New to ioby? It might be best to start with our general FAQ here.

Match Funding

Who is eligible to receive matching funds? Anyone working on a project that makes one of the Healthy Neighborhoods Challenge communities a healthier place to live, work, and play! Individual residents, informal groups of friends and neighbors, nonprofits, schools, community-based organizations, and community development corporations are all invited to submit their project ideas. To be eligible for the match, your project must fit the specific eligibility criteria described here.

What if I have more than one eligible project idea? It’s best to pick one thing to crowdfund for at a time. If you’re trying to decide between several possible funding needs, keep in mind that crowdfunding works best for projects that are concrete and specific, where residents will be able to see the results or participate in the project they helped fund.

How do I get approved for match funding? Simply share your project idea via the brief form here. You’ll need to create an ioby account, or sign into an existing ioby account, to do this; the process typically takes 5-10 minutes.

After you share your project idea with us, you'll be contacted by an ioby Leader Success Strategist--one of our experienced in-house fundraising coaches--within 1 or 2 business days. They can confirm for you if the project idea you shared is eligible for matching funds, or ask questions if we need a little more information. If you’re fairly confident your project fits the public guidelines, feel free to begin building a fundraising page immediately after sharing your idea, or you can wait to hear from us.

If I’m approved for match funding, am I guaranteed to receive a specific amount?  No, this is a challenge match, not a grant. Your team needs to raise a dollar to receive a dollar, and no amount of match funding is guaranteed in advance. If you begin a campaign, but then stop fundraising for several months, there is no guarantee that match funding will still be available later. Funds will be distributed on a first-come basis to all participating campaigns, so that funding flows toward projects with the most urgent funding needs and active teams.

How do I know if match funding is still available for my project? When you share your project idea, your ioby Leader Success Strategist will alert you in the case that match funds are running low and you may not be able to access the maximum amount; then you can decide if you would like to go forward with fundraising or not. If you are already participating in the Healthy Neighborhoods Challenge, but have not yet met your fundraising goal, ioby will alert you when match funds begin running low.

How much match funding can I receive on my campaign?  $8,000 is the maximum amount that can be applied to any campaign in the Healthy Neighborhoods Challenge. This cap helps ensure that multiple projects will have access to funding.

What if my project is small and I don't need $8,000? Or what if I don't think I can raise that much?  That's totally fine! This program is appropriate for small-scale grassroots projects and ioby has lots of experience supporting smaller campaigns. You are not required to try to use the full $8,000 in match funding.

Should the goal I set on my fundraising page include the amount of match funding I hope to receive? Yes. For example, if you need $2,000 to implement your project, your public goal on your page would be $2,000—you would only need to fundraise $1,000 of that goal, which would be doubled as you fundraise.

How does match funding on ioby work? When you are fundraise on ioby with match funding, donations to your campaign will be doubled instantly, so you move toward your goal twice as fast. So if someone donates $25, your page will reflect a donation of $50!  

Your page will continue to accept donations after your goal is met and you can raise your campaign goal at any time. You are always welcome to raise more (unmatched) funds beyond the maximum match funding cap, and you can keep whatever match funds you earn even if you raise less than the cap.

For example, here are some possible budget scenarios:

Your original goal: $4,000

You raise: $2,000

Match funding added: $2,000

Total disbursed at end of campaign: $4,000

 

Your original goal: $4,000

You raise: $1,000

Match funding added: $1,000

Total disbursed at end of campaign: $2,000

 

Your original goal: $4,000

You raise: $5,000

Match funding added: $5,000

Total disbursed at end of campaign: $10,000

 

Your original goal: $20,000

You raise: $12,000

Match funding added: $8,000

Total disbursed at end of campaign: $20,000

Shouldn't I set a really big goal and hope for the best? You will only receive match funding equivalent to what you raise, so we encourage you to aim for an amount of funding that fits your team’s fundraising capacity and immediate budget needs. Also, it makes crowdfunding more difficult to set a larger goal than you have a plan to reach, because donors are less likely to give to campaigns that don't look likely to meet their goal. Our webinars, campaign planning tools, and your Leader Success Strategist can all help you set a goal that fits your team size and fundraising plan.

What if I use up all the match funding I was originally planning for, but want to keep fundraising? Great! With ioby’s flexible finish policy you can always raise your goal mid-campaign if needed. If you hit the $8,000 match cap, you are also welcome to keep fundraising additional unmatched dollars.

What happens if I don’t meet my goal? Our trainings and one-on-one support are intended to give you and your team the best shot as success. However, if you fall short of your goal, you'll still keep anything you raised and equivalent match funding. When you close your campaign, your Leader Success Strategist will ask you to adjust the budget on your page to show how you’ll use the smaller amount of funds toward your project.

Can I apply match funding to any donation? Match funding is meant to make it easier for you to reach out to your networks broadly to ask for donations, and not meant for doubling just one or two large gifts. For that reason, we’ll only be matching up to the first $1,000 of any single donation.

When will I receive match funding?  Donations to your ioby campaign page will be doubled instantly as people donate to your page. When you decide to close your campaign, you’ll receive the total you raised plus match funding as one lump sum, via check. ioby’s super-low fees will be retained from that total. After you've signed your project agreement, please allow 7 business days to receive your check. If you haven't signed your project agreement, we cannot send you your funding.

Does ioby accept checks?  Yes. It's not standard practice, but if you have a donor who prefers to give by check instead of credit card, they can send their check to ioby to be applied to your campaign. ioby's donation processing fee of 3% also applies to check donations, and check donations are able to be matched. We won’t be able to match a check donation until we receive and process the check, whereas online donations are matched instantly.

About the Healthy Neighborhoods Challenge

What is the goal of this program? At ioby, we believe residents know best what their neighborhood needs. This program aims to provide support, in the form of matching funds and fundraising training, to residents who are stepping forward to lead the way to a healthier community, and to the local organizations supporting innovative, community-engaged work.

How long will Healthy Neighborhoods Challenge match funds be available?  This will depend on how many projects participate. Funding will be distributed on a first-come, first-served basis as participating leaders fundraise, but we currently expect to have enough funding to support campaigns through 2020, and will possibly still have funding in early 2021.  

What reporting is required later if I participate? Reporting for this program includes completion of three required surveys, that we try to keep as short as possible. Here’s what to expect:

  • Pre-fundraising survey - we’ll ask you to fill this out before you begin fundraising.

  • Pre-disbursement survey - we’ll ask you to fill this out when you finish fundraising and we’re in the process of disbursing your check.

These quick surveys before and after you fundraise help us assess the effectiveness of our fundraising support services. Completion of these surveys is required for accessing matching funds.

  • Project Implementation Survey - When you close out your campaign, we'll ask when you plan to implement your project. When that implementation date has passed, we’ll ask you to complete the Project Implementation Survey, where you'll tell us things like how the project went and roughly how many residents participated. If you prefer to answer these questions via a phone call with our staff, that's also an option, and if your original implementation date changes, just let us know.

Reporting on project implementation is required for all projects that receive Healthy Neighborhoods Challenge funding. We'll ask you to share photos from your implemented project that we may use in public reports or blog posts to help share the power of your work and inspire other leaders.  

Other Questions?

Contact ioby Partnerships Manager, Ethany Uttech, at ethany@ioby.org or 917-464-4515 x5.

 

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Support for this work was provided by the New York State Health Foundation (NYSHealth).