Extend the life of your gift with the matching gifts program

At Centenary College, our donors provide critical support for both current operations and future activities of the institution. Donors may choose from a number of options when making a gift to Centenary. One option is participating in a matching gift program through your employer. Each year, over 500 companies and businesses across the country support colleges, universities, and other non-profits by matching gift donations. Matching gift programs are corporate philanthropy initiatives that enhance an employee’s charitable donations to a qualified nonprofit.

For Lain Causey, donating to Centenary College has been a great experience, and the matching gift program offered through his company has allowed him to triple his gifts to the College. “I retired from ExxonMobil several years ago,” said Causey. “Employee communications while I was working there informed me that a 3:1 matching program was available for qualified donations. The 3:1 match made it very attractive for optimizing my gift to Centenary.”

ExxonMobil, like most corporate matching gift companies, maintains a website with all of the information Causey needs to match his gifts as well as a record of his past contributions. “Every year, when I get ready to make the gift, I contact Centenary and reconfirm the information on the account number. The process has always worked very well and takes minimal effort on my part,” said Causey.

As in the example of Exxon Mobil, many companies will match gifts at a greater than 1:1 ratio. Donors must visit their personnel offices to pick up the appropriate forms or fill them out online and send to Centenary along with their gift. The Centenary Development Office will finish completing the form and return it to the company’s office to receive the match. This is an easy and wonderful way to increase donor support for Centenary.

Last year, Centenary received over $15,000 in matching gifts. If you would like to see if your company offers a matching gift program that will supplement your gift, please visit http://www.matchinggifts.com/centenary to start the process. Donors must initiate matching gifts.