Nonprofit fundraisers often describe summer in similar ways: donors are distracted, inbox response rates tell a discouraging story and working staff is stretched thin while colleagues are out of office. The seasonal midyear dip in donations is real and well-documented – a predictable pattern, but also a reality that companies that donate to nonprofits through matching programs are set up to help address.

Because predictable doesn't have to mean passive. What makes summer harder for traditional fundraising can also turn it into an ideal moment for a different kind of work, one taking advantage of the room to think more strategically.

That's the premise behind our recent webinar, now available for free on demand: "The Summer Fundraising Playbook: Maintaining Momentum and Unlocking the Power of Matching Gifts." Co-hosted by Give Lively and Double the Donation, it digs into practical ways to build a more structured approach to corporate giving.

Watch the recording →

The summer slump: real, but workable

The webinar opens with a look at why mid-year fundraising stalls for so many organizations. There are three leading culprits: 

• donors are out of their routines and less responsive to standard appeals
• nonprofit teams are themselves on vacation, which naturally reduces campaign output
• no tax deadline or holiday spirit creating urgency.

One reflex many organizations have is to push harder on fundraising during this period. That tends to backfire. Data suggests the value of a shift in approach: according to the FEP report on mid-year giving cited in the presentation, four out of five first-time donors don't make a repeat gift the following year. That makes summer an important window for stewardship rather than solicitation. Focus on strengthening existing relationships, sharing impact and preparing donors for the official asks later in the year.

The webinar walks through a practical summer stewardship sequence: 

• a mid-year data audit
• a touchpoint series via email
• an optional, casual, in-person stewardship event where organizations can share a mid-year impact report, be transparent about how funds are being used and give donors a preview of upcoming plans. 

The through-line is keeping supporters engaged, informed and primed for fall campaigns, not nudging them to dig deeper into summer budgets.

The matching gift multiplier

The second section of the webinar makes the case for why corporate donations to nonprofits deserve a dedicated place in any mid-year strategy. The numbers are striking.

• An estimated $7 billion in matching gift funds goes unclaimed every year. 
• Over 26 million people work for companies with active matching gift programs, yet 78% of them don't know their employer offers one. 
• Donors respond to fundraising appeals that mention matching at a 71% higher rate.
• Average donation amounts increase by 51% when a match is offered.

That's not a demand problem; it's a communication and systems problem. It's one nonprofits are well-positioned to solve by surfacing the matching opportunity. Even better, it can increase the initial gift before the match is even calculated.

Other forms of workplace giving

Beyond direct matching, the webinar shares how companies that donate to nonprofits also offer volunteer grants and payroll giving programs: 

• volunteer grants – sometimes called "dollars for doers" programs, which pay cash grants in exchange for logged employee volunteer hours
• payroll giving – creates predictable recurring revenue from employee paychecks. 

These programs expand what corporate engagement can mean for a nonprofit and give organizations more than one angle to pursue.

A tactical summer playbook

The third section of the webinar is the most actionable part and worth watching in full. Double the Donation's partnerships success specialist Ann Rossell Tuyogon walks through a matching gift playbook designed for the summer window. It is organized around three moves.

Retroactive audits

Summer is a good time to run a report on donors from the first half of the year and identify who works for companies that donate to nonprofits through active matching programs. Most companies with corporate matching programs allow employees to submit gift requests for six to 12 months after the original donation was made, which means gifts from earlier in the year are still eligible. Reaching out to those donors before those windows close is a low-friction way to recover revenue without a new ask.

Supporter education

A key explanation for the matching gift gap is awareness. The playbook recommends adding matching gifts to a "ways to give” web page, creating a dedicated matching gift landing page and making sure supporters understand how to submit corporate donations to nonprofits through their employer's specific program.

Automation tools

The session covers how to use automation to follow up with match-eligible donors after they give. This involves prompting donors whose employer information is unknown to check their match eligibility and monitor reports for potential corporate partnership opportunities. The Give Lively integration with Double the Donation's 360MatchPro platform handles much of this automatically, connecting within the existing donation experience.

What's in the recording – and what comes next

"The Summer Fundraising Playbook" webinar is an hour long and co-presented by Amy Truong, Give Lively's lead of member growth, and Ann Rossell Tuyogon, partnerships success specialist at Double the Donation. It includes a Q&A session that addresses matching-gift program costs and structures, the partnership between Give Lively and Double the Donation, CSR portals, discovering and approaching companies with matching-gift programs, and positive transparency (leading with the truth, following with the plan)

The webinar is designed for fundraising staff, development directors and anyone managing donor communications or platform strategy at a nonprofit that wants to capture more revenue from corporations that donate to nonprofits without adding significant operational complexity. 

For a deeper look at how the Give Lively and Double the Donation integration works, read:

• our employer matching gifts resource guide
• a look at how to tap into matching gifts for teams of any size 
• the Double the Donation integration page.

Make the most of the quiet

The summer months are quieter. That makes them a strategically useful time for protecting the momentum built in the first half of the year, diversifying what fundraising revenue depends on and getting more out of the corporations that donate to nonprofits whose employees are already in your donor base. This webinar gives you a framework and a set of tools to work with.

Watch "The Summer Fundraising Playbook" on demand →