Matching grants are a cornerstone of nonprofit fundraising. A matching grant can make all the difference in the success of your campaign. In this support article, we’ll break down how it works and how you can utilize matching grants to amplify your Mightycause campaign.

What are matching grants?

Matching grants are large donations you use as tools to help you fundraise. Your nonprofit asks a donor (for example, a board member, local business or community partner) to provide a grant to your nonprofit. Then, your nonprofit leverages that grant as an incentive to donate to your fundraising campaign by promising that donations will be matched up to the amount of the grant. The particulars can vary based on your agreement with the grantor and your fundraising strategy.

Matching Grants on Mightycause

We’re all about helping your nonprofit fundraise better and smarter. And that’s why we’ve developed a tool that allows you to display your matching grant on your Mightycause page. Nonprofits on Mightycause can use the matching grants tool to orchestrate your match and drive donations. It’s important to know that the matching grants feature on Mightycause is for display and reporting purposes only.

Summary of features

• Total flexibility on start and end times — you can even start a grant in the past!
• Unlimited simultaneous matching grants
• Ability to queue matchings grants
• Automatically include matching grant amounts in the total raised on your organization or campaign page
• Include offline donations in your matching grant totals
• Various matching types to choose from
• Edit and close live grants
• Review upcoming and past matching grants 
• Downloadable report of your previous matching grants 

What Does the Matching Grants Tool Look Like

When you enter a matching grant on your Mightycause page, here’s what will happen:

• When the matching grant is live, donors will see a badge on the Donate button altering them that a match is available.

• Mightycause will auto-calculate how much of the match has been fulfilled.
• In your Donations Report, you will be able to see which donations were matched and in what amount.
• A grant summary block will appear on your Mightycause page listing all live matching grants and showing the amount still available. (Clicking the badge on the Donate button will take users to the grant summary.)

Adding a Matching Grant to an Organization Page

You can access your organization page by logging in, clicking your name in the upper right corner, and selecting the desired organization from the dropdown menu.

Your matching grant tool is located on your dashboard under the section "Fundraising Tools."

When you click “Matching Grants,” you’ll end up on your matching grants dashboard.

Creating a Matching Grant

Toward the upper right corner click “+ Create.”

Then, you’ll need to enter the details of your grant.

Adding Grantor Name and Amount

First enter the grantor's name. If the grantor would like to remain Anonymous, simply check "Hide this name publicly" underneath the name of the sponsor.

You'll then want to add the amount of the match.

Include match value in page metrics

Underneath the value amount, "Include match value in page metrics" will automatically be checked. This signifies that the Total Raised dollar amount on your profile and campaign pages will include your grant money.

Example: If you have a 1:1 match for $1,000 and keep "Include match value in page metrics" enabled and a donor makes a $5 donation, your fundraising page metrics will automatically jump up by $10. If the same match were to disable "Include match value in page metrics," then when a $5 donation is made the metrics and thermometer would display only the $5 donation.

When deciding whether to keep this enabled or disabled, the most important thing to consider is how your grantor will be providing the grant. If you are participating in a giving event, please skip to Giving Event Participant - Include match value in page metrics . The rules of your giving event may change how you should set up these preferences. 

• If the grantor prefers to pay by check or offline method, it’s a good idea to keep this enabled. 
• If the grantor is willing to pay online through Mightycause, it’s a good idea to disable this feature.

Giving Event Participant - Include match value in page metrics

Including Image and Title

You will also have the opportunity to add a photo and title to your matching grant. Adding an image and title provides a great opportunity to share more information on the match and the sponsor. To add an image, simply click into the image area.

Setting the Terms of the Matching Grant 

The matching grants tool on Mightycause is versatile and can suit many different types of matching grants. In the next area, you’ll enter the details of your match.

Set When Your Grant Is Active

You can set the start and end date for your matching grant for any time- future, present, or even past. If you forgot to set up your match, no problem! We will automatically include eligible donations against the match if you set the start time in the past.

Also, you can run as many matches at one time as you would like. If you have a grant you want to become active as soon as another one ends, just check the box that says “Queue this grant to begin immediately after another grant completes.”

Set Your Match Type

The most common type of grant on Mightycause is a 1:1 match, meaning that each donation is matched in full until the grant is fulfilled.

However, there are other options you can choose if you’d like to set up your matching grant a little differently.

Match a specific percentage of each donation

When you select this option, you’ll be asked to enter a percentage. This option will be automatically set to 100% (1:1 match). However, this can be a handy tool if you’d like to stretch your grant further by matching only a portion of each donation, such as 50%, or if you’d like to be generous with the grant money and match at a 2:1 ratio (which is 200%).

Match a maximum dollar amount per donation

This tool will allow you to “cap” the amount that can be matched. This helps ensure that your $1,000 grant will not be fulfilled too quickly with a few large donations. So, if you have a $1,000 match available, and have set your “cap” to $100, you can prevent a few big donations from wiping out your grant.

