Securing Challenge Matches + Grants with Employment Data

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In nonprofit fundraising, securing challenge matches presents one of the most powerful ways to multiply donations and engage your community. But securing the right donors who have the capacity to help unlock a challenge match often requires more than just an appeal for support. It requires you to do research and have the right data so you know who to ask. That’s where employment data becomes a valuable tool.

By appending employment data to donor profiles, nonprofits can identify individuals with the financial means and professional ties to contribute significantly to challenge matches and grants. This data helps streamline donor engagement, ensuring your organization targets the right supporters at the right time.

In this post, we’ll explore how nonprofit organizations can leverage employment data to discover potential major donors, maximize challenge match funding, and build long-term relationships that benefit both the donor and your organization. Specifically, we’ll cover:

Employment data can be a game-changer when it comes to securing challenge matches and corporate grants. By understanding where your donors work and whether their companies offer matching gifts, you can strategically target your fundraising efforts and encourage greater contributions. Let’s explore how you can leverage this valuable data to optimize your challenge match campaigns and corporate fundraising.

Why Employment Data is Key for Challenge Match Campaigns

When it comes to challenge matches, the ultimate goal is to encourage donors to give at a level that helps meet or exceed the match commitment. But not all donors are equipped to give the kind of gift that unlocks a challenge match. The good news is, employment data helps identify those who might.

By understanding where your donors work, you can unlock numerous opportunities for engagement. Employment information doesn’t just reveal the organization a donor works for; it also provides insights into their professional role, potential income level, and connection to causes aligned with your nonprofit’s mission. These insights allow you to target donors who may have both the capacity and the interest to contribute at higher levels. These are going to be the individuals ideal for challenge match scenarios, so collecting the data now will streamline your search and make your ask more effective.

Here’s why employment data is especially crucial for your fundraising efforts:

  • Targeted Donor Engagement: Knowing where your donors are employed gives you critical information about their professional background, income, and the likelihood that they have the capacity to initiate a challenge match. With this knowledge, you can create targeted, personalized outreach that resonates with these potential fits.
  • Identify High-Capacity Givers: Employment data reveals donors working in high-income industries or holding senior roles that increase their giving capacity. You can spot individuals who may have the means to offer challenge matches and engage them with tailored messaging.
  • Streamline Your Efforts: Rather than sending blanket appeals for donations, employment data allows you to focus your outreach on individuals who have the potential to offer challenge matches, ensuring your team’s efforts are as efficient as possible.

Leveraging Employment Data to Identify Potential Challenge Match Donors

Donor profiles enriched with employment data provide a more comprehensive view of each supporter’s potential. This insight allows you to move beyond the basics—like previous donations or general demographic data—and instead focus on more strategic information that can reveal someone’s giving capacity and philanthropic inclination.

Here’s how you can use employment data to uncover major donors for your challenge match campaign:

1. Add and Maintain Employment Information in Donor Profiles

The first step in leveraging employment data for challenge matches is ensuring that your donor profiles are accurately enriched with up-to-date employment information. This gives you a complete view of your donors’ professional background, enabling you to identify potential challenge match opportunities.

Here’s how you should manage this crucial data:

  • Enrich Donor Profiles: Start by appending employment data to your donor profiles. Many nonprofit organizations use employer append services to gather this information. These services can provide details like the donor’s employer, job title, industry, and even their seniority level. With this enriched data, you gain a clearer picture of your donor’s potential for larger contributions, particularly for challenge matches.
  • Regularly Update Employment Data: People change jobs, move up the career ladder, or shift industries, so keeping this data current is critical for ongoing success. Regularly updating your donor profiles with fresh employment information ensures you’re not working with outdated assumptions. You can do this by integrating data management best practices, periodically checking in with supporters for any updates, or utilizing services that automatically refresh your donor profiles.
  • Combine with Workplace Giving Insights: As donors change roles or industries, their capacity to give may increase. Keeping a consistent eye on this data helps ensure you are reaching out to donors at the right time in their careers. For example, a donor recently promoted to a director-level position in a high-income sector may now be in a better financial position to contribute to a challenge match. By tracking these changes, you can be sure that you’re not missing out on workplace giving opportunities.

