Matching grants require our partners to raise a portion of the grant funds, which are then matched by One Day’s Wages dollar for dollar. Most of our matching grants are 1:1 matches. For example, if a proposed project budget is $30,000, the partner would be responsible for raising $15,000 on ODW’s fundraising platform and ODW would match up to $15,000.  Please note that we are not able to accept donations to the campaign that the partner has already received and deposited; the partners’ contributions must be received through the fundraising page set up by ODW.

We occasionally award 2:1 or 3:1 matching grants to locally-led, community-based organizations that do not have a Western-based branch, board, or network of donors.  For these grants, ODW matches the amount raised by the partner two times or three times.

The grant vetting process for a matching grant can take anywhere from 3-4 months, depending on how quickly an applicant is able to submit materials and how many follow-up questions the grant vetting team may have along the way.

If your organization is applying for an Emergency Relief Matching Grant, your grant application will be processed with an expedited timeline in an attempt to accommodate the pressing nature of the relief program. This can be as short as 3-5 weeks, depending on how many follow-up questions the grant vetting team may have along the way.

If the project budget is $30,000, the partner would be responsible for raising $15,000 on ODW’s fundraising platform and ODW would match up to (but no more than) $15,000. Funds raised in excess of the grant goal will be disbursed to the partner, but they will not be matched by ODW.

If your application is approved by the board, we will send you an approval email along with a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for two members of your organization to sign. ODW’s Granting Team will contact you to plan a launch date for your matching grant campaign.  Once you begin fundraising, you have 90 days to reach your goal.  We ask our partners to highlight their matching grant campaign and partnership with ODW on their social media channels.

When your campaign goal is met, your campaign will be closed and ODW will send you a check or wire for the full grant amount as well as a list of all donors who contributed to your campaign.  

All fundraising for matching grants happens on ODW’s online fundraising platform. We will build a webpage for the matching grant campaign where your donors will have the option to give. They can also start a peer-to-peer fundraiser, a personalized fundraising page to encourage their friends to help you meet your goal. Applicants must be willing to direct their donors to this page on ODW’s website for the matching grant partnership. We cannot accept donations that have already been made to a partner organization. In addition to donations made on our website, checks and stock donations can be made directly to ODW.

ODW does not take any percentage of funds raised. We are a 100% model organization, which means 100% of funds raised go directly to projects on the ground. However, there is a transaction fee for credit cards of 3-6% depending on card type. Donors can choose to cover this fee as they are donating or they may choose to write a check to ODW to avoid the fee.

At this time we cannot guarantee any personalized information on applications that are denied. If you wish to re-apply, we ask that you wait at least 1 year to submit another grant application.