Urgent help needed for Charity Raffle

pannetteb

Hi I'm part of a team and were are doing a Raffle for Birmingham Children's hospital and we are really struggling for prizes. We have funded a big prize that we've been able to get cheap, but are really apprehensive spending more cash, in case we don't make the money back.

The raffle is advertised to take place in the end of October... can anyone assist by donating anything that could be raffled off, or does anyone know anyone or business that I could approach for assistance....

I need help big time!!

mumof3plusoh

Sorry I have nothing to give but as part of a charity group for Marie Curie cancer care the best advice I can give is to get a corporate letter from the charity head office giving you authority to collect prizes. What we do is then approach different businesses in person. Pubs are great for a meal for 2 voucher. Have you tried local golf clubs. Many places that have supported us usually give vouchers. HTH and good luck x

Eliza_2

Loads of places will give you freebies. Pubs as has been mentioned will give vouchers for meals and wine, local chinese and indian restaurants etc etc the same. Local shops will give vouchers too (local bookshop gave us booktokens to be spent there) hairdressers will too - also fun places such as play centres, ice/roller skating rinks, the list is endless. We've never had a problem and have never had to buy a prize at all.

It's best to ask in person if you can, a round robin email is not a good way to do it. Needs a bit of legwork!

James_Lahey

Hit up all the big stores to donate prizes, I'm sure a lot would be interested in associating with such a very good cause.

Good luck!!

McKneff

Get it onto local radio, I'm sure they will help.

pannetteb

Good thinking!!!!!!

Charityworker

I work for a learning disability charity and we have the same problem. I wrote to just about every shop in the shopping centre of our town and all I got was a £3 voucher from Asda, an egg timer and a vase. Companies are suffering from the recession just like anyone else.

The next year we bought a wii and only just sold enough tickets to cover the cost of it.

I worked for a lone parent charity before that and we got a car, holiday and thousands of pounds worth of other prizes so I think it depends on your subject matter.

Now we have a raffle but we dont do a prize. We give the winner half the money taken. Then we know that even if we only manage to sell a few tickets we will make some money out of it.

Miss_Havisham

walk into local businesses such as hairdressers, salons, indian restaurants etc and ask the manager in person if they will donate a voucher for a free treatment or meal. They might feel reluctant to refuse if you are face-to face.

Like the local radio idea. In our town a lot of firms of solicitors get involved in charity fundraisers by donating prizes or sponsorships.

Call management of Tesco, M&S etc to see if they would donate gift vouchers or a hamper.

We did something similar for our royal wedding street party last year and it was hard work persuading local shops to support our charity but we raised £600 so it was worth trudging the streets for.

juliet_f

Cinema tickets are always a good prize. We did a charity raffle where Odeon and Vue cinema's each gave us a pair of tickets. Our local Nando's is right next to Vue cinema, so I went in and told them that Vue had donated tickets, then asked if they would donate a meal for the winners to eat afterwards. They gave a voucher for a whole chicken I seem to remember. Think inventively this way and you can combine small prizes if you want to make something bigger. Good luck! Ps Always go in in person to speak to the manager, you're much more likely to get something!

Dollardog

juliet_f wrote: »

Cinema tickets are always a good prize. We did a charity raffle where Odeon and Vue cinema's each gave us a pair of tickets. Our local Nando's is right next to Vue cinema, so I went in and told them that Vue had donated tickets, then asked if they would donate a meal for the winners to eat afterwards. They gave a voucher for a whole chicken I seem to remember. Think inventively this way and you can combine small prizes if you want to make something bigger. Good luck! Ps Always go in in person to speak to the manager, you're much more likely to get something!

I second that, companies respond much netter if you go in to ask but most of them, particularly the bigger ones also ask for a letter ith the charity number on if there is one, or a description of it is a local charity. We have two tombolas a year for our local nature reserve.

Savvy_Sue

Duplicate threads merged.