How to Attract Donations for a Matching Gift

Fundraisers could easily call it the mother of all matching pledges.

When Nike co-founder Phil Knight and his wife, Penny, pledged $500 million to Oregon Health & Science University in 2013 for a program to expand research and early detection of cancers, there was a catch: The university would have to raise an additional $500 million from other donors to get the gift. As if raising such a huge sum wasn’t enough of a challenge, Mr. Knight stipulated it would have to be done in just two years.

There was much celebration at a university reception on the evening of Mr. Knight’s announcement. The next morning, about 20 bleary-eyed people from the development, communications, marketing, and other departments gathered to set out a plan, says Keith Todd, president of the OHSU Foundation.

“The absolute first thing we did was I got a whiteboard and sketched out a gift table with the types of donors we needed and the types of numbers we wanted,” Mr. Todd recalls.

Next the team researched which current and potential donors fit the criteria. But before they started making calls, they created a small steering committee of university trustees who were willing to be the first donors and thus lead by example.

To avoid adding yet more meetings to their already busy lives, the committee members agreed to meet online every six or 12 weeks to discuss the campaign’s progress.

Mr. Todd and his team then asked those trustees to take turns hosting regular events in their homes where university leaders could talk to potential donors about what Mr. Knight’s gift could help them accomplish and about the long-term goals of the cancer program.

The strategy worked. Sixty days shy of the two-year deadline, Mr. Todd’s team had met the challenge.

Here he and other successful fundraisers offer advice on getting donations to match a big gift.

Tell a Good Story

Mr. Todd and other experts say that to raise money for a matching gift, everyone involved has to be well-versed in the details of the organization and how it will benefit from the donation. They need to know how to tell the group’s story succinctly and naturally and to answer questions about it. Here are some ways to do that:

• Create a file of sound bites that tell people what your nonprofit is going to do with the money and show what other donors’ gifts can add to the institution, program, or building project, says Mr. Todd.

• Warn people not to slip into platitudes about being “the best” or go on and on about the huge sums of money you’re going to raise. “Let’s not get hung up on how much money we’re raising,” Mr. Todd says. “Get hung up on what we’re going to do with it.”

• Don’t just tell your organization’s story, says Jill Snyder, executive director of the Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland. Tell where the organization is in it’s growth and life cycle. You want to help potential donors see how their gift will make a difference.

Don’t Ask Too Soon

Take time to cultivate donors. Give them a chance to learn more about the organization, and warm to the idea of supporting the particular project, before asking for a contribution.

When it does come time to ask for money, don’t do it over the phone. Try to get the donor to meet with you in person, and let him or her know which board members have already made a gift or pledge toward the project, says Kara Newport, executive director of the Daniel Stowe Botanical Garden in Belmont, N.C.

Find Ways to Recognize Other Gifts

One of the biggest worries with challenge gifts is that the donor who makes the original pledge usually gets the naming opportunity. Nonprofit leaders need to be smart and creative about showing other supporters how they’ll be recognized for their contributions, says Kristen Coury, founder of Gulfshore Playhouse theater in Naples, Fla. That could mean naming a lobby or a wing in a new building for them.

• Plan ahead of time all the ways your nonprofit can credit a donor and be able to explain that to them, Ms. Newport says.

• Naming opportunities aren’t the only perks to offer. Ms. Newport suggests giving donors a behind-the-scenes look at a project so they can see how their money is being used and feel engaged in the effort — for instance, a building-site tour or an introduction to the architect. Usually organizations “will keep everything, or most things, under wraps until they’ve raised all the money,” but that’s a mistake, she says.

Don’t Forget the Original Donor

It’s easy to get so caught up in fulfilling the challenge that you forget about the donor who made that original pledge, nonprofit leaders and fundraisers say.

Ms. Newport recommends asking the donor if he or she wants regular updates on the effort to raise matching dollars. If so, set up regular meetings and be sure you always ask what the donor wants to know about first.

“One of the most important things with these gifts,” says Enoch Blazis, vice president for advancement at St. Olaf College, “is to keep that original donor well informed and to meet their expectations of what they want to know.”

It’s also good to keep that first donor in mind as inspiration for the fundraising staff, says Mr. Todd. While fundraisers at Oregon Health & Science University were able to meet the Knight challenge on time, they didn’t ignore how the pledge helped embolden them and broaden their outlook about what is possible across the university.

“Yes, he gave an incredible gift, but it wasn’t only the money,” Mr. Todd says. “He gave us the tide, the momentum to unshackle ourselves and get bold about what we wanted to do.”