Agency for Change : A Podcast from KidGlov
Working in an advertising agency, you meet some fascinating people. You also have the power to tell their stories. Agency for Change brings you interviews with people who are using their power to change the world around them in positive ways. Each episode focuses on one of these changemakers: the issue they’re addressing, the programs, products or services they’re providing to drive change, how they’re getting the word out about that change and the impact they’re having on people’s lives. Prepare to be inspired! Each of us can play a part in making positive change – and these are the people who show us how. Be sure to subscribe to this podcast so you don’t miss one of these uplifting interviews. If you know a changemaker you’d like us to consider for a future episode, please let us know. This podcast is produced by KidGlov, an advertising agency dedicated to helping change-making clients amplify their message, so they can focus on what they do best.
Agency for Change : A Podcast from KidGlov
Changemaker Allison Volk, Vice President of Marketing, TapKat
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Replacing lost funding doesn't always mean asking the same donors for more. Sometimes, it means being bold enough to try a different approach.
In this episode of Agency for Change, Lyn sits down with Allison Volk of TapKat to explore how nonprofit sweepstakes can offer a new fundraising tool for organizations facing funding challenges. Allison explains what sets sweepstakes apart from raffles, why the legal distinction matters, and how the right structure can simplify fundraising while helping nonprofits of all sizes grow their donor base.
Connect with Allison and TapKat at:
· Website – https://www.tapkat.com/
· Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/TapKatOrg/
· Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/tapkatorg/
Be bold and try something new.
Welcome To Agency For Change
AnnouncerWelcome to Agency for Change, a podcast from KidGlov that brings you the stories of changemakers who are actively working to improve our communities. In every episode, we'll meet with people who are making a lasting impact in the places we call home.
Funding Cuts Drive New Fundraising
Lyn WinemanHey everyone, welcome back to the Agency for Change podcast. This is Lyn Wineman, president and chief strategist of KidGlov. Now, a lot of you know that we at KidGlov do a lot of work with nonprofits. And when you work with nonprofits, you think a lot about fundraising. And one of the things we know in 2026 is that roughly 30% of all nonprofits have had some form of government funding cut, whether that's federal funding, municipal funding, statewide funding, and they are scrambling to make that up. Today's guest is Allison Volk. She is from TapKat Solutions. And this is an organization that does sweepstakes that raise millions of dollars for nonprofits. And we want to get their story out there because they're making the world a better place by finding fun and easy fundraising ideas for those who are mission-driven. So give this one a listen. It's an innovative new model that people can easily tap into. Allison, I can't wait to talk to you. Welcome to the podcast.
Allison VolkThank you so much, Lyn. It's great to be here.
Lyn WinemanAh, it's so good to see you. You and I are both in the world of serving nonprofits. And I got to meet you two years in a row now at the AFP Icon International Show, which AFP Icon is the association of fundraising professionals, a lot of big nonprofits there. And it was fun to meet you and your team. And I'd love to have you start by telling us more about TapKat. What is it that you do?
Allison VolkThanks, Lyn. TapKat is a platform where nonprofits can run sweepstakes fundraisers. So basically, that means that nonprofits will use our software to create a sweepstakes where they have a grand prize and donors can enter. They make a donation to enter to win the grand prize. And we provide a lot of really cool marketing tools to go along with that within the software. And the truth is, it's just a really fun way to fundraise that donors love. Nonprofits are getting really excited about too.
Lyn WinemanOkay. I love so many things that you said. It's fun, it's helping nonprofits. I mean, the last statistic I saw was that this year, 30% of nonprofits have had some form of funding cut. Usually that's either federal funding or state level or county level funding. And then on top of that, with kind of the shakiness in the economy, there's a lot of shifting and things happening with donors. So there's got to be a lot of interest right now in finding new ways for those nonprofits to raise money. I'd love to ask you a question that you might think is silly, but we've all heard the word sweepstakes and we all generally know what a sweepstakes is.
Sweepstakes Basics And Donor Entry
Lyn WinemanBut in your world, how exactly does a sweepstakes work?
Allison VolkOkay. Well, I just first want to address something you said earlier about, you know, nonprofits losing funding.
Lyn WinemanYes.
