Raffle Fundraisers  

People get excited when they are looking forward to a chance in winning a product or getting a discount for a particular service.

Hence, why not run a raffle to raise funds for your favorite charity or local organization where supporters or anyone who will buy your raffle tickets can win exciting prizes?

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Raffle fundraisers are very simple to do but it will definitely bring excitement to the supporters of your cause during the raffle.

Raffles are also one of the most inexpensive fundraising ideas for a local organization or your favorite charity because you do not need to spend so much money to organize the event. Your expenses are limited to the printing of tickets, flyers, banners, and posters, and the cost to purchase the prizes.

In order to sell as many tickets to double or triple your revenue, you need to determine your target market.
You can sell raffle tickets to your family, friends, classmates, neighbors, colleagues, and of course, the general public. The general public is your largest market; hence you need to work on information dissemination regarding your raffle.

Publicity is the most significant element to promote your raffle fundraiser so that the public will be in the loop. Ask help from your volunteers to distribute flyers or display banners and posters in prominent places. Include important information on the flyers and posters, such as the venue, date, time, prizes, and the cause of your raffle.

You should also advertise the raffle fundraiser on your website and spread the news. Likewise, you can also issue a press release and ask the support of local newspapers to publish it or seek the help of the local radio station to announce your raffle fundraiser event.

Prizes, Prizes, and More Prizes

What kind of prize will you give to the raffle winners? The most important factor in determining the prize for the raffle is its desirability. More desirable prizes will generate more ticket sales; hence, more funds for the cause of your local organization or favorite charity.

Your prize should also focus on your target market or specific cause. If you are raising funds for a local organization that fights diabetes, cakes and chocolates are not good ideas.

However, if you are supporting an orphanage or a nonprofit that supports education, you can include books, school supplies, and discount cards to bookstores, on your list of prizes.

Choose a prize that will be appreciated, not go to waste, and does not require a lot of effort to set up or use so that people will buy more tickets and keep in mind the cause of your raffle.

Prizes for the raffle can be as low as $50 or $100, which can be any of the following:

• Cake
• Themed gift baskets, such as body pampering gift basket, organic tea or coffee gift basket, and holiday-themed gift basket filled with ornaments for Christmas, decorations for Easter, Halloween, or other seasonal holiday.

You can also give away food gift basket that is overflowing with meat, cheese, and jams, or a kitchen-themed basket full of kitchen utensils, cookbooks, herbs, and spices. Kids and adults will also appreciate education-themed basket full of books, bookmarks, highlighter pens, educational toys, and board games.
• Gift certificates from retail stores, craft stores, specialty stores, or restaurants
• Discount cards
• Books
• Toys
• DVD collection
• Movie tickets
• Electronic gadgets
• Small home appliances, such as oven toaster, microwave oven, blender, popcorn maker, and coffee
• Jewelry

You can also spend less for your prizes by seeking donation from local companies. These companies may donate their products or offer discounts to the services they offer.

To encourage business owners to donate prizes, assure them that you will mention the company name on your advertising campaign as well as during the raffling of prizes. However, before accepting any donation prize, you need to understand the rules and tax obligations involving donated prizes.

Another approach in spending less for your raffle prizes is to give out homemade prizes created by your volunteers, members, or supporters.

If there are people in your organization that have the skills to produce items, such as dolls, quilts, furniture, or painting, gather them and hold events where you create the items that you will be raffling off.

Furthermore, you can also offer services, such as car wash, lawn mowing, weeding, massage, manicure/pedicure, arts and crafts workshop, or lessons on playing music instruments.

However, if you plan to raise huge amount for your local organization or favorite charity and you would like to sell more expensive tickets, the prize should be more expensive as well, such as car, hotel accommodation, tour at a theme park, dinner at a fancy restaurant, or a cruise.