Matched Funding

Matched funding is a mechanism used by companies to match monies raised for a charitable cause. Each company has different guidelines as to how the money is to be raised and in what capacity that money is matched. For example;

• A company’s board /strategic group may match an amount already raised by a charity for a specific project
• Staff members may need to volunteer at the charitable event from which the funds will be matched 
• Staff members may need to have organised the event from which funds will be matched
• The event needs to have taken place outside of working hours
• There may be a restriction on the amount of money that is matched i.e. up to ￡500
• Companies may only support specific charities i.e. local, children’s, environmental
• Companies may only support a charity once in a specific time frame

Matched funding can be a central part of a company’s business ethos integrated into the company’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programmes. The programmes allow companies to build morale and engagement with staff internally. Matched-funding helps staff members to feel that their contribution was larger and therefore more meaningful. These initiatives also allow the companies to foster a positive image externally. Many charities will promote the event and matched donations in local press and on social media.

Paypal and Facebook announced a ‘matched funding’ initiative on ‘Giving Tuesday’ in 2018. Now in its fourth year in the UK, #givingtuesday is coordinated by the Charities aid Foundation (CAF). Celebrated on the Tuesday following Black Friday and Cyber Monday, Giving Tuesday is a global day of giving fueled by the power of social media and collaboration.

In 2018 PayPal matched funds donated through PayPal fundraising pages and the PayPal app on #givingtuesday up to the maximum amount of ￡50,000. Facebook in 2018 matched donations made on #givingtuesday on its platform up to a maximum of ￡200,000 (￡400 per fundraiser and ￡10,000 per charity).

The Big Give is a non-profit, charitable website that enables donors to find and support charity projects in their field of interest. Its main activity is online matched funding campaigns, where public donations are matched by donations from philanthropists. Since it began in 2008, the charity has raised over ￡112 million for thousands of charity projects.

During the 2017 Virgin Money London marathon the Virgin Money Giving website became inaccessible due to a technical error during the first half of the day.  The Virgin Money Giving platform when back online then offered to ‘match’ 10% of all donations to charity made for the remaining six hours of the Marathon day, together with the whole of the next day made on their platform. This boost was not only available to Virgin Money London marathon runner’s pages but to all charitable donations made during that time frame.

There are many companies both local and national who run Matched Funding initiatives of which The Countess Charity has and continues to benefit from. In 2017/2018 the Countess Charity received matched funding from Marks and Spencer Store, Lloyds Banking Group, MBNA, Virgin Money, DHL, Morrison’s, Natwest and Urenco plus others. These matched funds equated to 3% of our overall charitable income in 2017/2018.

The Countess Charity is keen to work with companies that offer Matched Funding initiatives. A fundraiser from the Countess Charity will work with you throughout the process from the initial conversation about what fund at the hospital / project  is to be supported to the planning of an event if needed or the demonstration of funds already raised.

If your employer or your company has a Matched Funding initiative and you would like to support the Countess Charity then please get in touch with us here at the hospital 01244 366 397 [email protected]  . You can see examples of the charity’s work here on Linked IN, on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.