Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with raffle

The most fun way to hold a raffle

biwa-shu — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 18:23:30 -0800

Are there more fun ways to give away a variety of prizes at a raffle than just draw names/numbers from a box? ie: gameshow-style, competitions, etc. We'll be having a raffle at an event with about 80 people. We'll have a variety of prizes worth anywhere from $5 to $50. What are some fun ways that we can choose the recipients, instead of just going "OK, next one ... OK, next one..."?

What's the optimal amount to spend on this raffle?

boghead — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 09:04:13 -0800

There's a monthly raffle at work for 5 parking spaces out back. There are about 30 people in my office. There's no limit to the amount of tickets you can buy. You can only win once. Otherwise, parking costs about $4 a day, or about $80 a month. Raffle proceeds go to charity. What's the optimal amount to spend on this? I should tell you also that this question is purely academic because the raffle has been discontinued. But I still want to know what you all think because work is boring as all get out.

What's the best way to figure this out? One friend said she'd use a stats program, another said Matlab. I was thinking maybe a nice line graph with asymptotes and bright colors and such?

I figure the absolute most you would want to spend on this raffle would be $80, only because it goes to charity. Also, I'm assuming no one else in the office ever bought more than 2 or 3 tickets.

How best to manage a prize draw / giveaway?

Anonymous — Fri, 29 May 2009 19:49:22 -0800

What rules / laws govern prize draws and contests in Ontario? How best to manage a giveaway much bigger than I've done before? I'm organising a fund-raising event for a non-profit and a charity (2 separate organisations). I was expecting to giveaway a gift basket and a few CDs as door prizes. I've done this before and never worried about rules governing prize draws in the past at similar events.

Somebody has very kindly donated a trip worth several thousand dollars. This puts me into 'how do I handle this?' territory, as I regularly see long lists of contest rules and 'no purchase necessary' type statements on such contests.

Does Ontario or Canadian law govern such contests?

I was thinking of giving a ballot with a purchase (from the non-profit) or a donation (to the charity). Is this ok? Or do I have to do a 'no purchase necessary' option?

While I will exclude staff of both organisations from the draw, I want to allow volunteers to be able to be able to enter. OK? I will get the person representing the donor to govern all aspects of the draw to ensure no bias.

What else should I know? Hiring a lawyer to draw up rules is not an option. Registering for a license is more than I want to do. I just want to give this thing away to somebody who will appreciate it, raise money for the charity and promote the non-profit.

Help me create a database to give money away

kc0dxh — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 14:41:03 -0800

Help me design a small Access application to run a prize drawing. As I see it, the MC will open the application and click the Draw button, which will select from the available prizes for that month. Once drawn, that prize becomes unavailable. MC will then type in the winner's name and click Save, setting the form ready for the next contestant. Specs and examples follow. Prizes will be one of the following dollar denominations: 5, 10, 20, 50, 100, or Consolation Prize.

There may be more than one prize of a particular denomination, that will change from month to month.

Prizes should be chosen randomly.

Prizes cannot be given more than once. (obvious)

As an example, this months drawing may have 12 $5 prizes, 9 $10 prizes, 5 $20 prizes, 2 $50 prizes, 1 $100 prize, and 50 consolation prizes.

The application will need to be opened and closed a few times before the month's drawing is complete. Freeware applicaitons that interface with Access or Excel will be considered.

Online Raffle Site

Napierzaza — Fri, 04 Nov 2005 14:48:11 -0800

I was thinking of making my own raffle website. Where a limited number of tickets is sold for a certain product or money amount and a raffle is drawn. Is there any legality to this practice? Is there anything I can look up in order to research such a thing in Canada and America? I've heard of previous sites being illegal, how can I make it legal?

What raffle strategy is the best?

Jairus — Mon, 03 Oct 2005 15:50:38 -0800

If a company is holding a series of 24 raffles where they give away a prize, and you have 24 raffle tickets which can be used in any number of raffles you choose, do you have better odds entering one ticket per draw, or using them all in one draw? This is assuming that the number of other participants in the raffle is roughly the same from draw-to-draw.

Planning a Silent Auction

crush-onastick — Tue, 05 Oct 2004 08:12:51 -0800

out of my depth: i'm on the holiday benefit planning committee of a local philanthropy which advocates for architectural preservation, on the silent auction and raffle subcommittee. tip, suggestions, approaches for getting businesses to donate goods for the auction? tips for getting people to bid? when you go to charity gigs, what do you like to see? we're keeping entrance ticket prices low (in part to encourage membership among young professionals, students and others not in high income brackets), but also because we hope people will participate in the auction if they haven't already spent a bundle to get in. we expect to have enough booze donated for an open bar. what else can we do?