of the largest opportunities in this category, matching gifts serve as a critical bridge for all non-alumni audiences, including current students, local community members, faculty, and friends of the organization.
A cost-free ask: Multiplying impact without extra spending
If you’re looking to get the most value out of your existing donor base, matching gifts are the answer you seek. Why? A donation match doesn’t ask the supporter to spend more out of pocket. Instead, a matching gift request encourages the individual to leverage their employer’s corporate philanthropy program to multiply a contribution they’ve already decided to make.
The potential scale across corporate workforce sectors is significant. According to Double the Donation’s workplace giving research:
- Over 65% of Fortune 500 companies offer matching gift programs.
- More than 26 million people work for companies with matching gift programs.
- Matched gifts tend to be larger, with studies showing the average matched donation is 1.5x to 2x the size of an unmatched gift.
For non-alumni supporters already invested in your mission, a matching gift request offers a meaningful way to double their impact without increasing their personal expenses.
The power of parent philanthropy
Parent donors write tuition checks, attend family weekend events, and follow institutional updates. However, many institutions lack a clear framework to turn that high engagement into long-term giving.
Research from CampusESP’s recent Family Survey shows that many parents of college and university students feel more connected to their child’s educational institution than to their own alma mater. In addition, 22% report being more likely to donate to their student’s college than to the school they attended, and 40% want more ways to get involved.
That means if your school isn’t already targeting parent involvement through structured family giving programs, you’re missing out on a powerful revenue opportunity. After all, parents don’t need to be convinced to care. They simply need a reason to give that honors their distinct relationship with the school. And matching gifts can serve as that exact reason!
The power of dual-income households & multiplying matches
Standard fundraising messaging usually assumes a single donor and a single workplace. However, non-alumni households, especially parent givers, frequently include two working spouses. Dual-income families present expanded matching potential that can triple or further multiply an initial contribution. Let’s examine a few possible scenarios.
- Two Employers, Two Matches: When both spouses work for companies with matching gift policies, each individual is typically eligible to submit a match for the same donation. This process can easily triple the original gift’s impact.
- Spouse Matching Policies: Even if only one spouse makes the donation, many corporate policies extend matching benefits to contributions made by an employee’s spouse.
- Same Employer Benefits: If both spouses work for the same employer, the company may double the match ratio or raise the household’s annual matching cap.
In other words, advancement teams should actively encourage non-alumni households to check match eligibility for both employers.
Unlocking other non-alumni donor groups
Students’ immediate family members aren’t the only non-alumni groups that your institution should be targeting. Beyond parents of current students, educational institutions interact with several key groups who want to support their mission. These include:
🎒 Current Students: Student givers tend to build philanthropic habits early, but they often face strict budget limitations. Positioning matching gifts during senior class gifts or campus fundraising drives allows students to double their impact through part-time employers or internship companies.
🏡 Community Members & Friends: Local residents who attend campus arts performances, athletic events, or community outreach programs feel a direct connection to the institution’s local presence. Matching gifts give these donors a way to leverage workplace giving programs to expand community programming.
🧑🏫 Faculty & Staff: Campus employees see the institution’s impact every day. And many colleges offer workplace giving programs for their own staff! Encouraging faculty and other team members to check for corporate matching or payroll giving options provides an easy, direct path to continuous institutional support.
🤝 Volunteers and Service Partners: Volunteers are statistically more likely to donate to the causes they actively serve, as hands-on engagement creates a deep emotional connection to the mission. Schools like yours can significantly increase the monetary value of a volunteer’s time by leveraging volunteer grants and paid Volunteer Time Off programs.
Actively bridging the workplace giving awareness gap
Despite the widespread availability of corporate giving programs, billions of dollars in matching funds go unclaimed every year. The primary obstacle is a simple lack of awareness:
- 78% of donors do not know if their employer offers a matching gift program.
- 14% know a program exists but aren’t sure whether they qualify or how to submit a request.
- Only 8% fully understand how their company’s matching gift program works and how to actually get involved.
Because of this knowledge gap, an estimated $4 to $7 billion in matching funds goes unclaimed annually. Non-alumni donors aren’t actively turning down match opportunities; they simply don’t know the option exists. Direct, clear outreach from institutional development teams can easily resolve this issue.
Wrapping up: Turning engagement into sustained giving
While alumni fundraising will remain a key facet of your overall development strategy, targeting non-alumni supporters will go a long way. And doing so successfully requires two simultaneous actions: identifying engaged supporters and removing friction from the giving process.
Advancement platforms help development teams track engagement metrics, including event attendance, portal activity, and affinity areas. Pairing an advancement engine like Advance from Gravyty with automated workplace giving tools from Double the Donation creates a seamless giving experience.
By placing a matching gift widget directly within your online giving forms, parents, community members, and friends can check corporate eligibility and access match forms instantly at the point of donation.
Access the full guide
Ready to build a complete fundraising strategy for your parent database? Download the full guide to strategic parent philanthropy to access even more powerful insights for your team.
Adam Weinger is the President and Founder of Double the Donation, the leading fundraising software helping nonprofits and schools grow their revenue through workplace giving programs such as matching gifts, volunteer grants, and payroll giving.
Adam founded Double the Donation to make it easier for organizations to increase annual fundraising revenue through corporate programs. Under his leadership, Double the Donation has become a trusted fundraising technology powering the missions of thousands of nonprofits and schools.
Frequently asked questions
A corporate matching gift is a donation an employer makes to match a gift its employee has already given to an eligible nonprofit, including colleges and universities. Many companies match 1:1, and some match at higher ratios. The donor doesn’t pay anything extra. They just submit a match request through their employer.
Yes. Matching gifts don’t depend on alumni status. Parents, current students, faculty and staff, community members, volunteers, and friends of the institution can all request a match from their employer, as long as the company’s program covers gifts to higher education.
Parents are already highly engaged with their student’s school. CampusESP’s 2025 Family Survey found that 22% of parents are more likely to donate to their student’s college than to their own alma mater, and 40% want more ways to get involved. Matching gifts let them increase their impact without spending more.
Often, yes. If both spouses work for companies with matching gift programs, each may be able to submit a match for the same gift, which can triple its impact. Some employers also match gifts made by an employee’s spouse. Couples who work for the same company may qualify for a higher match ratio or annual cap.
An estimated $4 billion to $7 billion in matching funds goes unclaimed every year. The main reason is low awareness: 78% of donors don’t know whether their employer offers a matching gift program, and only 8% fully understand how their company’s program works.
Start by using event attendance, portal activity, and affinity data to find your most engaged non-alumni supporters. Then make the match easy. Add a matching gift eligibility tool to your online giving forms, remind donors to check both spouses’ employers, and follow up after the gift with clear steps for submitting the match.
Volunteer grants are donations companies make to organizations where their employees volunteer, often once the employee logs a set number of hours. Together with paid Volunteer Time Off (VTO) programs, they help institutions turn volunteer time into extra funding.