By appending and maintaining accurate employment information, you can strategically identify major donors who are in a position to offer challenge matches. This data serves as the key to unlocking substantial contributions.

2. Identify Donors with the Potential to Offer Challenge Matches

Once your donor profiles are enriched with employment data, the next step is to use that information to identify individuals who are best positioned to support a challenge match. Donors with significant financial resources are more likely to be able to support challenge matches.

Here are a few key factors that can help you discern that potential:

  • Industry: Donors who work in industries with higher earning potential, such as finance, law, or technology, are often well-positioned to make significant contributions. By recognizing the sectors your donors work in, you can spot individuals who may have the financial means to support a challenge match.
  • Job Title: Job titles can provide insight into a donor’s capacity to give. Senior-level roles like CEO, CFO, or vice president often correlate with greater financial stability and a higher likelihood of being able to support major gift requests. Donors in leadership positions or with significant decision-making power may also be more inclined to offer a challenge match because of their experience with corporate sponsorship and philanthropy.
  • Company Affiliation: In addition to industry and job title, knowing where a donor works helps you determine if they might be in a position to offer a challenge match. Some companies have a culture of philanthropy and support employee-driven giving, while others may have a budget set aside for charitable giving or community initiatives. If you know where your donor works, you can start a conversation about potential challenge match opportunities at their organization, capitalizing on their company’s giving culture.

3. Target Campaigns for High-Capacity Donors

Once you’ve identified high-potential donors, it’s time to target them with personalized campaigns designed to maximize their involvement in your challenge match campaign. Rather than using a broad, one-size-fits-all approach, you can use the insights gained from employment data to craft highly targeted outreach that speaks to their specific motivations and capacities.

For example, you can:

  • Craft Tailored Messaging: Your communications should emphasize the unique role each donor can play in your challenge match. For example, if a donor works in a high-net-worth sector like finance, their financial background might make them more receptive to a message about how a larger donation can substantially impact your fundraising efforts. Highlight how their contribution would unlock a matching gift and amplify the campaign’s success.
  • Demonstrate Alignment Between Donor and Cause: Use the donor’s professional background to demonstrate the alignment between their career and your nonprofit’s mission. If they work in education and your nonprofit runs educational programs, highlight how their expertise or their company’s focus aligns with your work. By showing this connection, you help the donor see how their support is a natural extension of their professional values.
  • Highlight the Impact: When reaching out to high-potential donors, emphasize how their larger donation will directly impact the challenge match. Be specific: explain the total match goal and how their contribution can set the stage for unlocking the full potential of the match. Share examples of past success stories where high-value donors played a pivotal role in meeting or exceeding match goals.

By targeting personalized, professional messages that demonstrate the impact a high-value donor’s contribution can have, you increase the chances of securing a substantial donation that helps unlock your challenge match.

Conclusion: Unlocking New Opportunities with Employment Data

Incorporating employment data into your donor outreach strategy is a powerful way to identify high-potential supporters who can make a significant impact on your challenge match campaigns. By appending this data to donor profiles, you gain a deeper understanding of each individual’s professional background, financial capacity, and potential alignment with your nonprofit’s mission.

By leveraging employment information strategically, you can target the right donors, create personalized campaigns, and increase the likelihood of securing substantial contributions. In doing so, you not only unlock new sources of funding but also build stronger, long-term relationships with key supporters who are invested in your mission.

Raise Even More Support With Employer Matching Gifts

If you’re looking to boost your fundraising even further, consider incorporating employee matching gift programs into your strategy. Explore how Double the Donation can help you identify, track, and maximize matching gift opportunities by requesting a demo today.