Matching Gifts Programs Present Opportunities for AIS

by deLille Anthony, AIS parent and volunteer

On December 5, USA Today reported that about $570 million in lottery prizes went unclaimed last year--nearly 2% of the $33 billion in prizes awarded. Lottery officials attribute these unclaimed prizes to “human forgetfulness.” One prize is worth $31 million. Someone forgot to cash in a $31 million lottery ticket? Hard to believe!

And yet, many AIS parents also forget to cash in their lottery tickets, totaling tens of thousands of dollars that go unclaimed each year. These “lottery tickets” are the matching gifts from one’s employer. Many companies in Atlanta match one-for-one, some two-for-one, the contributions that their employees make to their children’s schools. But these matches are not made unless the employee submits a matching gift form to his or her employer. And just like the state lottery, unmatched contributions are most often attributed to “parent forgetfulness” to submit a form.

We are so grateful to those of you who have already given to Atlanta International School’s Annual Fund this year, as well as to those of you who are considering a gift. We are even more appreciative of those of you have already doubled--or maybe even tripled--your gift by submitting your matching gift form.

If you have given to this year’s Annual Fund but haven’t submitted your matching gift form, please don’t forget to claim your “prize money”. Contact your company’s human resources department today to get a copy of their matching gifts form. (Or, your company might provide their form online via its Intranet.) Most companies have a time limit within which they will match a gift, but because that window can be up to a year, there is still time to also request a matching gift for a contribution made during the second half of last year’s Annual Fund drive.

Below is a partial list of companies that match gifts. If you do not see your company listed, please contact your employer and ask if they will match your contribution to AIS. If they will, please let us know so that we can add them to our list of matching gift companies.

For more information about matching gifts, please contact Ashley Howze in the Development Office by phone at 404-841-3895 or by email at ahowze@aischool.org.

And again, thank you so much for giving to the Annual Fund drive this year.

Atlanta Area Companies that Match Employee Contributions to AIS

Bank of America Foundation
Cisco Systems, Inc.
Fannie Mae Foundation
GE Foundation
ING Community & Volunteer Matching Gifts Program
Merrill Lynch & Company Foundation, Inc.
Morgan Stanley
Oracle
Scientific-Atlanta, Inc.
The Coca-Cola Foundation
The Home Depot, Inc.
The Wachovia Foundation, Inc.
Time Warner Foundation
United Soft Plastics, Inc.
UPS Foundation, Inc.
Wachovia Bank of Georgia
WellPoint Foundation

Please call us at 404-841-3895 if your company matches employee gifts but is not listed above.