What is a Match Donor?
When crowdfunding your project on Boosted, a Match Donor can be a great way to increase your goal, and help you to hit your target faster. They give your project momentum, and increase the confidence of your supporters.
But what is a Match Donor? In this post we’ll tell you what they are, what they’re good for, why it’s a good idea to be a match donor, and how to go about getting one of your very own.
Projects should always arrange the match donor before the project goes live. It boosts morale and lightens the fundraising load from the very start, because it looks like there’s less to raise (but really you just get more money).
So what exactly is a Match Donor?
Simply put, a Match Donor is a person, group, or organisation who agrees to match your crowd’s contributions up to a predetermined amount. Your ‘match donor’ gives you the money to allocate to the campaign, on the basis that your crowd can match that amount. It effectively doubles your donations (up to the match amount).
For example, The New Zealand Portrait Gallery commissioned Heather Main to paint Celia Lashlie’s portrait. The Gallery needed to raise $8,800, of which The Celia Lashlie Projects organisation donated half. The Gallery went out to their crowd to raise the other $4,400. When one of their crowd donated $10 it was matched by the Match Donor’s money, making it $20. The donors saw their donations doubling and the project rushed towards the target at twice the speed it normally would.
Easy, eh?
Why have a match donor?
A match donor has many useful functions, number one being that a whopping 98% of projects with a Match Donor have been successful.
Let’s break some of the other benefits down.
1. Financially, it can help double your money
2. It boosts your donors’ morale and willingness to donate by doubling their donation and doubling the speed the project grows at
3. It can help vouch for you if you’re a new group without a proven track record. If you’re a new filmmaker matched by the New Zealand Film Commission or a high profile corporate, donors will have more faith in you even if they don’t know your work
4. A match donor can act as an influencer and, if they have a strong brand association, can raise your project’s profile and credibility
5. ‘Matching’ can enable a private (anonymous) patron to support their favourite artist (with the added bonus of getting a 33% tax credit)
6. Being a match donor can boost your brand’s publicity and social kudos.
For example, the inaugural Arrowtown Spring Arts Festival received backing from Millbrook Resort, Queenstown. The Arts Festival organisation was three months old with lots of local support, but no event history. The corporate match donor brand – the resort – reassured donors that the festival was well supported and a high quality brand. It added a sense of security for donors.
Festival goers then used Millbrook Resort and, as a result, the resort gained new patrons. So it’s really a two-way, mutually beneficial street.
So why be a Match Donor?
Becoming a Match Donor for a project not only benefits the artist, it can benefit your brand. Many brands are looking to increase their kudos through aligning with socially positive causes. Supporting others’ endeavours can do just that. Plus every time someone donates, they’re exposed to your brand. That’s more eyes on you and in a network you might not be able to talk to on your own.
Les Mills became a Match Donor for the documentary short Wilbur Force as part of Loading Docs film festival. It was a good brand alignment – a gym supporting a film about a young wrestler getting back into shape and back in the game. Associating themselves with a social initiative like Loading Docs, and a cause like film making, boosted Les Mills’ image and social currency, and in turn helped the film succeed with funding and publicity. Win-win.
Wilbur Force
However, some Match Donors may opt to be anonymous. They may be a private patron wishing to support an artist but wanting to avoid the public eye. Match donors may also conceal the amount they’re donating.
How do I get a match donor?
As with Les Mills and Wilbur Force, corporate match donors are almost always aligned with your cause. That’s what motivates them to get involved. It could be as general as a regional association, or as specific as a social cause.
Sometimes, relevant organisations or supporters will contact you with an offer. For example, illustrator Sarah Maxey was approached by a long-time supporter of her work who then became her match donor.
However, the most common way to secure a match donor is to ask!
Who do you ask?
1. Identify organisations or people whose values, aims, or causes align with your project.
2. Put together a pitch explaining your project
3. Highlight how your sponsor can benefit from becoming a match donor. This could be anything from gaining customers through your project to seeing their name or brand as a sponsor on your project page. Or, maybe you’ll organise a VIP package for them.
4. Decide what your ask is: do you want to specify the dollar amount or will they decide that?
5. Make contact - email, call, or meet them, and deliver the pitch.
6. Follow up after they’ve had some thinking space.
7. If they say no, find another potential Match Donor and repeat the process.
Also, if you know a large sum of money is about to come in, it can be a great opportunity to ask that donor if you can “convert” their donation into a Match donation. That way, you can take one donation and use it to create momentum throughout your audience, inspiring them to donate as well.
So keep an eye out for opportunities. Some people take a very structured approach, and some make social connections that turn into sponsorship opportunities. Maybe you’ll meet the CEO of Les Mills at a party and you’ll get chatting about your short film, Wilbur Force, and that’s how the Match Donor will come about. Or perhaps you’ll take a very formal line through email. It doesn’t matter how you approach – the important part is that you do it!
This blog was written by Anna Jackson-Scott, (former) Marketing Assistant at Boosted and the Arts Foundation.