Your selfless devotion to your mission is what has helped your business become what it is today. But you recognize that many—including your employees—struggle with where, how, when, and what to give to make the biggest impact in causes they care about. That's why donation matching programs are critical in corporate philanthropy.

But you must make it easy to further the culture of caring you've built in your organization. Significant portions of matching funds (an estimated $6-$10 BILLION annually) get left on the table due to lower participation rates, lack of awareness, or simple inconvenience. Can you do more?

The Power of Donation Matching Programs

Employee donation matching programs are designed to amplify charitable impact by combining the power of individuals with the strength of corporate sponsorship. The structures vary. But in most cases, a company offers to match or exceed the donation partially.

One goal is to build a culture of giving to causes people care about. But these programs also strengthen co-worker relationships as people feel invested in a cause. We can do so much more when we do it together!

But cracks quickly form in this system when the structure and implementation lead to lower participation.

Challenges Leading to Underutilization

Problems often arise when employees must verify their giving with receipts. This immediately inserts an element of uncomfortable oversight into the system. It also adds practical hurdles, however small they might seem, that may cause someone who does give to simply not provide verification.

You also face a lack of awareness of the existence of a corporate giving program. With numerous initiatives in place to support employees and work culture, your dollar-for-dollar match can quickly get lost in the shuffle.

What's more, most donation matching programs lack transparency. Even when companies match an employee's giving, those employees don't always see the results, and when they don't feel their impact, it won’t reinforce their engagement with the program.

Role of Technology in Enhancing Participation

Like so many areas of business, technology can certainly help solve these corporate giving program weaknesses.

For example, mobile-first technology solutions like Spave simplify and automate the donation and verification process. By making the process automatic, visible, and trackable, Spave can help you not only match donations more consistently but also meet your larger philanthropy goals. The greater transparency of a mobile app that records all transactions and progress towards goals helps both employers and employees to realize the difference everyone can make together—one micro-donation at a time.

How Spave Maximizes the Utilization of Matching Funds

Spave = Spend + Save + Give. It's a verb that means to spend money on things you want while contributing to the causes that touch your heart. Micro-sized donations attached to every purchase can add up quickly. A 2023 study published in Science Journal found that micromatching can increase donations by 76%.

Spave's features transform employee donation matching with:

• A Mobile-First Platform: Most employee engagement technology provides a desktop-first user experience that’s usable only through the company intranet. Meanwhile, 31% of employees report that they never use their company intranet. A mobile-first solution means employees can set up goals, contribute to causes, and track their progress from anywhere their job takes them with a mobile-first benefits platform. 
• Automated Donations:  Giving becomes a no-brainer once employees complete the initial set-up. All employees can choose to save or give a percentage of every purchase, automatically, with no extra effort.
• Greater Accessibility: Micro-contributions through Spave make giving easy. 53% of all Americans give in low-barrier situations (like rounding up or giving small amounts at charity check-out campaigns), whereas average employee participation in standard matching gift programs is just 10%. 
• Improved Engagement: Use team contests, donation “streak” trackers, and other gamified elements within Spave to boost employee engagement and increase participation in charitable initiatives.
• More Benefits: Go beyond healthcare and retirement matching. Use Spave’s savings features to introduce matching programs for tax-deferred college funds and high-yield savings accounts.
• A Tailored Solution: Unlike other employee engagement platforms, Spave is not built only for enterprise companies. We’ve tailored the app to the unique needs of businesses from 5-5,000 employees, with a full onboarding kit, transparent pricing, and support to match. 

Best Practices for Employers Using Spave

First, make sure you promote the program internally to raise awareness. Set goals and track download rates to measure the performance during your initial and subsequent pushes to increase participation.

Incentivizing participation — through gamification or recognition features — is never a bad idea. For example, you can have teams compete for the most giving. The gamification features of Spave will give employers tools like leaderboards, streaks, badges, and other rewards to drive a 100% increase in employee participation.

We are so confident in Spave’s ability to boost employee engagement that we’ve instituted “The Spave Guarantee:” We guarantee a 100% increase of employee participation in company-match programs or the first three months are free. 

Finally, regularly update your employees on the collective impact of their donations and matches so they can really feel the difference they’ve made. If you have questions about how to best use this technology in your unique organization, reach out! We’d be happy to walk you through some options.

Matching Donations to Supercharge Your Mission

Imagine building a fully utilized matching donation program. How much more could nonprofits achieve when you leverage the power of your employees' micro-donations?

Spave can make this vision a reality. A simple app for Android or iOS can help you ensure no donation dollar is left behind.

We invite you to see for yourself how the app works or contact us for more information on how you can incorporate it into your organization. As you navigate the simple features, you'll quickly start to see why this is such a powerful tool for leaders to increase match donation participation. Download the Spave App today.