What are matches and challenges?

Matches and challenges give donors an incentive to make an even greater impact on Cornell Giving Day!

Matches

• A match is a pool of funds that multiply the amount raised for a designated fund. Matches can be 1:1, 2:1, or 3:1.
• For example, John Smith donated a $25,000 1:1 match for the Human Ecology Annual Fund. Human Ecology can now promote this matching gift as a way for donors to double their impact: a $25 gift becomes a $50 gift, a $50 gift becomes $100, etc.

Challenges

• A challenge is a gift that unlocks by meeting a goal. This goal can be measured by total dollars given, or total donors engaged.
• For example, upon the Anabel’s Grocery Fund reaching 100 donors, John Smith will contribute $5,000 to the fund. The 100 donor goal for Anabel’s Grocery would be used in their marketing, and the unlocked challenge gift would be celebrated upon reaching 100 donors.

Match and challenge guidelines

In general, aim for the simplest matches and challenges you can, to ensure these can be built in the GiveGab system and automatically counted/applied during Giving Day. Make it easy for donors to understand, and easy to describe in your marketing!

Matches

• Matches can be built in GiveGab as 1:1, 2:1, and 3:1 gift matches.
• Matches that automatically count in GiveGab MUST be fund-to-fund direct matches.
  • For example, if John Smith will match gifts to the Human Ecology Annual Fund 1:1, a $25 gift made to this annual fund by a donor becomes a $50 gift. Gifts made to other funds under the same college do not count.
  • If John Smith will match gifts made to all areas of Human Ecology, a $25 gift made to this annual fund by a donor becomes a $50 gift to the annual fund. A $25 gift made to a student group under Human Ecology becomes a $50 to that student group. Matching funds are counted toward the individual support area funds.
  • This means matching funds can be designated and awarded to either a single fund, or multiple funds.
  • If a donor wants to create a match that looks at all gifts made to a college, but wants their matching funds to count only toward the annual fund, GiveGab is NOT capable of making this distinction in the system. We do not recommend this. Counting would be a fully manual process your college/unit would be responsible for, and this match would not be able to be built as a match in the system.
• Matches created correctly in the system will automatically match gifts that apply per the match specifications.
• Matches must have a specific start date. In general, we don’t recommend starting to count gifts toward matches during the VIP giving period, as large gifts can deplete matches automatically ahead of the day-of operations. We recommend gifts begin counting toward matches at midnight on Giving Day.
  • Matches cannot be broadly applied to gifts that weren’t made during this window. While matches can be changed on a gift-by-gift basis to allow for any error correction, we cannot retroactively and manually match more than a handful of gifts made outside the match window.
  • For example, if your match starts counting at midnight on Giving Day, and you have one donor’s gift that MUST be counted toward the match, that can be adjusted. We cannot, however, manually match ALL of the gifts made in the VIP window after the fact.
• Matches will display only on the fund pages they are tied to, and the overall match page.
• Multiple matches tied to the same fund will count simultaneously. This means if you have three separate matches set up for a specific fund, when a donor gives to that fund, that single gift will be matched by all three matches.
• If this is a concern, consider creating only ONE match in the system, with the combined totals of all the matches to that fund. List the matching donors and amounts in the description, if applicable.

Challenges

• Challenges can be built as dollar challenges, unlocking when a specific fund (or college/unit overall) reaches a specific dollar amount raised.
• Challenges can also be built as donor challenges, unlocking when a specific fund (or college/unit overall) reaches a specific donor number.
• Donor-specific challenges generally start counting as soon as the VIP giving window opens, because we want all donors to count toward these challenges.
  • If any errors occur, challenge start dates can be adjusted, and gifts can be retroactively counted in this way.
• Challenges will display only on the fund pages they are tied to, and the overall match page.
• Challenge money can only be designated and awarded to a single fund, even if the challenge counts gifts to all areas.

Additional notes

• You will be responsible for counting any matches or challenges that do not align with the functionality of GiveGab, and will need to be manually counted.
  • Work with the Giving Day match & challenge team to discuss any concerns and identify the best way to have your site totals reflect challenge or matching gifts on Giving Day.
• Matching gifts and challenges can both be applied to gifts made by certain demographics. This will only apply to basic info collected and self-reported at the time of gift, like specific class years, or affiliation (alumni vs. parent gifts). Anything more complicated than that would need to be manually counted offline.

