Making a Better Raffle

I have seen first-hand how church raffles operate as far as the raffles themselves, the volunteers, and the outcome. I believe that raffles are a great way to raise money, but they are not presented in a way that makes more people from outside of the church want to attend the raffle.

The first thing I would do to bring in more people is change the way raffles are advertised. My church, and others that I have attended, go with the traditional word of mouth approach to advertise that they are having a raffle. While this method is a tried and true, it is outdated for the way the world currently operates. I think that churches are missing the boat when it comes to social media. It may be hard to convince them to change, but advertising on Facebook, twitter, or other social media networks can boost the attendance for their raffles. If a church would take the time and create a Facebook page, and use it to promote the raffle, I believe that it is guaranteed that the members of the church would share the information about the raffle on their page, and others would do the same.

The next thing I would change is the prizes. Some church raffles offer some good prizes, but they could be more varied. The majority of raffles I have seen offer a cash prize, but I have seen that people are hesitant to accept that prize, because they feel they are taking money from the church. What I would do is offer prizes that are geared more towards what people want today. If possible, I would offer items that are on the smaller scale like iPhones, iPods, Android, and other smartphones. In addition to those, I would also go to the larger scale and offer things like iPads, Android based tablets, laptops, and if possible, smart televisions. These prizes are geared towards what people want today, and since they are a physical item, and not money, people would not feel guilty about accepting them.

When it comes to volunteers, it may be hard to get them motivated to sell more tickets. Generally, the volunteers you see at a church raffle are 40 years old and older. I believe that going after a younger demographic would increase tickets sales, but you have to figure out a way to bring the younger demo in. The only way I could see them volunteering is by offering them a prize too. The prize for them would be along the same lines as the prizes listed above. In addition, the prize would have to be given to the person who generated the most sales. This should motivate the ticket sellers to try and get higher ticket sales.

I believe that these methods can boost the attendance and money generated by raffles, because it would garner the attention of a younger crowd to a raffle. Raffles have no problems bringing in an older crowd, but in order to maximize their profits, they have to figure out a way to bring in the younger demo.