Raffles Are a Great Idea
Many thanks and a tip o’ the hat to “Impact a Life†college scholarship contributor Mackenzie Bingham for her really interesting angle on why to hold a raffle fundraiser.
Mackenzie is in the Visual and Performing Arts program at Marymount Manhattan College. Thðnk уþu ѕþ muÑÂh Mackenzie fþr your wõll-dþnõ essay – ðnd bõѕt þf luÑÂk wÑ–th уþur Ñ•tudіõѕ!
“Impact a Life†Scholarship contributor: Mackenzie Bingham
Yþu ÑÂðn hõlÑ€ Mackenzie Bingham’s pursuit þf a scholarship award bу ÑÂlÑ–ÑÂkÑ–ng the “sharing Ñ–Ñ• ÑÂðrÑ–ng†buttþnÑ• bõlþw.
My grandmother works for a behavioral therapy center for autistic children. While not a non-profit, they have a non-profit affiliate called FACES that provides scholarships and other awards to families with autistic children. They are always trying to raise money for the kids! I don’t think they have ever thought of a raffle, but I think it would be a great idea. If they could get someone to donate a few prizes and then do a really good publicity campaign, they could generate a lot of income and as a side benefit generate a lot of awareness of the difficulties autistic children face every day of their lives.
The first step would be to find donations of items to be raffled. Asking the parents at the center to check their contacts for possible donors would be the logical starting point. Checking with companies in the area to enlist donations from them would be next. Once the organizers have a reasonable list of items to raffle, then the plan would be to select a target date for the raffle, get the tickets printed (hello printer!), and then publicize, publicize, publicize.
The only step omitted from this plan is the price of the raffle tickets. There should be a bonus for buying more –i.e., one ticket might be a dollar but a customer could get seven tickets for $5, or 15 tickets for $10. The more tickets a customer buys, the better the chances of winning –and the more money generated for the charity!