Any ideas who will give me a raffle prize?

A question about : Any ideas who will give me a raffle prize?

We are holding a raffle to raise money for our PTA and need some prizes.Obviously we are contacting local shops etc, but has anyone had a any success with larger retailers, online etc who I could write to ( or preferably e mail.)
Thanks in advance for any suggestions...

Best answers:

• hiya minty....good luck with your fundraising
  Have you tried local theme parks/farms/indoor playareas/go karting/paint balling/ swimming pools/gyms/restaurants/bowling/cinema/hairdressers/museums etc as they often give tickets away for free advertising at your event.
  I've never had much luck with the larger retailers etc as they tend to stick with their own charities or own area.But just writing a letter and popping it into your local tesco/waitrose/somerfield may result in a bottle of wine.
  Good luck
• You could try your local radio station. See if they'll do a VIP tour for a group of people - say up to 6.
  Try your local shops, maybe book shops and toy shops. Any local wine traders or breweries.
• We always found local attractions were worth approaching, but I always used to write rather than email. Mind you we're talking a few years ago now, maybe you would get away with email more. And with the local shops, I used to have to call in after I'd written and on that visit I'd get something if I was going to, IYSWIM.
  I also used to write a thank you letter after the event saying how attractive the raffle was because of their prize. Certainly the local shops will remember that ...
• Hello, quite a few people ask for raffle items on my local freecycle group (and often get offered things), might be worth trying?
• I have found any letters i have written asking for raffle prizes work better if you are asking for somthing specific, i.e. we managed to get a flight from flybe, a boat ticket from the Isle of Man steam packet, some clothing from orange mountain bikes, a pay as you go phone from O2, boots and woolworths asked us to contact loacl stores both gave us a few prizes, we got vouchers from a number of restruants and hotels.
  In the same way any letter i send to a company asking for help is always specific and we have had a very good hit rate.
  Regards
  GD
  P.S. they are on behalf of Scouts and a Search and Rescue Team
• I have always found that small companices are more likely to offer prizes than big companies like tesco, Weetabix etc as they have a choosen charity for the year. Local restaurants/hairdressers etc are worth a try.
• You could ask your local MP for a tour of the House of Commons.
• i was in a resturaunt recently and they had letters thanking them for thier prizes of dinner for 2/ dinner for 4 that might be worth a stab in some local resturaunts. Something in it for them as well if they increase people through the door/ word of mouth etc
• I agree that the letter writing approach is the best, especially if the letterhead confirms the object of the fundraising (ie school PTA uses school stationery)
  We wrote to local businesses including local branches of national chains eg M&S, Boots etc The local leisure centre was often generous with vouchers for free entry to swim.
  At the event we made a point of having a 'Thanks to...' display so that everybody would know who had donated prizes, - a form of free advertising. We also sent letters of thanks informing donors that this had been done.
• I've recently have been doing a "gift tree" for the charity i raise money for and House of fraiser gave us a bracelet worth Ј40
• We had luck with:
  - empire cinemas
  - nandos
  - V&A museum
  - Yorkshire tea
  - Jellybeans
  - Twinnings tea
  - Decathlon sport's shop
  - Some authors who donated signed books
  Basically we did not send out generic letters. Everything was picked by someone in the office as a product they liked to eat,drink, use, etc. They then wrote a personal letter saying what they loved about the product and why it would be great to have a donation.
• If you print fliers, posters or programmes for your event you can include your thanks to named companies (who have donated prizes, printing etc) and then make sure you send the companies one of the leaflets with your thank you letter- that way they know that they have received thanks and some publicity.
  I was involved with getting prizes for many dog shows over the years and the most generous sponsorship came from smaller businesses who saw we had supported them. Sometimes offering to distribute their price lists/ catalogues at your event can help.
• We've had success with local photographers, quite a few of them are willing to donate a free photo shoot with various free prints or CDs, etc, for the advertisement.
  Also on a national scale, if you email Go Ape they will send you a form to fill out and they've been generous with us.
• just wanted to subscribe to the thread great ideas guys
  am looking for similar and will post any ideas and successes or otherwise as i get them
• I am part of a small charity and we've done some events with raffles, I wrote individual letters to several companies - most of them say they either already support large charities OR they'll support those who their employees are interested in - so it's worth trying to find someone who's employed by a company you would like donations from, they're likely to be able to get something!
  If you write letters to your local pub they might give you vouchers for a meal. Also local chains such as the co-op, spar, etc - if you give a letter to your local shop you are more likely to get maybe a voucher, or a box of choccies.
  Handmade Burger Co gave us a meal voucher
  Also starbucks gave us a bag of VIA sachets to use at a fundraising event (selling coffees and cakes) and a bag of coffee beans to raffle off, we got that by asking in store. If you bring in some form of ID that you work for the charity, and actually talk to someone who works in the shop, they'll more likely help you than if you just send an impersonal letter.
• we always used to get vouchers from tesco, mcdonalds, rowntrees (but we are in york), bettys (ditto) and some of the pub chains
  we used to get loads from local businesses - especially ones who had had personal contact with the school. obviously all got a personal thank you letter afterwards
  good luck!
• Debenhams used to give a Teddy Bear at Christmas and again in the summer and the cosmetic counters would give samples which could be wrapped to make small prizes.