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Are you looking for great fundraiser raffle ideas for your school club, student council or church youth group?  Here are three unique and profitable ways you can turn your fundraising raffle idea into a big win for everyone!

Remember, picking the right prize for your raffle is the foundation of your potential success.  Ideally, you want to get your prize donated, so put your effort into getting the best possible item(s) you can.

Score BIG, Expensive items:

• Cars
• Trips
• Electronics
• Jewelry

Try to get one of these items by talking to family and friends of people in your group.  Chances are, somebody you already know, has a business that can donate. A good rule of thumb is that the more expensive your prize is, the more you can charge for the raffle ticket and the longer amount of time you might need to sell tickets.

Gather A Collection Of Smaller, Less Expensive Items:

• restaurant gift cards
• movie gift cards
• gift certificates for haircuts or other services
• hotel packages

The advantage of taking this route is that many local business’s like to support local schools and clubs this way.  It’s a great way for them to advertise and do good at the same time.  Be sure to thank them publicly in your promotional materials.  Once you see what your group was able to collect, create a grand prize package deal, and if you have enough, you can even do a second and third prize package.  Raffle tickets may be less expensive, but try to sell volume.

Experiences Are Priceless:

You might also consider an experience.  An experience is priceless, something money can’t buy.

For instance, I would pay a lot of money on raffle tickets if I could sit in the grand stands with my son’s high school band.  And, I don’t mean next to the band, (I do that already), I mean, smack dab in the middle of the drum section.  I want to be in the action.

Bonus Fundraising Raffle Ideas:

• Being a Drum Major for a performance
• Riding in the homecoming parade
• Punting the football or throwing the opening pitch
• Being the school mascot
• Consider approaching your local fire department and getting permission to raffle off a ride on a fire truck (Sometimes, the fire fighters will give you a tour of the firehouse and maybe even let you eat with them, as long as there are no emergencies)
• If the mayor of your town is popular, why not see if he or she would be willing to host the winners for lunch at town hall
• Have your group do a day of chores, yard work, or packing up someone’s house for moving

The Finishing Touches On Your Fundraising Raffle:

1. Make sure your tickets look professional and are numbered
2. Get lots of people to help sell
3. Ask a parent or close family friend first.  It feels good to get a, “yes”, right away
4. Price your tickets to reflect the “value” of your grand prize
5. Sell more than one ticket to each person (maybe you can make a deal for three)
6. Check your state laws on raffles (someone in your group probably has a family member who is an attorney, or ask your teacher for help)
7. Handle your money carefully – remember, even though they are purchasing a ticket, they are supporting your cause.  People will want to know how much you raised
8. Announce your winner so that your group has credibility for next year

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Annie_Starr

Raffles are one of the most popular and cost effective ways to raise money for a non profit organization. However, it would not be a raffle if you had nothing to give away!

So what kind of prizes should you have? First of all, put yourself in your potential supporter’s shoes – What if someone comes up to you and says they are selling raffle tickets? What prize would you like to win?

Here are some prizes that attract many people’s attention:

Cars – Sports cars, Luxury cars, SUV’s in this years model. Another great alternative is a completely restored classic / collector’s car. You may or may not be able to get this donated. If not, consider other types of prizes, since your profit will be higher if all items are donated.

Travel – Always a winner. Roundtrip Airfare, a package deal, a cruise, hotel stays, even airline miles all make great prizes. Most people love to travel and the biggest obstacle is usually cost. Now if they win this raffle, they’ll just have to take some vacation time and go.

The larger trips such as week-long cruises or packages with airfare and hotel may draw more ticket buyers. However, travel doesn’t have to be exotic to make a great prize. Even a weekend getaway within driving distance could be a great prize. As long as it’s a place people in your area would want to go to for a vacation. A one night stay at a local hotel is not usually as appealing.

Electronic Equipment – Big screen TVs, DVDs, and stereos. These are big incentives, especially for the guys.

Gift Certificates – For stores like Home Depot, Best Buy, and local or chain restaurants. These make great secondary prizes.

These are just a few examples. As mentioned earlier, it is important to offer a prize that your potential sellers will place a high value on. A Barbecue Grill, a Handmade Quilt, a Gourmet Dinner, all of these could be great prizes for the right audience.

Okay, okay. So I know what you are thinking. How do I go about getting these prizes?

The absolute best way is to survey the members of your organization. Every member could possibly have something of value to contribute to the prize pool. And if not, they may know somebody who can. Go for your biggest prize first, though. You need to secure that “hook” in order to have a viable raffle.

One of the raffle fundraisers that I organized raised over $1000, with just 5 ticket sellers! In case you are wondering, our prize was a big screen TV. The company I worked for at the time had a point system incentive program. I pooled my points with some of my co-workers to get the big prize.

