Andrea Posted July 3, 2004 Share Posted July 3, 2004 So I am helping out with the Anaheim Relay for Life in August and I decided to try to get raffle prizes. Oh my goodness, it was easier than I thought! I mean it took time to get phone numbers, make the calls, etc. But in one day I sent letters, faxes, made a few calls and got: 1. Tony Roma's $40 gift certificate 2. Yardhouse $40 gift certificate 3. 25 block buster free rentals 4. 1 hour free massage gift certificate from a spa 5. $25 Mimi's cafe gift certificate 6. $25 Dave n Buster's gift certificate. And that was from just one day of work and doing it while actually working I am just sharting to let people know that if they want to hold an event to raise money for cancer and need raffle prizes, just call local businesses, ask away, and you shall receive!!!! I know, I know, I focused on getting prizes that I personally want. However, I guess I need to think of the general audience and call even more Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hebbie Posted July 19, 2004 Share Posted July 19, 2004 Hey Andrea, I've been hanging out in the Activism forum lately and finding all kinds of interesting post..... I would like to hear more about your raffle and how many calls you had to make to get some "yes's"......I don't think your event has taken place yet, but after it does, please let me know how it went over and if you raised a lot of funds for the organization. My husband and I were kicking around the idea of doing some sort of raffle at our LC Walk in November and were also trying to figure out some good "prizes" for the walker who received the most pledges and the walker who collected the most pledge money. I was so happy to see your list of companies who dontated generous prizes for your raffle. I love the Blockbuster idea as well as Dave and Busters. I may have to contact them myself! You can send me a PM if you want to go over some specifics. Hope your mommy is feeling better and gaining more energy and I'll talk to you soon! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrea Posted July 19, 2004 Author Share Posted July 19, 2004 Hi Heather, I am so proud of you for doing this! I am taking smaller steps before I branch out on my own like you. So you will be my role model. It seemed to be so easy to get raffles for Relay for Life! Some places wnat a tax ID number, so make sure you have it handy from Lungevity (I think that is the charity you are doing it for if I remember correctly ) Just call around any local business and say "Hi, my name is Heather, I am calling on behalf of Lungevity which a non-profit organization dedicated to fighting lung cancer. I am a lung cancer survivor and I am hosting the _____ walk on _____. I was wondering if you would be willing to donate a gift certificate (or whatever) for our event." I literally just called businesses and it was not hard to get Yeses. Some of course were nos It takes time in compiling the phone numbers and calling, almost like a telemarketing job, but the response can be amazing! Call your local Blockbuster and they will tell you possibly to contact regional and give you the phone number. Some places might want you to fax them or send in a letter, so you can create a general simple letter where all you have to change is the "Dear Whomever part". No more than 1 page so they will read it. And make sure you have the tax ID # on it. My suggestion would be to call lots of restaurants, they have been very willing to give gift certificates. Entertainent places like Dave N Busters. Blockbusters, etc. Call salons---hair, nail, massage. Movie theatres. Some stores might be willing to give prizes too. Also some hotels are willing to give overnight get aways. I was pretty surprised at how "easy" it was to get prizes. Do you need food for the event? I can post my experience with that too. Let me know if I can answer anything mroe clearly. I am rambling Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hebbie Posted July 19, 2004 Share Posted July 19, 2004 I do need food -- I was going to contact the local "Whole Foods Market" (formerly "Fresh Fields") because they do quite a bit of fundraising events around here. I was also going to contact some local bakeries and try to get some muffins/bagels. Love to hear your experiences too! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrea Posted July 19, 2004 Author Share Posted July 19, 2004 Experiences on food. I like food, that is why I am overweight. heehee, off topic, just kidding Bagels, donuts, muffins, pastries---call local bagel stores, donuts shops and bakeries and ask if they would be willing to donate. Most routinely donate their "day olds", so off the bat I stsarted asking for day olds and at the Relay for Life we had more bagels than you could imagine!!! I got day old bagels from a few places. As for donuts, many places were willing to do 2 dozen here or there, so I just got from a few places. Also some bakeries donated their day old pastries Many supermarkets if you ask them will give you a gift certificate to spend there for items for your event which helps a lot. Or you can use the gift certificates as raffle prizes Did Jamba Juice make it to the east coast? They came to our event and gave out free smoothies. I would say just take a phone book or yahoo yellow pages, break it down by category of food and call call call. Starbucks may be willing to donate coffee. Or any local coffee shop, they come and bring their own cups and set it up. It is really neat. Good luck and let me kjnow if you n eed to boucne ideas around! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Debi Posted July 19, 2004 Share Posted July 19, 2004 Just wanted to add my 2 cents, actually 1 cent since you two seem to have it all covered... I was involved in a fundraising event with my job a couple years ago and did the same stuff that you have done Andrea, as far as getting donations for the door prizes. Believe it or not, we even managed to get donations from the local jewelry stores ! We had sent out letters with our phone number, and then followed up with telephone calls. This is a small town and I'm not sure that it would work in a larger city, but we also offered to acknowledge all the businesses that donated. We took out a 1/4 ad in the local paper and after the event, sent in a small thank you ad with the list of the businesses. We managed to get that mostly donated by the newspaper and only had to pay a small fee. The extra "plus" of having "free advertisement" convinced some businesses to donate where they may have not otherwise..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hebbie Posted July 19, 2004 Share Posted July 19, 2004 Thanks for the great tips, you guys! Jamba Juice has NOT made it out to the East Coast that I am aware of, but we do have "Amazon Juice" here, which seems like the same concept. I also like the idea of Starbucks coming and setting up their own stuff and handing out coffee....we have one of those on every corner it seems Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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