A Cause You Can Believe In the Key to Fundraising Success by Marta Piekarz
A Cause You Can Believe In the Key to Fundraising Success by Marta Piekarz
Non-profit organizations have a goal, to raise as much money as they can. This goal can be reached in a number of different ways, but with the personal experiences I have with fundraising, raffle fundraising has always lured in the best results.
The most important fact is that people who support the cause will donate or buy more raffle tickets. People need to believe in the cause. Therefore if a non-profit organization has a desirable cause or a desirable reason to buy raffle tickets then the fundraiser will be a success.
People say winning isn’t everything….But in raffle fundraising it totally is. People like to win. Winning attracts people.
The last important point in encouraging ticket sales and having a successful fundraiser is a desirable prize. When people see those Bulls tickets or that brand new blender that has 8 different settings on it, they will not stop buy tickets until that prize is theirs.
The cause. It is the most important part of any kind of fundraiser. It is not only what brings awareness to your fundraiser, but it is also why people want to donate or buy raffle tickets. For instance, I participated in a Making Strides Cancer run because earlier that year a family friend had been diagnosed after delivering her first newborn child. It is a very emotional story that will be a part of me for the rest of my life. As soon as I saw that making strides was having a cancer run, I went and signed up because that was an encouraging and desirable reason to give back and I am sure the people that ran with me had the same reason in mind. They ran for their aunts, sisters, mothers, brothers, and friends because they believed in the cause.
My high schooled had also started a fundraiser for St. Judes Childrens Hospital. Although there were games and many fun prizes to win, which a lot of kids participated in, my class did not participated for that reason. We donated because a boy in our class, 2 years ago, was diagnosed with an extremely rare form of cancer. He has been in and out of St. Judes for a long time and we were donating for him and the kids that were fighting for their life with him. We believed in him, we believed in the cause.
In the months of May and June, my high school hosted a fundraiser to obtain as much money as they can for St. Jude's Children Hospital. During these months we had a number of activities such as a dunk tank, blow up race track, a bunch of water games, and a few free throw games. Each of these games required a number of raffle tickets to play. Some of these games had prizes such as more raffle tickets others gave a student the satisfaction of dunking their teacher into a bucket of freezing water. Either way a student won something at the end of each activity. Which brings me to a great point on why raffle fundraising gives you the best result, it is because people like winning. Winning attracts more people. The entire time at my high school fundraiser more and more students bought tickets because they wanted to win.
During the same time the fund raising activities were going on, some of the volunteers and I had a couple jars set up. On every jar was listed a different prize that could be won. These were desirable prizes, for example, a gift card for a dinner at this expensive restaurant called Fogo de Chao, or prom tickets ect… These were all generously donated prizes and the objective was that every raffle ticket you bought, you could write your name on it and put it in a jar and later that day they would mix up the tickets and grab one and announce who won that prize. My one friend had put in 23 raffle tickets into one of the jars because she needed to win those prom tickets. A desirable gift such as a home appliance, a vacation, a gift basket, a mystery prize, a toy, or even a pet donated for a good cause will make raffle ticket sales go through the roof.
In addition to having a successful fundraiser, volunteers need to be encouraged to sell as many tickets as they possibly can. Half the time they don't sell many tickets is because they are too afraid to speak up and ask people if they would want to buy some. They must be encouraged to walk around and socialize and people will come up and ask how much they good buy. The other half of the problem is that they need a little competition. My proposal is having a contest between the volunteers on who can sell more tickets with a little prize afterwards. People like winning. Winning will encourage volunteers to go out there and beat theirs peers. They will be selling raffle tickets and having fun while they do it.
In conclusion, my proposal is a non-profit organization will benefit greatly from a raffle fundraiser, if they have a cause people can believe in, and a desirable prize because people NEED to win. Raffle fundraising is simple that is why people enjoy them.
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Contributed by Marta Piekarz
September 1, 2015