Allison VolkAnd it's just really heartbreaking to see. It's it's hard to watch as somebody who supports the nonprofit industry. And, you know, you and I are like very hands-on with our nonprofits, and we know the impact that they have on the world. So it's it's truly heartbreaking to see them lose funding like this. And and you're right, it's time for nonprofits to really focus on the individual giving, which is one thing that sweepstakes help with. Just to address that, it's hard to watch, but I'm glad that—
Lyn WinemanYeah, right. That's exactly right. Well, and you know what, Allison, that's why I wanted to have you on. I know that we have a lot of people in our audience for Agency for Change that are either nonprofit leaders, nonprofit marketers, or nonprofit board members. And so anytime you learn of a new way to raise funds to support the mission, so I'm hoping that we're connecting with some people who are out there thinking, what are we gonna do? And this is a fresh, new and fun solution for them. But kind of going back to like I've always been hesitant in our role, which is you know, the marketing role. I'm always hesitant to take on sweepstakes because I know they're they're complicated, there could be legal issues. I mean, just to explain to us a little more what are they, how do they work?
Allison VolkOkay.
Sweepstakes Vs Raffles Legally
Allison VolkSo, Lyn, you touched on something that is a very common question we get. And the reason why people think sweepstakes are challenging is because structurally they look really similar to a raffle.
Lyn WinemanYes.
Allison VolkA raffle is a different legal form of fundraising than a sweepstakes. So, in the eyes of US law, a raffle is gambling, it's gaming because you have to pay to play. So, in a raffle, you might say we have a hundred tickets and we're selling them for $150 each. And once we're out of our 100 tickets, that's it. And nobody can enter any other way.
Lyn WinemanRight, right. And sometimes you have to have a license for that, you have to pay a fee. There's all kinds of rules and regs.
Allison VolkYes. And the reason for that is because raffles are regulated at the state level.
Lyn WinemanOkay.
Allison VolkWhich means they're not even legal in some states.
Lyn WinemanOkay.
Allison VolkSo that alone makes raffles a bit complicated. They are still the right move for some nonprofits in certain situations. So I'm not saying don't ever do a raffle.
Lyn WinemanRight.
Allison VolkTo contrast, the reason we got involved with sweepstakes is because sweepstakes are regulated at a federal level. They are not considered gaming. They're not gaming, and the reason is because of the alternative method of entry, which means that technically somebody can enter without making a donation.
Lyn WinemanOkay.
Allison VolkAnd this is all built into our rules and regulations that a nonprofit will see when they set up their sweepstakes. And you might be thinking, wait a second, we're trying to raise money. Why would we let people enter for nothing? And the truth is that we see about five to eight percent of entries to a sweepstakes will be those free entrants.
Lyn WinemanOkay.
Allison VolkAnd you know, sometimes donors are part of the community and they just don't have the resources to donate.
Lyn WinemanRight.
Allison VolkBut you still want to include those people in your community activities. So some nonprofits find that this is just a really beautiful way to include everybody. But regardless of how you feel about it, it legally makes it possible for us to run a sweepstakes without involving the Secretary of State or a gaming manager or paying fees or escrowing funds, all those complications that come with raffles, they're just kind of not part of sweepstakes.
Lyn WinemanGot it. Got it. Okay. Well, you've really cleared up something for me there too. So sweepstakes are not as overwhelming as I thought, but I'd really love to hear like, what are some of the things when you come in and help with a sweepstakes? What are some of the things that your team will bring to the table?
Allison VolkYeah. So first and foremost, we offer the platform, and that's the software. Nonprofits can easily create a free account. And once they're logged into their account, they can go through and build their sweepstakes. Our team is available to help brainstorm prize ideas. We offer a lot of support in terms of like best practices. We do a lot of webinars to help nonprofits understand the marketing tools. And generally, I think nonprofits just find us to be very responsive if they have questions or are confused about something. And we like to see our nonprofits be successful.
Lyn WinemanYeah.
Allison VolkWe feel very much like partners.
Lyn WinemanThat's great. Can you— I bet with all the sweepstakes you've been involved with, I bet you've got some good stories you can share. And I know you're a natural storyteller too, Allison. Like, help walk us through an example of how this really worked for a nonprofit.
A Small Museum Raises Millions
Allison VolkOkay, well, let me start with one of my very favorite stories. And this is a case study of a small car museum in Boulder, Colorado. It was a— in— let's see, in 2016, they were really burnt out. They had been running annual galas every year. They were getting to the point where their galas were kind of like barely breaking even.
Lyn WinemanYeah, that is so sad. And there's so much work to do an event if they don't make money. So sad. Yeah.
