Why Nonprofit Sweepstakes are the Perfect Addition to Your Annual Fundraising Strategy
Galas, golf tournaments, and auctions, oh my! All these fundraising staples are important aspects of a robust and effective annual fundraising strategy, but what about the weeks and months between big events, when bills still need to be paid and programs supported?
Online nonprofit sweepstakes are the perfect solution to creating ongoing cashflow for your organization, and they don’t compete with your other fundraising programs. Instead, they create:
More engagement
More excitement
More momentum
More awareness
Plus, donors love sweepstakes! Let’s look at how adding a nonprofit sweepstakes fundraiser to your calendar can give your organization a helpful boost in revenue, individual giving numbers, and donor participation.
Keep Your Donors Engaged Through the Year
Rather than waiting for a big event to send emails and donation requests, running a sweepstakes fundraiser gives you a great reason to reach out to your base through the year, particularly between events. When you’ve honed in on a prize that your donor base is excited about, they’ll be eager to open your correspondence and donate for the chance to win—and support a good cause.
Unlike other types of fundraising, sweepstakes generate ongoing excitement and donations over the span of months, particularly if you’re running a sweepstakes on the TapKat platform. TapKat provides tools like flash contests, promo codes, partner campaigns, thank you campaigns, and more to keep donor interest piqued and encourage multiple donations to the same sweepstakes.
This is why sweepstakes are perfect for the “in-between” times: the months between your autumn gala, end-of-year-giving, and spring golf tournament. Imagine if you could create ongoing cashflow during those times without taking away from the effectiveness of the other fundraising pushes.
Boost Your Individual Giving Numbers
Unlike auctions (live and silent), or ticketed gala events, sweepstakes tend to activate grassroots donors for one important reason: anyone can participate at a level that works for them.
When you set up your sweepstakes, you’ll select between 4-8 donation level options, starting at $10 or $25 and potentially going all the way up to $2,000. This means that someone who can only afford to contribute $25 (and would normally be priced out of your golf tournament and certainly wouldn’t have the capital to win an auction item) absolutely has a shot at winning your sweepstakes prize.
That kind of parity makes sweepstakes exciting for individual donors, and you’ll quickly see grassroots donor engagement tick up. And yes, $25 and $50 donors absolutely win sweepstakes! Check out a few examples:
A $50 donor won a Shelby GT350R plus $20,000 cash
A $25 donor won a 2025 Z06 Corvette Convertible plus $20,000 cash
A $25 donor won a Taylor Swift Eras Tour Concertexperience in Vancouver
A $25 donor won a Custom 1964 Ford Truck
A $50 donor won a Bhutan Himalayan Mushroom Foraging Adventure
This is why individual donors respond so well to sweepstakes and why they are such a powerful tool for building up a strong base of grassroots donors.
Raise More Through the Year with Nonprofit Sweepstakes
When nonprofits make the decision to supplement their current fundraising activities with sweepstakes, they raise more through the year.
Aside from the benefit of keeping your donor base engaged more consistently (and therefore keeping your nonprofit top of mind), there is the added bonus that when nonprofits run sweepstakes regularly, their current donor base begins to look forward to the next sweepstakes and new donors come on board.
Real Nonprofit Examples
The American Harp Society is a member-based organization established in the 1960s. In the decades since their formation, they relied heavily on planned giving and never built a culture of individual giving among their membership. In 2024 they began running annual sweepstakes for music-related prizes, and by their third campaign in 2026, the membership fully embraced the fundraiser, eagerly awaiting updates and excited about the details. In the first week they raised $6,000 for a trip to Paris, and with months to go, they are on track for a strong raise.
The Cobra Experience is a car museum in California that has seen big changes since incorporating sweepstakes fundraising into their annual strategy. Where once they relied on renting out their venue for private events, straining volunteer time and exhausting staff, they began running sweepstakes for cars. Excitement quickly grew—and so did the revenue! Soon they were able to cut back on renting out the venue and even raised enough to make updates to their building.
