I spend a lot of time
talking about why holding your own prize draw can be of benefit to your organisation, and why printing your own Raffle Tickets online is a boon for fundraisers. Sometimes I make jokes, but in all seriousness, today I want to write about reasons not to hold a raffle. When should you hold off? Fundraising prize draws can be brilliant, or they can be terrible. None of these problems are insurmountable, but if they are your problems, you’ll need to overcome them before you begin.
The biggest obstacle to a successful prize draw may very well be your reputation in the community. If you are a new organisation, your raffle can be an excellent opportunity to spread your name about town, find new sponsors, and create an image for yourself. But what if your group has garnered a negative reputation? If there is some question about your brand, this can seriously hinder your ability to find prize donations and sell Raffle Tickets. If there have been allegations about misuse of funds or inappropriate behavior in the past, you may encounter difficulty. No one will feel comfortable associating with your group as a donor, or giving you money, even to take a chance on a Raffle Ticket, until you rectify the situation. Take the time to prove your good nature to your sponsors before you try to sell them Raffle Tickets.
New organisations can also suffer from the opposite problem. What if your group has not made many forays into your area? If you are a small organisation and your members are having difficulty going out into the world and sharing your message, you will have to address this problem. Who will sell Raffle Tickets if you are all holed up in your office, afraid to speak to outsiders? Before you print your own Raffle Tickets, be sure that you have staff or volunteers who are comfortable moving amongst strangers and pitching sales to unfamiliar people. Create an action plan to plot out when and where you will find potential donors. Practice your sales pitch. Become comfortable with public speaking.
The easiest problem to overcome may very well be one that plagues many of us. If you know that you have difficulty with spelling and grammar, do not order your Raffle Tickets yet! While it may be a bother, the ability to create Raffle Tickets with appropriate spelling and grammar is an example of professionalism. Perhaps not everyone will notice, but if you make mistakes, someone will notice. Customers find it harder to part with money, particularly on a chance in a prize draw, if you don’t appear competent to create your own Raffle Tickets without errors. If this is your problem, make use of your computer’s spell check and then have a good editor or proofreader look over your work.
That’s all the space we have for this week, but we’ll address other problem associated with prize draws in the future. Until then, happy sales!
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