ORNL sponsors a gift-matching program to engage employees in community outreach through charitable giving. The Matching Gifts Fund recognizes personal commitments employees make to support the Lab's external communities and annually offers funds to match financial contributions made to eligible nonprofits and schools. Employees can increase their impact to their communities by participating in the Matching Gifts Fund. Employees participating for the first time are encouraged to email community@ornl.gov prior to giving if they have questions regarding their chosen organization's eligibility.
How it works for employees
The Matching Gifts Fund operates on the fiscal year (approximately October 1 - September 30) and is open to active ORNL employees with a minimum of three months of service. Retirees, subcontractors, and vendors are not eligible to participate.
- A minimum $50 employee contribution is required for each matching request.
- Requests for one or multiple eligible organizations may be made during the program's current fiscal year
- Annual matching funds are a limited to $500 maximum per employee per fiscal year
- Once an employee has reached their limit, any future gifts can no longer be matched
- Once the new fiscal year begins (Oct. 1), matching may resume
- Matching contributions are limited to $1,000 per organization per fiscal year
- Once an organization has reached its limit, they can no longer receive matched funds during the current fiscal year.
- Once the new fiscal year begins (Oct. 1), matching may resume
- Matching Gifts funds from UT-Battelle are mailed on a quarterly basis. Employee should submit requests no more frequently than quarterly for any single organization.
How it works for organizations
To be eligible for gift-matching funds, organizations must
- Be tax-exempt under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code
- Operate in the counties where ORNL employees live and work
- Appropriately reflect ORNL’s outreach mission and corporate identity
Please email community@ornl.gov with any questions.
Eligible recipients
The Matching Gifts Fund is intended to support organization in these categories:
- Civic/Cultural
- Economic Development
- Public Awareness
- STEM Education
- Volunteerism
Ineligible recipients
The Matching Gifts Fund may not be applied to the following:
- United Way, Community Shares, ORNL Gives, and other combined appeals
- Religious or political organizations as well as gifts to seminaries, theological institutions, and Bible colleges
- Organizations whose policies are inconsistent with national equal employment opportunity policies or discriminate against a person or a group because of race, ethnicity, religion, national origin, sex, disability, gender, political affiliation, or age
- Fraternities, sororities, honor societies, and campus organizations
- Colleges and universities
- Intermediary funding groups that raise money to distribute to other groups
- Private foundations and/or individuals
- In-kind gifts
- Organizations whose purpose or policies are inconsistent with ORNL’s corporate giving strategy and guidelines
How to apply
Employees—To request a matching gift, employees should complete Section A of the Matching Gifts Fund Application and mail it, along with their financial gift, to the eligible organization. Please do not mail your gift to the organization's national location. You should send your gift and the form to the local office. The eligible organization will complete Section B (see Organizations below).
Note: For walks, runs, and bike-a-thons, only the employee's own donation will be matched, not the collected team donation. A copy of the employee pledge sheet must be attached to the Matching Gift Fund Application and returned by the benefiting organization with verification of the employee's contribution. For walks, runs, and bike-a-thons, etc., please also contact Team UT-Battelle at community@ornl.gov.
Organizations—An authorized employee or board of directors’ president of the nonprofit organization should complete Section B of the Matching Gifts Fund Application and return it to the Matching Gifts Funds Program Coordinator by email (community@ornl.gov) or by US Mail (Address below).
Matching Gifts Fund applications must be returned with the appropriate information and signatures and processed within one year after the financial gift is received. After that time, the gift will no longer be eligible for matching. Forms which have been incorrectly completed may not be processed.
After the completed form is received, the Matching Gifts Funds Program Coordinator will verify the eligibility of the organization and the gift. The appropriate matching contribution will be mailed to the organization at the end of the quarterly application period. Matches will be batched and processed for payment quarterly, as follows:
- Q1 (Oct-Nov-Dec): form received by 12/31 - gift processed by 1/31
- Q2 (Jan-Feb-Mar): form received by 3/31 - gift processed by 4/30
- Q3 (Apr-May-Jun): form received by 6/30 - gift processed by 7/31
- Q4 (Jul-Aug-Sep): form received by 9/30 - gift processed by 10/31
Send the completed Matching Gifts Fund Application to community@ornl.gov or mail to:
ORNL Communications Division
ATTN: Matching Gifts Fund Program Coordinator
P.O. Box 2008
Oak Ridge, TN 37831-6266
Questions? Contact community@ornl.gov
The company reserves the right to amend, revise, suspend or terminate this program at any time.
Oak Ridge National Laboratory is managed by UT-Battelle LLC for the US Department of Energy. Please read the Community Engagement Guidelines for nonprofit giving here.
Updated 1/23/20