Hi Reader,

We were in the middle of year-end fundraising at a previous organization when the first email fell flat.

The easy move was to keep sending the campaign we'd planned. Instead, we stopped and asked what was missing. We quickly suspected a matching gift might change the response.

So we secured a small match and tested it in the next email. The results were significantly better.

That was enough evidence to go bigger. We contacted board members and other key supporters and asked them to put money into a larger year-end matching fund. That match carried the rest of our year-end email campaign.

Two lessons stuck with me. A fundraising plan shouldn't become a prison once the campaign starts. And you don't need a huge match to see whether a match works for your donors. You need a small one and one honest test.

THE BIG IDEA

Matches get talked about like magic. They aren't. A match does two plain things: it gives donors a reason to give now, and it tells them someone else already believes in this work.

That matters, because it changes what you should worry about.

A lot of small shops skip the match because they assume they need a big donor to fund it. Others chase the biggest ratio they can find, as if a 3:1 match will triple their results. Research points the other way. Announcing a match lifts giving, but making the match bigger doesn't add more (see One Number below). Donors respond to the fact of the match and the deadline. They don't do the math on the multiplier.

So the real question isn't "How big a match can we get?" It's "Can we get a real one, with a real deadline, and tell the truth about it?"

Picture a small organization with a $10,000 year-end email goal. They could spend November hunting for one donor to fund a big 2:1 match. Or they could ask five board members for $1,000 each this week, announce a $5,000 match for the last week of December, and spend November writing better emails. The second plan is faster, it's more likely to happen, and it gets the board involved.

Two things will make or break your match.

First, the deadline. A match without a clear end date is just a nice fact. Put the amount and the date in your subject line or your first sentence, and hold to it.

Second, honesty. Be clear about what happens if you don't reach the match. If your matching donors will give their full amount either way, don't suggest that donors are "losing" money if they don't give. Your donors are trusting you with more than their gift. Keep that trust.

And here's the part most organizations skip: report back. In January, tell your matching donors what their gift unlocked, and tell everyone else that the match was met (or how close you came). That report is what makes next year's match easier to get.

3 THINGS TO TRY

TRY THIS: Ask three to five board members this week to pool their year-end gifts into a match for Giving Tuesday (December 1) or the last week of December. Have the commitments in hand by mid-November.

TRY THIS: Keep it 1:1. Pick a dollar amount and an end date, and put both in the subject line or the first sentence of every match email.

TRY THIS: Before you send the first match email, write the January report-back to your matching donors. Leave blanks for the final numbers. If you can't describe what their match will unlock, your appeal can't either.

GO DEEPER

Matches, deadlines, honesty with donors: that's campaign strategy and fundraising ethics, and it's what separates fundraisers who know the craft from those who are guessing. If you already do this work, the Certified Nonprofit Fundraising Professional (CNFP) is a way to prove it. It's a 75-question, scenario-based exam covering donor relationships, storytelling, campaign strategy, and fundraising ethics. Pass it and you earn a lifetime credential, with no annual fees and no recertification. There's a free practice quiz if you want to see the questions first. Learn about the CNFP here.​

STEAL THIS

A note to send board members this week asking them to fund a match:

Subject: Will you help us double gifts this December?

[Name],

This year-end, I'd like to offer our donors a match: every gift made between [start date] and [end date] doubled, up to $[amount].

I'm asking a few board members to fund it together. Would you consider putting $[amount] of your year-end gift toward the match? Your gift doesn't change. It just works twice as hard, because it inspires others to give too.

If you're in, reply by [date] and I'll take care of the rest. In January, I'll send you a report on exactly what your match unlocked.

Thank you for leading the way,

[Your name]

When to use it: now, so commitments are in hand by mid-November. Send it from the executive director or board chair, and follow up with a phone call two days later.

ONE NUMBER

19%: how much simply announcing a matching gift increased revenue per letter in a direct mail field experiment with more than 50,000 past donors to a U.S. nonprofit, according to economists Dean Karlan and John List. J-PAL summary of the study.

The same study found that larger matches (2:1 and 3:1) did no better than a 1:1 match. Don't spend November chasing a bigger multiplier. Spend it securing a real match and a real deadline.

WORTH YOUR TIME

​Five Year-End Jobs for Board Members That Don't Involve Asking for Money Job one is pooling board gifts into a Giving Tuesday or year-end match. If your board hesitates at "fundraising," this gives them specific jobs they'll actually do.

​Creating Urgency in Your Case for Support A match is one kind of urgency. This piece covers time-limited matches and how to put a clear deadline into your call to action.

​Effect of Matching Ratios on Charitable Giving (J-PAL) The plain-English summary of the study behind this week's number. It's short and worth five minutes if anyone on your team insists a 3:1 match is the key.

ONE QUESTION

If you've run a match before, what's one thing you'd do differently next time? Hit reply and tell me.

See you Thursday,

Jeremy Reis

P.S. If you've been raising money for years, the CNFP is a way to prove it with one exam: $199, a lifetime credential, and a public verification page employers can check. Take the free practice quiz or see the details here.​