Some of the steadiest support we get never passes through anyone’s hands. It comes a few dollars at a time, out of a paycheck, from people who set it up once and then get on with their lives.
If your employer runs a giving program (and more do than most people realize), you can put First Responders’ Bridge on that list in about ten minutes. And if your employer matches what you give, the gift you make can be worth twice as much. Most employees never ask.
Community Shares of Mid Ohio
Community Shares of Mid Ohio is a coalition of locally based nonprofits that runs workplace giving campaigns — the payroll-deduction list you see when you start a new job or hit open enrollment. First Responders’ Bridge is a member.
If you work for the City of Columbus, Franklin County or the State of Ohio, you can name us today. Plenty of private employers run a Community Shares campaign too — it’s worth asking your HR or benefits office whether yours does.
How to name us
- Open your employer’s workplace giving or payroll deduction form — usually through HR, your benefits portal, or during open enrollment.
- Choose Community Shares of Mid Ohio as the federation.
- Designate First Responders’ Bridge (legal name: The Bridge Corp) as your charity of choice.
- Pick an amount per pay period. There’s no minimum that’s too small — $5 a paycheck is $130 a year.
Community Shares isn’t a neutral pass-through for us. They back First Responders’ Bridge directly, and they make a point of supporting payroll giving for First Responders.
| Designation code | |
|---|---|
| Legal name | The Bridge Corp, dba First Responders’ Bridge |
| Tax ID / EIN | 82-5475103 |
| Federation | Community Shares of Mid Ohio |
If your employer uses a different platform
Companies run workplace giving through platforms like Benevity, YourCause, CyberGrants, Millie and Groundswell. You don’t pick the platform — your employer does — but whichever one you’re in, you can search for us and designate a gift.
- Search for First Responders’ Bridge.
- If the search asks for a tax ID, ours is 82-5475103.
- If our name doesn’t come up, try our legal name, The Bridge Corp. That’s how we’re registered with the IRS, and some portals only match the legal name.
Most portals let you choose a one-time gift or a per-paycheck amount. The per-paycheck option is the one that lets us plan.
Ask about matching
Ask your HR or benefits office one question: does the company match employee donations? A lot of them do, at least dollar for dollar, and some go further.
Three things worth knowing:
- You usually have to ask for the match. It rarely happens on its own. There’s a form, and it’s on you to file it.
- There’s almost always a deadline — often the end of the calendar year, or a set number of months after your gift.
- Some employers match volunteer hours too, turning time you’ve already given into a grant. If you’ve volunteered at a retreat or an outing, ask.
Some programs also match gifts from retirees, and some from spouses. If any of that might be you, it costs nothing to ask.
Workplace gifts reach us in a lump sum from the platform, often months later, and we frequently can’t tell who they came from. The same is true of matching gifts. If you designate us — or if you file a match — please send us a note. It’s the only way we’ll know to thank you, and with a match, sometimes the only way we’ll know to confirm it.
If your employer doesn’t have a program
Ask anyway. Payroll giving programs often start because one employee asked for one. You can tell them who we are: a 501(c)(3) in Westerville, Ohio, that runs no-cost retreats for First Responders and their partners.
In the meantime you can do the same thing yourself. A monthly gift comes out on a schedule you set and reaches us directly, with no platform in between — it’s the closest thing to payroll deduction you can set up on your own.
Other ways to give
Stock, QCDs and donor-advised funds, or by check.
First Responders’ Bridge is the operating name of The Bridge Corp, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. EIN 82-5475103.