I also sent out an email asking my friends and the other ticket sellers for donations. I quickly got several more donations including some nice watches. Finally I went to area restaurants and got several gift certificates for third prizes.

It’s usually easy to get prizes from restaurants and some retailers such as beauty salons and video stores. Type a letter of request on your organization’s letterhead. Visit businesses in your area during the afternoon when they’re not as busy. Give them a copy of your letter and ask if they would be able to donate a gift certificate or other prize. Be sure to start canvassing your city about a month before your deadline, because some managers need to get approval or they may have a limited number of prizes per month they can distribute.

With a little creativity and persistence, you’ll be able to get some great prizes for your raffle!

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Sandra_Sims

The difference between a good donor newsletter and a poor one comes down to donors and dollars. A good newsletter retains donors and makes money. A poor one doesn’t. Here are 12 ways to improve your donor newsletter so that it works harder for you.

1. Make your donor the hero of every story. Take the focus off your institution and put it where it belongs: on the person who pays your salary. Donors want to read about themselves, not your charity.

2. Make each issue a report card to your donor. Prove that you are using donor gifts wisely and as intended. Show how their donations are making a difference. Act as if you won’t get another dime of support unless your donor gives you an A Grade, an A for Accountability.

3. Don’t celebrate another anniversary. Donors don’t care that you’re celebrating your 20th anniversary, or that you did something special in 1968. They give to organizations that look ahead, not backwards.

4. Make your donors reach for the Kleenex. Stir the emotions of your supporters so that they identify even more closely with the people you help. Help them feel at a visceral level that they are touching lives with their support.

5. Give your donors “The Because.” Doctors Without Borders in Australia has a page in its newsletter entitled “Why We Do What We Do.” It doesn’t tell you what they do. It explains why they do it, the “because.” Do likewise and you will retain more donors and raise more money.

6. Fine yourself $1,000 for every cliché photo you publish. No more ribbon-cutting ceremony with the over-size scissors, cheque-passing ceremony with the over-size cheque, ground-breaking ceremony with the people in suits putting shovels into the ground, or the grip-and-grin photo with the awkward-looking host handing over the plaque to the equally awkward-looking recipient. If the photo has been done to death, bury it.

7. Write about people, not programs. People give to people to help people. No more stories about your board retreat, awards your staff have won, or staff promotions. Make sure every story has a strong human-interest angle.

8. Put captions under all photos. No photo is worth a thousand words. Otherwise silent movies would still be silent. And People Magazine wouldn’t need a proofreader.

9. Write photo captions that tell the reader what she can’t see. If the photo is of a child riding a horse, don’t write, “Children in our program ride horses.” Instead, write, “Billy didn’t talk until he rode his first horse, Presidente. Now he speaks in full sentences, thanks to our

therapeutic riding program, which is funded by our generous donors.”

10. Put your donor in your headline, subhead or opening paragraph, or all three. Example: “Thanksgiving Dinner at The Mission Beats All Records with 1,865 Homeless Served, Thanks to Our Donors.”

11. Make each newsletter article, column, news story, editorial and profile answer the only question your donors have: “What good have you done with my donation?”

12. Offer your donors many ways to donate. Include a tear-out coupon. Enclose a business reply envelope. Print your website address on every page. Supply a toll-free number for donations.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Alan_Sharpe

Raffles are an easy, cost-effective way to raise money for organizations. With proper prizes, interest and ticket sales are able to soar. Concerts of all genres of music are able to attract a number of raffle participants. Holiday-specific concerts can also be a lure. Several concert promoters and venues will donate toward an organization’s cause, or you may well need to obtain prizes, with all the charges deducted from the overall raffle profit.

Concert with Meet and Greet

Raffles are effortless to run and may be pretty profitable with proper prize.Concert promoters and artists’ fan clubs usually provide concert tickets with a backstage meet and greet. This opportunity may be a well-liked draw for raffle ticket purchasers. Ask for a donation for your organization (which will keep your raffle ticket costs low) or obtain a package and price your raffle tickets to offset any charges.

Concert Tickets with Limousine and Tailgate

Outdoor venue concerts usually have areas for fans to congregate prior to the event. Produce a prize of transportation and tailgating experience (food and drinks) for the raffle winner to appreciate a full-scale event. Several firms will supply a donation of services or at a reduced rate, knowing the prize is for a charity, a nonprofit or a worthwhile organization.

Vacation Concerts

Bell-ringer concerts are well-liked in the course of the vacation season.In the course of the Christmas holidays, cities and towns schedule unique concerts to celebrate the season. These may possibly consist of big metropolitan symphonies, choral groups or different artists’ performances. If the concert can be a well-liked annual event, tickets may possibly be tough to come by. Months in advance, request a ticket donation or obtain seating. Raffle prizes may be combined with limousine transportation, a dinner or lunch for additional appeal. Hold your raffle in mid-fall in anticipation of the vacation season.

