Ideas to Maximize the Sale of Raffle Tickets by Anna Winders
Ideas to Maximize the Sale of Raffle Tickets by Anna Winders
The sale of raffle tickets provides non-profit organizations the ability to raise funds for their cause as well as establish mutually beneficial relationships with local businesses. Utilizing products and services from local businesses has several advantages. The non-profit will promote the local economy. This promotion occurs through the promotion of the local business as a philanthropic entity as well as by promoting individual products and/or services when they are provided as raffle prizes. Through the promotion of the local economy, job retention and/or creation for community members as well as environmental preservation increases. Raffle prize sponsors, local businesses, benefit via increased brand awareness, brand loyalty, customer generation, and revenue via brand advertisement during the raffle promotion. This promotion and/or advertisement may occur in print media, social media, television media, and/or radio media. The non-profit will also benefit through self-promotion to the customers and employees of the local business sponsors.
The prizes which are most beneficial to a raffle are those which allow for many tastes. For instance, instead of providing a strawberry flavored cake from a local bakery, provide a gift certificate for a specified monetary amount for the bakery. Gift certificates allow the purchaser to make their own decisions and thereby increases their popularity. In order to increase the benefits for both the business and the non-profit organization, a couple of guidelines should be adhered to. First, the business should consult state regulations on gift certificates and then apply an expiration date. While it may be required that a year be allotted, it is also possible that a shorter time is assigned. Further, if the business typically experiences a slow quarter, the gift certificate could be redeemable only during these times in order to increase foot traffic and stock turnover during this time. For businesses which seek to promote their products, themed gift baskets are also very effective in increasing raffle tickets sales. Theme ideas could include coffee lovers, tea lovers, animal lovers, and sports enthusiasts.
In considering a gift certificate as a raffle prize, it is best to provide a direct certificate. It should not, for instance, allow a free item with a purchase. The gift certificate should also be designed specifically for the event and not available on other sites or through other sources. While the business may create the gift certificates, this can be a time-consuming process and the non-profit organization should consider creating them instead. A good design would include a background with a washout version of the non-profit organization’s logo, tag line, or name. The sponsoring business’s logo in full color should be on the gift certificate along with the address, phone number, web site, business hours, and dates of possible redemption. A design like this will promote both the organization and business as well as provide an extra incentive for the buyer as it will show they are involved in philanthropy. It will be a gift certificate designed especially for them. It is also preferential, in the spirit of a custom certificate, to include the recipient’s name on the certificate with the printing process instead of filling in their name by hand.
Without volunteers to sell the raffle tickets, all other efforts would be wasted. In order to further the mutually beneficial relationship with businesses, gift certificates and/or products should be purchased by the non-profit organization as prizes for volunteers. A good working relationship will allow these items to be purchased at discounted prices in which the business is able to deduct the amount reduced with their charitable giving tax deductions. It is important to note that regular recognition of the volunteers will drive prolonged productivity. Once volunteers are acquired and raffle ticket goals are created, different levels of participation should be set. For instance, volunteers may be able to reach the participant, bronze, silver, or gold level. A specific percentage of sales should be kept in mind when determining these prize levels.
When the base amount desired out of each volunteer is $150 in raffle ticket sales, I suggest levels as follow: gold level at $2500, the silver level at $1500, and the bronze level at $500. A good guideline for incentives is to provide a reward equal in value to 10% of the sales generated by a certain person. Participants, then, would receive a certificate of recognition for less than $150, a $15 gift certificate for reaching the $150 goal, a $50 gift certificate or product/product package for reaching the bronze level, $150 gift certificate or product/product package for reaching the silver level, and $250 gift certificate or product/product package for reaching the gold level. These prizes should be cumulative in nature in order to produce the best results.
In this essay, I have outlined ideas to maximize the sale of raffle tickets through the inclusion of crowd-pleasing raffle prizes and volunteer incentives. While not every plan will work for every group, this plan facilitates the creation or reiteration of a community network among local businesses and the non-profit organization. Remember that it is even possible for the non-profit organization to receive both raffle prizes and volunteer incentive prizes with no out-of-pocket expense. The sponsoring businesses can use the value of all donations as a tax deduction, so the more they donate the more they can deduct and use to increase their corporate social responsibility portfolio. These benefits increase the triple bottom line credits as the event and organization increases its sales through brand promotion. This plan is an effective tool I have used in the past to generate funds, promote small business and the local economy, and forge strong working networks within the community’s organizations and small businesses. It facilitates innovative local economy growth through the promotion of the greater good and philanthropy. It is the wave of the future and an amazing path for the present.
Help Anna Winders' pursuit of a scholarship award by clicking the “sharing is caring” buttons – click on this link:
https://raffleticket.com/blog/ideas-to-maximize-the-sale-of-raffle-tickets/
Contributed by Anna Winders
July 15, 2015