# Raffle Baskets @ Shows/Trials



## CarolinaCasey (Jun 1, 2007)

I am the new basket chair of our GR club. The last raffle chair hadn't been active in seeking donations from businesses so I need to start now for our show in the summer. The items that were donated by club members in years past are picked over and what's left seems to mostly be junk. There are some things that I will be using, but it's not enough!

I've sent out solicitation letters to pet businesses and other types of businesses for donations. I hope to get some responses. :crossfing

Basket themes I'm thinking about...

-Field basket (bumpers, etc)
-Coffee basket
-Dog lovers basket (dog treats, coffee mugs w/ goldens, etc)
-Home/garden basket

*Tell me what kinds of things you'd like to see in raffle baskets or what types of baskets you buy tickets for!*

*Do you even buy tickets to raffle baskets or consider it a waste?????*


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## hotel4dogs (Sep 29, 2008)

my favorite is the 50/50 raffle, where you buy a ticket and split the cash with the club, 50-50. 
Our club has done it with a deck of cards, which you can buy at the dollar store (obviously for a dollar, lol). They sell the cards for $5 each. You pick a card from the deck, tear it in half, half goes in the bag and you keep the other half. 
When the deck is sold, or at a predetermined time if they don't sell the whole deck, they draw a card (well, 1/2 a card) from the bag and the winner gets 50% of the cash. If they've sold the whole deck, that's $130 to the winner. Our club frequently sells more than one deck, but you have a drawing when each deck is sold, there are never more than 52 1/2 cards in the bag.
As far as actual raffle items, the most popular has been field items and agility items. What I've seen clubs do is have special tickets for the really high value items, and those tickets cost more. So for example, you can buy regular tickets for $1 each, mabybe 6 for $5, but for the 2 "grand prizes" (last time it was a set of weave poles, and a really nice heavy duty crate with matting etc.) the tickets were $2 each, 6 for $10.
Wine baskets seem to be pretty popular. Dog people need a little wine to relax after a show!


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## hotel4dogs (Sep 29, 2008)

oh btw, from a business point of view....if you offer to print a copy of their business card in your SHOW CATALOG in exchange for a raffle donation, I think you will get a much better response. Businesses are approached CONSTANTLY for donations, we honestly get pretty tired of it and the thing that you want is "what's in it for me?". If they get a little bit of free advertising, you might get a better response.
Think along the lines of sending a letter to a business asking them to advertising in your show catalog for $25 for a 1/4 page or copy of their business card in the catalog. OR they can make a donation to your raffle, and you will include a copy of the business card in the show catalog for free.
JMO from "the other side of the fence"


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## Megora (Jun 7, 2010)

^ I like leather collars and leashes, dog toys, dog shampoos (Isle of Dogs type), brushes... for the cheaper/mid range raffle baskets.

And of course I would MOST DEFINITELY throw money at a raffle with broad and high jumps. And even the bar jumps that some people make themselves with PVC pipes. <- If you know somebody at the club who knows somebody who could make and donate something like that...


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## CarolinaCasey (Jun 1, 2007)

Ohh, this is already so helpful. 

I personally delivered a few letters. One to a healthy pet store I visit frequently. She will donate in exchange for our club having her as a guest speaker at a meeting. Pretty sweet. I had never thought of putting the business card in the premium. Good idea. It's too bad that I already sent out my letters. I had the intention of stapling business cards of the place of donation to the item they donated and list them by name at the raffle basket table. I never mentioned that in my letter. Stupid, stupid, stupid. Live and learn. 

My dad owns his own business and has frequently been approached about sponsoring sporting teams, etc. He usually has his name put on the jersey or program. Duh, I should have thought of that. 

Now, for the agility show, the weave poles, etc, might be do-able. I will have to ask one of the 'agility' people for their thoughts about who could make it. I'm sure DH could, but he never has before.

Now remember, I will have to rely on donations alone for items in the basket (either from businesses or members). I doubt I'll be getting anything like Isle of Dogs or leather leashes. LOL. I don't get any club $ to buy things.

I wonder if we do a 50/50? I went to the speciality last year but never saw one. Hm... another thing to ask. 

Thanks so much!


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## Megora (Jun 7, 2010)

Re/ leather leashes and collars - might want to check around the club about that too. The leash I'm using right now with Jacks was handmade by somebody my old instructor knew. It was cheaper than the ones you see at Petsmart, but still is higher quality.


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## Loisiana (Jul 29, 2009)

Big draws that I've seen are crates, dog beds, and free day's entry for next year's trial. Themed baskets are good too. So are gift cards or a jar of money. 50/50's don't do well around here. Almost anything handmade usually goes over well. I've seen a dog themed scrapbook that had pages filled with everything except the actual photos, crotched blankets, painted article bags, etc.

One of the big-name trialers around here that wins a lot donates a lot of his prizes that he's won throughout the year to his club's raffle. One year I won a ice chest on wheels filled with dog related items.

Even though my club has small trials, we regularly make between $800-$1000 on our raffle


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## CarolinaCasey (Jun 1, 2007)

How much do you typically sell tickets for?

We had 225 entries over 2 days last year. This year, we're teaming with the local Lab club for a dual speciality. I can only, for that reason, sell tickets to the raffle on 1 day. ??


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## Loisiana (Jul 29, 2009)

We sell tickets 1 for $1, 6 for $5, or 40 for $20. That really encourages people to pay the $20.


