Quick Easter Raffle for Schools
Quick Easter Raffle for Schools
For many schools an Easter Raffle is the first fundraising opportunity for the year. The combination of children and chocolate is a delicious recipe for success, but with the short prep time in Term 1 it can be a struggle to get a raffle organised in time. Don’t despair, there is still time and we are going to show you how!
In 2019 Heathmont East Primary School made the switch to online for their Easter raffle and are happy for us to share their success with other time-poor fundraisers.
Mid March I was contacted by Elle from Heathmont East Primary School to discuss moving their annual Easter Raffle online. Elle was looking for an easy solution to the usual challenges associated with a traditional paper ticket raffle.
- Printing tickets
- Sending the tickets home
- Promoting the raffle
- Getting the tickets back
- Collecting and banking the money
- Keeping track of the ticket numbers on a spreadsheet
- Separating the tickets and adding them to a barrel to draw the winners – 80 times!
Ugh! I’m tired already.
3 days after our initial chat Elle launched Heathmont East Primary School’s Easter Online Raffle. In just 2.5 weeks the raffle had raised $3975. Personally I think that’s a lot of money purely for chocolate!
So how did they do it? Let’s take a look at the 4Ps for this raffle’s success.
Planning
As this was an annual raffle, Heathmont East already had a raffle structure that worked in terms of prizes and pricing. Switching to online just removed the administrative effort.
Your school could replicate Heathmont East’s tried and true format with reasonably good odds of success. A raffle can be registered and launched on the same day if you are keen.
Prizes
100% Donated (tick!)
As with previous years the school requested donations of Easter chocolate from the school community which resulted in $1000 worth of glorious chocolate that created 80 prizes. 1st Prize was a $150 ‘Easter Eggstravaganza Hamper’ with smaller hampers for 2nd & 3rd prizes and then a multitude of $3 prizes to ensure that there were abundant chances for the children to win.
Why not approach your school community for chocolate donations. Importantly, donations can still be coming in after the raffle has launched as long as all prizes are supplied come draw time. This allows you to get your raffle off the ground in record time. Be realistic about how many donations you are likely to receive considering your school size, especially for your first raffle. Heathmont East has approximately 600 students.
Price
Heathmont East chose to continue with the pricing structure they had used in previous years and to which the school community was accustomed. When deciding your ticket price you should consider your prize pool value and your ticket buying audience.
- $1 tickets
- 4 for $4
- 6 for $5
- 12 for $10
- 18 for $15
- 24 for $20
Ticket packages had an average ticket price of 83c and the raffle had an average sale of $11.58 so most people were purchasing between 12 & 18 tickets. We find that with an online raffle where buyers use a credit card, the sales are usually 3 times higher than sales made with cash.
Promotion
Unlike a paper ticket raffle, an online raffle doesn’t rely on face-to-face sales so you can be selling tickets 24/7. Use all the communication avenues already available at your school – newsletter, email, push notifications, social media, parent portals, posters and notes home. All promotional material should include a QR Code and the online raffle page URL with clear instructions on how to buy tickets eg. Buy raffle tickets now. Visit www.rafflelink.com.au/myschoolraffle
We love sharing our clients’ success stories. Thanks to Elle for agreeing to share her school’s story.
So why not move your Easter Raffle online this year and ditch the painful administration for good. Perhaps soon we’ll be sharing your success story too.
Learn more about the benefits of taking your school raffle online.
Get in touch with RaffleLink today for our FREE Raffle Planner and lets get cracking!
