APPLYING FOR SHELL MATCHING FUNDS SPECIFICALLY FOR THE MS 150 RIDE

The guidance provided below is designed to facilitate obtaining Shell matching funds for your donation to MS 150 riders. Hopefully, it will be helpful in navigating around some of the pitfalls that have made this process somewhat difficult.

Step 1. Go to the HERO home screen by clicking on the appropriate link below for Shell or Motiva and following log-in instructions (remember you password after you reset it!)

http://www.easymatch.com/Shell  or  http://www.easymatch.com/Motiva

Step 2. On the HERO home screen hover over "Give Money" and click on "United Way Plus Home" to open new window

Step 3. Click on "Submit a new pledge"

Step 4. If you have not requested matching funds this year the following window will open. Click on "Pledge Now" button. If you have requested matching funds, go to Step 4A at the bottom of this page.

Step 5. You should get a window that is similar to what is shown below. Enter the total amount that you donated to the MS society on behalf of all the riders you are sponsoring. You can edit and add more later, but it much easier to enter the total amount that you know of now rather than one rider at a time. In Step 9 you indicate how much you are donating to each rider.

Step 6. A window will open with a listing of options as shown below. Click on the "Search for another eligible organization"

Step 7. A window showing search fields will open. Fill in the fields as indicated below. Entering just "National" instead of  "National Multiple Sclerosis Society" is recommended to minimize typing errors. Entering just "National" with the other information, sufficiently narrows the search. Then click on the "Next" button.

Step 8. Several search results should show up in the next window. Select "National Multiple Sclerosis Society     Houston, TX" and click on the "Submit" button

Step 9. This should open a window with a box that allocates your donation to the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. The amount you indicated in Step 5 above should show in the "Annual Amount" box and 100% in the box to the left. Important: in the "Restriction or Purpose" text field indicate team and the rider(s) with the amount you have donated to. The sum of donations for all the riders should add up to the total donation to the MS Society for this ride. This provides the MS Society with information on how to allocate your donation to individual riders. This text box is limited to the number of characters that can be entered, so you might have to abbreviate (e.g. use first name initial) if you are contributing to more than three or four riders. Also, if you are contributing to another team show that and list riders underneath the team name. Click on the "Next" button when done.

Final Steps. The rest of the procedure is pretty straightforward. If you want to get a receipt indicating you applied for matching funds, provide an Email address. It takes 7-10 days for the matching funds to show up on the rider's MS website page. You might let your riders know you have applied for Shell matching funds so they can watch for them to show up.

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Step 4A - for those that had already made a matching fund request. The window after Step 3 will look something like is shown below. Click on the "Edit" to open a window so you can add the amount that you have donated to the MS 150 ride.

Step 5A - A window will open with information similar to what is indicated below. If the personal check box is checked, recheck it. The amount shown to right should be the amount you have previously requested matching funds for this year. Increase the amount by the additional monies you are donating to the MS 150 riders. Then click on the "Next" button.

Step 6A. A window will open showing search options and the past organizations that you have requested matching funds for. If it is the National Multiple Sclerosis Society as shown in the example below, you can update it for additional riders as discussed in Step 9. If it is another charity, then you need to go through the search process as outlined in Step 6 and the following  steps -7,8,9.