Some things to keep in mind: how will you track sales? You need to decide in advance, but you should keep a record not only of how many tickets you’ve sold, but the names and contact information of everyone who purchases one.

While your students can certainly ask their friends, families, and neighbors to buy tickets, for maximum impact, you’ll want to use every tool in your arsenal. Other schools have had success with some smart ideas.

Consider finding a business or a festival that will allow you to set up a little table where your students can sell to passersby. If they have uniforms or costumes, they should wear them: the more adorable they look, the more tickets they will sell. Displaying the prizes prominently helps fuel sales. If this is not possible, at least have photographs of the prizes available.

Prepare your students by coaching them. You don’t want them to sound as if they’re reading off of cue cards, but they should be able to explain to potential customers where their money will be going. Let the students know why raffle ticket sales are important to their education. If they understand the meaning of the raffle, they can tell ticket buyers how their contribution will enrich the lives of children.

Next week: The Big Draw

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1. The Long Draw: Your School Raffle Part I
2. School Raffles

“Buy a raffle ticket?” the bigger one said, waving a single ticket in my face.

“Um…” I replied.

“What’s it for?” my friend asked.

“For our school.”

But what would that ticket do for his school? The little chap couldn’t say. He didn’t know anything about the cause for which he was raising money. All he knew was the name of his school, but he couldn’t say whether they needed to raise funds for a new gym floor, to send the band to a competition or (as is the case with some schools) to purchase base essentials like paper and pencils!

“You can win $500!” the kid continued. “And the ticket is only $1!”

“But how many tickets do you think you’ll sell?” I asked. “How many did they print?”

The child didn’t know. And while $500 is a fair sum, the odds of winning depend only the number of tickets sold. For a cash raffle with a prize of $500, they would need to print at least 1000 raffle tickets and sell them all to make an appreciable profit. A “50-50″ cash raffle is the standard, although, by selling enough tickets, one could offer a large prize and still keep an even larger profit. In the case of a $500 50-50 cash raffle, that $1 ticket has a 1 in 1000 chance of winning.

But I couldn’t calculate the odds. I simply wasn’t given enough information to be moved by the child’s pitch, and these boys were old enough that there were no adults kept handily about to answer my questions. (Meaning, of course, that they were old enough that I wasn’t moved by the cuteness factor of their pitch, either.)

This underscores the need to prepare your sales team, whether they are seasoned professionals or 10 years old. Make a list of all the questions someone might conceivably ask about your raffle before you start selling booklets, and coach your crew to memorize the answers.

Needless to say, those kids didn’t sell me a raffle ticket that day.

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Printing colorful, vernal Raffle Tickets for your next fundraiser is the perfect way to welcome Persephone back from the Underworld while increasing your funds! Spread the joy of spring with the lush images of new life. Pictured above, one of UK Ticket Printing’s Nature Series, the Green Leaves Raffle Ticket, along with one of two Spring Fling designs. Both work wonders in providing some much-needed light after a gloomy season.

Consider giving your prize draw a festive name that summons the idea of new life and new possibility. Ensure your sales team maintains a sunny outlook as they go about selling tickets. Be sure to remind potential supporters that the weather is about to turn, the season will change, and that now is the time to support new ventures and nurture fresh shoots.

Your spring renewal starts with luscious, green Raffle Ticket designs, a splendid way to capitalize on the human heart’s hope for the new dawn of a new day.

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• Chocolates
• Flowers
• Spa day
• Holiday getaway
• Massages

For an orthodox approach to Valentine’s themed fundraising, pair these prizes with a romantic raffle ticket, which you can print online and receive in just a few days.

How about an unorthodox approach? The prizes above work well for most groups, but perhaps you wish to try something a little different. Consider ways in which you could make your supporters’ lives more comfortable, or provide them an extra avenue for romance. Busy, two-parent families, for instance, might have difficultly redeeming those massages or sensual holiday getaways, for lack of time or childcare!

What can you do for them? What about:

• Gift Certificate for free childcare
• Catered dinner in their home
• Free house cleaning

Consider the reality of your supporters’ lives? What is most likely to make them feel loved and happy? If you can’t guess, why not ask? You may be surprised to find what people are willing to pay for.

Once you’ve settled on the perfect Valentine’s themed prizes, select a romantic, Valentine themed Raffle Ticket. Printing your tickets online helps save time and money so you can start selling your tickets more quickly.

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Today’s tip? Send out a survey!

If you have the money and a base that does not spend much time online, you can do this with a paper survey mailed with a stamped envelope. Otherwise, save time and money by using one of myriad online quiz-making applications. Then ask exactly what you need to know:

• Most coveted prizes
• General interests (this helps determine smaller prizes)
• Number of tickets supporter might want
• Prize range they consider reasonable
• Most convenient time of year for a prize draw
• Appropriate number of prize draws a year

Most people enjoy filling out quizzes and surveys on the Internet. It provides a stronger link to your organisation, demonstrating that you see your donors as individuals, not just financial amounts, and that you are interested in their opinions and feedback.

