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Raffle Tickets 4U

Part 3: Planning Your Raffle

planning your raffle - guide

When brainstorming ideas for fundraisers, many people choose to host a charity raffle. This can be your main attraction or a part of your larger fundraising event. 

To ensure your charity fundraising raffle runs smoothly, it’s important to plan it well in advance. Creating a clear plan and allowing plenty of time for organisation will help you avoid any last-minute disaster. No matter the scale or size of the event, be sure to take the time to create a plan of action.

How to Run a Successful Fundraising Raffle

Consider how much time you have before your event and whether your ideas are viable in that time frame. If you’re short on time and the raffle was a last-minute decision, the questions you ask yourself may differ slightly.

Do you have time to promote the event or do you just need to sell tickets? Do you have time to ask for donated prizes from local businesses? Will the prize simply be a cash prize from the sale of the tickets?

In this part of our successful raffle guide, we’ve noted all the elements and questions you’ll need to ask yourself to create a complete plan of action and make sure your raffle runs smoothly. We’ve also created a helpful raffle planner printout so you can come prepared to your next fundraising meeting.

Things to Consider When Planning Your Charity Fundraising Raffle

Timeframe

  • What’s the draw date of the raffle?
  • How long until the planned event?
  • Is the raffle planned around an existing event, holiday or season?
  • Are you selling raffle tickets before the event or just on the day?
  • When do you need to have the printed raffle tickets?
  • When do you need to distribute the tickets?

 

Budget

  • Is your budget big or small?
  • How will your budget affect the raffle?
  • What’s the maximum amount you can spend?

 

Theme

  • Is your raffle themed?
  • Is the theme related to a season or event?
  • Is your raffle part of a bigger event such as a school summer fair or a village fête?

 

Legal Requirements

  • Do you know the legal requirements for a raffle?
  • Have you registered the raffle with your local council or the charity you’re raising money for?
  • If you’re raising money for a registered charity, do you have the charity number?
  • Do you have the promoter’s full name and address if this isn’t you?
  • Do you know how much to sell your raffle tickets for?
  • Do you know the date and location of the draw?

 

Raffle Draw

  • Do you have the date, time, location and venue for the draw?
  • Will there be any special guests to make the draw?

 

Health and Safety

  • Will you need volunteers for the event? What’s the scale?
  • Do you need to carry out a risk assessment for the event?
  • Will you need a weather contingency plan if it’s an outdoor event?
  • Will you need a first aider present at the event?

 

Your Raffle Tickets

 

Raffle Prizes

  • Who is the target audience?
  • Who do the prizes need to appeal to?
  • Are the prizes themed?
  • How many prizes do you want?
  • What’s the top prize?
  • How will you source the prizes?
  • If the prizes are donated, who’s donating them?
  • Would a simple cash prize using 50/50 draw tickets be better?

 

Promotion and Marketing

  • Who needs to be informed about the raffle?
  • How will you let people know you’re hosting a raffle?
  • Will you need printed marketing material such as postcards or flyers?
  • Do you have a social media account that you can use to promote your raffle?
  • Who can help you promote the event? Do you have a team of people?

 

Selling Raffle Tickets

  • Can you sell raffle tickets online?
  • How can people buy them before the event?
  • How can you attract more players on the day?
  • Will you offer discounts for multiple purchases?

 

After The Raffle

  • How will you thank people for attending and playing your raffle?
  • Will you thank them through social media, email, the post, a newsletter or community posters?
  • Do you have future fundraising events they should know about?

 

Download Your Free Raffle Planner Printout

The quickest and easiest way of organising a charity fundraising event is to make good use of helpful planning tools. Download your free raffle planner printout and take it to your next fundraising meeting for a well-organised and stress-free charity raffle.

Planning your raffle - print out planner

What’s The Next Step?

Talking through these raffle planning questions will help you prepare for a smooth and profitable charity raffle. But to attract lots of players, you need to have something great that they can win.

Join us in the next part of our raffle planning guide for top tips on choosing your raffle prizes. In it, we discuss who to ask, what to ask and some evergreen goodies that make people want to play. Alternatively, you can also re-read our piece in the series discussing fundraising ideas too.