Allison VolkThey had a an email list of 800 people, and about 10 of them were actively donating.
Lyn WinemanOh man.
Allison VolkSo this museum was just in a really, really challenging position. And that's when they started to run sweepstakes. So their first sweepstakes was in 2016. And being a car museum, they decided to do a sweepstakes for a prize for a Shelby Mustang.
Lyn WinemanOoh.
Allison VolkAnd they raised $255,000.
Lyn Wineman$255,000 after doing events that were barely breaking even.
Allison VolkYes.
Lyn WinemanYeah.
Allison VolkNow, here's the best part of the story.
Lyn WinemanYeah.
Allison VolkThey've been running sweepstakes for the last 10 years because they were so successful. Now they're currently running their 11th or 12th sweepstakes. I'm not sure, I've lost count. But their most recent sweepstakes was for a Ford GT, which is a higher market car.
Lyn WinemanYeah.
Allison VolkIt raised $4.7 million.
Lyn WinemanFor one sweepstakes?
Allison VolkYes.
Lyn WinemanWow. That's amazing. So what are the things that you do that make a sweepstakes really successful? I mean, I think one of them has got to be having a prize that really, I mean, that to me feels like the perfect prize to appeal to the audience of a car museum. So that has to be a big part of it.
Allison VolkYeah. Yeah. So I'll answer your question by walking you through what this particular nonprofit did.
Lyn WinemanPerfect.
Allison VolkLike you said, they chose a prize that their donor base was really interested in. The second thing they did is they ran a similar prize, sweepstakes after sweepstakes, because they were building a donor base of people who are interested in the prize. So I told you before that they started off with a list of 800 people on their email list. Today they have about 135,000 people on their donor list.
Lyn WinemanWow, and you know what, Allison? I'm going to tell you, KidGlov just did a survey of nonprofits and end-of-year fundraising efforts. And one of the number one concerns is how do we get new donors? And it sounds like sweepstakes could be a real vehicle for the car museum, too, but a real vehicle, no pun intended, to help build that donor database as well, which is so important.
Allison VolkIt truly is. It truly is. It's a fantastic tool for building the donor base. In this case, you know, people come in because they're interested in winning the car, and then they find out wait, this is also a fundraiser for a car museum. And the museum wound, you know, it wound up getting a lot more foot traffic as well. So that there were just so many benefits for the organization. It's really rewarding to see how well it's done.
Why Sweepstakes Fail And Fixes
Lyn WinemanI love that. All right. Now I'm gonna ask you for the other side of the coin. Do you have any? Do you have any? Let's go to a different movie genre. Do you have any horror stories about a sweepstakes gone badly? Like maybe, because I I know you button up a lot of the details for people, but what happens if you don't have everything together?
Allison VolkYes. There are two reasons a sweepstakes doesn't work. Two main reasons. The first reason is that the prize is not aspirational or desirable.
Lyn WinemanYeah.
Allison VolkSo, like that gift basket that didn't sell and you're selling options. That's not gonna be a good prize. Nobody wants—
Lyn WinemanYeah, yeah, good point, yeah.
Allison VolkThat's the first reason. The second reason is that— is basically neglecting marketing activities.
Lyn WinemanYeah, yeah.
Allison VolkWhich we see this a lot, you know, nonprofit leaders they get worried about unsubscribes, so they don't want to send out an email.
Lyn WinemanRight.
Allison VolkBut pretty, pretty universally, the benefit of sending an email outweighs the number of people who are going to unsubscribe.
Lyn WinemanYes, right?
Allison VolkAnd if not, yeah, go ahead.
Lyn WinemanWell, from a marketing standpoint, Allison, people don't unsubscribe because of the quantity of emails, they unsubscribe because they get emails that don't seem to pertain to them. So I think really, you know, understanding who's on your list, curating the messaging to that list. And once again, that's why your car museum example was so perfect, right? Like the prize aligned with the audience, it built an audience that they could communicate with further, it drove people to their location, all of those things aligned. So I hear what you're saying. Yeah.
Allison VolkYeah. I will also mention though, since we're talking about horror stories and perhaps we're conjuring up a fear that nonprofit leaders might have about, well, I don't want to try this new thing because what if it doesn't work?
Lyn WinemanYeah.
Allison VolkOur platform has some built-in safety nets for—
Lyn WinemanOh, nice. Yeah.
