Keep Your Nonprofit Fundraising Fun and Fresh with Sweepstakes
Sweepstakes fundraising is one of the most exciting ways a donor can engage with your nonprofit organization. Not only are they giving to a great cause, but they’re getting the chance to win a life-changing prize—and that’s buzz-worthy!
In this blog post, we explore strategies to keep your nonprofit sweepstakes fundraiser fun and fresh to maintain donor excitement, momentum, and energy.
Choose a Standout Prize for Your Nonprofit Sweepstakes Fundraiser
Selecting a great prize is the first step toward generating anticipation around your fundraising sweepstakes (and anticipation = more donations!) Check out this blog post for insider tips on how to choose a prize gets your donor base to sit up.
In general, your prize should meet these three criteria:
The prize must be aspirational. Think big. Ask yourself: what would feel life-changing for the winner? What is a prize that a donor might not purchase for themself because it’s not “practical,” but that they would love to win?
The prize must be difficult to obtain (but not necessarily expensive). The gift basket that didn’t sell in your silent auction just won’t cut it! If your donors could easily get their hands on a version of your prize, they will be far less likely to donate. Think of this real-life example: A trip to Disney World is one thing. An overnight stay in Cinderella’s Castle is whole other ball game!
The prize must appeal to your donor base. If you have a base made up of snow sport enthusiasts, brainstorm ideas that will get their juices flowing. Perhaps valuable ski passes, a weekend getaway to Aspen, or a $5,000 gift card to Patagonia would do the trick.
Choosing a prize is a fun and creative aspect of planning your sweepstakes. Test out your idea on a handful of donors and see what kind of reaction you get—chances are you’ll get useful feedback and can make adjustments as needed.
Set a Reasonable Timeline for Your Fundraising Sweepstakes
The days of running yearlong sweepstakes are gone! These days, TapKat recommends running smaller prizes (like dream trips, gift certificates, concert tickets, etc.) for 3-4 months. Bigger prizes (like sports cars, camper vans, airplanes, etc.) can run for 6-8 months.
The ideal length of a sweepstakes will be long enough to achieve your fundraising goals without burning out your audience.
Use TapKat’s Nonprofit Sweepstakes Marketing Tools
TapKat has built out a suite of powerful marketing tools to aid nonprofits in creating strong campaigns that are designed to inspire donors. Make use of these strategies to maximize your raise:
Flash Contest or Giveaway
A flash contest or giveaway is a like a “sweepstakes within a sweepstakes.” It works like this: everyone who enters for the grand prize between a specified timeframe will also be entered to win a smaller prize.
When you run a flash contest or giveaway, you’re adding a little extra fun to your campaign, and donors will respond! Often we see one-time donors enter the sweepstakes again for the chance to win the flash prize. Plus, these are a lot of fun and tend to bring in a new wave of donations and energy.
Promo Codes
Promo codes for nonprofit sweepstakes give your donor more entries for the same dollar amount, effectively discounting the price per entry and giving the donor more chances to win your prize.
Promo codes increase your average donation amount.
Promo codes increase the number of donations to your sweepstakes fundraiser.
Promo codes allow you to precisely track which sweepstakes promotions bring in the most money.
Create as many promo codes as you like, and add them to every type of marketing you do for the sweepstakes.
Thank You Campaigns
A thank you campaign energizes donors by rewarding them with a 100% promo code immediately after they make a donation. Easily turn on a thank you campaign in your TapKat dashboard and set the duration for as long as you like!
Get Festival with Holiday-Themed Promotions
Any holiday presents a great excuse to reach out to your donor base with fun and timely promotions.
You might have an enthusiastic member of your staff create a fun video to share with your donor base, and include a special holiday promo code like “PUMPKIN” or “TURKEY” or “HOHOHO.” Promo codes give your donors additional entries for free with a donation, and they’re a great marketing tool your nonprofit can use to track which e-blasts, social media posts and advertisements produce the most donations.
Perhaps you just want to reach to your donor base to wish them a happy holiday and thank them for their support. The end of year holidays are also an excellent time to talk about your mission, explain how incoming donations support your cause, and reflect on the end of the year.
Above all, the idea is to spread the word about your sweepstakes in ways that are fun, light-hearted, relatable, and build enthusiasm. Remember: if you’re having fun, there’s a good chance the donors will have fun—and enter the sweepstakes!
Great Times to Promote Your TapKat Sweepstakes via Email and Social Media
Plan to send out a dedicated e-blast with corresponding social media posts at least once per month during your sweepstakes. To help you get organized, here are some ideas for how to structure your promotional calendar…
Make an announcement when you launch the campaign
When you launch a flash contest, and when the flash contest is about to close
During holidays or big events (the Superbowl, 4th of July, Thanksgiving, during the Olympics, etc.)
When the clock is ticking and there isn’t much time left to enter
To thank your donors and let them know who won
There could be many more reasons — but this basic list should get you started off right!
Finding ways to make things fun for donors is where nonprofits tend to really shine, so pull out your creative thinking cap and let the ideas fly! Your donors, your board, and your cause will thank you.
If you’re in the process of putting together a marketing plan for your TapKat sweepstakes, be sure to check out our previous posts:
Promoting Your Fundraising Sweepstakes with Organic Social Media
Put Together a Successful Email Marketing Campaign for Your Nonprofit Fundraising Sweepstakes
How Great Photos of Your Prize Will Build Buzz and Generate Donations
There, you’ll find some great reasons, tips and tricks to help you get organized and enthusiastic about kicking off a successful sweepstakes. Ready to build your own sweepstakes site? Get started here.
