How to Run a Successful Online Raffle

Running an online raffle takes much of the pain out of fundraising. With that being said, throwing a raffle up online will not result in visitor traffic magically landing on your raffle page. For that reason, it is imperative you begin with a plan in order to set your raffle up for success. 

There are three primary steps that are necessary for running a successful online raffle:

1. Plan

Going into an online raffle without a gameplan is a recipe for disaster. There are key components that you'll need to ensure you have worked out before launching a raffle:

Raffle Type

What kind of raffle are you going to run? The are several kinds of raffles available on the Funding Change platform, with the most common being a 50/50. Is that the right one for your organization? One of the main hurdles of a 50/50 is the $0 pot at the beginning. How do you plan to overcome that? Options may include seeding or guaranteeing the pot, or reaching out to a corporate sponsor to do so.

Perhaps a prize raffle is better suited to your organization's audience. Does your audience have a common interest that you could tailor your prize towards? 

Marketing 

Don't let that "M" word intimidate you. Marketing can take on various forms and each organization will need to leverage the resources that are available to them. Creating a marketing strategy prior to launching your raffle will help to space out emails, social media posts, and help you build content in advance. 

Here are some examples that could apply to you:

a) Email List

Don't have an email list? Convert your offline donors to online, create a lead-gen offer, provide newsletters, contests, petitions, opt-in campaigns, and share through social media.

Do you have an email list? Let them know about your raffle! After all, you're giving them a chance to win! When forming your emails, utilize the subject line, introduction, micro-content, body, graphics, and have a strong call-to-action (i.e. buy tickets and share!).

b) Social Media

Share your raffle on your social media accounts! Be creative in how you inform your audience; sharing the same image with the same message will lead to fundraising fatigue and supporters will abandon your cause. 

c) Seller Incentives

Running a sports league raffle? Give your teams a reason to sell! Player fee discounts, custom warm-up jerseys and year-end parties are a couple examples of things that could inspire your teams to share your raffle. 

2. Setup and Licence

Here is where you dive into our platform and set everything up. We'll walk you through the whole process. You can get started with our help article here. 

Once you've got the basic raffle details in place, your next step will be to complete your local regulator's license application. Check out our help guide on applying for a raffle licence here.  

3. Launch

At this point you've planned out the details of your raffle, you've set up your raffle in our platform, and you've been approved to run your raffle by your local regulator -- you're ready to go!

Now is the time put into action your marketing plan. Don't just click the launch button and forget about it! Let your social media followings and mailing lists know about the raffle and what they could possibly win!