What is Matched Funding?
Matched Funding (MF) is a corporate social responsibility initiative where businesses match the financial contributions or fundraising efforts made by their employees. This process allows companies to amplify the impact of individual donations, channeling resources to a vetted network of local charities and community groups.
The Matched Funding model functions as a partnership between a company, its workforce, and local organisations. By matching employee-raised funds, businesses can track community impact while empowering their teams to support causes, both locally and nationally.
The operational process
Matched Funding claims follow a structured journey to ensure security and transparency:
- Nomination: The process begins when an employee submits a nomination via the Neighbourly platform, linked to a specific company campaign.
- Evidence: The employee must provide proof of the fundraising activity, such as an evidence form or documentation of the funds raised.
- Review: The nomination data for each company campaign is reviewed to ensure it aligns with programme guidelines.
- Approval: Approved nominations are prepared for payment.
Charity engagement and payment
Once a claim is approved, the focus shifts to the charity or organisation receiving the payment:
- Invitation: The system notifies the organisation that they have been chosen for funding.
- Vetting and onboarding: If the organisation is already on Neighbourly, they simply log in to their account to provide their bank details. If the organisation needs to join, they create an account which then undergoes vetting.
- Payment: After bank details are verified, the funding is paid to the charitable organisation on the company's behalf.
- Impact measurement: To close the loop, charities are asked to complete an impact survey three months later, providing information on how the funds were used.
Matched funding is powerful because it turns individual intent into collective impact. For businesses, it’s a simple way to show up for the causes their employee base care about, and for employees, it makes every pound they give feel more meaningful and motivating. Most importantly, for charitable organisations, it unlocks vital and often otherwise inaccessible funding - multiplying the value of donations and helping them support more people in a climate where every resource counts.
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