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Does 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 funding for your favorite nonprofit—at no extra cost to you: You make a private donation, and your employer adds an extra contribution.

It’s particularly common for your donations to be doubled: 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. There are also proportional matching programs and, in rare cases, even initiatives that triple your donation. As a rule, there is an annual maximum amount 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. Follow these three steps to find out whether your employer offers it:

  1. Search your intranet or HR portal for terms such as “donations,” “donation 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 is not listed, that doesn’t necessarily mean they don’t offer donation matching. And if they are listed, it’s best to double-check that the information also 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 make personal donations to nonprofit organizations and wanted to ask whether our company has a program that matches employee donations. If so, how does it work, and which organizations are eligible?
Thanks, and best regards,
[Your Name]

If your employer doesn’t yet offer a donation-matching program, you can use this exchange as an opportunity to bring up the idea.

Request a Match

When it comes to matching, there are roughly two approaches:

  1. Direct donation, manual matching: You donate to the nonprofit of your choice as usual, report the donation 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 automatically matches your donation.

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 (formerly 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?

Not just any nonprofit organization is eligible for the donation-matching program. Employers impose certain restrictions, such as excluding religious or political organizations. Some companies also only allow donations to organizations in a specific region. It’s best to check with your employer directly to find out about their 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 to support is even more important than taking advantage of donation matching.

To use donation matching for our recommended organizations or giving funds in global poverty relieve, climate change mittigation, animal welfare advocacy, global catastrophic risks prevention, or strengthening democracy, we recommend making your donation directly through our platform and then applying for matching. 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.
  3. Your donation is eligible for the vast majority of matching programs because Effektiv Spenden is a local nonprofit with charitable or tax-exempt branches in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland.

You can find us on the matching portal either directly under “Effektiv Spenden” or under the official names of our three branches (here are direct links to the Benevity profiles):

FAQs

Although the basic idea behind donation matching is straightforward, putting it into practice can sometimes be confusing. We’ve put together a list of frequently asked questions and answers to help clarify things. 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 via 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 through a nonprofit or tax-exempt charitable organization recognized 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), meaning 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 employer's matching donations can usually be split in the same way. To help ensure this works smoothly, our most important recommendation 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. Also, if any questions still arise, they can usually be resolved easily by email. Depending on the matching platform, you may also be able to leave a comment with your matching request for the recipient organization. We recommend briefly explaining how you would like the matching funds to be allocated.

With Benevity, you can often select a more specific donation destination within the chaosen 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. However, each donation or matching request can only be assigned 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 minimal effort, you can channel company funds—ideally in highly effective ways—to charitable organizations that would otherwise not have been used for charitable purposes. The impact is particularly 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 (which amount to just under 3 % with Benevity, for example) by donating directly to the nonprofit.

Is donation matching a monetary benefit?

No, in its standard form, donation matching is not a monetary benefit 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 directly 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, we think this is a promising approach. Many of your colleagues probably don’t even know about your matching program. Bring it up with them—experience has shown that there’s a lot of interest in the topic, especially 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 even organized presentation events 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

Avatar of Thomas Moispointner

Thomas Moispointner

Director of Donor Relations

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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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