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Annual Goal

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Starting date Jan 1 with drawing on Dec 1
Just adding my own perspective to this. While the prize amount for a year long draw may be larger, I wouldn't be any more likely to donate (and maybe even less likely, or likely to donate a lesser amount or less times).

In a year long raffle, the raffle wouldn't factor into any donation decisions I made for the first 3/4 of the year, however closer to the draw I would likely consider the raffle and thus decide to make another donation to be a part of it all. I'd fear a year long raffle may lose focus, and have most of the donations coming in at the end. Multiple raffles I'd probably be more inclined to donate multiple times, again just to feel part of it all.

Alternatively you could maybe run 2 raffles over the year (at the lower prize value) and then an end of year raffle for a bigger prize but the tickets for it include all the donations over the year (or all the donations over a certain amount or something). I'm not sure how that would actually work, but it might incorporate the different motivations people have for donating/taking part in the raffle.
 
Alternatively you could maybe run 2 raffles over the year (at the lower prize value) and then an end of year raffle for a bigger prize but the tickets for it include all the donations over the year (or all the donations over a certain amount or something). I'm not sure how that would actually work, but it might incorporate the different motivations people have for donating/taking part in the raffle.

Or, if it's a 1 time a year raffle with a bigger prize (and I would also make tickets equate a larger amount of money so to get a ticket you have to donate a larger amount. That's only fair since its a larger prize. But don't start jan 1 and end it dec 1. Make it the 3th quarter or the 4th quarter of the year. So either July - Sept or Oct - Dec. Or a month or two in between. Because I agree that if it's Jan - Dec, I am less likley to donate just to donate and will only donate to be involved in the raffle. So that would allow people to still donate out of graditute etc and then people to donate to be involved in the raffle.

I think having a raffle 1 or 2 months right before mid year to make or exceed the 50% goal and then one a month or so before end of the year to push us to and hopefully past 100% (like this year) would be good in my opinion. Say maybe the month of June and then the month of Nov. Or Oct like this year, to miss the holidays.

I agree that it shouldn't be the same people donating but the raffles, I think, helps that. And then I would say a few reminder seperate threads how a $1 matters and what not would be a reminder to those members that have never donated. The posts about that are generally in the donation thread. If there are a few threads, more members are likely to read it, maybe?

I just realize that I seem to forget about donating, getting wrapped up in my own stuff and so a few reminders thoughout the year and the raffles, thats enough to remind and not be pushy.

And maybe make a thread about myptsd being on the Christmas list every year? Maybe make a Christmas challenge or something. Not sure about that but anyway, those are my thoughts.
 
@lostforgottensoul I think that ANYTHING that will promote more people donating, more $$ being raised is what's important. Honestly, it really doesn't matter if there are 4 raffles, 2, 1 or 20, it's about raising the $$ so that the forum stays up and running.

Yes, EVERY $$ helps. And as soon as the assholes refund the $$ to my credit card for the items I returned because it was shit, I will donate again.
 
I think that ANYTHING that will promote more people donating, more $$ being raised is what's important. Honestly, it really doesn't matter if there are 4 raffles, 2, 1 or 20, it's about raising the $$ so that the forum stays up and running.

Oh, no, I certianly agree with that but I was agreeing with @LF1 that if the raffle ran from Jan 1 to Dec 1 then I am likely to donate less and maybe less often as I am only donating to be part of the raffle.

If, say, I donated $5 every month just because I wanted to donate and lets say to get a ticket to the raffle it's $5, I am more likely to donate just the one $5 to be a part of the raffle and not the normal $5 every month. If it's a raffle for a month I am more likely to keep the $5 a month and donate $5 more to be part of the raffle.

I agree fully that raffles, no matter how many, are good. I just see that Jan 1 to Dec 1 may be couterproductive is all.

Psychology plays a huge part in advertising and sales and so it can get confusing of what works best. I worked in sales for a long time and sometimes you have to play with things until you figure out which way is best.
 
Reading all the ideas - both the one-year-long raffle idea strikes me as interesting, as does the 2x a year "push" raffle.

What I think I prefer about the 2x a year approach is that it's focused. People experience fundraising fatigue - any person in the US who is old enough to remember how PBS (Public Broadcasting Service, our television channel that was run non-profit) seemed to be running their fundraising drives nearly all the time. I worry that trying to do something that is 'alive' literally every day of a calendar year will run the risk of becoming annoying, like a constant pressure to give.

A focused push - something that lasts for a month - does end up missing an appeal to individuals who happen to not be around during that month. However, it isn't a difficult period of time to keep the buzz up for. I felt very fortunate that this year, the novelty of the first raffle and the low-ish target goal meant I didn't have to do a ton of promotion for it. We were pretty low-staffed at the time. But I don't expect that will be the same on a second raffle; I expect that (given the increased annual goal) the bar will be set a little higher, and people are going to need more motivation to give - just, the thing has to have more visibility overall.

And then it gets to go quiet, and just bubble along under its own steam until the next push period comes around.

Two years ago, when donations were especially slow, @Nicolette put out a call to action that resulted in a highly motivated, 30-day fundraising push. It was great for the community and raised a lot of money in a short period of time. That was a one-time kind of thing, it can't be repeated; but, I remember how effective it was being partially due to about 15 members being really willing to talk it up in chat, with new people, running little mini-contests in Social, a bunch of us changed our avatars to spread the word about it - the communication and involvement was really good on that one. If we do decide to go with the one-month push structure again (whether repeated 2, 3, or 4 times), I would like to be more proactive about recruiting a team to engage with it, as described above. It will increase our chances of getting more new dollars, and it will be more like the membership talking to the membership, less like admins talking to the membership. That's usually helpful when fundraising.

That structure wouldn't work in a one-year raffle; that would need to be promoted regularly by staff. And that's also possible. I suspect that even if we structured it as a one-year arc, it would still need one push month in order to be truly successful.

That's all just based on my own fundraising experience, both here and elsewhere.
 
March and September appeal to me.
Next year I need to start the Kris Kringle in October (like before as it was too late this year) so maybe August instead of September?

a highly motivated, 30-day fundraising push.
It was a lot of hard work and took a lot of energy and a significant time commitment. I agree that it would be hard to achieve again with such a result, not for any other reason than the 'purpose' of my push was an emotional one to remove the pressure of 10+ years of trying to fund the forum for just once - @anthony had to stress over the funding every month with us having to put our hands in our pockets for any shortfall despite all the IT, web, forum management, time and support we also donated (majority from Anthony).
 
Hey members, I just wanted to say that for those in the US, please remember the forum when getting tax returns! Our big fundraiser (two?) years ago was right around tax season, and I believe that members contributing out of their refunds was a big factor for the drive's success.

I'm only getting a few dollars back (literally), so if you're in my shoes, I totally understand. I just want to remind everyone that even though the year is young, every dollar counts. :)
 
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