University Targeted Fundraising Raffles

Educational nonprofits can draw on local elementary schools for raffle participation, with all the winning university awarded a concert by a local, regional or national act. Although acquiring the Wiggles or the Jonas Brothers to perform may well be tough, you can find regional performers who specialize in school-age concerts it is possible to hire. The

university that sells the most wins the concert for the university. The raffle ticket is drawn from all tickets sold, as well as the winning student and his class also get to attend the concert.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Wendy_Crow

The 50-50 raffle fundraiser. It’s not the most glamorous fundraiser. Or even the most productive fundraiser for the amount of money it raises. But when used correctly, the 50-50 raffle can be a steady ongoing source of fundraising revenue for almost any size or type of nonprofit group.

The 50-50 raffle won’t win you any prizes (no pun intended) as a fundraiser. But then again, it won’t hurt you either. The 50-50 raffle fundraiser has a lot going for it and almost no downside:

• Easy Fundraiser

– Is your nonprofit group looking for an easy fundraiser? The 50-50 raffle is it. No need to explain it. Everyone knows about it.

• ROI

(Return on Investment) – For the time, money, and manpower invested you won’t find a better return.

• Start Now

– After you clear your initial hurtles with your state regulatory agency, a 50-50 raffle fundraiser is easy to get going.

• No Interference

– The 50-50 raffle won’t interfere with your other fundraisers.

• Everyone’s a Donor

– We’re talking pocket change here folks. A buck or two per person adds up quickly.

• No Burnout

– This is a low impact fundraiser. So low that everyone who contributes won’t even think of it as a fundraiser.

• Repeat as Needed

– Repeat this fundraiser time and time again with success.

• Add One

– A 50-50 raffle fundraiser is a great add-on to an existing event.

How the 50-50 Raffle Fundraiser Works

A raffle involves many people buying tickets for a chance to win a prize or prizes. In the case of a 50-50 fundraising raffle the prize is 50% of the money taken in by the raffle ticket sales. The other 50% is retained by the nonprofit group holding the raffle. Hence the name, 50-50 raffle fundraiser.

A person can purchase one or more tickets, and each ticket purchased equals one entry in the drawing for a winner. A certain number of tickets are sold or a specified time passes and a single ticket is randomly chosen.

You sell as many tickets to each person as possible, for a fixed fee. Typical ticket prices are $1, $5, or $10 depending on the makeup of your group. The most common price is one ticket for $1.

So here it is in a nutshell: Sell the raffle tickets and collect the money. Add up the amount you have collected and divide it in half. One half goes to the winner and the other half to your organization. Draw the ticket. Award the winner their 50%.

Typically participants have to be present at the time of the drawing to win. Allow a set time limit, which can be as short as a minute or two, for the winner to claim their prize. If nobody claims the prize within the time limit, just draw another number until somebody wins.

Your only expense for this fundraiser is the raffle tickets. You may also find it convenient for your raffle ticket sellers to purchase carpenter style aprons that tie around the waist. The aprons have two pockets. One for money and the other for the sold ticket stubs. A large clear plastic jar (gallon size or larger) to put tickets into for the drawing is nice too. It lets everyone see that everything is on the up and up with the ticket drawing.

Sell More 50-50 Raffle Tickets

Obviously the more tickets that are sold, the more money the seller and the winner will make. Since it’s all profit anyway (other than the small cost of buying the tickets), each 50-50 raffle ticket is usually cheap to buy. I wouldn’t recommend charging any less than a dollar per ticket. Making change is hard enough without adding coins to the mix.

No matter how much you charge per raffle ticket, offer incentives for multiple purchases. If you charge one dollar for one raffle ticket, offer three for two dollars, and seven for five dollars. Or an arm length for $20. Always try and up sell your customer.

Don’t forget to ask everyone. Just because someone hasn’t bought a raffle ticket before doesn’t mean they won’t buy one now. Some people just haven’t been asked. Others may not have had the money available the first time.

Make sure your customers know what they can possibly win when they buy their

fundraising raffle tickets. Tell folks how much the last raffle winner won.

Who Should Hold a 50-50 Fundraising Raffle?

All nonprofit organizations and charities, large and small, should think about holding a 50-50 raffle fundraiser.

Although typically this type of raffle is used as a fundraiser for smaller nonprofit groups like booster clubs, sports teams, and social clubs, many other groups can and should consider the 50-50 raffle:

• Churches
• Golf Tournaments
• Libraries
• Festivals
• Fire Departments
• and many others!

While many larger nonprofits perhaps consider themselves above this type of fundraising, it can make a wonderful add-on to an existing event.

