More nonprofits seem to be competing for fewer grant dollars every year. Submitting application after application with little positive response can be frustrating and tiresome. But nonprofits can take advantage of corporate matching gifts to boost their grants revenue.

Over time, your nonprofit can build relationships with foundations that grow each year and that become sustaining sources of income. But it takes a while to get there.

One way to quickly boost your nonprofit’s revenue from writing grants is to increase individual donations. You should work to draw community leaders to your auction tables, board room, and volunteers list. Once you’ve done that, they’ll ideally become loyal donors who attract their friends to the cause, too.

These community members’ employers can be important sources of revenue, too. Many corporations operate corporate giving programs, though often they prefer to provide matching gifts at the direction of their employees rather than host open calls for grant applications. Some offer a 1:1 or 2:1 match with their employee’s cash gifts or even volunteer hours with your organization. The trick is finding out which companies offer this, and encouraging your volunteers, board members, and supporters to actually submit records of their involvement to their companies.

Double the Donation has a great list of top companies that offer matching gift programs, and lots more local companies do, too. Continually mine your contacts list — from volunteers to donors to board members — to determine whose employer might participate in matches. Then remind those contacts to sign on with the program, and wait for the checks to roll in.

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