This site allows you to set up your own prize draws as well, provided you have prizes to offer. You can manage everything from a unique domain assigned to you. Prizes are high-interest items such as a new iPhone, iPad, iPod, or MacBook, a variety of digital cameras and shopping sprees, and other items that quicken the buyer’s pulse, such as a signed England Football shirt!

All you have to do is provide supporters with the proper web address. The site will build your widget, so you can add a snippet of code to your website and start selling immediately. Only a limited number of tickets are sold for each raffle, and prizes are awarded regardless of how many tickets sell.

Raffle.it adds a certain extra dimension of amusement, with an unusual method of choosing prizes. Rather than selling sequentially numbered Raffle Tickets, this site asks buyers to choose their own ticket number. The winner is the one who has chosen the lowest unique number. In other words, if 6 people choose the number 1, and 4 people choose the number 2, but only 1 person has chosen the number 3, number 3 is the winning ticket.

It may be the lazy man’s raffle, but if your charity need to earn more money and lack the resources to mount their own fundraising drive, this is an interesting option!

Recall, of course, that you do not require government oversight for a small prize draw held in a confined location amongst a particular group of people: those who patronise a particular shop or pub on a certain day, or employees of a small business. You can sell Raffle Tickets to your particular group, at a particular time, in a particular venue, without going through the Gaming Commission. Do be sure to read up on the rules and ascertain whether your prize draw falls into the proper categories before you decide to forgo a visit to the Commission.

As you know, it is illegal to sell alcohol without a licence. It is not, however, illegal to offer alcohol as a prize in a contest! Therefore, you can earn money at a charity event by selling Raffle Tickets and offering drinks as prizes.

Some offer a single drink as a prize, which means you can offer many prizes and draw out the suspense. Or, you could help everyone get their drinks more quickly by using bottles as prizes. In theory, the winner would pour out draughts for each of their friends and the evening’s festivities can get underway with greater haste.

Consider your guests. Would they prefer an evening of drinking to another kind of entertainment? Whether they genuinely want to help your cause, or simply show up for a beer, selling alcohol Raffle Tickets can help turn your dry and dusty event into a rousing success!

Besides match balls, consider other inexpensive prizes such as:

• Team tee shirts
• England Team fan books
• A selection of flags
• Team pennants

Then, print out a run of raffle tickets and start selling! Be sure to make the rounds of all the pubs and parties where your community are likely to watch the games. If possible, bring some of the prizes with you so people can see what they may win. Come prepared to discuss your cause, explaining where the money will go and how purchasing a raffle ticket will contribute to charity.

Be prepared to wait for a commercial to make your pitch!

Prizes

The easiest way to show your supporters that you care is to offer them prizes that offer a solution. Perhaps you can find a company willing to donate some solar panels in exchange for a great deal of publicity if you’re holding a large raffle and expect to attract many donors. Or, for smaller prize draws, perhaps a simple compost bin, or a homemade solar oven. Ask a contractor to offer his or her services evaluating a home for energy efficiency.

Printing

Choose Raffle Tickets printed on recycled paper, or ensure that used Raffle Tickets will be recycled later. Find a printing company that uses environmentally sustainable processes such as recycling used printer cartridges, depending on alternative energy sources, and relying on environmentally friendly shipping companies.

Publicity

The Internet is quite green; it takes very little energy, especially if you’re using a newer computer. While you may not want to forgo traditional print publicity entirely, use all your online resources for the best coverage and promotion. Send email newsletter, post links to forums, and spread the word with social networking. Be sure to scan all your posters and upload the images. Put your website to work!

Selling Raffle Tickets helps children learn important skills: presenting themselves in front of adults, the power of persuasion, accounting for money, and more. Encourage each child to reach an appropriate sales goal. Prepare them in advance with scripts explaining who they are, what their school stands for, and what programs the money will support.

