{"id":4402231441954,"date":"2026-02-02T07:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-02-02T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.philanthropy.com\/?p=4402231441954"},"modified":"2026-01-30T14:46:27","modified_gmt":"2026-01-30T19:46:27","slug":"how-one-business-surged-from-1-to-50-in-employee-giving","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.philanthropy.com\/solutions\/how-one-business-surged-from-1-to-50-in-employee-giving\/","title":{"rendered":"How One Business Surged From 1% to 50% in Employee Giving"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

It didn\u2019t make sense. How could an organization with a core value<\/a> of \u201cgiving back to others\u201d only have a participation rate of 1 percent in its matching-gift program?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Arthur M. Blank, the philanthropist who co-founded Home Depot, built the Blank Family of Businesses<\/a> on the idea that employees should live and breathe a culture of giving. He implemented our matching-gift program in 2004 to encourage them to donate to their favorite charities and have that contribution matched in full. Among companies with a matching-gift program, the average employee participation rate hovers around 10 percent<\/a> \u2014 and we were falling far short. We set out to improve our record and beat the average.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

First we conducted a listening tour. We asked organizations with strong programs, like the Home Depot Foundation and Morgan Stanley, how they achieved their success. We studied peer foundations. And we took a long, hard look at our own program, committing ourselves to reimagining everything from program design to internal communications, from incentivization to measuring progress.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here\u2019s what we learned and how we changed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We made giving more visible \u2014 and more generous.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Recognizing the power of buy-in from the top, we asked our own leaders to participate in the program and promote it with their teams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For the first time, leaders set goals for their business units and received monthly updates about their progress. During team meetings and milestone moments, like all-staff town halls, leaders directly encouraged associates to participate throughout the year. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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What began as a benefit that no one seemed to know or care about has evolved into a keystone of our organizational culture. <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

We also increased the match amount from 1:1 to 2:1 \u2014 transforming a $10 individual gift into a $30 donation to their chosen charity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We made participation frictionless.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

We needed to make it easier for people to give. We lowered the match minimum from $25 to $10 and introduced a payroll deduction option so employees could donate directly from their paychecks to the antihunger charity Feeding America. We also expanded the scope of the program to match donations to religious organizations as well as contributions to the foundation\u2019s Family Fund<\/a>, through which associates can help their co-workers who are experiencing unexpected life events.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n

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