Leaning into Online Promotion Created Big Wins for the Auburn Cord Duesenberg Automobile Museum

Strategy: The Auburn Cord Duesenberg Automobile Museum in Auburn, Indiana is a sprawling museum on a mission to preserve their National Historic Landmark building, as well as inspire innovation and spark appreciation for how art, design, mechanics, technology, and engineering affect the world and our daily lives. They ran their first sweepstakes in 2020 for a 1963 Corvette Convertible and haven’t looked back since! The team at Auburn Cord is raising meaningful funds by leaning into the online nature of sweepstakes and promoting the fundraiser heavily on social media and to mailing lists to attract new donors.

*Executive Director Brandon Anderson meets with the 2025 sweepstakes winners at the Auburn Cord Duesenberg Automobile Museum.*

Story: In 2025, the Auburn Cord Duesenberg Automobile Museum launched their sixth sweepstakes on the TapKat platform for a highly-desirable sports car, the Corvette ZR1 plus $25,000. The sweepstakes was a big success, raising a grand total of $836,750.

They knew it was important to go all-in with their sweepstakes promotion, and chose to work with a marketing agency to help them market their fundraiser online. Specifically, they ran paid media ads on Facebook to Corvette fans, and worked with Corvette-specific online mailing lists to connect with folks who were deeply interested in winning their ZR1.

What did the Auburn Cord Duesenberg Automobile Museum do right? By their sixth sweepstakes, the team at Auburn Cord has established a long-term mindset, and they know that sweepstakes success builds over multiple sweepstakes. Selecting a prize that is similar year after year helps keep the donors engaged and donating time and time again. By going all-in with their marketing and promotion, the museum was able to greatly expand their reach—and the more people that know about your sweepstakes, the more successful it will be! They worked with a marketing agency to help them expertly push out ads and create beautiful marketing assets to spread news of the sweepstakes.

Congratulations to the Auburn Cord Duesenberg Automobile Museum and all their donors!

Ready to jump into the world of sweepstakes fundraising? Apply for a TapKat nonprofit account today!

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