From the Answer Desk: How can I find foundations that offer volunteer match programs?

Some corporate foundations award funding to nonprofits with which employees of their sponsoring companies have volunteered.  These are often called “Dollars for Doers” programs but are also referred to as “Volunteer Match” or “Volunteer Matching” programs.

In Foundation Directory Online, we use the Type of Support field term “Employee volunteer services” to indicate that the employees of the grantmaker's sponsoring company provide volunteer services. In making grants, many companies and company-sponsored foundations favor organizations with which their employees volunteer. Using the index phrase “Employee volunteer services” in your search will highlight corporate grantmakers that likely also have Volunteer Match programs.

You can also use the keyword search field to find foundations that have these types of programs.  Using the phrases “dollars for doers”, or “volunteer match*” (where the asterisk acts as a wildcard to find “match” or “matching”) are also effective in locating these programs, and can be used to supplement the results of your “Employee volunteer services” search.

For information on other types of matching gifts programs, we suggest you read our FAQs on the subject, including What are employee matching gifts?  The Council on Foundations’ What types of support do corporations provide to non profit organizations? is helpful as well.

Have a question?  Ask us!

(This post is from Robert Bruno, Reference Librarian, Foundation Center-New York.)

Some corporate foundations award funding to nonprofits with which employees of their sponsoring companies have volunteered.  These are often called “Dollars for Doers” programs but are also referred to as “Volunteer Match” or “Volunteer Matching” programs.

In Foundation Directory Online, we use the Type of Support field term “Employee volunteer services” to indicate that the employees of the grantmaker's sponsoring company provide volunteer services. In making grants, many companies and company-sponsored foundations favor organizations with which their employees volunteer. Using the index phrase “Employee volunteer services” in your search will highlight corporate grantmakers that likely also have Volunteer Match programs.

You can also use the keyword search field to find foundations that have these types of programs.  Using the phrases “dollars for doers”, or “volunteer match*” (where the asterisk acts as a wildcard to find “match” or “matching”) are also effective in locating these programs, and can be used to supplement the results of your “Employee volunteer services” search.

For information on other types of matching gifts programs, we suggest you read our FAQs on the subject, including What are employee matching gifts?  The Council on Foundations’ What types of support do corporations provide to non profit organizations? is helpful as well.

Have a question?  Ask us!

(This post is from Robert Bruno, Reference Librarian, Foundation Center-New York.)