<br />
Summer 2005<br />
IN SEARCH OF<br />
Fifty years after their<br />
debut, corporate matching<br />
gift programs continue<br />
to evolve.<br />
W<br />
hen Philip Reed, chair of General<br />
Electric's board of directors, intro-<br />
duced the first-ever matching gift<br />
program in 1954, it's unlikely that he or anyone<br />
else could have foreseen the impact his idea would<br />
have on the philanthropic landscape. In the program's<br />
first year, the GE Foundation matched nearly $200,000<br />
in employee gifts to higher education—a success<br />
by any measure. Since then, thousands of companies<br />
have contributed billions of dollars to education<br />
and other nonprofits via corporate matches. Reed's<br />
idea, so novel for its time, stemmed from his desire<br />
to see GE employees support their alma maters.<br />
He believed his employees would be more likely<b<a title="Public Record Summer 2005 page 1" href="http://viewer.zmags.com/publication/3af982ac?page=1"> Summer 2005 IN SEARCH OF Fifty years after </a>
<a title="Public Record Summer 2005 page 2" href="http://viewer.zmags.com/publication/3af982ac?page=2"> Corporate Matching Gifts story continued from p.1</a>
<a title="Public Record Summer 2005 page 3" href="http://viewer.zmags.com/publication/3af982ac?page=3"> EVENTS WRAP-UP </a>
<a title="Public Record Summer 2005 page 4" href="http://viewer.zmags.com/publication/3af982ac?page=4"> 2004-05 Honor Roll of Donors (June 1, 2004 –Ma</a>
<a title="Public Record Summer 2005 page 5" href="http://viewer.zmags.com/publication/3af982ac?page=5"> Hon. Dan T. Oki Eric L. Olofson Jill E. Olofson J</a>
<a title="Public Record Summer 2005 page 6" href="http://viewer.zmags.com/publication/3af982ac?page=6"> Bank Of America Barton Protective Services Benjam</a>
<a title="Public Record Summer 2005 page 7" href="http://viewer.zmags.com/publication/3af982ac?page=7"> Robert L. Emmer Brian D. Eyres Patricia S. Eyres </a>
<a title="Public Record Summer 2005 page 8" href="http://viewer.zmags.com/publication/3af982ac?page=8"> 919 Albany Street Los Angeles, CA 90015-1211 Non</a>