Understanding where your donors work can unlock powerful opportunities for fundraising, especially through employee giving programs like matching gifts, payroll giving, and volunteer grants. But without the right tools, uncovering that employment information can be time-consuming and incomplete. That’s where employer append services come in.
These tools are designed to help nonprofits enrich their donor data with employment details, allowing for better segmentation, more personalized workplace giving outreach, and increased access to corporate philanthropy dollars. In this post, we’ll rank the top employer append services for nonprofits, comparing their strengths, limitations, and ideal use cases to help you choose the right fit for your fundraising goals.
- What Is an Employer Append Service?
- Use Cases—How Nonprofits Are Leveraging Employer Data
- Key Criteria for Ranking Employer Append Vendors
- Top Employer Append Services for Nonprofits (Ranked)
- Questions to Ask Before Choosing an Appending Vendor
Whether you’re new to workplace fundraising or you’re a seasoned corporate giving pro, an employer append has the potential to unlock new streams of revenue for you and your cause. But doing so the right way, with the right provider, is essential.
Let’s begin with the basics!
What Is an Employer Append Service?
An employer append service is a data enhancement tool that helps nonprofits identify where their donors work by adding employment information to existing supporter records. Using details like a donor’s name, email address, and mailing information, these services match individuals with verified employer data from commercial or proprietary databases.
For nonprofits, this information is especially valuable when it comes to workplace giving. Knowing a donor’s employer can help uncover eligibility for matching gift programs, volunteer grants, payroll giving, and other corporate philanthropy initiatives. It also opens the door to more personalized outreach and better segmentation, allowing you to tailor campaigns based on employer-related opportunities.
Some employer append services focus solely on providing basic employment data. In contrast, others are explicitly built for workplace giving and include insights like company-specific matching gift policies or volunteer incentives. Depending on your fundraising strategy, choosing the right type of service can significantly amplify your impact.
Use Cases—How Nonprofits Are Leveraging Employer Data
Employer data isn’t just a nice-to-have. It’s a powerful tool nonprofits are using to drive smarter, more effective workplace fundraising strategies. Once appended to donor records, employment information can be used in a variety of ways to deepen engagement and unlock corporate giving opportunities.
Here are a few common use cases you might consider:
- Identifying Matching Gift Opportunities: When you know where a donor works, you can quickly determine if their employer offers a matching gift program and encourage them to submit a request. This simple action can double the impact of a single donation with no added cost to the donor.
- Activating Volunteer Grants: Employer data also helps you flag volunteers who may be eligible for corporate volunteer grant programs. If someone recently volunteered and works for a company that rewards service hours with donations, that’s a perfect opportunity for follow-up.
- Unlocking Payroll Giving Revenue: Once you know a donor’s employer, you can check whether that company offers a payroll giving program and reach out with tailored messaging to encourage enrollment. When available, these programs allow employees to give directly from their paycheck—often with minimal effort—and can result in more consistent and predictable giving over time.
- Developing Corporate Partnerships: When a significant portion of your donor base works at the same company, it may signal an opportunity to build a formal relationship with that employer. This could include sponsorships, in-kind donations, or other workplace fundraising campaigns.
- Segmenting Communications: Employment data allows you to segment your outreach more meaningfully. For example, you can send targeted messages to donors who work for companies with generous workplace giving programs, or highlight opportunities specific to employees of certain corporations.
By leveraging employer data in these ways, nonprofits can boost revenue, strengthen donor relationships, and make corporate philanthropy a more consistent part of their fundraising strategy.
Key Criteria for Ranking Employer Append Vendors
Not all employer append services are created equal, and choosing the right one can significantly impact the quality and usability of your donor data. To help nonprofits make informed decisions, we evaluated employer append vendors based on several key criteria. Here’s a quick overview of what we looked for:
Data Accuracy and Freshness:
High-quality employment data is only valuable if it’s accurate and up to date. We prioritized vendors that verify their information against reliable sources and refresh their databases regularly to reflect current employment changes.
Workplace Giving Relevance:
Some vendors go beyond basic employer information by surfacing workplace giving insights, such as matching gifts, payroll giving, and volunteer grant eligibility. We gave higher marks to services that make it easier for nonprofits to act on employer data within a workplace giving context.
Ease of Use and Accessibility:
Whether you’re a large organization or a small team, the service should be straightforward to use. We considered how easily the appended data could be viewed, organized, and leveraged, especially alongside workplace giving automation platforms like Double the Donation.
Customization and Flexibility:
Every nonprofit has different data needs. Vendors that offer customizable append options, flexible pricing tiers, and the ability to tailor data formats received higher scores in our ranking.
Support and Transparency:
Transparent match methodologies, responsive customer service, and thorough documentation were all indicators of a strong partner. We valued vendors who make it easy to understand where data comes from and how to use it confidently.
