Mrs Fiddlesticks
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Fundraising raffle prizesHaving a succesful morning going through the raffle prizes we have in our 'store' for the PTA's forthcoming events ( there's a Quiz night on Saturday - if anyone is in the West Oxon region and wants to come PM me - got the plug in, good  )
We very rarely buy a prize apart from the odd bottle of wine. All are local donations.
About 6 weeks ago I sent out 30 letters to local attractions, companies and individuals and we've had a great haul back. Really worth doing early on in the year before they've 'spent' their charity allocation for the year.
We write to local farm parks/stately homes ( we've got entry to one local stately home with free cream tea thrown in!) plus local businesses - hairdressers, farm shops, and the like. Plus national companies like M&S, and Stagecoach.
I also wrote to more specialist local companies, we are not far from Williams F1 for example and Hook Norton Brewery and there are a couple of local residents whom we know are MD's for promient local companies (and in one case a national shop chain)
We also go further afield in that a trip to a London attraction is not that far from here so Buckingham Palace or similar were worth a letter ( and yes we did get something from her Mag's office!  )
I always use headed paper, state which event we're looking for donations for and always send out a thank you after the event and let the company or individual know how much we raised. We keep a file of replies from all this, prizes given or refused to build up a directory of contacts and addresses (and to work out who to write to again next year)
Just thought the above might be of use to someone.
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gil
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That's a good reminder.
I remember going to a trad music night organised by the local Rotary Club, and noticing that a few of the raffle prizes were donated by local businesses : e.g. dinner for 2 at a local hotel, a hairdo at a local salon, etc.
Must remember and put into practice : at parish level / on the trad dance circuit, we hardly ever do this, and we should.
Our raffle prizes can usually be categorised as follows :
a) recycled, unwanted presents
b) recycled, unwanted raffle prizes
c) home produce
d) whatever box of chocs the local supermarket has in special offer
e) ditto wines on special offer
f) surplus drink/chocolate left over from Xmas
g) a bottle of whisky as the 'first prize'
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Mrs Fiddlesticks
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the dinner for 2 etc is exactly the sort of thing we get. As our events are aimed at families, like the summer fete, then free entry in to local swimming pools or ball pit/play centres are very popular as is anything that equals a family day out. Oxford Tube once gave us return fare from Oxford to London for a family of 4 - a really nice prize.
I have to confess we write to the likes of Tescos too!  but a £10 voucher is a popular prize or we sometimes use it to buy things to make up a food hamper at Christmas or similar.
We do get given things as well, there's a brand new electric kettle that someone didn't want and I tend to give in the free gifts, catalogue companies want to send me (usually things like handbags or photoframes that I really can't see me using - but if the company want to offer it to me I'll take it and put it to a good cause!)
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judith
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| gil wrote: | Our raffle prizes can usually be categorised as follows :
a) recycled, unwanted presents
b) recycled, unwanted raffle prizes
c) home produce
d) whatever box of chocs the local supermarket has in special offer
e) ditto wines on special offer
f) surplus drink/chocolate left over from Xmas
g) a bottle of whisky as the 'first prize' |
Don't forget:
h) toilet roll covers or other bizarre things knitted out of lurid DK
Or is that just local to here?
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Lozzie
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Also in your begging letters it is worth mentioning specific things that you are trying to raise money for; a new mini-bus, playground equiment, whatever.
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sean
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It's also worth asking large companies for a discount rather than a donation. When I worked for Oddbins they picked the charities which they were going to donate to at the beginning of the year and were not at all keen (not unreasonably given the volume of requests) to donate further. However they were quite often willing to give an extra discount on goods purchased so if you need refreshments etc. it's worth considering.
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Mrs Fiddlesticks
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| judith wrote: | | gil wrote: | Our raffle prizes can usually be categorised as follows :
a) recycled, unwanted presents
b) recycled, unwanted raffle prizes
c) home produce
d) whatever box of chocs the local supermarket has in special offer
e) ditto wines on special offer
f) surplus drink/chocolate left over from Xmas
g) a bottle of whisky as the 'first prize' |
Don't forget:
h) toilet roll covers or other bizarre things knitted out of lurid DK
Or is that just local to here? |
must be local to you - although I did once win a tea cosy that another entrant recognised as something that had 'done the rounds' in terms of being a raffle prize thoroughout the community.
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Mrs Fiddlesticks
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| Lozzie wrote: | | Also in your begging letters it is worth mentioning specific things that you are trying to raise money for; a new mini-bus, playground equiment, whatever. |
good point - we usually point out what a small village school we are (only 55 pupils) but how much we raise for it despite being small.
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