Examples: Leveraging community (or "local") matches during your campaign
You’ve probably heard us talk about how organizations have leveraged NewsMatch to secure community (or “local) matches. These additional match funds are donations or pledges that you, as a NewsMatch participant, secure on your own to increase the total amount of dollars matched by individuals during your NewsMatch campaign.
Additional match contributions can come from your board members, major donors, local businesses, and foundations interested in supporting your work. These gifts are made outside of the formal NewsMatch structure to increase your overall match pool.
Frequently Asked Questions
Ways to leverage a community match
Increase your overall match cap
Method #1
NewsMatch will only match up donations you receive during the campaign period up to a pre-determined match cap. You can secure additional community match funds to increase your overall match cap and inspire more supporters to give.
In the example below, The Frisc was able to increase their matching pool to $20,000 by raising $7,500 in community match funds in addition to the $12,500 matched by NewsMatch.
Triple (or even quadruple) donations for a period of time
Method #2
You can also stack your matching gifts on top of one another and boost your campaign by tripling donations for a period of time. In this scenario, a $20 gift is matched twice by two different funders.
In the example below, Next City tripled donations on #GivingNewsDay (Giving Tuesday). When donors made a gift on this day, it was matched once by NewsMatch, then matched again by Independence Public Media Foundation.
Match donations with a contribution to another cause
Method #3
Another creative way we’ve seen newsrooms leverage community matches is by generating support for another important cause in their community. This is a great way to leverage partnerships with corporate supporters or philanthropic institutions that could make a contribution on your behalf.
In this example, a supporter's new monthly gift to Sahan Journal unlocked meals for families in need in their community.
