Any sources of Raffle Prizes for Charitable cause.

samsavings

We have organised a formal dinner for February for 250 people to raise money for a local charity. I have posted letter's to local businesses and shops in my area, and talked to the managers of many stores.

Does anybody have any recommendations on larger firms who may be willing to donate prizes for the raffle or sponsor the event?

Any suggestions would be much appreciated.


Thanks

beautifulgorgeous_2

For lesser raffle prizes or tombola events esp where there will be youngsters Claires accesories are selling 10 reduced things for a fiver. Just got a ted in bathroe with bubblebath etc in a nice box for a raffle at a ballet presentation evening.
Incidentaly we ran a tombola at a formal evening with some truly horrible prizes which people who had had a drink or two buying tickets cos they were desperate to win a particulrly garish doormat. It got quite exciting and heated and made loads of money for the charity.

GiveItBack

Try supermarkets and hotels for vouchers. hair salons too. The real key is just to try lots of people. Most will say 'no, sorry', so you just have to ask a lot of people. Good luck, and don't get disheartened if you start getting no as an aswer. People will say yes.

ang_babe

hi i do a lot of fundraisers for my local Playgroup. A good way is to talk to people and get them to ask their work, their parents work, their grannys hairdresser, their aunts beauty salon and so on.

I found that the smaller local businesses and the local supermarkets are the best. I went round them all with a short letter of introduction, giving information on the night, and on your charity. It is harder for them to say no to you face to face. If they say the manager is not in leave the letter and you will be able to phone back.

Also ask for a brochure, business card etc and say you will put their name on any posters you will be putting up. A big thankyou in your local paper is good to.

I have approched all the big stores and was told they do their charity stuff from a head office to big charities. ( still try they might surprise you)

Good luck, i bet you get a good buzz when all the prizes start rolling in, and post back to let us all know how the night went.

lottee

Not sure if you have approached a Travel agent, but just to let you know what we were involoved in recently...

I work for a travel agent, & we were approached a while back to sponsor a charity marathon. In our company each branch have a marketing budget - which we are allowed to spend how we want, as long as the 'big guys' agree it will be beneficial to us as a company. In the end we donated a £350 holiday voucher, in return we were advertised as the main sponsor of the event, a mention in the local paper alongside advertising for the event (with our name & phone number) and were able to have our company business cards & leaflets put in the 'show bags' that were also produced. All in all we have benefited a lot more as a branch. than the original outlay of the £350 voucher.
Not sure if this is something you could do, appreciate a marathon is a little different to a formal dinner!

GiveItBack

hey lottee, when does the marketing budget run from and to?

Katgoddess

Try Morrisons. They donated a hamper to the nursery that shares the building where I work, at Christmas.

lottee

GiveItBack wrote:

hey lottee, when does the marketing budget run from and to?

Pretty sure it's April - April. Our branch had around a £1000 budget, but I'd imagine that would vary from branch to branch, depending on the size.

Mark7799

Looking at your sig, how about buying a Rovers' jersey and asking if the club can get it signed?

Sallys_Savings

We always find that the local companies/shops are the best for donations too.

How about having an auction instead of a raffle or as well as a raffle?

You could have a raffle for items or a time/experience/talent auction (we used to call it a slave auction lol) or a promise auction. Donations are all typed onto cards for the night.

You could have people donate their time/experience/talent and people people bid. Its great fun and a little different from the just a raffle.
You can then ask people to donate their time.... this can be from an old grandmother offering to bake a cake to helicopter lessons. You can have professional pepole donating as well as anyone along the street. Get imaginative and people bid higher if you can get someone really good to be the auctioner.
Ideas we've had in the past are the following:
A hair cut
An hour with a financial adviser
A decorator for a day
Indian Head massage
A gardener for a day
A Mot
A Service for a central heating boiler
Day out at the races
flight in a helicopter
Veg from my allottment for the next two months
Cook and supply a bbq for up to 12 people in your own garden
Plan and organise a party for up to six children under 8
Have a homemade cake made for you once a week for a month
A dustbin bag of ironing
Manicure
Four hand knitted baby cardigans of your choice
Car Wash (my daughters donated this and made up a certificate and to their delight a man bid £500 towards our orphanage appeal)
A ride in a limo
A meal in a pub for two
A late night pick up from your night out for four (state max distance)
Help tidy up your computer..one evening
Roast dinner for four delivered to your door on a Sunday
Free passes for gyms/swimming pool
Morning of Private squash coaching
Help with your spring cleaning - a cleaner for the day
Make up curtains if you supply the fabric
Photography portrait
Flower arrangement every week for a month
Clean all the carpets in your home
A Small pet sitting service for up to two weeks.



Try to put in a couple of "silly" auctions/raffle prizes in too....we had (my daughter is in a girls football team but you could perhaps talk to your local team?)..sorry but i can't remember the actual wording but it was something like below:
A vip seat in your own box at the semi final with full refreshments and a chance to have your photograph with the winning team.

A deckchair in your own cardboard box at the local league semi final with flask of coffee and packet of crisps and your photo taken with the team.

You do have to let them know what they are actually bidding for however...(or you could use this as a fun raffle prize as then they wouldnt know what they were winning lol)

Hope this gives you a few ideas....Good Luck!!!

Chell

I found that small local businesses where more keen to help than the large companies who often had a designated charity for the year.

What charity is the event for? Can you offer any incentive to businesses who donate eg a small ad in a programme or newsletter?