Raffle Prizes

The PTA of my son's school is holding a fundraiser, but we are having trouble getting raffle prizes. For those of you who have done something similar in the past, where did you get donations from? How would we go about getting bigger prizes?

Raffle Prizes

A lot of the bigger prizes people know someone who knows someone who can get the TVs or the cruises or vacations or Disney tickets. Or maybe there is a reserve budget for purchasing those large items. For schools, a lot of the classes or grades would collect money and do large prizes that way too.

Re: Raffle Prizes

sorry -misread

Message edited 1/22/2019 5:56:47 PM.

Re: Raffle Prizes

Yes, through contacts. People who know someone in a jewelry store, or in hotels, restaurants, etc. Also if kids go to certain activities regularly (like art classes, gymnastics, summer camps). Sometimes a phone call can do the trick, if they know their name is going to be advertised in the school community.

I agree with the PP about collecting money in the class. You can make good baskets this way (like a tech basket, or an "experiences" basket).

Re: Raffle Prizes

go to your local stores, and ask for donations, such as pizzeria, nail salon, car washes,etc. It is good publicity for them.

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Someone on the PTA has a time share, or works for a hotel, or has season tickets, etc and they donate those items to the school. The issue is with the change in tax laws people are going to be less likely to donate those kinds of items. Then you need to go to each local business and ask. You also send in letters with each class parent requesting they contact all school parents to see if they have items or baskets to donate. If you have a town mom facebook page you ask there too. It is a TON of work. It is a thankless job, and a PITA to coordinate.

Raffle Prizes

For the big companies, go on their websites and ask. A couple of years ago, we got an American Girl doll from them. I think Stop and Shop also has a program where they give you a gift card.

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I chair a lot of events for our PTA and one being Dine to Donate. We are having a mom BINGO night in May and currently the chairs are collecting for raffles. From the restaurant contacts I have I got $50 GC's to local restaurants. You can ask around.
Also do you have a lot of "direct sales" mom at the school? We've had them put together baskets of stuff that includes a GC to whatever it is they sell. We've gotten Younique makeup baskets and boutique clothing too.
I am currently doing a fundraiser for Hersheypark. They are giving us the group discount and for a lower price we just add a few dollars per ticket that goes to the PTA. For every 10 tickets sold we get a free Hersheypark ticket so some of those are going to be raffled off too.
Is there a PTA or school facebook page? Even your local town FB page ask around for businesses for the raffles. Minor league baseball tickets are good for families, local stores, or leftover gifts from people that have donated to the raffle. Last year we got an airfryer and some Echo dots. Good luck!

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Ask friends who work (or knows someone that works) at places that would have g/c. Hotels, spa, etc.
I also went to actual places and asked for gift certificates (nail salon/froyo, etc).

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From my experience, local restaurants are the most willing to donate gift certificates. The best and quickest way to get great prizes is to ask local Moms. A lot of the Moms I know have Etsy shops or small side businesses. They donate prizes for fundraisers at their kids schools all the time (either a gift certificate for one of their products or an actual item). Like one of the Moms I know donates a gift certificate for custom favor tags or invitations, another Mom makes these amazing fondant birthday cakes, so she donates a gift certificate for a custom cake. There is another that donates beautiful handmade jewelry. You get some little stuff that you can add to a basket, or stuff that's worth raffling on it's own. I've worked as a fundraiser for 2 different organizations, it's so much easier to solicit tangible donations from small businesses than larger ones.

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Raffle Prizes

Ducks, tickets, I had people donate their airplanes and vacation homes, jewelry made just for our events, wine baskets, smaller items Trader joes, shop rite, Whole foods, restaurants. I found most places get asked by so many at times they turn people away

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I've chaired the "lucky number" dinner/ raffle basket fundraiser at my son's school, and I help every year.

I agree that local businesses are the best bet. And hitting up families in the school for things like season tickets and to make use of personal connections (aside from direct sales, maybe there are other options - I had a mom who is a personal trainer offer a number of free sessions, and a dad who owned a landscaping company offered a gift certificate for some service).

But depending on how big of an event it is, you may just want to buy some bigger prizes. We make a lot of money from our event -- we are a big school and have been doing it for years - so we will invest in some prizes that we know will make us money. We charge $5 a ticket for grand prizes, so it adds up fast. You can purchase a discounted package for a Kalahari getaway for like $129, so if we sell 26 tickets for that, we covered it, and we usually sell so much more. We often buy things like electronics (TV, game systems) or designer bags during Black Friday sales or say, upcoming Presidents Day sales.

If you post on networking/business facebook sites asking for donations, you will get a few that way. I had a dancing school offer a package of lessons, and an education/tutoring company offer a basket from posting on local Facebook groups.

We always do a 50/50 and a lotto tree at our event, too, and those are big money makers.

Raffle Prizes

We have each class do a basket. They collect $10 each and we get 30 nice baskets just from that. The class mom is in charge of that. Hit up the parents at school if they own their own business or have a skill. They can donate and write it off on their taxes. Go to the local businesses including doctors/dentists/real estate offices. Sometimes they will donate cash and you can purchase a prize. Some dentists offer discounts to braces, etc. For large ticket items, unless a business donates, we usually purchase and always make the money back by a ton. Great wolf has a buy one night get one free, Kalahari has something similar, we'll buy iwatches, laptops etc. Also look at the vendors you use at your school. Our photographer always donates as well as the people we use for our holiday boutique. Also look online, the theater companies offer tickets, disney has a new donation program that you can get a ton a tickets. Good luck!!