A RAFFLE TO REMEMBER
It’s hard to believe how much public schools rely on parents for donations and volunteer hours to keep schools running smoothly and equitable. I’m the product of public schools, and I was a public school teacher, and I believe in them, even if our state legislators won’t fund them fully.
To that end, I happily volunteer to raise funds for my kids’ schools. I’ve just completed running this fall’s online raffle for the Carrboro Elementary PTA. I was a one-woman show—from recruiting participating businesses, to gathering the items, to bundling them into cohesive packages. In the end we offered three attractive raffle bundles to appeal to folks here in Carrboro and Chapel Hill: a Carrboro Staycation (value $750); a UNC Fanfare Package (value $1,150); and a Sugar Mountain (NC) ski weekend giveaway.
To make this raffle stand out, I took it on in the same way I’ve done larger scale development projects for non-profits. Organization, good design, clear, delightful communication and confidence in a cause all come together to create a cohesive, compelling fundraiser. Here, I did all of the writing and design work, which included online graphics for the raffle itself, social media graphics, print flyers, and print posters. To get the word out, I sent social media kits to participating businesses, and recruited community members to post to list serves in neighborhoods. And, the raffle was the most successful raffle Carrboro Elementary has ever had.
The raffle earned almost 5k for the PTA. For a small scale, one-person fundraiser that’s a lot of dough. The PTA will use it to buy necessities from eyeglasses for students to supplies for teachers. And, in the end the participating businesses were all actually happy to participate, as they got lots of relatively affordable goodwill advertising and lots of appreciation from me.
I’m happy to consult on how you can make your fundraiser more efficient, profitable, and fun, from small scale raffles to much bigger pushes for serious development dollars. Get in touch!
