Matching gift software is a tool that helps nonprofits identify donors eligible for corporate matching gift programs and streamlines the process of requesting and confirming those matches. It typically includes a searchable database of company policies, an eligibility lookup embedded on the donation page, and workflow tools for submitting the match request to the employer.
The category exists because most donors have no idea their employer will match a gift. According to Double the Donation’s corporate giving research, 65% of Fortune 500 companies offer matching gift programs, and more than 26 million people work somewhere that matches employee donations. Yet 78% of donors are unaware their company offers a program at all, or don’t know the specifics of how it works. That gap between eligibility and awareness is the entire reason matching gift software exists.
The scale of the missed revenue backs this up. Nonprofits currently receive an estimated $2.86 billion a year through matching programs, but the same research puts unclaimed matching gift funds at $4 to $7 billion annually. That’s not a rounding error. It’s a revenue stream most organizations are only partially capturing.
How does matching gift software work?
Most matching gift tools follow a similar sequence, whether they’re a standalone product or a feature bundled into a larger fundraising platform.
- Employer identification. The donor enters their employer name, either on the donation form itself or in a follow-up email, and the software checks it against a database of company matching policies.
- Eligibility check. The tool surfaces the company’s match ratio, minimum and maximum gift thresholds, and any restrictions on eligible employee status (full-time, part-time, retired, and so on).
- Submission guidance. If the donor qualifies, the software walks them through submitting a request, sometimes through a direct link to the employer’s matching portal, sometimes through downloadable instructions.
- Employer verification. The employer confirms the original gift and processes the match on its own timeline, which can range from a few weeks to several months.
The database itself is the hard part to build well. Company matching policies change often, get discontinued, or come with fine print that varies by division or region. This is why Double the Donation’s matching gift database has become the category standard that many nonprofit platforms integrate with rather than try to replicate. Building and maintaining that dataset from scratch is a specialized, ongoing effort, and most donor management platforms leave that specific job to dedicated providers.
What matching gift software can’t do on its own
Here’s where a lot of nonprofits get tripped up. A matching gift lookup tool answers the question “does this donor’s employer match, and how do they submit a request.” It generally stops there.
The lookup tool doesn’t know that this donor also volunteers with your youth program, gave $500 at last year’s gala, and has been on your mailing list since 2019. It doesn’t roll the eventual match into that donor’s lifetime giving total, generate a report showing your development director how much matched revenue closed this quarter compared to last quarter, or send an automatic thank-you once the match lands.
None of that is a knock on dedicated matching gift tools. They’re built to solve the lookup and submission problem well, and for organizations processing a high volume of matches, that specialization matters. The gap shows up after the match is confirmed, when the data needs to become part of the donor’s actual history instead of sitting in a separate system that has to be reconciled by hand.
Tracking matched gifts inside your donor management system
This is where a donor management platform earns its place alongside a dedicated matching gift tool rather than competing with it. Once a match is confirmed, the platform records it against the original donor record, so a matched gift shows up as part of that donor’s full giving history instead of a separate line item that someone has to manually connect back later.
That matters for a few practical reasons:
- Accurate donor totals. A donor who gave $250 and had it matched at 1:1 shows a true lifetime value of $500, reflected everywhere that number gets pulled, from segmentation to major gift prospecting.
- Campaign reporting that holds up. If a matched gift came in through a specific appeal or event, it stays tied to that fundraising campaign for reporting, instead of arriving as an unattributed deposit weeks later.
- One place to look. Staff and board members reviewing donor activity can see whether a gift has been matched, pending, or denied without a second login or a separate spreadsheet.
The initial configuration for how matched gifts get categorized and reported is handled during setup, and staff can adjust those settings afterward as reporting needs change. This is deliberately framed as a reporting and record-keeping layer that complements the lookup and submission side of matching gifts. Organizations processing meaningful match volume still benefit from a dedicated database and submission tool doing that specific job well.
Do you need a dedicated matching gift tool, a CRM feature, or both?
The honest answer depends mostly on volume and where your organization currently loses the most revenue.
If most of your donors have never been asked whether their employer matches, and you don’t currently have any lookup tool on your donation page, that’s the bigger gap to close first. A dedicated matching gift database and submission tool will surface far more eligible donors than manual outreach ever will, and for many small to mid-size nonprofits, that awareness gap is where the $4 to $7 billion in unclaimed matches is actually coming from.
If your organization already runs a lookup tool and regularly processes matches, but those matches live in a spreadsheet or a separate login that doesn’t talk to your donor records, the gap is on the tracking and reporting side. That’s the piece a configurable donor management platform is built to solve, by keeping matched revenue attached to the donor and the campaign instead of floating in its own system.
Many nonprofits eventually run both: a specialized tool for the lookup and submission workflow, paired with donor management software that records the outcome once the match is confirmed. Treating these as complementary rather than competing tools tends to produce cleaner data than trying to force one system to do a job it wasn’t built for.
Frequently asked questions
What is matching gift software?
Matching gift software helps nonprofits identify donors whose employers offer corporate matching gift programs and guides those donors through requesting the match. It typically includes a company database, an eligibility lookup on the donation form, and tools for submitting the request to the employer.
How much revenue do nonprofits lose by not tracking matching gifts?
Research from Double the Donation estimates $4 to $7 billion in matching gift funds go unclaimed annually across the sector, largely because 78% of donors don’t know their employer offers a matching program or how to submit a request.
Do all companies offer matching gift programs?
No. About 65% of Fortune 500 companies offer some form of matching gift program, but availability, match ratios, and eligibility rules vary widely by employer and by company size, so it’s worth checking eligibility for every donor rather than assuming.
Can a donor CRM track matching gifts without a separate database?
A donor CRM can record and report on matched gifts once they’re confirmed, tying them to the original donor and campaign. Identifying which donors are eligible in the first place typically still requires a dedicated matching gift database, since that data changes constantly and takes specialized upkeep to maintain accurately.
Matching gifts sit at an unusual intersection of two different problems: finding eligible donors and keeping accurate records once a match comes through. Getting the first part right usually means leaning on a dedicated database built for that purpose. Getting the second part right means having a donor management system that treats a matched gift as part of the donor’s full story. If your organization is ready to see how matched gift tracking fits into the rest of your donor data, request a demo to walk through it with your own reporting needs in mind.