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Sparking Individual Giving with a Strategic Match
Amplifying Independent Jewish Films Through Matching
Joey Javonovich
Development Coordinator
Jewish Story Partners
Jewish Story Partners (JSP) partnered with MatchNice to launch an online fundraising campaign with a matching donation to engage individual supporters, create urgency, and inspire timely giving in time for the Jewish holiday of Rosh Hashanah. JSP surpassed their initial $5,000 matching goal, increased the match amount to $7,500 mid-campaign, and finished at $11,000 for a total impact of $18,500 in 19 days.
366%
increase in year-over-year revenue
194%
increase in average gift size
189%
increase in total number of donations
“Watching the progress in real time was addictive and exciting. We raised $11,000 from 34 donors, last year it was about $3,000 from 18."
🤲 Challenge: Fostering Stronger Individual Support
Jewish Story Partners was still building its online donor base, since most funding historically came from major donors and foundations, such as Spielberg’s Righteous Persons Foundation.
“There was some wariness of an online giving campaign, since we hadn’t tried it before. But we decided to go for it and see what happened.”
📈 Impact: Bigger Gifts, More Donors, Faster Results
The match inspired urgency: 34 individual donors gave $11,000 in 19 days, including several large gifts. Each email drove progress, and raising the match from $5,000 to $7,500 sustained momentum through the finish.
“Once we crossed $5,000, donations really came in, we worked with our matcher to increase the match to $7,500, and it clearly motivated people to give sooner.”
💡 Advice to Others: Keep Matches Short, Focused and Visible
Short windows drive urgency, reduce email fatigue and pair matching with major moments where donors are already aware. The MatchNice matching banner design stood out donors against their website color scheme.
“Short, fast matches are more effective, people give when there’s a deadline… The banner’s different colors helped it stand out instead of blending in.”
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