Since 1984, the ForHearts mission to provide implantable cardiovascular devices for people in need in developing countries around the world has saved 17,000 lives, and counting! It takes a global community to make a mission this big a reality, and a big part of this community is the support of our corporate sponsors and business partners.
“Supporting ForHearts allows corporate teams to come together with their own communities to support efforts towards an overall global mission, which is to save lives,” says Miriam Hernandez, ForHearts Marketing Coordinator.
Your business can become a heart hero supporting the ForHearts mission in many ways, from underwriting fundraising events through corporate sponsorship to promoting ForHearts through cause-related marketing campaigns. One of the easiest ways to support ForHearts is with corporate matching. No matter the size of your company or the amount you are able to commit to matching, corporate matching programs can help your giving go farther and bring your employees together.
How to Start Corporate Matching
A corporate matching program is a great way for your company to make a positive impact and support charitable causes that align with your business values and social responsibility goals. It also provides your employees with an opportunity to put their values into action, encouraging them to give back and engage with their community. When employees know their company supports (and matches) their philanthropic efforts, they have a deeper engagement to their work and a greater sense of connection to their coworkers and the corporate culture.
Many employers offer corporate matching as part of their employee benefits or corporate social responsibility initiatives. If you don’t have a corporate matching program, it’s easy to get one started. Here’s how:
1. Employees Donate: Your employee makes a monetary donation to a charitable organization. This could be to a specified charity your company is matching donations to or it could be any charity of the employee’s choosing. It all depends on how you as a company want to encourage employee giving.
2. Verify the Donation: Your employee then notifies you of their donation and provides necessary documentation. This could be a receipt or email confirmation from the nonprofit organization. If you have a larger company or a partnership with a specified charity, you may have a web portal for easy employee giving and seamless verification and matching.
3. Make a Matching Contribution: Once you have verified the qualifying donation, your company can make the match. This could be a dollar-for-dollar match, an “up to” a certain dollar amount match, or a percentage match. It is all up to you and the amount you’re able to commit to as a business.
Every dollar matched makes a difference, increasing the impact of the donations made by your employees and showing them that you are committed to being a purpose-driven, socially responsible company.
Corporate Matching Donations to ForHearts
A corporate matching program with ForHearts can bring that greater meaning to your employees and value to your business, while saving lives across the world.
If you already have a matching gift program, consider making ForHearts Worldwide one of your charities of choice. If you do not have a company program, consider implementing a formal corporate giving and matching gift program that clearly outlines your giving goals and matching criteria, making it easy for your employees to give and have their gift match.
If a “program” seems too large to take on, remember, giving back can start with just one individual. Whether you’re a small business owner or individual employee, you can start the giving and matching with your colleagues. You can set the matching amount—as much as you’re able to give—and amplify the impact of your donation ForHearts in need.
One of the best ways to inspire employee (or coworker) giving is to change up the giving and matching opportunities throughout the year. For example, you could switch from dollar-for-dollar matches to a higher percentage or ratio greater than 1:1 matching during a giving campaign or awareness month. At ForHearts, we invite our corporate matching partners to emphasize employee giving with matching during relevant awareness days like World Heart Day (September 29) and American Heart Month (every February). You can raise awareness of our mission to provide life-saving cardiovascular care in developing countries and amplify the impact of your giving for hearts in need by matching employee donations made during these giving campaigns.
Every year, GivingTuesday (the Tuesday after Thanksgiving) kicks off the holiday giving season. Many companies choose to offer corporate matching to their employees’ charitable giving to any charity of their choice on this day. Whether you’re looking to launch a corporate matching program in 2024 or planning out your 2024 giving, we encourage you to support ForHearts with your corporate matching on Giving Tuesday—December 3, 2024!
December may seem like a long way off (over 8 months!), but think of all you can achieve together, all the lives you can touch, when you set your corporate matching goals now and start giving together as a corporate team. Whether you are a small business or a large corporation, corporate matching donations to ForHearts extends your business impact from the Tampa Bay area to supporting hearts in need in Mexico, the Caribbean, Central America, the Philippines, and beyond!
Learn more about corporate matching, gifting, and partnerships with ForHearts.