By leveraging these criteria, we aimed to highlight services that not only deliver reliable data but also empower nonprofits to turn that data into action, ultimately helping you raise more through workplace giving programs and beyond.
Top Employer Append Services for Nonprofits (Ranked)
If you’re looking to enhance your donor database with employment information, choosing the right employer append service can make a big difference. This is especially true when workplace giving is a key part of your fundraising strategy.
Below, we’ve ranked two leading options based on data quality, usability, and their value for workplace giving programs. Let’s take a look at the results.
#1: Double the Donation
Double the Donation stands out as the most robust and actionable employer append solution available to nonprofits today. Unlike basic data append tools, Double the Donation is purpose-built to support workplace giving.
In addition to identifying where your donors work, it surfaces relevant insights like matching gift and volunteer grant availability, payroll giving eligibility, and other company-specific giving policies—all within the same ecosystem.
Why It Ranks First:
- Best-in-class workplace giving data, not just employer names
- Seamless use alongside Double the Donation’s suite of workplace giving tools
- Regularly updated databases with current employment info
- Actionable outputs that support real-time outreach and segmentation
- Designed specifically with nonprofit fundraisers in mind
Best for:
Nonprofits looking to drive workplace giving revenue, increase engagement in the programs, and proactively identify corporate giving opportunities with ease.
#2: NPO Info
Meanwhile, NPOInfo provides a dependable donor-level employer append service that includes some workplace giving information—but with a broader and less specialized focus than Double the Donation. While it can help nonprofits identify where donors work and surface limited insights into corporate giving programs, the data tends to be more static and not always up to date.
Workplace giving details like matching gift policies or volunteer grant eligibility may be included but are often less complete or current, making the results less actionable for immediate fundraising efforts. It’s a solid choice for general donor data enhancement but not as strong for nonprofits looking to drive real-time workplace giving outcomes.
Why It Ranks Second:
- Provides basic employer data, but not giving program specifics
- Less frequently updated—risk of outdated or incomplete info
- No direct integration with workplace giving tools
- Minimal support for activating corporate philanthropy strategies
Best for:
Organizations that need a simple, one-time data enhancement project but aren’t focused heavily on workplace giving or matching gift outreach.
In summary, if your goal is to turn employment data into fundraising revenue, Double the Donation offers the most complete, strategic solution. NPOInfo, while dependable for basic data enhancement, falls short in delivering the real-time, actionable insights nonprofits need to maximize workplace giving.
Questions to Ask Before Choosing an Appending Vendor
Before committing to any employer append service, it’s essential to ask the right questions to ensure the vendor aligns with your nonprofit’s goals, budget, and overall strategy. Here are some key questions to guide your evaluation process:
- What sources do you use for employment data? Understanding where the data comes from—and how it’s verified—will give you insight into the accuracy and reliability of the results.
- How recent and frequently updated is your data? Employment status can change quickly. Ask how often the vendor refreshes its databases to determine whether the data reflects current donor employment rather than outdated information.
- Do you provide any workplace giving–specific insights? Some vendors simply list employers, while others identify matching gift programs, volunteer grants, payroll giving, and other corporate giving opportunities. Clarify whether the service supports your workplace giving goals directly.
- How is the data delivered, and how easy is it to use? Find out if the appended data is formatted for easy review or utilize alongside your workplace giving tools (like Double the Donation), and whether any technical setup or integrations are required.
- Is your pricing flexible based on volume or project size? Make sure the vendor offers pricing models that match your budget and data needs, whether you’re appending a few hundred records or your entire database.
- Do you offer support or consultation during the process? Look for vendors who provide clear communication, guidance, and post-project support to help you make the most of the data you receive.
Asking these questions upfront helps ensure you’re not just getting employment data but getting data you can act on confidently to boost your fundraising outcomes.
Final Thoughts & Recommendations
Employer append services can be a valuable addition to your data strategy, helping your team uncover workplace giving opportunities and deepen donor engagement. But not all solutions are built the same. Some offer actionable insights tailored for workplace giving, while others focus more broadly on general data enrichment.
The best choice depends on your organization’s size, goals, and how you plan to use the data, especially in conjunction with tools like Double the Donation. By selecting the right partner, you’ll be better equipped to turn employment data into meaningful fundraising results. Good luck!
Interested in learning even more about powering your workplace giving efforts with an employer append? Check out these additional resources:
- Avoid These 5 Employer Appending Mistakes Nonprofits Make. Employer appends are valuable, but they can be tricky. Before diving in, make sure you’re avoiding the most common errors nonprofits run into during the employer appending process.
- How Employer Appending Completes Your Workplace Giving Donor Profiles. Learn how employment data goes beyond simple record-filling. With the right tools, it can power more innovative outreach, segmentation, and giving program activation.
- How to Choose a Nonprofit Employer Append Service (A Guide). Ready to move forward with employer appending? This guide walks you through how to evaluate providers, compare features, and choose a service that aligns with your goals.
