You may recall, some weeks back, a post about a prize draw where raffle tickets could not be purchased, but rather were rewarded for each instance of an online activity benefiting the sponsoring organisation. Recently, I participated in such a raffle, earning four virtual raffle tickets.

The prize? A free professional massage!

Yes, I wanted to win this very badly.

One of the nice things about this sort of draw is that the odds are very, very good. I was able to increase my odds by taking action to receive the maximum number of raffle tickets. And my efforts paid off. For the second time since I became your fabulous ticket girl, I won!

If only I had scheduled my massage a few days earlier. Little did I know that the therapist would cancel on me at the last minute, having contracted a disease that left him unable to stand for any period of time

However, the sponsoring organisation made a complete success of their raffle, garnering a great deal of free publicity. In this case, every raffle ticket represented, essentially, a free advertisement, written by customers, extolling their virtues! This type of prize draw is a winning situation for everyone!

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If low ticket sales have gotten you down, don’t give up! You can always sell more Raffle Tickets. You simply need to cast a wider net and reach a larger audience. How are you making the public aware of your organisation and the fabulous prizes you have to offer? Have you kept the news within a narrow circle, alerting only those who belong to the group, along, perhaps, with some family, friends, and neighbors?

Why not reach your entire community with some properly places print ads?

In many cases, you can inexpensively print Posters and Flyers with the same design as your favourite Raffle Ticket, and in many cases, these advertisements allow you to upload your own images. You can provide your sponsors with additional exposure, or add photographs of the prizes, or even honour men and women in your organisation by uploading .JPGs or other visual files right from your computer’s hard drive.

Sophisticated, lovely, or playful, there is a proper Poster for all of your prize draws. It’s simple to choose a matching design when you print your Raffle Tickets. You can print your Posters at the same time. You can also choose a different design, which may be brighter, more colourful, or more eye-catching than your Raffle Tickets.

Use your Poster or Flyer to include all the relevant information about your prize draw. You’ll have ample space to describe the organisation, the specific cause toward which the money will go, the prizes to be won, along with the date, time, and location of the draw. Of course, you will want to highlight where and how potential customers can purchase Raffle Tickets. Then hang your Posters where they are likely to see them: in shops, near bus benches, and anywhere else it is allowed.

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Here’s a brilliant resource for charitable organisations interested in earning more money through a prize draw, yet lacking the time, energy, manpower, or will to seek out donors, collect prizes, and print, market, and sell Raffle Tickets: Raffle.it Here’s a website that does all the work for you. You throw your lot in with other charities, the prizes are provided by the website, and all sales are online. You receive 80% of the price of each ticket sold, and your entire commitment consists of providing links to the site.

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!

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Have you had much success selling Raffle Tickets to support your school, business, or charitable organisation? If so, you know it’s a smart way to add some extra cash to your annual budget. If you’ve never tried holding your own prize draw, or you’ve been disappointed with past results, now is the time to start preparing for a successful charity fundraiser.

Your success depends on a few factors:

• Your organisation’s reputation
• The value of your prizes
• The cost of your tickets
• The skills of your sales team
• Publicity and exposure

If your reputation is already stellar, you can build on that, but if people are skeptical of your group, use your prize draw as a means of getting your message out and creating better buzz around your name.

Regarding prizes and ticket prices, do put some good thought into these choices. You may have to make many phone calls, use your networking skills, and perhaps even call in some favors to find prizes that people can get excited about. Then, price accordingly. For big ticket items, you can certainly ask for two pounds per ticket (the legal limit), but remember, you can make the same amount of money even if you charge less, by selling more tickets.

Let your sales team speak for you and show you in your best light. Your team should be able to talk coherently about your mission, and they should be willing to follow the crowds! Sporting events and street fairs are wonderful places to send your team. The more exposure they give you, the more money you’ll make. Make sure to write about your upcoming prize draw on your own website, but also on blogs and forums. Send press releases to the newspaper. Let people know when and where tickets will be available.

Start planning now and reap the rewards throughout the year!

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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!

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Name your charity.

