Challenge Gift Drives and Corporate Matching Gifts - NPQ - Nonprofit Quarterly

Challenge Gift Drives and Corporate Matching Gifts - NPQ - Nonprofit Quarterly: Anyone who’s ever listened to a public radio station in the U.S. 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 endure. Why?