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## CarolinaCasey (Jun 1, 2007)

Loisiana said:


> We sell tickets 1 for $1, 6 for $5, or 40 for $20. That really encourages people to pay the $20.


This is extremely helpful. I want to do a good job and make the club lots of moola.  I have already emailed the show chair with some of these ideas to get her thoughts.

I'm looking at last year's premium and there is absolutely NO advertising. Barb, I am so glad that you mentioned that. It seems like an untapped resource.


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## Loisiana (Jul 29, 2009)

All the club members (well the "active" club members) know that if we get something during the year that we don't want, like a christmas gift or trial prize, it goes to the trophy chairperson. Then the chairperson can put it into an appropriate basket. People want things so much more when they have to gamble for it LOL


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## goldencontriever3 (Nov 7, 2008)

Don't forget if your club has a website you can also offer advertising on the website with a link to the business.


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## hotel4dogs (Sep 29, 2008)

The agility items went over really well at our obedience show!

Another thing that was fun and popular at a show I attended was an "NQ raffle". It didn't make anything for the club, in fact the club lost money on it, but everyone got a real kick out of it. 
If you NQ'd, you put your name on your armband and put your armband in the bin. At the end of the show they pulled one armband, and that person got their entry fee back (for that one class only).




CarolinaCasey said:


> Ohh, this is already so helpful.
> 
> I personally delivered a few letters. One to a healthy pet store I visit frequently. She will donate in exchange for our club having her as a guest speaker at a meeting. Pretty sweet. I had never thought of putting the business card in the premium. Good idea. It's too bad that I already sent out my letters. I had the intention of stapling business cards of the place of donation to the item they donated and list them by name at the raffle basket table. I never mentioned that in my letter. Stupid, stupid, stupid. Live and learn.
> 
> ...


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## CarolinaCasey (Jun 1, 2007)

So, my ideas were well received but I think it is hard to get people to do something new that they haven't done before. Change, I guess, is scary?? 

We're going to do a 50/50 and a few large baskets. None of the fun stuff this year (free trial next year, NQ raffle, etc), or advertising. I'm going to discuss the ads again, it seems like a good thing.


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## luvgld7 (Jan 23, 2008)

A word of caution on the 50/50 raffles. Check out your state laws on having them. Some states prohibit them, some require the organization to be a registered charity etc, some require you to be registered with the state. 

Other ideas: Gift Certificaties (that you design) for dog-related services. Some I've used: a well-know handler donates one handling fee (ringside pickup), your local repro vet donates one semen collection or AI, your local ortho vet donates one OFA screening. These types would command the higher raffle ticket price and were very popular. You can also use them as Silent Auction items.

If you Specialty is in conjunction with other breeds, have some baskets that are not golden related or not even dog related. We got a lot of traffic from the other breeds for both our Silent Auction and our raffle items.

Ann
Dallas


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## Maxs Mom (Mar 22, 2008)

I don't have suggestions but LOVE raffles. 

I have won several doggy raffles. Usually baskets with tons of different things. A lot of dog food sample bags which make great training treats or if you forget to get dog food...oops.  

I won a raffle at the Labrador National Specialty, it had COOL stuff in it. Among the things were a pair of wing jump stands for agility. I will attach a picture of Max in front of the jump. There was a wooden duck decoration, baseball cap from Life is Labs, a necklace, a LOT of stuff. Getting the jump home was interesting. LOL My favorite raffle gift was a dock jumping raffle. It had fleece throws, samples of foods and treats. The fleece throw was golden retrievers. Now the person hosting the raffle tried to match the throw with the winner. Not that I randomly got the golden throw but I WANT MORE!!!! I can find lab throws, I want more golden ones.


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## LibertyME (Jan 6, 2007)

Love a good raffle...
Love wine baskets...I tend to buy wine because of the labels ;-) so cool dog related labels are my favorites.
Love a good gift card


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## BayBeams (Jan 3, 2010)

Other ideas are donations by someone who can offer a service. For example 1 free wash at the local dog washing place or a free lesson form a local trainer. We have even had gift certificates from some local eateries or fast food places.
We have also had club members check their closets for lightly used dog items that are just gathering dust at their homes. Our last raffle had a used but well kept airline type crate that many people were excited about. Many people win items in raffles that they can't use. Have your members look around for previous unused raffle wins.


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## Swampcollie (Sep 6, 2007)

We hit up our local Vets for a OFA Hip x-ray, a CERF exam and a OFA Elbow exam. 

Our club also includes a gift certificate for a free entry at our clubs' events. 

The best prize I won in a raffle last year was an oversized umbrella. It is great in the gallery at any outdoor event.


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## FlyingQuizini (Oct 24, 2006)

If you can talk them into some club money for items... We do a huge raffle each year and always try and have 2-3 BIG TICKET items such as a crate, EZ Up, x-pen, set of utility articles, and one year we did a Metro Air Force dryer (reasonably priced at Wholesale Pet Supplies, Dog Grooming | PetEdge.com). We spend money on the raffle, but always make it back and then some.

Other ideas:

Gift certs for lessons with local trainers

Pet photography session

If you're handy (or have a handy husband) you can make a set of 4-6 agility jumps out out PVC for under $30.

If the show will have vendors, try for gift certs from those people. That way the winner can cash it in right there.

We generally sell tixs 1 for $1, 10 for $5 or 50 for $20.


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