Define Your TapKat Sweepstakes Goals
When you’re ready to add a nonprofit sweepstakes to your annual fundraising strategy, spend some time considering your nonprofit’s goals. If you’re not sure exactly what that might look like, here are some ideas:
Focus on Expanding Your Donor Base
Building out a mailing list of reliable, interested donors is another great goal for a nonprofit running a TapKat sweepstakes. We find that 99% of nonprofits that run TapKat sweepstakes expand their donor base — sometimes dramatically.
If you’re working on building out your donor base, choosing a prize that has wide appeal is a good idea. Something like a Sprinter Van, a trip to Hawaii, or a $5000 gift card can be effective at attracting new people to your organization.
Focus on Engaging Your Donors
Some nonprofits decide early on that they want to focus exclusively on igniting the people who are already on their donor list (rather than trying to expand the list). They choose this point of focus because they’ve noticed their current list going a little stale… or their donors are getting a little burned out… or the nonprofit is a members-only organization and they want them to donate on top of membership dues.
Integrating a sweepstakes into your fundraising strategy in a situation like this is really effective. Donors who may have grown tired of being asked for money will re-engage when there’s a prize on the line, especially if the prize speaks directly to their interest.
And speaking of prizes for a scenario like this, if you focus exclusively on your donor base, you can go pretty niche with your prize. For instance, if your nonprofit is dedicated to astronomy, you might consider a top-notch telescope as a prize. This is the kind of thing that will probably only appeal to people who love astronomy but will be sure to invigorate your base.
Focus on Enhancing Your Live Event
A live event is a great opportunity to either announce your sweepstakes, or draw a winner at the end of your sweepstakes. Both will enhance donations: at a live event donors are very likely to enter the sweepstakes in addition to donating to live and silent auctions, paddle raises or any other fundraising activities you may be holding in person.
Bring Everyone on Board with the TapKat Sweepstakes
For a lot of nonprofits the concept of a sweepstakes is new, and staff and volunteers will have to be briefed and trained in how the process works. It’s a little different than other kinds of fundraising, and giving yourself runway to work out all the details and get everyone on the same page will be important.
If your nonprofit board requires you to get approval for a new type of fundraising, we can help. Not sure how to present the idea of a TapKat sweepstakes to your board members? Here are some presentation tools that can help.
The more engaged your board members are with the sweepstakes, the better. Board members are wonderful resources when it comes to procuring great prizes and business alliances. Perhaps they have a connection with a local winery that would be willing to send out an email blast to their base promoting your Napa Valley tour sweepstakes, or maybe they own a timeshare in Cabo that they would be willing to donate as a prize. The possibilities are endless, and getting board members involved can be a big plus for the sweepstakes.
Find a Great Prize for Your TapKat Sweepstakes
The very best sweepstakes prizes:
Align with your organizational goals (see above),
Appeal to the donor base you’re working with,
Are cost effective for the organization.
There are essentially three ways to acquire a prize:
Have it donated to the nonprofit.
Purchase it before the sweepstakes begins (not recommended).
Find a prize provider that will agree to offer the prize on consignment.
Of all these options, the first and last are best. We wrote a whole blog post about the nitty gritty details. Be sure to take a look at what this will mean for your prize search.
Finding a great prize is key to accomplishing your sweepstakes goals, and sometimes it takes a little time to find the right one. However, it’s very doable and can even be a fun experience as you daydream about what your donor base would love to have the chance to win!
Plan Your Sweepstakes Fundraiser in Advance
The most successful sweepstakes fundraisers are those that have been planned in advance with solid assets, marketing and consistent outreach to the donor base. While a nonprofit fundraising sweepstakes isn’t a “set it and forget it” kind of fundraiser, it can be extremely successful when you put a little thought and effort into putting it together.
When you give yourself plenty of time to start planning, you give yourself and your organization a leg up. You’ll find that as soon as you draw a winner for your first successful sweepstakes, your donors will start asking about the next one (which means they’re revved up and ready to donate), so planning ahead is always a huge advantage!
If you’re ready to start planning your TapKat sweepstakes, click here to apply for an account.
