There’s a version of your donation that’s twice as big and costs you nothing extra. Most people never claim it. Matching gifts for animal rescue are one of the most overlooked tools in charitable giving: employer programs that will match what you give, dollar for dollar and sometimes better, if you just ask. Industry estimates consistently put unclaimed matching funds in the billions every year. Not because people don’t care. Because they don’t know the program exists.
Let’s fix that.
What matching gifts actually are
Thousands of employers, from Fortune 500 companies to regional banks to hospital systems, run corporate matching programs. The mechanics are simple: you donate to a qualified nonprofit, you submit a short form to your employer, and the company sends the nonprofit a matching donation. The most common ratio is 1:1, meaning your $50 becomes $100. Some companies match 2:1 or higher. Many match donations from spouses and retirees too.
For a rescue like ours, where every donated dollar routes to medical care first, a match isn’t an abstraction. It’s the difference between funding half a heartworm treatment and funding all of it. Same generosity, twice the medicine.
How to find out if your employer matches
- Check your HR portal or benefits page. Search “matching gifts,” “charitable match,” or “corporate giving.” Most programs live inside the same portal as your other benefits.
- Ask HR directly. One sentence does it: “Do we have a charitable donation matching program, and where do I submit a match request?”
- Check your company’s community or CSR page. Public matching policies are often listed there.
If your employer offers matching gifts, the process is usually a five-minute form asking for the nonprofit’s name, EIN, and proof of your donation. We’re a registered 501(c)(3), and we’re happy to provide our EIN and any documentation your employer’s program needs. Just reach out through our get involved page and we’ll get you everything same week.
Workplace giving: the payroll deduction route
Matching gifts have a quieter sibling: workplace giving campaigns. These let you donate a few dollars from each paycheck automatically, often with an employer match stacked on top. Federal employees have the Combined Federal Campaign. Many private employers run annual giving campaigns each fall.
Payroll giving is powerful for the same reason monthly giving is: it’s predictable. Rescue budgets live and die on predictability, because the cost of saving an abused dog arrives on the dog’s schedule, not the donor’s. Five dollars a paycheck, matched, from one person is a vet visit every quarter. Forever.
Volunteer grants: getting paid for your hours (sort of)
Here’s the least-known program of the three. Many employers offer volunteer grants, sometimes called Dollars for Doers: when an employee volunteers a set number of hours with a nonprofit, the company donates on their behalf, often $10 to $25 per hour volunteered. If you already foster, transport, or help at events, your hours might be convertible into funding. Ask HR the same way: “Do we have a volunteer grant program?”
One note on eligibility: because our work is rescue and medical care, we qualify for nearly every employer program we’ve encountered. If your company’s portal can’t find us by name, our EIN solves it in one search, and we’ll send it the same day you ask.
Same generosity. Twice the medicine, twice the food, twice the second chances.
Make your next gift a matched gift
Here’s the play, start to finish:
- Donate here through our Network for Good page and save your receipt.
- Search your HR portal for “matching gifts” and submit the form.
- Tell us it’s coming so we can watch for it and thank you properly.
If animal rescue is the cause you’ve chosen, matching gifts are the cheapest doubling you’ll ever find. To Save A Life®, sometimes all it takes is one extra form.