Thread: Could use your help with ideas

How much does the raffle quilt usually bring in?

If - as a guess - the quilt brings in $3000 dollars, and you have 100 members - that would be $30 per member- maybe they would be willing to have a raise in dues of $30 per year? or a one-time per year "direct donation" to whatever the fund-raiser is for?

(This might be a hardship for some members.)

For some people, just donating the $30 directly into a fund is a lot easier than making the quilt, donating the quilt, and selling tickets. Are the materials for the quilt paid for by the guild or by the members?

Sometimes when one "does the math" on a cost of a donation to be sold - it would be a LOT less expensive to just hand over the money. (Example: Selling homemade cookies that cost $0.50 to make for $0.25.)

In general, what are the economic circumstances of the community right now? It may be that the people feel guilty asking for money for something when almost everyone is scrabbling to make a living?

How much are you asking per ticket? I am willing to "throw away" a dollar to two now and then - but that's about it.

This is a perpetual problem with most guilds. Many guilds, especially smaller ones, don't do raffle quilts because of the work involved in selling tickets. Some guilds require that the members donate a certain number of hours per year, in addition to paying dues, but I don't think this is quite fair since some members are unable to help out (physical limitations, work schedules, family issues, etc.) and they should still be allowed to be part of the guild. Some guilds have a drawing at the end of the fundraising, with each member's name being entered once for each hour served. (I won a quilt that way, but the possibility of winning didn't influence the number of hours I put in for the event.) Some guilds only do a raffle quilt every 2nd year, so the members don't get quite as burned out on the work involved.

It might be time to look for another fundraising idea, or raise the dues to cover part of the deficit. Perhaps the membership would like to stop the charity fundraising altogether and give to charity in another way, such as making quilts for a worthy cause, teaching quilting to children, etc.

I don't belong to a guild, but I have been very involved in dog breed and all breed clubs ... and it's pretty much the same story all over. The same people do the same work year after year.

Some of the best incentives that I've seen is to offer: reduced membership dues for X hours worked at an event, reduced (or free) admission to events that have a fee for X hours worked, a basket full of fat-quarters and/or quilting supplies for the member that sells the most raffle tickets (regardless of whether they were sold, or purchased by the member - they were still SOLD which means income), and finally .... paid dinner at a fine restaurant for all members who work at least X number of hours for the show (in any capacity) (the paid dinner actually attracted quite a few volunteers for us!).

It's also a good idea to collect the names of members who wish to work the show, then "assign" the duties to them as opposed to allowing them to pick-and-choose the function they want to perform. Don't assign the duties until the day before at the earliest (unless the assigned duty requires more advance notice).

The only idea that I can think of is the one they use for school fundraisers. The person who sells the most tickets wins a prize. I agree that many people don't want to burden others and just buy their tickets. It also sounds like it's an option for members to take tickets to sell. Maybe consider changing the charter so everyone has to take a small number of tickets? Or maybe, since this benefits a charity, you don't make and raffle a quilt. Just take the money you would have spent on the materials and ask for cash donations. Seems like our guild got better participation if we asked for quilts to give directly to the charity rather than a raffle.

Yes, this is a problem with most guilds. You are not alone. Now a days, most of us have very busy lives.