Deadlines and submission

DUE FEBRUARY 14!

All matches and challenges MUST be submitted through the gift tracker form by FEBRUARY 14. (If you plan to include these in your marketing, remember all content should be finalized and submitted by January 31!)

Any late submissions (after Feb 14) will be reviewed on a rolling basis.
*No match or challenge submissions can be built in the system after March 10.*

Collect all of the information you’ll need to submit the form before starting:

• Donor basic info
• Gift info, including final amount, designation
• Match or challenge FINAL info, with a short description explaining ALL details

Build process

• Once you submit a match or challenge, the central Giving Day match & challenge team will review it and reach out with any questions or concerns.
• The match & challenge team will build each match/challenge on the GiveGab site on a rolling basis as submissions come in, by March 1.
• By March 1, you should review your page to ensure all match/challenge details look correct. Flag any issues with the match & challenge team immediately.
  • Note: Matches and challenges appear directly under the gift amounts and navigation bar on each page they apply to. These cannot be moved—it’s a function of the GiveGab page. Matches and challenges will also appear on the main match page.

Strategy recommendations

Creating your goals and identifying the right gift size

Gifts of $5,000+ can be leveraged toward matches and challenges. But for many colleges and units, gifts of $25,000+ are best. Gifts of this size—whether as a match or a challenge—can be highly motivating for donors to your area.

When developing dollar or donor goals for matches and challenges, utilize the previous years’ reporting for your area on Giving Day to help you decide on an achievable goal.

Multiple donors want to make a joint matching gift?

Some areas work with advisory councils or other groups of leadership donors to create a joint matching gift or challenge. This is an excellent idea, especially for smaller colleges and units.

Generally, make sure all of the donors contributing to creating this match or challenge give $5,000+. Some exceptions can be made, but you’ll need to make sure you’re tracking each individual gift—getting the correct Giving Day appeal codes on them, ensuring donors are giving using the correct vehicles so as not to double-count, etc. Because of this, we highly recommend you NOT collect a group of smaller gifts to hit the minimum dollar threshold for a match.

Have your conversations early

Ensure all gift conversations are happening well in advance of Giving Day. Outline what’s possible with the donor and make sure you’re creating a match or challenge that both you and the donor feel comfortable with.

How should a match/challenge donor make their gift?

Donors who are establishing a match or challenge should NOT make their gifts on the Giving Day site. This will result in gift dollars being double-counted, and can cause significant reporting/counting issues on the day that are difficult to resolve.

Instead, donors should give through an iModules giving link (we can help create this for you!) ahead of Giving Day, through the mail, donor-advised fund (DAF), or any other way they prefer to give. Please note that if a donor attempts to access an iModules giving link on Giving Day itself, that link will reroute to the Giving Day site, and you’ll still have an issue with gifts double-counting. Make sure the donor understands they should give online ahead of time, or any other way they’re comfortable giving.

You’ll need to make sure these gifts are correctly coded with a Giving Day appeal code, regardless of how they come in. Work with Advancement Services to ensure this appeal code is added: GIVDY25M

Leveraging your match or challenge in marketing

Matches and challenges can be highly effective motivators—more so if you include them in your Giving Day marketing! Plan to mention your matches and challenges in email marketing, and social media.

List basic details of your matches and challenges in your marketing, but remember that you don’t need to list ALL details in your marketing, especially if you’re unsure whether a detail may change, or if you have multiple donors contributing to a challenge. Point to your Giving Day webpage from your marketing, and use web to list more details/anything that may change.

For this reason, it’s important to hit match and challenge and email submission deadlines! Get your content ready early so it can be included in your marketing!

Matches and challenges versus large offline gifts

Some donors may decide late in the process that they’d like to make a match or challenge gift. If it’s within the submission deadlines, we can accommodate this. But remember that matches and challenges are most effective when they’ve been marketed, and when there is enough time for the system to count gifts toward these challenges. Gifts cannot be added as matches or challenges after March 10. See above guidelines for more details.