50-50 Raffle Ticket Sources

50-50 raffle fundraising tickets are the style of tickets that have two sections that both share a unique serial number. They come on a consecutively numbered double ticket roll. The seller keeps one half and the buyer gets the other half. Tickets can be sold fast because there isn’t any name, address, or phone number to fill out.

They are usually available at local party supply stores and big box office supply stores for under $10 for a roll of 2,000 tickets.

50-50 Raffles and the Law

A 50-50 fundraising raffle is a game of chance. They are highly regulated in all 50 states. Each state, and sometimes each local jurisdiction, has their own rules. There are even a few states that forbid 50-50 raffles!

Don’t even consider planning a raffle until you understand all the rules and regulations involved. In most instances paperwork will have to be submitted and approved before you can hold a 50-50 raffle. But if your nonprofit qualifies it is usually a simple process.

Conclusion

Fundraising with a 50-50 raffle is easy, fast, and makes good money time after time. Won’t you consider one for your nonprofit groups next fundraiser?

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Deane_Brengle

Trade show booths have to fight for attention from every angle. There’s loud music, trade show exhibits around every corner and countless other attractions. Unless a client is specifically looking for your display, it can be easy to miss. To help attract attention and increase your company’s bottom line, think about hosting a giveaway at your trade show stand.

Plan A Trade Show Stand Giveaway That People Want

Event attendees are deluged from all sides with pens, pencils, notepads, printed plastic bags and more. If you’re planning on giving away a trinket to every attendee who comes by your trade show stand, consider something a bit more substantial. A coffee mug with your logo, phone number and website can be a great promotional item since nearly everyone drinks coffee or tea or uses a coffee mug to hold pens and pencils on their desks. If you shop around a little, you’ll be able to find mugs or other unique promotional materials at a great price.

Consider Giving Away More Than One Prize

Don’t limit yourself to giving away just one simple promotional item. If you plan a giveaway, you’ll be able to capture sales leads and attract more people to your trade show stand. Prizes can be as large or as small as you’d like, but make sure to have a prize that people will be interested in. Some companies think they need to give away a large amount of cash, a big screen television or another oversized prize, but it can be as simple as one of your products. If you have a consulting service, consider giving away free hours of consulting time. Giving away a product or even your time can help create a lifetime customer with minimal cost.

Some attendees won’t enter a giveaway if there’s only one prize to be won. To combat this, consider offering a grand prize and three or four smaller prizes. You’ll increase the opportunity attendees have to win, which can naturally increase your sales leads. Just make sure to create an entry form that collects the information you need to make sales calls, such as name, company, email address, phone number and the type of industry they’re in.

Qualify Leads Before Someone Enters

To make cold calling easier after your event, consider printing raffle entry or lead cards in different colors to separate the really hot leads from the lukewarm ones. If you hand people a special entry form after spending just a few minutes talking about their needs, you’ll be able to focus on making sales calls to people most likely to become clients when you’re back in the office, and the attendees will never know about your system.

With these tips, you’ll be able to easily attract attention and capture sales leads at your trade show exhibits. The hard part will be sifting through them all and making sure you have the time to call each one after the exhibit.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Chris_A._Harmen
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So your non-profit organization has decided to hold a raffle in order to raise much needed funds.

You know you are going to need raffle tickets. That’s pretty obvious.

When you get down to it, you essentially have three ways to produce your needed raffle tickets.

Let’s have a look at your choices separately:

OPTION # 1: Maybe you’re considering saving money by printing your own tickets. There are several templates available online. But you might want to reconsider this method, mostly because your tickets will not be numbered.

That means you will have to write the numbers in one-by-one, sequentially. That’s a lot of work. Keep in mind that potential ticket buyers won’t feel comfortable purchasing a ticket that has hand written numbers. Let’s face it . . . it looks dicey.

The worst case scenario is having duplicate numbers, and thus you end up with two winners. Not good!

OPTION # 2: Raffle ticket printing software is available. Prices will range from $25 up to $200. Once you buy the software you’ll be ready to print your raffle tickets. Sounds easy. But is it?

Raffle tickets should be printed on heavy card stock. Are you able to print card stock with your printer? If your printer jams, you could end up with duplicate sheets and numbers. Another uh-oh (see above.)

Once your tickets are printed, it’s no time to relax. You now have to cut the tickets and perforate the stubs. One ticket software provider actually suggests that you use a sewing machine to perforate the stubs and then take the ticket sheets to your friendly local printer to have them cut to size. Where are your savings now? It’s not a good idea to cut them yourself as the stubs need to be uniform.

Finally, consider this: what’s to stop someone from using the same software and counterfeiting your tickets?

CHOICE 3: If you want to avoid all of the above drawbacks, inconveniences, and problems – have them custom printed by a professional.

You will end up saving time (time that you can use devoted to ticket sales,) major aggravation, and even money.

Good luck!