50-50 Raffle Fundraising by Ruth Paget
When I joined the Inner-City Youth Tour to China in 1978 when I lived in Detroit (Michigan), my family and family friends used 50-50 raffles to help pay for my trip to the Peoples’ Republic of China with 21 other young people.
Fundraising for this trip was difficult, because the United States would only diplomatically recognize the Peoples’ Republic of China on March 1, 1979. Potential donors asked me, “Why do you want to visit a Communist country?”
I thought that question was an evasion answer. Detroit was in a recession in 1978, which meant auto plant closures. People did not have a lot of money to spend on fundraisers to buy chocolate bars even, which I also sold to help finance my trip to China.
50-50 raffles worked very well in a recession situation as a win-win fundraiser. For example, you can sell raffle tickets for $1 for an hour. At the end of the hour, you draw a winner and evenly split the jackpot. If you raise $50, the organizer and winner get $25 each. If you run six 50-50 raffles in an evening, you can raise $150 for six hours work with the minimal financial outlay of buying raffle tickets.
50-50 raffles are not legal in all states. You have to check with your local supervisor’s office or mayor’s office to see if these raffles are legal or what you need to do to petition to make them so.
These 50-50 raffles helped make my dream of going to China a reality in 1979. Slow and steady income also keeps morale up for big fundraising events as an added benefit.
Even in non-recession times, 50-50 raffles are a quick way to make money, which local governments might consider for non-profit organizations to earn money.
By Ruth Paget, author of Teen in China, Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France
