How To Manage Your Raffle

Who Sold What
There are several ways to hand out tickets for sale -- one: keep a log of what ticket numbers were consigned to whom, and two: charge each seller for the tickets they received; they can sell them or keep them -- your life just got a lot easier. If you follow the first option, be certain that you specify when unsold tickets must be returned. Give yourself plenty of time. And get the money in for tickets sold every day if possible.

Prize Selection
Are you offering something people are willing to take a chance on? Have you set your ticket prices correctly? We recently saw a raffle which offered airline tickets to Argentina, Greece, and London. The promoters got three airlines to donate the prizes. They were selling the tickets for $1.00 each, with the expectation of selling 3,000 tickets. The prizes were worth $4,500. They reasoned that the tickets did not cost them anything, so they could sell them so cheaply. That doesn't make much sense, and your audience will wonder if you know what you are doing! Moral: Price your tickets correctly.

Policy
Establish rules for how your raffle will be conducted. Some methods include Winners Must Be Present, the second and more popular method states Winner Need Not Be Present. If you choose the latter, take steps to make sure that a drawn winner is really identified. If you are not careful, it is possible that a drawn number will not be identified because of poor bookkeeping, such as a stub which was not filled out. Drawing can be continued with another number -- then the first winner shows up.
Another method of awarding prizes uses an Open Ended Date - 'Drawing Will Be Held when 1,000 Tickets Are Sold', etc. Using this method requires that you keep your ticket buyers advised .. and that process can speed up the sale of remaining tickets.

Laws Governing Raffles
Is it legal? Some states require a license to sell raffle tickets. Check with your lawyer, and do some research at

http://stepbystepfundraising.com/raffle-laws-us-by-state/

Raffle Data Collection
If this will be your only raffle, no problem. But if your financial needs are continuing, you will want to keep in touch with your ticket buyers -- they can be you best prospects for our fund raising events such as an Evening at the Theater, Dinners, Silent Auictions, the list goes on. Keep those names, and mail them a Thank You letter -- whether they win or not!

Continuing Fundraisers -- Keep The Program Going!
If you do it right, your sale of a raffle ticket can be a lifelong experience of contributing and joining in your cause. If you don't have a website, consider spending the $15 to register you name with the 'org' suffix, and email your contributors regularly. And don't forget a Newsletter -- it is now possible to create a good looking newsletter which can be produced as an email message -- looks great, and you can even print off some copies to send to people who do not have email addresses!