As part of our commitment to building a culture of giving and volunteering at the company, the Bank of America Charitable Foundation Matching Gifts program encourages employees to contribute to causes they care about most by doubling the impact of their charitable donations to eligible nonprofits with matching gifts up to $5,000 USD per employee, per calendar year. Annually, the Bank of America Charitable Foundation provides more than $25 million in matching gifts on behalf of employee donations. In 2018, we were honored to be recognized by Fortune as a Best Workplace for Giving Back, a recognition based on feedback from employees.
Matching gifts program
Features
Matching Gifts Program Rules:
Eligible US Charitable Organizations: Charitable organizations in the United States must be tax-exempt under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code and not be classified as a private foundation or certain types of supporting organizations.
Eligible Non-US based Charitable Organizations
Charitable Organizations located in England or Wales must be registered with the Charity Commission
Charitable organizations outside of the United States, England or Wales must be qualified as eligible for donations from CAFAmerica. Employees should search on the employee programs site to determine if the organization is included in that listing. The site also provides instructions for nominating organizations that are not currently on the eligible listing. (Further information regarding CAFAmerica can be found at the CAFAmerica website. Employees should NOT contact CAFAmerica regarding the qualification of organizations.)
Gifts must be personal contributions paid directly to organizations (cash, check, credit card, securities, etc.) or paid through Bank of America’s employee giving platform via payroll deduction or credit card.
The amount of each gift must equal at least $24 USD to be eligible. As part of our efforts to address disasters around the world, we make specific exceptions to lower the minimum gift for disaster relief donations.
Donations made by US employees via payroll deduction or credit card through my Giving and Volunteering will be matched systematically once the employee selects the match request.
Donations made directly to eligible organizations:
Employee Deadline – When requesting matching gifts for donations made outside of my Giving and Volunteering which have been paid directly to the recipient organization, employees must report donations in my Giving and Volunteering and request matching gifts when prompted. Employees must then have recipient organizations verify donations using the instructions provided to claim matching gifts. Such matching gifts requests must be entered by employees by March 31 after the year in which the donation was given.
Please note that the matching gifts program is a benefit to employees and responsibility lies with each employee to follow up on the matching gift (confirming the nonprofit organization verifies the employee’s donation and/or has received the matching gift).
Organization Deadline – For donations paid directly to organizations and then reported by the employee in my Giving and Volunteering, organizations must verify receipt of employee donations by May 15 after the year in which the donation was given.
The timeframe for a matching gift may differ according to circumstances, including how quickly a nonprofit verifies an employee donation, or if a nonprofit receives electronic payments vs checks. Employee donations made electronically are processed monthly and employee donations made by check are processed quarterly. For match donations, once verified, it can take up to six months with electronic payments disbursed monthly and checks semi-annually.
US Employees: Apply for a Matching Gift for donations paid directly to organization, or set up a new payroll or credit card donation and request a matching gift
Employees outside the US: Apply for a Matching Gift
Charitable Organizations: Verify employee gift
Eligibility criteria
The Bank of America Charitable Foundation’s Matching Gifts Program is subject to IRS rules and regulations which include the following:
We do not match charitable gifts to private foundations, family or donor advised funds, or gifts to political or fraternal organizations.
We do not match charitable gifts that provide benefits directly to employees or their families, such as trips, tours, internships, tuition, event tickets, parking privileges, club dues, products and services, or discounts on products or services.
We will allow matching gifts for athletic programs with a youth development component that have an impact on grades K-12 or the in-country equivalent.
We match pledges after they are paid by the employee. Future pledges are not matched through the program. Payment of pledge must meet criteria of the program. If an organization’s program changes and is no longer eligible under the Matching Gifts Program criteria, payment will not be made.
Beyond these requirements, as a corporate foundation, our program is subject to additional restrictions which limit our support of gifts to the following:
Donations must be individual contributions provided by the participant and not a collection of donations from other parties.
We do not match charitable gifts that result in advertisements or other promotions of an individual employee's business activities.
We do not provide general funding to any organization whose purpose is to promote or to discourage the observance or proselytization of religious beliefs. However, we will support such organization’s funding of homeless shelters, soup kitchens or other social service needs. The organization may be asked to provide proof of the community project receiving funding.
We do not provide funding to any organization that discriminates based on race, religion, color, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, national origin, ancestry, citizenship, veteran, or disability status, or espouses hate.
Employee giving program review policy
Participants are:
Full-time and part-time benefit eligible employees
Active members of the Board of Directors of Bank of America Corporation
Bank of America regularly evaluates our programs to ensure the process adheres to stated guidelines and our commitment to corporate social responsibility, including random reviews of organizations receiving matching funds from our programs. Organizations selected for review will be required to provide documentation verifying receipt of individual donations for each participant.
Bank of America may suspend, change or terminate this program at any time. The interpretation, application and administration of the program shall be determined by the Board of Directors of the Bank of America Charitable Foundation Board, whose decision is final.
Make sure that you are familiar with these matching gift program rules. Failure to abide by these rules or providing any false or misleading information in connection with a matching gift request could result in disciplinary action up to and including termination, as well as possible civil or criminal liability. Bank of America reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to discontinue funding and to demand the return of the matching gift grant amount, or any portion thereof, and any income earned thereon, if you provide Bank of America with any false or misleading information or make any misrepresentations in connection with this request for a matching gift.
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