You may choose to have two levels of Raffle Tickets: a larger prize with more expensive ticket for adults, and a lower level that most children will be able to purchase with pocket money. For instance, for twenty-five or fifty pence, you could raffle off lunch with a favourite teacher or administrator, or some other coveted prize. Do your students like to make announcements over the PA? Eat pizza and ice cream at lunch? Leave class for some undirected computer time? Offer the prize that will motivate the children.

Offer prizes for those children who sell the most Raffle Tickets to grown-ups. Turn your prize draw into a math lesson: let them keep track of earnings, perhaps with a large graph shaped like a thermometer. Announce the winners in a public assembly and let their peers cheer on their accomplishment.

Arrange the type of holiday your supporters are most likely to prefer.

• For outdoors types, a camping trip
• For singles, a resort holiday
• For young couples, a romantic spa
• For families, a theme park
• For elders, a group tour

Use your imagination. Who is likely to buy your Raffle Tickets? Where are they likely to want to go?

If your donors are generous, an all-expenses paid trip to an exotic country across the sea might help you earn more money, but even a few nights in a hotel in London will appeal to those who feel stuck in their village and simply need to get away from it all for a little while. Wherever you can send them, they’ll be happy to go.

The more you can include, the better. Remember, a true holiday will require:

• Airfare (or bus fare, or money for petrol)
• Hotel or other lodgings
• Three meals a day
• Some form of entertainment

If you have a choice of locations, think of the extra you can include, such as lift passes for a skiing holiday, theatre tickets in the city, or hour-long massages at an expensive spa.

Then book the trip and start selling more Raffle Tickets.

Consider adding these tools to your charity arsenal:

• A new homepage, or a homepage with an updated look
• A new blog, or a makeover for your old blog
• An email newsletter keeping member informed

Now is also a lovely time to solicit donations of prizes for this year’s raffles. Let your own search coincide with everyone else’s spring cleaning and you may clean up yourself! Who knows what treasures lurk in the attics or cellars of your supporters? Ask around and you may discover items of real value, available for the asking. Such searches can be quite as much fun as your own home version of Antiques Roadshow.

If you collect a substantial number of old and forgotten gems, consider organising your prize draw around this theme. You may attract an entirely new segment of supporters when you offer old, unusual, or rare objects as prizes for your upcoming raffle. Be sure to add these fabulous prizes to the details when you print your own Raffle Tickets!

When you are selling Raffle Tickets, it’s ever so much more important to rehearse a proper pitch to potential customers. While you must of course be able to answer any questions regarding your charity, it’s best to lay all your cards out on the table straightaway.

For instance, rather than approaching strangers and asking, “Would you care to purchase a Raffle Ticket,” it makes more sense to provide the information that will persuade them to trust you and want to help out. Create your own introductory script, such as this one:

“Hi, my name is Ticket Girl and my organisation, Reading Seed, has been working to promote youth literacy since 1999. We send scores of volunteers to work with underprivileged children to ensure that every child in our city can read to standards by grade three! We’re selling Raffle Tickets, with all the proceeds earmarked to purchase supplies, including books for children who have none, small prizes to encourage young readers, and to cover the cost of training new volunteers.”

Speak with cheer and authority, with appropriate friendliness, and remember to smile!

• Dream Big Certainly, you can decide you need no more than 50 quid, and sell 100 Raffle Tickets for 50 p. each, call it a day and go home. But if you are certain you can sell 100 tickets, why can’t you sell 150 or 200 tickets? The more you sell, the more you earn. More money for your cause!
• Talk Hard Selling Raffle Tickets is not for the faint of heart. It may be simple to approach friends and family, neighbors and coworkers, but if you want to earn more money, you’ll have to approach strangers. You must prepare yourself to discuss your mission and your group with anyone who might contribute.
• Look Pretty Choose a Raffle Ticket template that appeals to you, speaks to your audience, and represents your cause. With hundreds of lovely designs, you can easily find the most appropriate image for your campaign, an illustration that helps you look smashing and draws more attention to your work.

Whether it’s your first prize draw or your fiftieth, you can always hone your technique. Think big, talk hard, and look pretty, and watch the funds add up!