Surely, it’s a cause in which you believe. You are willing to discuss the importance of these beliefs with friends and families. How important is it to you? Have you the ability to discuss it with complete strangers? If you have faith in the rectitude of your beliefs, it’s quite acceptable to share them with those who wish to listen.

Raffle Tickets are a brilliant method of getting ones foot in the door to open up a dialogue in regard to ones favourite charity. You might feel uncomfortable approaching neighbors or those whom you are not well acquainted simply to ask whether they have a moment to listen to your impassioned plea for school funding, medical research, or wildlife conservation. Arm yourself with a book of Raffle Tickets, however, and you’ll find your confidence increased a thousand fold. Now you have something to offer, something people will surely want.

When you print your own Raffle Tickets, you have the option of choosing a design that perfectly represents your beliefs. Ribbon tickets, for instance, in a variety of colors, are an easy way to express your beliefs. A wide variety of nature-themed Raffle Tickets suits environmental and outdoor causes. Tickets with designs suitable for children are a proper choice for educational fundraising.

Now, having printed your own Raffle Tickets, it should be much easier to initiate conversations with strangers about your charity. Rather than saying, “Have you a moment to talk about slash and burn agriculture in Brazil?” you can begin with a more appealing pitch: “Would you like to win a new car? If you buy a Raffle Ticket, you’ll be helping to save the rain forest!” From there, it should be simple to explain how your organisation’s work is beneficial to the world.

So start spreading the word today! Make an investment by printing your own Raffle Tickets and watch it pay off in revenue and greater public understanding and sympathy!

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As you most likely know

UK raffle laws allow for certain types of small raffle without council oversight. However, large prize draws always require proper licensing. This may involve the filling out of forms and the paying of fees.

Of course, having gone to such trouble to begin, you really feel compelled to do the job right: in for a penny, in for a pound, you know! In that case, you’ve surely selected some lovely, high-quality designs and are planning to print your own Raffle Tickets.

And having gone so far as to print your own Raffle Tickets, indeed you want to sell every single ticket and recoup your investment. You need to work smarter, not harder.

Raffle Tickets sell themselves when they find their receptive audience. Clearly, your legwork can have a big impact, but you can only be in one place at a time. The solution: matching publicity materials to advertise for you!

Many Raffle Tickets can be paired with matching Posters and Flyers, so you can advertise your draw with minimum fuss and maximum style. If you prize draw occurs in conjunction with a larger event, you can even choose to match your Admission Tickets and Invitations to your Raffle Tickets.

The power of print can work to your advantage! Find a proper design and combine it with the proper materials and you’ll soon witness the strength of superior publicity!

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If you fancy maximum benefit

from your benefit, it’s always a lovely idea to add a raffle to a big event. It’s like a dollop of jam on top of a scrumptious stack of ticket sales. If you’re already throwing a party or a charity affair, why not ride that publicity, exposure, and built-in customer base to even bigger profits?

It’s so easy to tie a raffle into the big event, because you can print your raffle tickets at the same time that you print your admission tickets. In fact, you can print a matching Event Kit, not only for raffle and general admission, but for invitations, posters, fliers, and postcards, even VIP passes and gift certificates! How convenient is that?

For example, just glance at these matching tickets, one for the raffle and the other a general admission ticket. How wonderfully professional and gorgeous they look together:

To me, such designs make purchasing the tickets much more compelling. And imagine the recognition if your mailing list has already received invitations with the same design.

When your big charity fund raiser offers the chance to win big prizes, your patrons will show that much more enthusiasm. They’ll have the opportunity to help you even more, while taking an exciting chance. Everyone loves to win, and even if they don’t win, they love the anticipation leading up to the drawing. Sell raffle tickets before the event and give your guests one more thing to look forward to.

Orchestrate the raffle so it becomes a focal point of your gala, along with the dinner, dancing, awards, and anything else you have planned. Remind your guests to bring their raffle tickets and stay until the drawing. You might even persuade some high rollers to buy more tickets at the last minute, to increase his chances of winning.

Match your fund raising efforts to your budget and your needs. Match your event to your print job. Match your dreams to the right tickets for every occasion!

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