Employee matching gift programs are corporate giving programs in which the company matches donations made by employees to eligible nonprofit organizations. It's an easy way to increase your impact.

Requesting a matching gift is typically a five minute process which must be initiated by the donor. You can do this by filling out and submitting a paper match form provided by your employer or through an electronic submission process.

1. Make a donation to a nonprofit.

2. Log into your company's matching gift submission website.

3. Once logged in, search for the nonprofit that you donated to.

4. Select the appropriate nonprofit from the search result. If it is not found, manually enter the organization's details.

5. Register the donation.

6. Submit the completed matching gift request to your employer.

While your donation to a 501(c)(3) organization is tax deductible, your matching gift is not. Only your personal contributions are eligible for tax deduction. Each party involved (yourself and your employer) can only take deductions for contributions they directly made to the nonprofit.