Allison VolkSo the first one is that there's no upfront fee or cost to run a sweepstakes. And specifically, what I'm talking about is, you know, TapKat does have fees associated with it, but we take a percentage of the donations coming in.
Lyn WinemanGot it.
Allison VolkSo you're paying upfront.
Lyn WinemanYeah.
Allison VolkThe second one is that we really encourage our nonprofits to get their prizes on consignment or donated so that you're not—
Lyn WinemanYou're not paying for them, right, yeah. Yeah.
Allison VolkSo when you get a prize on consignment, it essentially means that you're making an agreement with the prize provider that you'll only be on the hook to pay for the prize if you reach a certain minimum raise. So let's look at a specific example. One nonprofit I really love, the American Harp Society, they're doing a trip to Paris right now. And they sourced this trip to Paris through a travel agency called Auction Packages. And Auction Packages specifically works with nonprofits to provide these trips and they're all on consignment. So Auction Packages knows that the American Harp Society has reserved this trip, but unless the American Harp Society raises the cost of the trip and then some—
Lyn WinemanYeah.
Allison VolkThen they don't— they don't have to pay for the price for the— instead, the sweepstakes prize turns into a cash prize, which will be 25% of the total raise.
Lyn WinemanGot it. Got it. And that's just something that you work into the material. So it's kind of an automatic. You're working with, so that's the advantage of working through you versus just trying to do it on your own.
Allison VolkYes. We have— we have— all the rules and regulations are built in. So you don't have to worry about like figuring out, wait, how do we word this so that it legally is correct? We've already done that. Our all of our lawyers have done that.
Lyn WinemanI love that. I love that. Yeah. And it's expensive to have one-off lawyers do that for your one nonprofit. But because you have— are doing this in volume and you're experts in this area, that is— that is not only spread across many nonprofits, but it's also, I'm guessing, battle tested to a certain extent.
Allison VolkAbsolutely. And the truth is we're constantly adjusting the rules as we need to. If you know, if laws change, we're just super on top of it.
Lyn WinemanOf course you are. Yeah. That's great.
Allison’s Path From Film To Nonprofits
Lyn WinemanThat's great. Well, Allison, how does one find themselves in this line of work? I mean, I can't imagine that you were on the playground in the eighth grade saying, when I grow up, I want to be a nonprofit sweepstakes specialist. Or maybe you were.
Allison VolkOh no, that's definitely not. I wanted to be a rancher. I wanted to have horses and be a rancher.
Lyn WinemanOh, I love that. Okay. Well, that sounds like a much more plausible thing that an eighth-grade girl would say. Yeah.
Allison VolkYeah, it does, doesn't it? Well, for me, I, you know, I was living in Los Angeles and I had kind of two things going. I was a filmmaker and also I was doing a lot of marketing on a freelance basis. I was a basically a ghostwriter for a while.
Lyn WinemanOh, yeah. Yeah.
Allison VolkAnd those two things kind of dovetailed, and I wound up doing a lot of like industrial, in the film industry, we call them industrials, but I guess they're they're training videos for for companies that needed that sort of thing.
Lyn WinemanYeah.
Allison VolkAnd it kind of just helped me step into the position of marketing, into the role of marketing. And I'll tell you that I'm so happy to be at TapKat. It's just so fulfilling to work with nonprofits who are mission-driven.
Lyn WinemanYes.
Allison VolkIt makes me feel like I'm using my skills to make the world a better place. And that is so deeply fulfilling.
Lyn WinemanAllison, we say the same thing at KidGlov. It is so nice. You know, every once in a while we'll have our morning meeting and I'll listen to, hey, what's on the docket for today? And it's like, wow, today we are, you know, helping a nonprofit that is supporting migrant rights, and we're helping another nonprofit that is a child advocacy center, and we're helping foster kids find homes and you know, tweens and teens with mental health. And it's like all of those things make it feel pretty good versus you know selling more soda or pharmaceuticals, or not that I have anything against soda and pharmaceuticals. I have probably both of them on my desk right now, but it's great to be doing that nonprofit work. I feel the same fulfillment as you. So okay, so tell me this. I'm really curious because in preparation for this, I did Google your name because I had met you in the nonprofit world. And I did see about your career as a film director. Like, how does that role kind of dovetail into what you're doing? I can see now how it got you there, but are there any aspects that carry over for you?
Allison VolkOh, yeah, definitely. Well, in my work as a filmmaker, I have done a lot of study of storytelling. I'm— I started as a screenwriter, and of course, that translates, you know, translating the script onto screen is its own skill set and art.
