Have you ever participated in a cakewalk? There is something to be said for the game in which everyone wins. A spirit of camaraderie and joy infuses those gatherings. Each participant contributes something and goes home with a prize.

You can capture the spirit of the cakewalk with a book raffle. This is a fundraising activity for groups with no capital whatsoever. If your organisation can afford to print its own Raffle Tickets online, this adds a lovely souvenir to the game, but even if you cannot buy Raffle Tickets, you can still come out ahead.

Simply ask each participant to bring a gently used book to the fundraiser. Ask them to choose something they have enjoyed, which they believe others in your group will also enjoy. Each participant checks in, deposits their book on the prize table, and receives a ticket, depositing the stub into a hat or bowl. Charge a small amount to play; all those pence will add up! At an appointed time, or at intervals throughout the evening, stubs are drawn, and the ticket holder is called to choose a book from the prize table. Everyone receives a new book, and your group earns more money!

Of course, you need not make it a book raffle. Use this same model with any commodity your group may enjoy:

• Gently Used Toys
• Yarn or Fabric
• Baked Goods
• CDs
• Sporting Goods
• Clothing
• Craft or Scrapbooking supplies

{ 0 comments }

It’s a beloved tradition around the world. I refer, of course, to the meat raffle or meat draw! What could be better than taking a chance with a few quid, preparing for the possibility of winning a lovely roast or some chops from the local butcher? There can be no more delicious way to liven up a slow night down at the pub. When a kindly gent approaches you with a handful of Raffle Tickets, it’s hard to resist.

While not widespread in the States, bars in the American state of Minnesota are also familiar with this tradition. It seems nothing heats up a frigid night in that region than the excitement of a prize draw. For most of the year, they need not even worry about the meat going off while they continue drinking. Simply popping their cuts into the boot keeps them even colder than an icebox!

In New Zealand and Australia, such raffles are also known as “the meat tray.” As the name implies, these prize draws usually offer a tray of meats. Perhaps it will contain meat suitable for the barbecue, but more often, the trays are breakfast trays (with sausage, bacon, and eggs) or seafood trays. Care must be taken in these climates to keep the seafood trays fresh and cold!

In any event, Raffle Tickets are sold, the atmosphere in the pub remains jovial, and the charity hosting the prize draw benefits. Everyone goes home happy. Meat raffles are a simple way to make a few pounds in a short period of time, while brightening the day of everyone in the pub. Looking for a new fundraising opportunity? Try some meat?

{ 0 comments }

Who can resist children’s charities?

Even the toughest among us cannot help but turn our heads when the cause is to support a children’s hospital or underprivileged youth. So make the most of your advantage! If you’re raising funds for the folks who have the most fun, let your Raffle Tickets reflect that. Choose a design with a strong sense of fun.

Something Sweet: If your kids are the most adorable things you know, shovel on the sugar with some candy-coated fundraising. Just find the images that appeals to your sweet tooth. Making money has never been so delicious!

Something Savory: They may have trouble eating it without taking a meat sauce bath, but that just adds to the fun. Smarten up your charity efforts with a Spaghetti-themed Raffle Ticket, or search for other food-related fun!

Something Sporty: For your active would-be footballers, try something from the athletic collection. Football is just the beginning! Raffle Tickets reflect a wide variety of interests. Whatever your game, you’ll find something to liven up the fund drive.

Children remind us that the world was meant to be enjoyed. When the stress and strain of fundraising starts to bring you down, perk yourself up with some seriously fun designs for your next prize draw. Make it a raffle to remember with unforgettable Raffle Tickets.

{ 0 comments }

After all the care you’ve taken in finding donors, collecting prizes, printing proper Raffle Tickets, organising your volunteers, marketing your event, and selling those Raffle Tickets, do you really want to fore go all possible pomp and circumstance in the actual drawing of prizes?

No!

The big moment should be, after all, a big moment! This is the minute your entire raffle campaign has been leading up to! Make it sparkle. make it a moment to remember. Turn it from a someone’s hand fishing around in a hat full of tiny scraps of paper to a spectacle that will keep the crowd talking and double your event attendance next year. Make it a moment people won’t forget, a moment people will regret missing.

• Announce the time left until the draw at regular intervals.
• Stress that Raffle Tickets are still available for purchase.
• If possible, display the prizes prominently at your event
• Have a microphone and a podium? Use them.
• Appoint an engaging MC, someone who can talk and joke with the crowd.
• Find a local celebrity to draw the actual Raffle Tickets.

When the winners are announced, don’t skimp on the celebration. Call them up to the podium if you can. Media attention may be helpful. Perhaps you can convince a local news source to cover your event, in which case photographs are in order. In any case, you will want someone from your organisation to take snapshots of your winners as they claim the prizes. Let them pose with your celebrity guest, or with their raffle prizes.

If you already have a band, get them in on the action! Let them play an upbeat song as each winner takes the stage. Inexpensive tiaras or paper crowns make an excellent and amusing addition to the celebration.

Whatever you do, keep the atmosphere charged with excitement! Your supporters will go home happy, whether or not they’ve won, and you will have created your own publicity. Next year’s event will be even more well-attended!

{ 0 comments }

Sometimes I like…

…to make mock-ups of joke raffle tickets online. (Don’t tell!) The templates are really simple to use and I can be as silly as I want to be. For instance, I’ve made tickets to raffle off my flatmates, with all proceeds to benefit the RSPCA. After all, humans are animals and my mates can be uncommonly cruel.

Ticket Printing’s raffle ticket templates are really simple, and basically explain themselves. They even tell you what information to add in each space. For instance, the first two spaces ask you to write the organizers of the raffle. So I could put in, for example, my name and my boyfriend’s name. The second two spaces might be the event name, so I would write “A night alone” and “with no noise complaints.”

Then, in the three spaces for the prizes, I would put each of their names, and then probably also the cat’s name, because usually you’d have three prizes, and I only have two flatmates. And while the cat is basically decent, she does like to stick her nose where it doesn’t belong, and jump on your head at night if you leave the door open.

In the box marked, “additional information,” I would probably write something rude, just to be silly and blow off a little steam. (Obviously, I wouldn’t be raffling them off were I happy with them!) In the price box, I would put maybe 2 pounds, my flatmates not being a high-ticket item. The “start number” would just be 1. If there is a space to upload an image, I would just find a funny one off my hard drive. It helps if the jpeg is perfectly square. Then you can click on “View Proof” and there’s your raffle ticket.

If you’re feeling very silly, you can save the proof and show it to them. If you’re feeling really silly you can buy the raffle tickets and try to sell them to people who might want a chance to win two freaks and an elderly pussy cat with delusions of grandeur.

Or, you could, you know, really have a serious raffle and make money that way. Either way, the templates work the same. Enjoy!

{ 0 comments }