How Mid-Sized Nonprofits Create Super-Sized Success with Fundraising Sweepstakes
For larger nonprofits with an established donor base, like the Planetary Society or the National Corvette Museum Foundation, online fundraising sweepstakes can result in quick, significant fundraising. A single email to a large donor base can result in tens of thousands of dollars in donations, which is why established nonprofits love this fundraising model so much.
But mid-sized organizations are also seeing big success with fundraising sweepstakes, and building exciting momentum with great prizes, a can-do spirit, and plenty of enthusiasm for this intrepid form of fundraising. Today let’s look at some examples of how mid-sized nonprofits are having big fundraising success and building toward their long-term goals with fundraising sweepstakes.
The Shelby American Collection Built a Massive Donor Base with Consistency
The Shelby American Collection is a small museum in Boulder, Colorado that began running fundraising sweepstakes in 2016 after years of struggling to make ends meet with their annual gala. At the time of their first sweepstakes, they had about 800 donors in their email database, and only a very small fraction of those donors were active. They knew something needed to change fast, or they would hit a funding wall.
They ran their first fundraising sweepstakes in 2016 and got very creative about their marketing, pushing the fundraiser beyond their immediate community by working with partners, board members, and car magazines to spread the word. They wound up raising over $250,000—far exceeding their goal, and covering their overhead for an entire year!
The organization capitalized on the success, and decided to run a car sweepstakes every year since then. Their most recent sweepstakes raised over $4,700,000 and their current email donor base is around 135,000 names. They built a loyal fanbase of donors by selecting the same type of highly-desirable prize for each sweepstakes, and their museum now receives quite a bit more weekly foot traffic.
The Shelby American Collection’s donor base has grown to over 135,000 names in ten years of sweepstakes fundraising.
Bal Swan Children’s Center Raised Big Money by Being Authentic
Bal Swan Children’s Center is an inclusive preschool for children of all abilities, and specializes in supporting those with special needs. Their donor base mostly consisted of parents and community members in their home city of Broomfield, Colorado and in the surrounding area. They ran their first online fundraising sweepstakes in 2023, and experimented with different prizes that they thought would appeal to their donor base, including a trip to DisneyWorld and concert tickets.
Things changed for Bal Swan when the executive director decided to take a big swing and try something new. They decided to run a sweepstakes for a Winnebago Camper Van, a prize that would still appeal to their family-oriented donors, but would also have great appeal beyond their local donor base.
The sweepstakes was a massive success and wound up raising over $1,200,000 for the preschool, which is using the funds to renovate their facility. Now, Bal Swan has gotten the hang of sweepstakes fundraising, and is currently running another sweepstakes for a camper van. One of their keys to success was running paid ads on Meta, which their executive director, Debbie, discusses in the video below (and shares an example of their most successful video ad).
The American Harp Society Nurtured a Culture of Giving and Activated Lapsed Donors
The American Harp Society, a membership-based professional organization for harpists in North America, was looking for a way to guide their members to give back to the Society beyond their annual professional dues. They wanted to create a culture of giving that would excite their base of harpists.
It was important to them that their prizes involve music and/or the harp in some way, and in 2024 they ran their first sweepstakes for two tickets to see Taylor Swift in concert in Vancouver. Their 2025 sweepstakes was for a trip for two to Ireland, where the winners would visit the Brian Boru Harp, the oldest known example of a harp, at Trinity College in Dublin.
The two sweepstakes raised a collective $68,000—a meaningful raise for the organization—and their members now excitedly anticipate their annual fundraising sweepstakes. They succeeded in reshaping how the membership thinks of the nonprofit and encouraging their base to donate on a regular basis.
Members who hadn’t been giving to the American Harp Society became active donors thanks to their sweepstakes.
How to Succeed with Nonprofit Fundraising Sweepstakes
All these nonprofits are doing things in common, and their success can be replicated.
Choose a highly desirable prize. A great prize is the difference between a sweepstakes that does very well and a sweepstakes that does just okay. We’ve written extensively about choosing the right prize, learn more.
Use TapKat’s powerful marketing tools. The TapKat platform includes game-changing marketing tools that help nonprofits inspire their donors to get excited about the sweepstakes and make a donation. These include:
Learn from other nonprofits. We provide a lot of guidance on our resources page for nonprofits seeking nonprofit fundraising sweepstakes best practices. Learn from other organizations and replicate what’s working.
Rinse and repeat! The true magic of sweepstakes fundraising momentum comes into play when you run a sweepstakes for a similar prize year after year. The donor base has a chance to get used to this kind of fundraising, and your team will get better and better at the logistics.
There is no doubt that mid-sized nonprofits can build super-sized momentum and success with sweepstakes fundraising.
If you’re ready to get started with your TapKat sweepstakes, click here.