Of course, your prize draw will be far more successful if you are selling Raffle Tickets for items people wish to win, at prices they can afford, at times and in places convenient to them for purchasing Raffle Tickets!

Want to improve your next fundraising prize draw? Don’t ask my opinion! Ask the opinions of those to whom you hope to sell Raffle Tickets! Seek our your supporters, determine what they want, and enjoy more success by giving it to them.

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1. The Two-Edged Sword
2. Timing is Everything

Your fundraising needs may be extensive, and your schedule is important, but you must keep in mind the needs of your donors as well. If you intend to sell Raffle Tickets for multiple prize draws in 2011, it is in your best interest to stagger them out.

Our experienced correspondents note that constant requests for money, particularly in a sluggish economy, can be irksome for your supporters. You may need it quiet badly, but remember that your fans are also experiencing the economic downturn. If they are good enough to give money a few times a year, the last thing you want to do is alienate them with repeated solicitations that seem endless.

Instead, schedule your prize draws so that you are selling Raffle Tickets at particular times when you are most likely to have success. A big raffle at the end of the year is a good idea, as is one that corresponds with a large event you hold annually. If you hold too many raffle, however, you may trigger a compassionate burnout, where followers begin to resent your request. Rather than continual, small draws, combine your funds or your prizes to hold a few larger draws at fortuitous times throughout the year.

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First, consider a large shop or department store where you know there will be increased foot traffic this month. If you represent a charitable organisation, or one that works for children, perhaps the owner will allow you to set up a table outside. This lets you bring your Raffle Tickets to your supporters, rather than forcing them to find you.

Second, man the booth carefully. If possible, have children or teenagers at the table, selling the tickets for you. Their pathos will improve sales. If your group represents a sport team, a band, a scouting group, or any club in which members can be identified by uniforms, make sure everyone wears their uniform!

Finally, if you can manage it, bring the prizes to the table. Set them up in an appealing arrangement. This raises interest levels in your prize draw and encourages people to purchase Raffle Tickets upon falling in love with your prizes!

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1. Christmas Fundraising Help
2. Thinking Big
3. What’s the Matter with Kids?

To what advantage? Stapled ticket booklets help make your prize draw a financial success by encouraging donors to purchase multiple tickets, rather than a single Raffle Ticket: one step toward multiplying your profits by 5! It’s simply a matter of convenience for you and for your supporters. Stapled booklets are simple to sell. You can encourage multiple sales by pricing tickets appropriately, and ensuring that the price of 5 tickets is an even number. Sell 1 ticket for 2 pounds and 5 for 10 and watch your profits soar!

Keep checking this blog as the winter progresses for more expert advice from fundraisers who have traveled this road before and know the best route to take.

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3. Who Buys Raffle Ticket?

For instance, do you depend on a paid sales crew, or a group of dedicated volunteers? Have you not considered asking others to help? According to our most successful contacts, you’ll sell far more Raffle Tickets if you send stapled booklets to all members of your organisation. Consider the size of your mailing list. If each member receives 5 tickets to sell, how many additional sales would that create?

Include a letter asking each member to purchase the tickets themselves, or to sell those 5 tickets to friends, family, neighbors, or colleagues. It’s a small number, but it will truly add up. Just be sure that you provide a method for the home office to track these sales, so you can be assured that tickets entered in the prize draw have been bought.

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This version can truly benefit both organisations:

• Increases brand awareness for both groups
• Garners good will for both groups
• Provides attendees with a value-added bonus
• Boosts traffic at the sponsor’s shop

It works best at a charity event sponsored by a brick-and-mortar shop. Here’s how you do it.

Inside the venue, set up a small display of prizes: merchandise from the sponsor’s shop. A volunteer should monitor these prizes and sell Raffle Tickets, perhaps for a pound each. Other volunteers can certainly move about the venue selling more Raffle Tickets, if you wish to push sales.

At the gate, all entrant receive a Gift Certificate, good for a free Raffle Ticket for, say £50 of merchandise at the sponsor’s shop. Here’s the key: the Gift Certificate can only be redeemed for a Raffle Ticket at the sponsor’s shop. Donors who attend the event must stop by the shop to benefit from the prize draw. If the display inside the venue is done properly, customers will be eager to visit the brick-and-mortar location to see more goods.

In the meantime, the first prize draw adds an extra element of festivities to the evening. Guests can examine the merchandise, purchase tickets, and await the draw. You can increase excitement by awarding prizes throughout the evening, continually reminding people that there is still time to buy more Raffle Tickets (save the most valuable prizes for last) and that they can visit the sponsor’s shop after the event to arrange for another Raffle Ticket!

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