Fundraising - Car Raffle Tips

Putting together a car raffle is not as hard as you think. The key ingredient is having a large group of ticket sellers who market the raffle chances to the general public. Everything besides ticket sales can be handled by just a few people.

Get organized
Divide the main tasks and focus on three areas: design, product, and marketing.

Design your raffle around a desirable car or SUV as the main prize. Include a cash equivalent option for people who don't want the vehicle. Offer several smaller cash prizes to increase interest.

Product should be highly desirable with a considerable status quotient. Think dream car, not transportation. The other part of the product equation is a clear statement of specific benefits the funds raised by the raffle will produce.

Marketing is key to your success. Your press release should sell the human interest story behind the raffle, not focus on just the prize. What's the money raised going to do? Sales flyers should include a color picture of the car and bullet points of features and secondary prizes.

Select a desirable car
You want to offer a vehicle that's highly desirable such as a Lexus or Mercedes. Raffling off a cheap car is actually more difficult then doing one with a luxury model. Why? Because people dream about owning one, so you're selling a piece of the dream.

Partner with car dealer
Approach the manager of a local car dealer with a win/win offer. You get a good deal on the vehicle, say 25% off list. They get free publicity while still turning a small profit after all the dealer sales incentives are factored in.

Leverage their status by listing them on your raffle sales materials, asking if their existing customer base could be mailed a raffle offer letter, or possibly even holding your prize drawing in their showroom.

Offer additional prizes
Include multiple prizes besides the grand prize. They can be cash awards, consumer electronics items, gift certificates, vacation getaways, etc. The key is to broaden the appeal of your prize package and increase the perceived chance of winning something.

Do the math
Number of tickets offered times ticket price equals three times vehicle cost. Why? Because you want to make 50% profit, you might not sell all your raffle chances, you'll need to cover additional expenses, and you'll need to payout your supplemental cash prizes.

For example, when raffling a luxury car that costs $50,000 you want to gross at least $100,000, if not $150,000. Setting aside $15,000 of the gross to cover all other costs and prizes, you would still raise $35,000 even if you only sold two thirds of the tickets.

Price tickets to sell
Lower cost tickets will actually outsell higher-priced ones because they are more affordable to a wider slice of your target market. You don't want the chances to be priced too low though as that will actually lessen total revenue.

A happy medium is usually the $20 to $50 range, depending on the vehicle's price range.

Ticket sales tips
With raffles, you have to sell tickets in large volumes and that means going where people are. Get permission and setup sales tables outside high-traffic retail locations such as grocery stores, book stores, home improvement stores, mass merchants, and anywhere else where there are a lot of people there to spend money.

Use large signs in front of and behind your tables that clearly explain why you are raising funds. Sales signs should say things like "Win a new Mercedes!" or "Imagine winning a new Lexus!" and not "Car Raffle - $50."

Obviously, you still want each of your sellers to target family, friends, neighbors and co-workers with a carefully crafted sales script that assumes they want to purchase tickets and it's just a question of how many. For more tips, read my article on selling raffle tickets.

Prize drawing
The car dealer's showroom is a great place to hold your prize drawing. Make it as much of an event as possible by including a live radio station broadcast. Use a local celebrity to draw the winning ticket. Take lots of pictures and get your event in the papers the next day.

Summary
You can do this. The key is marketing your tickets to thousands and thousands of people. Go where they are already shopping. Make them an attractive offer on a chance to win the car of their dreams.

Repeat sales process every weekend until all tickets are sold. Your prize drawing should be fun event even without someone winning a new car. Include good food, music, radio station live broadcast, and local celebrities as master of ceremonies. And above all, have fun!

Kimberly Reynolds writes for national publications about charity fundraisers, having a car raffle fundraiser and nonprofit fundraiser events. Find more school fundraising ideas on her website, FundraiserHelp.com

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