Try this for a good way to make some funds for your projects! Suggested by Dr. Donald Gatske:

Kalispell Daybreak (Montana) Fund/Fun Raiser

The Club has about 50 – 60 members; however for this example I will use 50.

In early September the Club prints up 200 numbered tickets which will be sold for $200 each.

In the promotion it is good to list, even on the tickets, all of the events the Club sponsors. It is my opinion that one does not want to specify what the money will go to; rather, it is better to just tell what the Club supports. In that way one does not limit the use of the funds to only local projects, thus using some of the money for Matching Grants, etc. which may generate more money for local projects than if one specified “local projects only”.

Every member is required to take one ticket. If they do not want to purchase it themselves, they may sell it. Otherwise, they will be billed for the $200, adding the charge to their quarterly statement.

Ideally, every member will take four tickets and sell three, keeping one for themselves. In reality, some take only the one ticket and keep it while others “fight over” more tickets to sell.

The Club divides into five or six teams and they then complete to see who can sell the most. The team that sells the most gets $1,000. This is something new that we are doing and I really do not believe it is necessary. As it is, the winners donated all of the money back to the Club for it projects anyway. So, I think a “special dessert” or the like would be just as motivating. In our Club, winning is “everything”, but what one wins is not as important. It is the spirit of friendly competition and “bragging rights” that seem to be most important.

All tickets are sold by the first of October. Then the fun begins!

The tickets are each placed in film canisters and they are placed in a “tumbling barrel.” Then at each of the next ten meetings five names are picked out of the barrel. They are read off, to much fanfare, and the five “winners”, the people who sold the ticket, come forward.

Next they put the five tickets into another container and the “winner” is drawn (that name does go back into the barrel to have a chance at winning again).

Now for the fun. The wining ticket gets $500. However, in addition the person who sold the wining ticket gets $300 if s/he are present or have a pre-makeup for that meeting (they cannot us a makeup after that meeting to satisfy the makeup).

This goes on for ten meetings and we schedule it so the 11th meeting is the first meeting of the new year.

At the 11th meeting the final prizes are awarded. First a $500 winner is drawn, using the same drawing procedure as used for the weekly drawings. However, unlike the previous drawings, their name is not returned to the barrel nor does the person who sold the ticket receive payment. Next a $1,000 winner is drawn, followed by a $1,500 winner, followed by a $2,000 winner and then finally the $10,000 Grand Prize winner is drawn.

The ticket sales generate $40,000 and $20,000 of that is given as prizes to the winners. Generally about an additional $1,500 to $2,000 is given to the members who sold the tickets. This gives a net profit to the Club of about $18,000.

People in the community who buy seem to want to buy year after year. So, it is good to keep good records as one needs to make sure they are again given the opportunity.

A final benefit is that during those three months the Club has VERY HIGH attendance at the meetings and more members do “make-ups” than any other time in the year.