Raffle Fundraising From a Students Viewpoint by Sarah Hanif
Raffle Fundraising From a Student's Viewpoint by Sarah Hanif
As a student, I know what entices the minds of our youth to spend their money and participate in community activities. Although typical raffle prizes, such as technological devices, are attractive to most teenagers, there are some more stimulating rewards. Such prizes would include community-related activities, which will be discussed more in-depth below.
My high school of over 2,500 students conducts several charity events every year to raise money for cancer research, tornado victims, etc. We have raised approximately $15,000 from just three fundraising activities, all of which could be conducted through a raffle. The first of these was a pie-throwing contest, which involved two steps. First, five of the school's most notorious teachers were selected. Each of these teachers received a bucket in which students could place their raffle tickets, and the teacher with the most raffle tickets was selected for the pie throwing. Second, one raffle ticket was selected from that teacher's bucket and the owner of that ticket would be the one to throw the pie at the teacher.
The incentives for a raffle that involves pie throwing include community-involvement and group-wide recognition. Rather than simply receive an iPod or television set, these students were able to participate in a collective activity. This raffle could easily be related to church group and youth sport organizations as well, as I know many children who would love to throw pies at their coaches!
The second fundraising idea was definitely our most successful for motivating participating volunteers to sell tickets. Our school has very limited parking spots that are easily accessible from the building, and all of the conveniently located spots are reserved for faculty. Thus, we requested that our principal put her parking spot up for auction for one day, and we called it "Park like a Principal." The volunteer with the most sold tickets would get to park in our principal's parking spot. This activity could easily be accommodated for any fundraising activity!
Our third and most successful fundraising activity was called the "Follicle Frenzy." It was a fundraising activity initiated by our Student Council to raise money for families affected by cancer. For every $500 raised, one teacher would have to shave his/her head. This fundraising activity easily raised $10,000 in approximately three weeks and could be suitable for any event as long as you have participants willing to shave their heads. Each participating teacher was given a "fundraising price," which was the amount of money needed to be raised before that teacher would shave his/her head. These "fundraising prices" ranged from $500-$10,000. Like the pie-throwing contest, each teacher had their own bucket, which was used to collect these funds. As a raffle event, the number of raffle tickets determined whether or not the teachers would shave their heads.
These fundraising ideas all involve raffles and have proved to generate a large sum of money in my local community. Within a few weeks our school was able to generate thousands of dollars in funds as well as student-body enthusiasm. Raffles can generate money in several ways, but those involving collective involvement are definitely some of the most successful fundraisers. As a student, I am more attracted to fundraisers that involve activities for several people to participate in together, and a pie-throwing event or "Follicle Frenzy" would definitely entice me to buy a raffle ticket, or several in fact!
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Contributed by Sarah Hanif