In the past we also did the raffle buckets with kid friendly items, baseball tickets, jerseys etc and we made great profit. Two years ago we implemented a larger "off campus" raffle to branch out to family members, neighbors, co-workers etc. It's hard for families to support every fundraiser but if you give them a fundraiser that they can solicit support from their friends, family, neighbors etc you will make more money. We started with the Big 3 raffle - 3 awesome items and this year we are having a Fabulous 5 raffle. Our big draw is a $500 gasoline gift card. Who wouldn't want to win that. Also on the ticket is a $200 Safeway gift card, GPS system, $100 Target Card and Nintendo DS. A variety of items builds interest and in this economy a prize that is useful will be a big draw. We sell these tickets for $5 you can set the cost where it fits best for your community. Remember, if someone buys 1 $5 ticket it's better than having them buy 1 or 2 $1 tickets. You will raise more money and purchase less tickets (cost will be less) by having a higher ticket price.

Don't be afraid to spend a little money to get a "flashy" item on the ticket. If you have at least one item that anyone would want you can sell tickets at the local mall, grocery store, etc. Encourage each family to sell xx amount of tickets and let everyone know how much you could make if everyone sold their tickets. Put a big poster in the main entrance of the school and track the money raised on a weekly basis - we sell these tickets for 4 - 5 weeks. Make sure you cheerlead for how awesome your families are in the newsletter or on your website. Constantly send encouraging messages and let your community know how close you to your goal. Hype is good!!!

Another fun thing we implemented was a weekly prize for student sales. For each B3 ticket a student sells they are entered into the weekly drawing for prizes (little things that kids love - we're a K-5). This keeps the kids motivated throughout the entire raffle sales not just in the beginning. 4 or 5 winners per week will increase your sales. Little prizes $1 or less are fine as motivators. We raised our sales 50% this year by implementing the weekly prizes for multiple winners (5) instead of one winner at the end for selling the most tickets. Lot's of winners = lot's of excitement!

Good Luck!

Try checking with your local minor league baseball/sport teams. One in our area gave us a family 4 pack of season passes valued at over $600!!

Also check local theme parks or zoos they sometimes give away family passes. We seem to have better luck with items that the family can do together.

Also if you have a local artist who is well known in your area contact them as well. We have raffled signed prints off in the past that do quite well.

Hi, Kelly:

I have a couple raffle ideas to share one that we're in the midst of trying for the first time this year, and the other that I just heard about from another local school and can't wait to implement next year.

The first is a Staff Getaway Raffle. We secured a donation of one night of a two-night stay from a nearby B&B, and half of a $75 GC to a nice restaurant in that town. (The PTO fronted the money for the other night and the other half of the restaurant GC.) We're selling tickets for $2 each, and parents can enter the names of any teacher or school staff member for a chance to win the Getaway. We just started selling tickets a couple days ago and have already almost recouped our cost. We expect to sell at least 300 tickets before the raffle is over, for a net profit of $450. (Our school has about 200 kids and a very active parent community.) The low price, coupled with the idea that it will benefit a hardworking staff member, seems to really appeal to our parents.

The other idea is to have teachers donate all kinds of small events or activities, and to sell raffle tickets to kids for $0.25 each. Kids can buy as many tickets as their parents will allow, and drop them in a bucket for each activity. Some examples: ice cream with a teacher; an at-home, bedtime visit for stories and a tuck-in by a beloved kindergarten teacher; a craft-making session after school one day; a trip to the movies with a teacher, etc., etc. The possibilities are only limited by the teachers' creativity and willingness to participate. Many of the activities cost very little, except for time; some have multiple spots so that lots of kids have a chance to win something.

The parent who shared this idea said that their PTO sends home a listing of the events up for raffle along with a form for parents to purchase tickets. Apparently some of the kids spend their own money to buy extra tickets. The PTO sets out all of the buckets in the school lobby for a week or two, and the kids can drop tickets in throughout that time. The winners are announced at lunch on the designated day. The raffle generates lots of excitement at the school and is great for morale. Their PTO designates all of the proceeds to the teacher supply fund, so that teachers are really motivated to donate.

Hope this helps!

Leslie

Hello everyone My name is Kelly and I'm in charge of our school raffle donations this year. I have just moved to this school from another elementary (within the same district) and have done this for several years at our last school but this year I'm a bit worried. We've had a hard year with our fall fundraiser (we virtually made nothing I don't have the figures but it was like $400 profit!! From what I've heard at our meetings it's just very hard to get parents to spend anything because they just don't have the money to spend!

So I'm wondering does anyone have any ideas how to help make this a decent raffle? I know we'll get the donations to make it big but my worry is that we won't have the turnout nor the money to support it! Any ideas would be great as I know there are plenty of other public schools in areas especially here in Michigan that have to be going through the same thing right now so let's work together and share any helpful information that you might have!!

Thanks so much,
Kelly