PTA raffle donation struggle

[Julietta05]

Hello,

With Christmas approaching, it is time to start thinking about Christmas raffle, tombola etc. I wanted to ask fellow PTA members how do you obtain raffle prizes? We are not registered charity for various reasons but mainly we struggle with volunteers amd a lot of businesses donate prizes only to registered charities. I would like to approach businesses but locally it does not look great (voucher to a Kebab takeaway or Indian takeaway do not look tempting).
Do you have any ideas what businesses in particular I could approach? Or any other ideas?

Many thanks

For Christmas our primary school do a hamper raffle - all items are donated by parents - so reception will make a chocolate hamper so parents just bring in one item of chocolate, we also do a beauty hamper, a wine hamper, a movie night hamper, a gardening hamper etc etc - easy for parents to donate something and a nice prize at the end!

Small businesses are struggling, and hustling for prizes us a thankless task. Our school used to do a "Secret Present Room" - parents were asked to donate a small gift (value less than a fiver) for the room, and then the kids all paid £3 to go and pick out a present for a parent and it would be wrapped up.

We never approached businesses unless a parent who worked in one locally offered.

Asking parents to donate a prize for a tombola, or a chocolate stall, or baking gifts was much preferred by all.

We have 2 own clothes days in exchange for donating chocolate and bottles. We've also found the soft play/trampoline type places will donate vouchers

I helped with the raffle collection for the summer fair. They got hold of one of those X region business directories and made a list of any company or shop who might donate something. They put them into a spreadsheet and divided it up between several volunteers. First communication was a super polite email, if no response then a phone call after 10 days. I was surprised by the amount of businesses who gave something. One day I cold called by walking down our high street trying every shop. Some only gave something small eg a candlestick or pair of nice socks but others were super generous like a local artist or the local golf club. I went by the motto, you don’t ask, you don’t get…be really polite about it and don’t use pressure and it might surprise you how many are prepared to give a little something. If it’s really tiny can go in a tombola.

We do quite well from the local businesses tbh, local barbers, restaurants, also if any of the PTA parents have kids that do classes we often get vouchers from dance studios, soft play, trampoline parks etc.

I trawled round local businesses and some places did donate e.g. vouchers from the local bakers and the butchers, tickets from a trampoline place, tickets to the zoo, box of caramel wafers from Tunnocks, bottle of spirits from a local cafe, voucher for haircut, vouchers for nails, etc

The school provided a letter for us to leave with the local business so they knew we were legitimate.

Nowadays apparently we should not have home baked produce. We already have chocolate and bottle tombola.

Don’t ask local businesses - they are struggling and are asked multiple times.

also, don’t be snobby about the prizes you are offered. Why on earth is a voucher for a local takeaway not appealing?!

Make up hampers from the bottle / chocolate tombola donations.

That is really great idea. We have something similar in terms of approaching local businesses but there are not many local businesses on a high street. Mostly hairdresser's and takeaway shops.

Because of feedback we get. It is not what people want to get and buy raffle tickets for. From my perspective I as a PTA volunteer spent a lot of time trying to organise something that children will enjoy and raise money for children and school which is much needed. Therefore, I do want the prizes to be appealing so people buy the tickets and school has funds.

What do people want from the feedback you have got?

I used to organise a work raffle and we had quite a bit of success with the supermarkets - individual stores often have a local community budget. Some would donate a £10 voucher, others a box of chocs and a bottle of fizz etc. Local attractions would often donate tickets too.

It is not what people want to get and buy raffle tickets for.
You buy raffle tickets to support the charity / PTA / whatever. Surely nobody buys tickets purely because they expect to win the main prize.

We went to the local shops near the school, and any local companies who supplied school with food, flowers etc.

Then we asked parents. We got a surprising amount of interesting gifts.... One parent turned out to be a local fruit and veg wholesaler, and they did 5 boxes of mixed fruit and veg! Others donated hair cuts, or beauty treatments. If you have good class reps, they can organize a collective year gift, everyone gives a pound, and you buy a book stack of family bestsellers for example.

I email everywhere I can think of. In the past I have secured books from publishers and festival tickets. I don't like asking the same companies all the time so I will alternate who I also between our xmas and summer raffles. Also sign up to easyfundraising and the money you earn can be used to purchase a prize although you wouldn't be able to earn for this Xmas.

I think the area where the school is is not affluent and it plays a bit, but truthfully I think people want to have something 'better' or worth having to win

We don't have class reps. Sounds fab what you have been doing. Lots of people involved.

What suppliers do the school have?

Do they go to adventure places? Do they have a visiting ice cream van?
Is there a local play centre that gets a lot of business from the children?

Not business donation related, my DD school do an own Clothes Day with a chocolate donation and the following week own clothes day with a drink donation (90%) alcohol. This means that practically everyone who has a go at the raffle wins a prize. Us parents love the alcohol one!

It is a good point as once a year school request an ice cream van to come to school.

There is a local play centre that will be approached.

I think, whatever you do, keep it simple and I would say always go for a prize that can be carried away in the recipient’s hands after the event. So a hamper, physical voucher or item, rather than a ‘promise’ of something at some undefined date in the future. Otherwise it can be difficult to redeem and end up being a big disappointment and ongoing hassle for all concerned.

There was a thread last year where a mum had won a promise of hospitality tickets to a sporting event, offered by another parent at the school. It was impossible to arrange the dates as he was never available and it became quite awkward as he was a bit offhand with her and had probably only been strong-armed into making the donation by his wife. I can’t remember the outcome but I don’t think anyone came away feeling particularly happy about it.

PTA's need to register if they have income of over £5K, so make sure that your income is below that level if you aren't registered.

our primary school always has hamper raffles at Christmas where each class does a hamper in a different colour and parents donate items, that always works well. The hampers were left in the hall and parents just popped the items in, so nobody knew who had donated what. A parent on a low income could buy something for £1 and pop in there.

Don't forget that you need a licence if you sell raffle tickets in advance of an event.

they also approached local places for vouchers, so pubs/restaurants for meal vouchers, the hairdresser, butchers, local attractions for days out. they did a tombola with those.

local supermarkets usually have a budget as well to donate to local causes.

Thank you 😊