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Will your employer match your donation?

Thomas Moispointner

Thomas Moispointner

Google logo on one of the colorful company bikes on the Google campus

Do you work for an international company like Google, Apple, or Novartis? If so, there’s a good chance your employer offers “donation matching” as an employee benefit: When you make a donation, your company matches it. We’ll explain how it works and what you should keep in mind.

What is employer-sponsored donation matching?

More money for your favorite nonprofit, at no extra cost to you: You donate privately, and your employer adds to it.

The most common offer is to double your donation: For example, you donate €2,500, and your company donates an additional €2,500 from its budget as part of the program. The nonprofit receives €5,000. Without you, it would have been €0. Some programs match only part of your donation, and in rare cases a company will even triple it. Usually there is an annual cap per employee.

Does your employer offer a donation-matching program?

In continental Europe, donation matching is less common as an employee benefit than in English-speaking countries. These three steps will tell you whether your employer already offers it:

  1. Search your intranet or HR portal for terms such as “donations,” “donation matching,” “matching,” “matching gifts,” “workplace giving,” or “[Company Name] Gives.”
  2. Search for your employer in this matching database from our partner organization Giving What We Can. The data comes from the commercial organization Double the Donation and has a strong U.S. focus. So if your employer isn’t listed, that doesn’t mean much. And if it is, it’s worth double-checking that the information applies to your region.
  3. Ask directly by contacting your HR department or CSR team. A short email or Slack message is enough, for example:
Subject: Question about donation matching
Hi [Name],
I donate privately to nonprofit organizations and wanted to ask whether we have a program where the company matches these donations (donation matching). If so, how does it work, and which organizations are eligible?
Thanks, and best regards,
[Your Name]

If your employer doesn’t offer donation matching yet, you can use the same conversation to suggest it.

How to request a match

Broadly, there are two ways to get a donation matched:

  1. Direct donation, manual matching: You donate to the nonprofit of your choice as usual, report it to your employer (more on this in the FAQ below), and your employer matches it, provided all requirements are met.
  2. Indirect donation, automatic matching: You donate to the nonprofit of your choice through your employer’s matching portal (more on that below), and your employer matches it automatically.

In most cases, both options are available, and you can choose whichever you prefer. Since donations made through employer matching portals are not always tax-deductible for you and may also incur additional fees, we recommend the manual option in most cases (more on this in the FAQ below).

Internal or external matching program

A few companies, such as the Boston Consulting Group (BCG), handle their donation matching internally, but the vast majority use external providers such as Benevity (which also absorbed Alaya), Goodstack (formerly Percent), YourCause (Blackbaud), Deed, Bonterra (formerly CyberGrants), or GivingForce. In German-speaking countries, Benevity is, in our experience, by far the largest provider.

For the matching process (whether “manual” or “automatic”), you’ll usually need to log in to your employer’s matching portal, and you can typically use your company login to do so.

Some examples

By the way, many of these platforms can do more than just match donations. They often also facilitate corporate volunteering—that is, paid volunteer work during work hours.

Which nonprofit organizations can you support?

Usually, not every nonprofit qualifies for matching. Employers set certain restrictions, such as excluding religious or party-political organizations. Some companies also only allow donations to organizations in a specific region. Your employer is the best place to find out about its policy.

Support the most effective projects

We wouldn’t be Effektiv Spenden if we didn’t point out that not all charities are equally effective. The best ones can achieve 10 or even 100 times more impact with the same resources. That’s why choosing the right nonprofit matters even more than using donation matching.

To use donation matching for our recommended organizations or giving funds in global poverty relief, climate change mitigation, animal welfare, preventing global catastrophic risks, or strengthening democracy, the best way is to donate through our platform yourself and then request the match. Your employer will donate to the Effektiv Spenden platform through its matching program, and we will ensure that the matching funds are allocated in the same way as your original donation (more on this in the FAQ below).

Get your effective donations matched

When you donate through Effektiv Spenden, you get three benefits at once:

  1. Your donation supports the world’s most impactful nonprofit projects, selected based on scientific studies and recommended by independent experts.
  2. Your own donation is tax-deductible in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland—regardless of which organization or giving fund you support (our donation tax calculator, in German, shows what that saves you).
  3. Your donation is eligible for the vast majority of matching programs because Effektiv Spenden is a local nonprofit with registered charitable entities in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland.

You can find us in the matching portal either directly under “Effektiv Spenden” or under the official names of our three entities (linked here to their Benevity profiles):

FAQs

The basic idea of donation matching is simple, but in practice it can quickly get confusing. We’ve collected some common questions and answers that will hopefully help. Of course, you’re always welcome to contact us directly as well: by email, phone (number in the footer at the bottom right), chat, or our contact form—we’re happy to help.