Lyn WinemanYeah.
Allison VolkAnd especially these days, being able to make video content and write scripts is so important for marketing.
Lyn WinemanAbsolutely, yes. And it gets more important all the time.
Allison VolkYeah, it truly does. Especially in the nonprofit world where sometimes it can feel like you're fighting to— you're fighting to prove why you exist and why it's so important.
Lyn WinemanYeah, a hundred percent.
Allison VolkSo, I would say that the skills that I came in with definitely support this work, and I'm so grateful for for my experiences in both
What’s Next Plus How To Connect
Allison Volkworlds.
Lyn WinemanThat's awesome. So, Allison, I'm really curious what's on the horizon for TapKat? What's coming up that you're excited about?
Allison VolkWell, we have a couple exciting things. We are going to be attending AFP icon in Baltimore come 2027.
Lyn WinemanThat's always a great show. So much great content, so many great nonprofit leaders all together in one space.
Allison VolkOh, yeah, it's really fun. And this year we want— we wore these like purple sequin jackets.
Lyn WinemanYou did. They were cool. You always wherever you were in the hall. I was like, ah, that's a TapKat person. Because there were three or four of you in those purple sequin jackets. Yeah, I love it.
Allison VolkOh, yeah. We had so much fun. So I'm— I don't know what we're gonna be wearing yet, but I know it will be dazzling.
Lyn WinemanI can't wait to hear. I can't wait to hear. I love that.
Allison VolkNow, the other thing that we're excited about is we frequently do sweepstakes for our nonprofit friends. So we love running sweepstakes for donors, but we think that the nonprofit leaders should get a chance to enter to win something too. So we actually back in April for AFP, we ran a trip to Hawaii.
Lyn WinemanI remember that because I didn't qualify. But, but yes, I was like, people are— yes, I got to see the email with the winner announced. I was like, that I'm happy for them. I really was.
Allison VolkOh, yeah. To qualify, you just have to work for a nonprofit and it's free to enter. So Renee was our winner. She's gonna take her 17-year-old daughter to Hawaii.
Lyn WinemanOh man.
Allison VolkWe will frequently be running these because it was so much fun. So check our website, and three or four times a year we're gonna be running these sweepstakes.
Lyn WinemanThat's awesome. Actually, that is the perfect lead in to my next question. I was gonna ask. If somebody wants to find out about TapKat, check into your platform, see if you've got a sweepstakes running. How can they how can they find you, Allison?
Allison VolkSo our website is tapkat.com. That's t-a-p-k-a-t dot com.
Lyn WinemanOh, that's awesome! And we will have that in the show notes on the KidGlov website as well. So, Allison, our listeners know I have one question I've asked on every episode of the podcast, and I can't wait to ask you.
Quote To Lead With Courage
Lyn WinemanAnd I am inspired by motivational quotes, and I would love to have an Allison Volk original quote to inspire our listeners.
Allison VolkOoh, okay. Well, I'll just tell you where I'm coming from when I say this. Okay. I personally like to check in with myself and find out, where am I holding back because I'm afraid? And when I can identify those areas, I find that my life becomes so much more rich because sometimes it's hard to see where those areas are that you're afraid. So my quote today is going to be be bold and try something new.
Lyn WinemanOh, I love it. It's almost like you gave us a great quote, but that why behind it is so good too. So thank you for that, Allison. All right. I always love talking with you, but as we wrap up our time together today, what is the most important thing you would like our listeners to remember about the work that you're doing?
Allison VolkI would really like nonprofit leaders to realize that sweepstakes work. And they work for nonprofits of all sizes. And it is possible to build your donor base, and it is possible to raise those funds. It works.
Lyn WinemanI love it. Allison, thank you so much for sharing. I really hope we've given people some new ideas for how to raise those important funds to support their missions. I so appreciate you being here today. I fully believe the world needs more people like you and more platforms like TapKat. So thank you for spending some time with us.
Allison VolkThank you, Lyn. It was just a pleasure.
Closing And Listener Next Steps
AnnouncerWe hope you enjoyed today's Agency for Change podcast. To hear all our interviews with those who are making a positive change in our communities, or to nominate a changemaker you'd love to hear from, visit kidglov.com at K-I-D-G-L-O-V dot com to get in touch. As always, if you like what you've heard today, be sure to rate, review, subscribe, and share. Thanks for listening, and we'll see you next time.