Football Club Raffles - How Many is Too Many?

Today I received a phone call from the Adelaide Football Club. Once you got past the usual this call is recorded for quality purposes and a very quick spiel on looking forward to the upcoming season, the telemarketer cut to the chase and said she was asking members to sell a book of raffle tickets and if I would be happy to sell a book, which I agreed to.

This is all well and good, except for one thing - this is the third time in five months that the club has called me to sell raffle tickets. The first time was late September/early October, where I got the above spiel the first time and I said I'd sell a book. Book came out, and 6 weeks later they were returned unsold, having never left my bookcase. The second time, was shortly after the first book was returned, which would have been around late November/early December. With it being Christmas, I decided not to take a book this time. They asked if I wanted to receive any more marketing calls, I said no, and that was it.

Or so I thought...until the call today.

Now many football clubs run raffles for various causes - provide some much needed finance (especially at grass roots level) to the club, to fund the players end of season trips, or even to support a charity partner. Many clubs call on their members to sell the raffle tickets, which is a great opportunity for the members to help out the club. Last year, I was given two books to sell for Centrals annual raffle, and one ad on work's intranet page saw the books sold within a couple of weeks - and I probably could have sold a couple more. I enjoyed selling the books, knowing that the money was going back to the club, and would help a local club like Centrals continue to serve it's community.

The question is - how much is too much? One raffle a year and I'm excited that I can help out the club. Two in three months, ok that's annoying, but if the time's right, then ok. Three times in five months, ok I'm happy to help out, but these phone calls are starting to get a tad annoying.

Not everyone is like me and would be this tolerant of requests to sell raffle tickets this regularly. For starters, most people, if they've asked to be unsubscribed and that request is ignored, probably would not be as warm as I was to being asked to sell another book of raffle tickets. Some people would be quiet assertive in telling the telemarketers that three times in five months is probably two times too many?

Also, raffles are not the only way for a club to fundraise - be it for themselves or a charity. There are a number of different, or even novel ways to fundraise. One of the best ones I saw recently was one the Pittsburgh Penguins did at a home game for the Penguins Foundation. They had a heap of mystery bags, which they sold for about $250 each, but the value of the bags were guaranteed to be much more and contained a variety of things - including signed jerseys of not just current stars like a Sidney Crosby or Evgeni Malkin, but of past legends like club owner Mario Lemieux, game used pucks, packages to the upcoming Stadium Series game in Chicago, and other various pieces of Penguin memorabilia. If I had the money, I would have attempted to buy one and get it shipped here!

There are many other great alternatives as well - from the old fashioned meat tray through to gala auctions and everything in between, there are a number of different fundraising options that can be targeted at different elements of a club's supporters/members/sponsors. Raffles are great, but there are only so many you can run before most people will say enough.

So, how much is too much for a football club to ask members to sell raffle tickets? What other creative alternatives are there for clubs to use that doesn't open the door to annoy the members through endless raffles. After all, members are a club's lifeblood, and if you alienate, or annoy, them, the chance of them renew decreases, which ultimately comes back to hurt any given club.

Bump:

Have to agree with your thoughts.

1. I hate selling raffle tickets for any occasion, any club, any reason.

2. I will buy a ticket or two as long as they are not over $5 a ticket.

3. I would rather a club be up front and asked for a members levy to help offset the costs of running their football/cricket/netball/primary school etc.

4. I would be happy if my club was to ask members for a levy of $50 a year to save them the drama grovelling to sponsors to donate for what ever the reason they need extra money, rather than sell ticket or buy them.