Cumulative threshold match

Cumulative threshold matches allow you to create different styles of matches if you are looking for something different than a standard 1:1 match.

• Apply total match when cumulative donations equal the match value

This is an all or nothing match. For example, a grantor agrees to give $10,000 only if you can raise $10,000. For all or nothing matches we do not include the match amount in your organization or campaign page amounts until the total value is met. If the total value is not met before the scheduled end of your match then nothing is matched. This can be a risky strategy that pays off in dividends to motivate your supporters to donate! 

• Apply total match when a certain quantity of donations is received

This option creates a match that is based on the number of donations you receive. For example, you can set up a match that will only be fulfilled once you receive 20 donations. Please note, this is not based on unique donors. So if a donor donates twice, that is considered two donations towards your match.

This is great option to utilize if you are participating in a giving day that has power hour prizes.  

• Apply total match when a certain number of unique donors is reached

This option creates a match that is based on the number of unique donors you receive. For online donations, unique donors are considered unique through the email address. For example, if two different individuals by the name of Bob Smith donate to your cause, we will count both of these donors individually because they will utilize different email addresses. For offline donations, unique donors are considered unique through the email address or the name.

This is also a great option to utilize if you are participating in a giving day that has power hour prizes.  

Set Match Conditions

There are a couple of match conditions you can include on your match. 

Set a minimum per donation amount before match is applied

This option allows you to create a minimum donation amount before a donation is applied towards a match. For example if you would like to motivate donors to donate at higher amounts, you may want to set up your match so that only donations over $50 will go towards the match.

Please note that the lowest donation amount available for donors on the platform is $5.

Include offline donations in the match

This option will be automatically enabled. Any offline donations entered in Mightycause will count towards your match.

Include organization fundraisers in the match

If you are adding a matching grant through your organization page, you will see this option. This option is also automatically enabled for organizations. This means that all campaigns created for your organization will be included in your match. If you would like only your organization page to be included in your match, unselect this option.

Apply match once per donor

This option provides you the ability to have the match count once per donor. This is a great option if you are looking to bring in new donors or reach a donor-number goal.

Setting Up Match Notifications

Now that you have entered all of your match parameters, you’ll want to enter the contact information for the grantor or person at your nonprofit who should be notified when the grant is fulfilled so they can make the donation online.

Creating the Match

Once you have completed your match information, it's time to create it by selecting "Create Match."

Editing a Matching Grant

If any point you need to edit your matching grant while it's live or if it's upcoming, simply head back your Matching Grants area and select the pencil icon on the right side of the corresponding match.

Additionally if you need to close your matching grant pre-maturely, simply select the stop icon next to the pencil icon.

Reviewing Your Match History

You can always access your match history through the Matching Grants area. 

If you would like to download a full report of your past matches, simply select "Download full report" on the top right corner of your Past Matches section. 

You can always download a singular report for a past match by selecting the download icon to the right of the corresponding match.

If you would like to hide a match amount from page totals, select the crossed out eyeball icon.   Please note, once selected, this cannot be reversed. 

Adding a Matching Grant to a Fundraiser

Individual fundraising pages are campaign specific pages connected to your organization page. When you use the matching grants tool to add a match to your fundraiser, only donations to your fundraiser will count toward the match. 

To add a matching grant to your fundraiser, go to the fundraising page to which you’d like to add the match. Select "Fundraising Tools" on your page dashboard and then click “Matching Grants.”

Once you’ve navigated to the matching grants dashboard, follow the same steps as you would on your organization page.

Adding a Matching Grant to an Event or Team

Event and Team fundraiser pages are peer-to-peer fundraising specific pages connected to your organization page. When you use the matching grants tool to add a match to your Event or Team fundraiser page, only donations to the primary event/team page and the peer-to-peer campaigns connected to it will count toward the match. 

*Please note that Event and/or Team leaderboards will not take matching grants into account. If you are creating a match on an event or team fundraising page and would like the leaderboards to include your match, you may want to consider opting out of adding the matching grant to your metrics and instead adding the match as one offline donation. That will ensure the leaderboard is able to account for your matching grant.

To add a matching grant to your campaign, go to the event or team page to which you’d like to add the match. On the left-side dashboard, select "Reports" > “Matching Grants.”

Once you’ve navigated to the matching grants dashboard, follow the same steps as you would on your organization page.

Matching Grants for Giving Days

If your matching grant is for a giving day, we recommend encouraging your grantor to fulfill the match online. Matching grants that are automatically added to your metrics do not count toward giving day leaderboard or Golden Ticket prizes. 

Need Help with Matching Grants?

Mightycause’s friendly support staff is available to answer any questions you have about the matching grants tool! Email your questions to support@mightycause.com.