Best Practices in Matching Gifts and Donation Challenge Campaigns
Challenge Campaigns & Matching Gifts: How to Maximize Fundraising Impact
Implementing challenge campaigns and matching gift strategies is an excellent way to stretch your fundraising efforts further and motivate donors to give more.
What Is a Challenge Campaign?
A challenge campaign invites donors to raise a specific amount of money within a set timeframe. If the goal is met, one or more matching donors agree to match the funds raised—either dollar-for-dollar or at a predetermined percentage.
What Is a Matching Gift?
A matching gift follows the same concept of doubling (or increasing) donations, but it does not always require a strict deadline. The emphasis is on amplifying donor impact rather than urgency.
Either approach creates a powerful incentive and is a great way to take fundraising to the next level.
Build on What Already Exists
To make a campaign your own, it’s important to start with what already works.
Planning matching challenge campaigns ahead of major giving days—such as GivingTuesday or SpringForward/Give to the Max—can significantly increase results. For organizations new to these strategies, a smart first step is identifying local giving days and aligning matching campaigns with them to get the most value for donors’ contributions.
Why Giving Days and Matching Challenge Campaigns Work
While donors can give at any time of year, a specific giving day or challenge campaign adds urgency and exclusivity—two powerful motivators for action.
Giving days and matching challenges work because:
Donors know exactly what to do and when to do it
There is a clear deadline, creating a sense of urgency
Donors understand the consequences of missing the goal
The “now or never” mindset encourages immediate action
Supporters feel part of an exclusive, time-sensitive opportunity (no one wants to miss out)
Finding the Right Matching Donor(s)
When approaching major donors to serve as matching gift partners, messaging matters.
Smaller donors love matching programs because their gifts go further—but major donors often see them the same way. Matching gifts allow them to multiply their impact and inspire broader community support.
When identifying potential matching donors:
Clearly explain how their match will amplify community impact
Emphasize long-term benefits, not just short-term gains
Show how the matching gift helps the organization do more, faster
At a minimum, donors should be educated about matching options—whether through personal giving or employer-based matching gift programs.
It’s especially important to engage significant donors—those whose generosity is so impactful that their names could be displayed on a donor wall. Hosting a giving day or offering a matching gift opportunity can be a powerful strategy for securing larger contributions and strengthening long-term donor relationships.