A seed of an idea for this project was planted well over a decade ago, when researching what organizations were matching contributions to relief efforts for areas affected by the devastating 2004 Indian Ocean Earthquake and Tsunami. I remember mentioning to someone else that I was looking for the most financially effective way to contribute to relief efforts, and the response I got was incredulous, almost scornful: Given the scope and immediate nature of the human suffering from the earthquake and subsequent tsunami, how could one possibly justify a moment's delay in making a contribution to relief efforts?

I was a bit embarrassed, and took the chiding to heart. But in the last several years, the dramatic increase in commitments to matching campaigns (whether large or small) seems to provide a tremendous opportunity for more efficacious giving: First, through spotlighting the tremendous generosity of individuals and organizations matching others' contributions through matching campaigns; but also, through allowing those looking to contribute to an effort to quickly assess how a given dollar might be most effectively donated.

One possibly relevant example: Facebook's announcement of an up-to $7 Million matching effort for the first $7 Million "Giving Tuesday" donations made on December 4, 2019 (with this having followed a similar commitment made in combination with PayPal the previous year, and a $2 Million matching pledge from the company in 2017).

Now, these kinds of commitments are fantastic, and this one was no exception - in 2019, the matching amount was met within seconds, and participating organizations received a reported $120 Million in donations. And surely some portion of that $120 Million donated ($127 Million, after Facebook's matching) would have never been contributed.

But it stands to reason that some substantial portion of that $120 Million might have still been donated, or been spurred to be donated, had donating individuals been aware of other matching efforts where their donations might have been matched closer to the degree of 1:1 (rather than at the 7:120 rate they ended up being matched at for this particular campaign).

In short - these large, easily met "up-to" matching commitments are great, but there are countless additional "up-to" matching pledges made all of the time that end up getting left unmet, and many people looking to contribute to a given charitable cause end up not being aware of them in the first place.

This project - "Generosity Match" - looks to pull information about as many of these matching commitments as possible into one place, to let the individual make his or her own decision about how donated funds might be most effectively used.

I'd wanted to do this after seeing the amazing generosity of individuals and organizations in pledging contribution-matches after Hurricane Harvey devastated greater Houston and East Texas; after the devastation from this week's tornadoes in Middle Tennessee, I decided it was time to go ahead and make this project a reality. The hope is that this will inspire an effort from others to make contribution-matching pledges of their own, in addition to helping make sure that each dollar donated goes as far as possible in assisting relief and recovery efforts in a time of crisis.