Are donations made through my employer's matching portal tax-deductible?

It depends: Donations made through employer matching portals are only tax-deductible if they are processed by an organization that is a recognized charity in your country. In our experience, this is only rarely the case. In Germany, it applies to Benevity and YourCause: often—but not always—the donation is processed through Haus des Stiftens für Unternehmen & Non-Profits gGmbH (HdS), and you receive a German donation receipt. In Austria and Switzerland, however, Benevity processes donations through The UK Online Giving Foundation (UKOGF), and you do not receive a donation receipt that is valid for tax purposes in your country. To the best of our knowledge, the same applies to Goodstack and GivingForce. If tax deductibility is important to you, it's generally best to donate directly to a nonprofit that is recognized in your country—such as Effektiv Spenden—and then apply for matching manually afterward.

How do I provide proof of a donation I made directly to a nonprofit?

Many employers accept a screenshot or a PDF copy of the nonprofit’s automated donation confirmation email. You can often upload this directly to the matching portal. Some also require a bank statement or even the official donation receipt. It’s best to give it a try and contact the nonprofit if you need assistance. Here at Effektiv Spenden, we’ve been able to find a solution for every employer’s requirements so far.

Will the allocation of my donation also be matched?

If your donation supports multiple projects within the same organization—for example, several giving funds or individual charities through our platform—the match can be split the same way. To make sure this works, our most important tip is: Allow your employer's matching portal to share your personal information (name and email address) with the recipient organization. This is the most reliable way for the organization to correctly identify your donation and allocate the matching funds accordingly. And if questions do come up, they can easily be cleared up by email. Depending on the matching platform, you may also be able to leave a comment with your matching request for the recipient organization. Use it to explain briefly and informally how the money should be split.

With Benevity, you can often select a more specific donation destination within the chosen nonprofit—a so-called “project”—both when making your donation and when submitting your matching request. On Benevity, all of Effektiv Spenden’s donation options are listed as projects. Unfortunately, each donation or matching request can only go to a single project.

Will I find out if the matching was successful?

You should usually be able to see whether your employer has actually matched your donation on your company’s matching portal. Otherwise, it’s best to contact the relevant department. Once we receive the matching funds from your employer along with your personal information, we’ll confirm receipt via email, provided the applicable privacy agreement allows it. (Before mid-2026, we only did this in exceptional cases.) Depending on the company or provider, it can take several months from the time the matching request is submitted until the funds are paid out to us (or another organization of your choice).

Is it even worth the effort?

Yes! With little effort, you direct company money that would otherwise never go to a good cause to charities—ideally highly effective ones. The case is especially clear when you donate larger amounts yourself and your company has high limits for its matching program (corporations like Apple, Google, or Microsoft match low five-figure U.S. dollar amounts per employee annually).

Are there any fees for matching?

It depends, but especially with external providers like Benevity, the answer is generally yes. As far as the matching portion is concerned, you can’t influence these fees. However, when it comes to your own donation, you can avoid the fees (just under 3% with Benevity, for example) by donating directly to the nonprofit.

Is donation matching a taxable benefit?

No. In its usual form, donation matching is not a taxable benefit in kind and is therefore not subject to income tax or social security contributions for you. This is because the matching amount is not paid out to you; instead, your employer donates it on top of your donation to the nonprofit you support. So you do not benefit financially; rather, the nonprofit organization benefits—and, in turn, people in need, animals, or the general public.

Is there any way I can promote my company's matching program internally?

Yes, and we think it’s a promising lever. Many of your colleagues probably don’t even know about your matching program. Mention it to them—in our experience, interest is especially high around Christmas. And perhaps there are other options as well, such as an internal company newsletter or a #random Slack channel. In some companies, employees have already organized talks with us to raise awareness about effective giving and donation matching.

(Image source: Google bicycles on Charleston Road, Mountain View, California, USA; photographed in June 2022 by Dietmar Rabich and published under CC BY-SA 4.0. Google is one of the pioneers of donation matching in both Germany and Switzerland.)

About the author

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Thomas Moispointner

Director of Donor Relations & Managing Director Austria

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After previously working for the Stiftung fĂĽr Effektiven Altruismus, I joined Effektiv Spenden in 2021 as its first full-time employee. As a generalist, I'm responsible for a wide range of areas, from product and CRM management to donor support and giving advice. As a native of Vienna, I also lead our work in Austria.

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