Ford GT auction raises thousands for charity
Friday, May 23rd, 2025
Simply amazing! A huge thank you to EVERYONE involved in the auction for the iconic Ford GT, especially our wonderful VP Alan Hartman, former Head of Xbox Games Studios, who so generously donated the car and nominated us to be the primary beneficiary of the sale, which ended at over $800,000.
It costs over $2.5M each year for us to provide free, specialist and lifelong support for the people we help. With costs and demand for our services rising, Alan’s fantastic gesture will be a huge boost towards helping us to positively impact the lives of physically disabled people around the world.
Marked by his passion for innovation and for gaming, Alan Hartman recently retired after 30 years at Microsoft, most recently as head of Xbox Games Studios. He worked on a range of projects from Age of Empires to Brute Force as the studio head of Digital Anvil, to the founding of Turn 10 Studios. Over the years, Alan, Turn 10 and Playground Games delivered 14 Forza Motorsport and Forza Horizon games, building Forza into one of the top racing franchises in the world. During this time Forza also became one of the most popular games enjoyed by disabled gamers across the globe, with in-game assistive control innovations personally championed by Alan himself.
Alan’s iconic 2017 Ford GT is one of only 138 made that year, and was most often been seen on display in the lobby of the Turn 10 Studios HQ in Washington.
Take a moment to check out these kind words from Alan about SpecialEffect’s work and his decision to auction his Ford GT.
Alan intends that the proceeds of the auction, which was managed by Bring a Trailer, will be used to establish a US-based donor-advised fund. This will ultimately managed by Seattle Foundation, whereby the auction proceeds will benefit charitable causes. Grateful thanks also go to The Shop Club Seattle for their valuable assistance.
Top image: (l-r) SpecialEffect Founder and CEO Dr Mick Donegan, specialist occupational therapist Liz Power, SpecialEffect COO Tom Donegan, and Alan Hartman beside the car in Turn 10 Studios.