How to Draw Your TapKat Sweepstakes Winner

At last the time has come to draw the winner of your TapKat sweepstakes, congratulations! You’ve done the planning, the marketing, the outreach, and the community-building, and now it’s time for the really fun stuff—you get to call someone and make their day. Or, more likely, their month!

Follow this handy guide to ensure that drawing your winner is a smooth, transparent, and enjoyable experience for all.

Access the Draw the Winner Page in Your TapKat Dashboard

Click on Menu > Draw the Winner when you’re logged in to your TapKat sweepstakes dashboard to get the process started. Don’t worry—accessing this page will not cause your winner to be accidentally drawn early, and you can rest assured that the TapKat software will not allow you to draw the winner before it is time.

On this page, you’ll find information about the drawing date and time you have selected. This cannot be changed.

You’ll also find a short video that will walk you through the process of drawing your winner; it’s a good idea to watch this video beforehand so you feel comfortable when it’s time to actually draw your winner.

QUESTION: Should I include the “Draw the Winner” video here?

Communicate Clearly with Your TapKat Sweepstakes Donors

Everyone who donated to your sweepstakes will be eagerly waiting to learn whether they won the grand prize. It’s a great idea to send out an email the day before the drawing to remind everyone when and where you’ll be picking the winner, whether that’s online or at a location in person that they can attend. (Hint: It’s always fun to draw a winner at your live events!)

Don’t forget to thank your donors in the email. It’s also a good time to let them know how much you raised, and perhaps show them the impact that their donation has had on the organization. Something like, “Thanks to you, we are able to feed 150 people this Thanksgiving who might otherwise go hungry.”

If your drawing is happening online or via livestream, be sure to share the link and encourage your donors to tune in. It will certainly be an exciting online event, and generate some traction for your social media accounts.

If you are planning another sweepstakes on the heels of this one, it’s a great time to tease your audience with hints about your new prize! Tell your donors that you have something exciting to announce, and the people who show up live will hear about it first. Then, immediately after you draw your winner, you can reveal the prize for the next sweepstakes (and be sure to include a special promo code for those who are ready to make a donation right away).

Protect Your TapKat Sweepstakes Winner’s Privacy

If you are planning to live stream as you draw the winner, or to post a video of you drawing the winner, take steps to ensure that your winner’s personal information is not posted online. Do not share your screen, as the winner’s contact information as well as how much they donated to the sweepstakes will be displayed once they are selected.

The easiest way to avoid revealing personal information is to simply make sure that your screen is not visible to your audience, whether they are in person or online. TapKat provides a “Winner Presentation” video that you can share widely on your website, via email, and social channels—it includes the winning ticket number, the name of the winner, and some fun confetti fireworks to celebrate.

TapKat will also give you a chance to make sure that your winner is legitimate before you publish it. Say you don’t want an employee of the organization to win, or you need to make sure that board members don’t win (some organizations allow board members to participate, and others don’t). You’ll have a chance to review the winner and confirm or re-draw the winner before it is public.

Once you confirm your winner, their name and city will be displayed on your sweepstakes site.

We highly recommend calling your winner right away once you’ve drawn their name. Not only is this a very fun way to celebrate the big win, but it also demonstrates to your audience that, yes, you really are giving away this incredible grand prize! If you’re livestreaming or have an audience, be sure to inform your winner that they are on speakerphone at the beginning of the call.

Trust us: Calling your winner is really fun! Donors love it, too, because the enthusiasm is positively infectious! This is also why it’s a great idea to reveal your next sweepstakes right after you get off the phone, and have it ready to go. There will be so much momentum that you’ll start your next fundraiser with a bang!

Finally, send out an email to your donors as soon as you can announcing the winner. Everyone will be curious, and not everyone will be able to tune in to your live presentation. Sending an email is also important because it will get ahead of the inevitable “Who won?” emails you will receive if you don’t share the news as widely as possible.

The Shelby American Collection Executive Director Hands the Keys to their 2022 Sweepstakes Winner

Transfer the Prize to Your TapKat Sweepstakes Winner

Once you’ve drawn the winner, announced it publicly, and communicated with the winner initially, it’s time to do some housekeeping. On your “Draw the Winner” page, TapKat provides a downloadable Winner Affidavit. Send a copy of this to your winner for them to fill out; it will ask them for their contact information, ask them to verify that they are of legal age, and for their tax information. If the winner is in the United States, any prize valued above $600 will require the nonprofit to submit a 1099. Check with your tax professional for more details.

Through email or over the phone, arrange for the prize to be transferred to your winner once you have finalized the paperwork. It’s a very good idea to take video and photos of this transfer, as your donors will be curious to see who won! Plus, once you have this content, you can create a “Winners Page” on your website and proudly display your winners, just like the Shelby American Collection does.

Let’s Recap How to Draw Your TapKat Sweepstakes Winner…

• Step 1: Familiarize yourself with the “Draw the Winner” feature in your TapKat dashboard.

• Step 2: Send an email to your donors the day before the drawing inviting them to tune in live, whether that’s online or in person. This is also where you can tease the prize for your next sweepstakes, if you are planning one.

• Step 3: Protect your winner’s privacy by taking steps to conceal your computer screen as you draw the winner. TapKat provides a “Winner Presentation” video that you can post online.

• Step 4: Communicate with your winner. Call him or her immediately after you confirm, and then send a followup email to arrange for the paperwork to be filled out and for delivery of the prize.

• Step 5: Share the news! Post on social media, on your website, and send out an email to your donor base to let everyone know who won.

TapKat Sweepstakes are Fun and Easy for Nonprofits

Drawing your winner is the big climax to an exciting fundraiser, and we’ve done extensive testing to ensure that the process is smooth and enjoyable.

Ready to get started with your TapKat sweepstakes? Apply for an account today to get started.