Key Takeaways
- Match Group is deepening its already strong relationship with the Kinsey Institute by offering a 2:1 match for all donations throughout the month of October.
- As the world’s largest resource for research into human sexuality, the Kinsey Institute has shaped U.S. policy, healthcare, education, and even tech.
- The Institute calls Indiana University home, but a 2023 decision by lawmakers to ban state funding has forced the Institute to rely on external donations.
The fall fundraising season is in full swing, and Match Group is getting in the spirit: The company is offering a 2:1 match for all donations to the Kinsey Institute Research Fund until the end of October.
Donations will not only go toward keeping the Institute functioning, but will help fund vital research projects, including the Kinsey Institute Sexual Assault Initiative, Disability and Sexual Health Initiative, Condom Use Research Team, and Traumatic Stress Research Consortium.
Match Group’s generosity isn’t spontaneous. The company has long collaborated with The Kinsey Institute, specifically on their annual Singles in America study. For nearly 15 years, Singles in America has provided a comprehensive look at how thousands of American singles approach dating, sex, and love.
And whether we realize it or not, the Institute’s expert-led research has touched our daily lives for nearly 80 years.
“Donations to our Kinsey Institute Research Fund allow our multidisciplinary team of researchers to study ideas quickly when new dating trends or technologies emerge to provide answers to timely questions that impact us all,” Dr. Justin Garcia, Executive Director of the Kinsey Institute, told DatingNews.
The Kinsey Institute Helps Shape Dating Platforms
The Institute’s data into sexual health, love, and human connection has shaped CDC policies on STI prevention, debunked myths that prevented proper sex ed, and informed modern approaches to treating ED, as a few examples.
“The Kinsey Institute’s Library & Special Collections are the world’s largest resource for scholarly materials on human sexuality and process thousands of requests from academics, authors, producers, and other specialists from all over the world,” according to the Institute.
And yes, the Kinsey Institute’s research has also shaped the dating industry. Therapists and couples counselors refer to the Institute’s ongoing research into sexuality, and developers design dating apps using the Institute’s research into love and connection.
Feeld collaborated with Dr. Justin Lehmiller, a research fellow at the Kinsey Institute, on its comprehensive 2024 State of Dating report. When DatingNews last spoke with Dr. Lehmiller, he emphasized the natural connection between the Kinsey Institute’s research and the dating industry:
“Apps are sitting on mountains of their own data that sexologists and other researchers often use to validate or challenge their own theories about intimacy and relationships,” he told us. “Apps provide a real-world testing ground for a lot of our scientific beliefs around love and relationships.”
LuvBites’ Dr. Tara, who donated to the research fund last year, described the Institute’s research as “the gift that keeps on giving.”
“I believe by supporting the Kinsey Institute I’m not just contributing to research — I’m fostering a world of greater openness, inclusivity, and empowerment,” she said. “All financial support fuels vital studies, educational initiatives, and advocacy efforts that challenge stigma and promote sex positivity. ”
With the state of the dating world constantly in flux, the Institute’s scientists need consistent funding to keep their research accurate and timely. “Donations to the Kinsey Institute Research Fund help us deliver trustworthy insights in a rapidly changing world,” Dr. Garcia told us.
“These funds are especially helpful for jumpstarting our expert-led explorations of emerging ideas and securing preliminary data needed to make the case for deeper analysis and bigger initiatives,” he added.
Defunded by Lawmakers, the Institute Turns to Donors
Although the Institute has long accepted external donations, they became a necessity in 2023, when Indiana’s Republican-led state legislature blocked the Institute from receiving state funding from Indiana University.
With its groundbreaking research at stake, the Institute turned its hopes to private donations.
As a nonprofit research center, the Institute already depends on external donations to stay afloat. The fact that the research is largely focused on traditionally “controversial” topics — sexuality, gender identity, contraception, and pleasure, to name a few — makes it even more difficult to obtain federal funding.
It’s no coincidence that the Kinsey Institute — the world’s leading academic research center into human sexuality — has been targeted by conservative lawmakers. Still, the Institute considers itself to be a nonpartisan source for “evidence-based information on sexuality, relationships, and wellbeing.”
Donations don’t only keep the Institute afloat financially, but also reaffirms its reputation as a trusted source for research and data into human sexuality.
Match Group’s 2:1 fundraising match will only continue until the end of October (or until funds last). Donations help the Institute continue its longstanding mission to discover new truths about love, connection, and intimacy.
