The Nonprofit Fundraising Solution

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHALLENGE GIFT DRIVES AND CORPORATE MATCHING GIFTS

ANYONE WHO'S EVER LISTENED TO a public radio station in this country will be familiar with the concept of a challenge gift drive. Deep into the annual pledge drive, the radio host announces something like: “Sponsor X is committing $5,000 toward our goal of $10,000, but only if we can raise the rest of our goal by the end of the month,” or “Sponsor Y will match, on a 1:1 basis, each of the first $5,000 in gifts we receive until the end of the month.” No matter what your taste in radio programming, these time-sensitive pledge drives are inevitably irritating to listen to (even professional fundraisers would rather hear music). Yet they continue to endure. Why?

Before I answer that ...