I am thinking of making a quilt for Relay for Life to Raffle off. I would like a pattern on the front and thought of sectioning the back off somehow and selling squares for people to sign In Memory of or In Honor of someone they know who has had cancer, who is battling cancer or who is a cancer survivor. This way money is coming in for the sentiment and also the raffle.

A few questions. Do you think this idea will bring in more money than the quilt will cost to make? I do not have a stash and I don't mind buying the materials, but I want to make sure I use my money wisely. Would be more benefit to just donate the money directly? Second, what would make a good quilt for this type of raffle? And do you think it would be better for the people to write their In Memory of or In Honor on the front of the quilt (which will make a difference on the pattern chosen) or on the back where more people can sign?

I know a lot of you make donation quilts. Would you mind posting your photos and how much the quilt brought it to the charity, if you know it.

Any advise, tips, helps are welcomed. Thank you!!

The only suggestion I have for you is what I've seen elsewhere. One company I worked at would do this every year. They would have volunteers 'selling' plain blocks. Had permanent pens available for the donor to write what they chose for a 'in memory of' quilt. They had a similar set up for a 'survivor' quilt. The following year during the fund drive, the previous year's blocks had been made into a quilt and displayed. Not sure if it was ever raffled or not, but that might be an option for you after the fact.

I am involved with Relay also! I made a lap size quilt out of my stash and raffled it off. We did $5 per ticket or 5 for $20. We raised under $100. One thing I found out is that some people will like a memory type quilt, others won't. If you do a general quilt pattern/colors, you might get more donations for it. If you could, do 2 quilts. That is my goal for 2012 Relay to make at least 2.

Good luck!

No memory writing. That makes it someone elses memory and not yours. Better to just make a quilt. More attractive and useful to the ticket buyer.

I agree. I wouldn't want to buy a quilt with someone else's memory in it.
A friend and I are going to be making a raffle quilt for my service dog program to raffle. The first thing I said was no dog fabric because not everyone likes dogs--we want it to be a quilt that anyone would be proud to own.
What colors do most people want a lap quilt to be? a bed quilt?

i don't know if it's the same everywhere but in my area this year the theme was "unmask a cure" i did severa' mardi graus (sp) type mask on a black back ground with the words appliqued, they made $750.00 in the raffle

I made one last year. We sold raffle tickets for it and it brought in about $300 or so. I pulled the fabrics from my stash and I was able to whip it up pretty quickly. So, yes, it can bring in more than it cost to make. I did put a label on it that it was in honor of our church's relay for life time with the motto we had of "Faith for the Cure" and then made by me. It was not directed to any one person, or any one type of cancer. I did it in a Teal and purple color way.

This is the quilt I did last year for Relay. The pattern came from Fat Cat http://fatcatpatterns.com/PDFs/2010_PinkWarrior.pdf We did it as a swap, each person choosing a color to do. I sold tickets for $2 each 3 for $5 and raised $350. One of the other girls raised over $600 for her version.

I would like to do another swap this year on another one of one of the Fat Cat patterns http://fatcatpatterns.com/Awareness%20Designs.html

A group of us ladies that work together, have made 4 Relay quilts in the past 2 years. The first year were sampler quilts (1 large and 1 small) and brought in over $3000! This year we used the Neighborhood pattern from the January Fab Shop Hop and another separate donated quilt. We made approx $2000 this year. The sampler quilts were more popular. We charged $10 per ticket. We will do this again in 2012. It was great fun.

my sister and I made a t-shirt quilt for Relay a few ys ago. We collected T-shirts from all the clubs and sports teams of the local high school. it made several hundred dollors even tho the relay was shut down due to a tornado and foul weather.