Charitable Matching Gift Program

Purpose

To support employees' personal charitable giving to education and arts/cultural organizations by matching their eligible personal contributions.

Eligibility

• Regular, full-time employees who have completed a minimum service period (for example, 12 months of continuous service).
• Retired employees, on a phase-out basis (see below).
• Spouses of eligible employees.

How matching works

• The company matches eligible personal contributions dollar-for-dollar, up to an annual per-person (and spouse combined) limit set by the company (for example, several thousand dollars per calendar year).
• Each individual gift must meet a small minimum threshold (for example, $25) to qualify.
• Gifts must be paid, not merely pledged, and may be made by personal check or marketable securities with a readily determinable value.
• Retired employees remain eligible at the active-employee limit through the calendar year of retirement; the eligible match amount then steps down each subsequent calendar year until it phases out entirely (for example, over a three-year period).

Eligible recipient organizations

To qualify for matching, an organization should be recognized by the IRS as tax-exempt under Section 501(c)(3) and classified as a public charity (not a private foundation) under Section 509(a) — confirmed, for example, by checking IRS Tax Exempt Organization Search before processing a match. Restricting eligibility to 501(c)(3) public charities is a substantive requirement, not just a preference: it protects the deductibility of the company's matching payment and reduces the risk of private-benefit or private-inurement issues (see Tax treatment and program integrity below).

Education track

• Accredited two-year and four-year colleges, universities, and technical institutions located in the U.S. (or its territories), recognized as tax-exempt.
• Eligible alumni funds, foundations, and associations that collect funds on behalf of an eligible institution and are themselves tax-exempt.
• Tax-exempt education funds whose sole purpose is raising money for eligible constituent member institutions.
• Accredited, private, non-profit, college-preparatory secondary schools.

Arts and culture track

• Non-profit arts and cultural organizations that are open to and operate for the benefit of the general public, are U.S.-based, and are recognized as tax-exempt — for example, performing arts companies, cultural centers, public libraries, museums, theaters, zoos and botanical gardens, and public broadcasting organizations.

Tax treatment and program integrity

• Gifts that provide the employee (or a person related to the employee) with a direct personal benefit — for example, payments that reduce the employee's own or a family member's tuition, dues, or event admission — are excluded under What doesn't qualify below, both because they fall outside ordinary charitable-gift matching practice and because they raise private-benefit concerns for the recipient organization's tax-exempt status.
• Matching payments to organizations that are not validly recognized as 501(c)(3) public charities (for example, private foundations, Section 501(c)(4) social welfare organizations, or Section 527 political organizations) are not eligible under this program.
• The company (or its giving-program administrator) confirms an organization's current tax-exempt and public-charity status before processing a match.

What doesn't qualify

• Gifts to elementary schools or public (non-independent) secondary schools.
• Gifts to alumni or similar groups that don't pass funds through to an eligible institution.
• Gifts supporting non-scholastic activities such as athletics or facility construction.
• Payments toward pledges, tithes, or other religious financial commitments.
• Dues, memberships, admission fees, or event/subscription payments.
• Promotional or fundraising-event payments (for example, raffles or sales events).
• Any payment that isn't tax-deductible as a charitable contribution under applicable tax rules, or that otherwise doesn't meet the intent of this program.

Administration

This program is interpreted and administered at the company's discretion (for example, by a contributions or corporate-giving committee), whose decisions on eligibility are final. The company may suspend, modify, or discontinue the program at any time; participation creates no entitlement or ongoing obligation.

Responsibilities

Role	Responsibility
Employee	Submits a matching-gift request with proof of payment to an eligible organization.
Company / Giving Committee	Verifies eligibility, applies matching funds, and administers the program.