Seeking Input - Matched Funding in APAC/ Grants

[Kali N]

Keen to connect with any orgs in APAC who have looked at matched funding/ grants as part of their Pledge work (or other!).

Please let me know, as I would love to explore your experience with this!

[MangalaMartinus]

Hi @Kali N 

Several of the charities we donate to use our annual grant as "matched funding" for their annual fund raiser to get the momentum flowing at the start as many involve crowd funding.

I attend several TFN (The Funding Network Australia) events each year and I've seen matched funding used at their events in two ways:

- Large grants, e.g. $30K-$90K, from corporate and philanthropic foundations are used to provide matched funding for the 3 charities pitching on the night. It makes us all feel good seeing $20K of crowd funding support doubled with another $20K from the matched funder.

- Staff from various companies  attend with the support of their company (e.g. AMP, Westpac, Macquarie Bank, Accenture, etc) matching any funds donated on the night, so are able to pledge say $200 from them, matched by $200 by their company.

We support 5-6 TFN events each year with $2K for each event and invite different staff to attend to pledge the funds. We donate the funds in advance and inform TFN who will be representing us on the night and that we will be covering their pledges (as staff make the pledges in their name on the night). As the events are in different cities (Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, + regional communities, + hybrid/virtual events) and cover different themes, we have had a wide variety of staff in different locations participate (including our team in the Philippines who have attended several hybrid/virtual events) and they have all enjoyed the experience.

I'm happy to share more details if you need when we next chat.

Regards

Mangala

[Kali N]

Oh thank you @MangalaMartinus - and this is a great idea to reach on organisation, I will have a look at TFN and see how they operate.

I love your approach of allowing staff to decide on the orgs behalf which causes should be matched at the event also, that's a great way to get buy-in and engagement.

How do you decide which staff will attend? 

[MangalaMartinus]

Hi @Kali N 

We're not very big, which makes it a little easier to spread the opportunity around and also not everyone is interested in attending an after work event with a crowd of people they don't know - it's not for everyone. If there is an event in Melbourne, I'll email the team in that city and say there are a max of 3 spots available and it is based on who responds first. If there are extras, we can put them as first to be on the list for a future event. Sometimes I will ask someone personally who I know won't be comfortable attending an event on their own if they would like to attend with me - they then get to pledge all the funds when they come. Once someone has experienced their first TFN event then they are more likely to want to go again as they are very inspiring. If it is a fully virtual or hybrid event, then I email people in regional or overseas locations where the time is a good fit for their time zone. The more people that we can get to attend the events, the more that understand why we put so much effort into our purpose as they realise the impact it can have in changing lives. I've had plenty of staff say they were in tears hearing some of the founder pitches.

One of our consultants is taking her daughter to the next TFN event as her daughter feels disillusioned studying finance at university and she wants to show her that you can work in finance and still give back to the community by being part of a purpose driven business. I've taken my daughters to TFN events as I want them to hear from inspiring people who saw a problem and instead of ignoring it or walking away, took action to change lives for the better. My daughters have shed tears at TFN events too.

Regards

Mangala