Nonprofit Fundraising Success Snapshot: The Shelby American Collection
Nonprofit: The Shelby American Collection
Number of TapKat Sweepstakes to Date: 13
Donor Base Growth: 800 to 135,000
Total 2026 Sweepstakes Results as of March 2026: $5,057,900
The Shelby American Collection closed their most recent sweepstakes at $4,725,475, setting a record for the small museum.
How a the Shelby American Collection Skyrocketed their Nonprofit Sweepstakes Fundraising Success in 2026
Strategy: The Shelby American Collection had so much success with their first TapKat sweepstakes in 2016 that they integrated this fundraising model into their annual strategy, and by 2020 were consistently raising over $1M annually with sweepstakes. In 2025, they made two major changes to their sweepstakes strategy that changed the game: They began running two sweepstakes every year, and they went up market with their prizes.
Story: The Shelby American Collection, a car museum in Boulder, Colorado dedicated to the preservation of Shelby racing history, ran their first sweepstakes in 2016 and raised $255,625. This was a big success for the small team, which up to that point had been struggling to cover their annual costs with a gala event each winter. They quickly realized that sweepstakes fundraising was a great fit for them, and haven’t looked back since.
In 2020, the museum broke the $1M mark for the first time, and has raised at least $1M annually since then. As one might imagine, bringing in those kinds of funds was huge for this organization, and they were able to make upgrades and repairs to their current location as well as expand into a second building. Not to mention that they received much more foot traffic since more people were aware of their museum, thanks to the sweepstakes.
For the Shelby American Collection, running sweepstakes year after year has had a significant positive impact to their bottom line.
In 2025, the team at the Shelby American Collection made two changes that took their sweepstakes fundraising model through the roof. First, they transitioned from running one yearlong sweepstakes to running two six-month long sweepstakes. In the chart above, see the two cars they chose in 2025 and 2026. Running two sweepstakes in one year made financial sense for them, as they knew most donors would enter both sweepstakes. It also satisfied donors’ desire to see winners drawn more frequently.
Second, they went up market with their prize, theorizing that a more desirable prize would result in more donations, more excitement among their base of car enthusiasts, and more exposure for the museum. Rather than selecting a Ford Shelby Mustang as a prize (as they had done each year since 2016), at the end of 2025 they selected a Ford GT as their prize, a more rare and expensive model that is still in the Ford family. This was a smart choice, as their list of 135,000 donors is uniquely interested in Ford products.
The result was a massive success that set records for the Shelby American Collection. Their first Ford GT sweepstakes closed in February, 2026 and raised a total of $4,725,475.00. It did so well that they immediately launched a followup sweepstakes for another Ford GT, and as of this writing in March 2026, they have raised over $333,000 so far.
Through the years, the sweepstakes fundraising model has served the Shelby American Collection very well. In addition to raising meaningful funds, they have also greatly expanded their donor base, which now exceeds 135,000 donors. Every time the Shelby American Collection sends out an email to their base, they raise something near $10,000 for the sweepstakes. It cannot be denied that a large donor base is worth the effort to build, and fundraising sweepstakes are a great tool to achieve that end.
Sweepstakes fundraising works incredibly well for the Shelby American Collection. This small museum chooses to work with TapKat for their expertise in the sweepstakes market: No other sweepstakes software comes close to generating the results that nonprofits see on the TapKat platform, and that is in large part due to their unique and robust suite of tools and strategies for maximizing sweepstakes fundraising success for nonprofits.
Ready to get started with a sweepstakes? Apply for a free nonprofit account today.