Large offline gifts can be added to your webpages on the day-of Giving Day as general gifts, instead of matches/challenges. This will ensure a donor’s name and gift amount will be added to your donor wall and gift totals (names/amounts can also be hidden from the donor wall if a donor asks!).

Stewarding match and challenge donors

Make sure you’re thanking your match and challenge donors! Consider using ThankView, handwritten cards, or other special offers from Giving Day to make this stewardship special. Lean on any centrally-driven stewardship for these donors offered by the Giving Day team.

What to expect on the day, and after

How gifts are counted toward matches/challenges

• Matches
  • Matches created correctly in the system will automatically match gifts that apply per the match specifications.
  • Matches must have a specific start date. In general, we don’t recommend starting to count gifts toward matches during the VIP giving period, as large gifts can deplete matches automatically ahead of the day-of operations. We recommend gifts begin counting toward matches at midnight on Giving Day.
  • Matches cannot be broadly applied to gifts that weren’t made during this window. While matches can be changed on a gift-by-gift basis to allow for any error correction, we cannot retroactively and manually match more than a handful of gifts made outside the match window.
    • For example, if your match starts counting at midnight on Giving Day, and you have one donor’s gift that MUST be counted toward the match, that can be adjusted. We cannot, however, manually match ALL of the gifts made in the VIP window after the fact.
• Challenges
  • Donor-specific challenges generally start counting automatically as soon as the VIP giving window opens, because we want all donors to count toward these challenges.
    • If any errors occur, challenge start dates can be adjusted, and gifts can be retroactively counted in this way.
• Offline gifts
  • Offline gifts are counted toward applicable matches and challenges. Please note when you submit an offline gift form whether a gift is also a match or challenge donor and therefore should NOT count toward a match or challenge.

*Again, it is important that your match/challenge donors DO NOT make their gifts through the Giving Day page so that their gifts are not double-counted!*

What happens at midnight

At midnight on the close of Giving Day, the match & challenge team will review all matches and challenges that have not been met. We will manually unlock any matches and challenges that haven’t been fully met unless you tell us ahead of time (when you submit the form!) that a match or challenge should not be unlocked.

Example: John Smith will give $10,000 if 100 donors make a gift to ILR. If that 100 donor goal is not met, John will not make the full gift. This is a case where we would NOT unlock the challenge manually. If John instead says he’ll still make his $10,000 gift regardless of hitting that donor goal, we WOULD unlock the challenge.

Site totals vs. reporting after Giving Day

• Site totals
  • Your site totals after midnight on Giving Day will be frozen. These amounts WILL include any unlocked challenges/match dollars.
  • These amounts will also include any match/challenge dollars your area secured from university-wide challenges. (The university will have several matches and challenges that could be awarded to your colleges and units. See past examples here.)
  • Remember that gifts made on the site are self-reported in terms of a donor’s class year or demographic data.
  • If they have not selected that they are a student, for example, their gift won’t automatically count toward a student challenge. Reporting after gifts have been fully processed is much more accurate for this reason.
• Periscope
  • Your match and challenge donors will NOT be included in Periscope data. Offline gifts will be included there.
  • Centrally-awarded challenge funds will not show in your area’s Periscope reporting.
• Giving Day Tableau reporting
  • Match and challenge donors will appear in Giving Day Tableau reporting only after each of those gifts is processed with the Giving Day appeal code. If a challenge donor isn’t making their gift until after Giving Day via mail, for example, you will not see that gift in the reporting totals until it’s been processed.
  • Any funds your area secures through university-wide challenges will not appear in your reporting totals until after all gifts have been fully processed.
• Fund reporting
  • Similarly, you won’t see any match/challenge dollars in your funds/accounts until all of those gifts are fully processed.
  • Any funds your area secures through university-wide challenges will not appear in your reporting totals until after all gifts have been fully processed.

Your Giving Day match & challenge team

For questions, reach out to:
Kait Provost (kp472@cornell.edu)
Mollie Bagwell (mollie.bagwell@cornell.edu)
Grant Cowan (gmc229@cornell.edu)

Watch the Sep. 30 Annual Giving Marketing meeting recording for this info in video format.