Would you piss away $20 for a 1 in 3000 chance?

I proposed to a group trying to raise money spending up to $35000 for a car and some advertising, and selling 3000 raffle tickets for $20. The people in charge had no desire. Better to them to sell garbage products 3 or 4 times a year to raise less money. The garbage are food products, fake jewelry etc. All of you with kids or other causes what do you think?

 

People piss away more than that on powerball for a 1 in godzillion million chance.

 

Sounds like a project in which most people would be prone to participate.
Of course you would get a local dealer to make a huge discount on the vehicle and in turn he would get lots of good advertising.
So, a really nice car could be had for way less money.
No real need to advertise.
The people selling the raffle tickets do the best advertising, "word-of-mouth".

 

Appreciate the input. At the same time I have met a wall and don't get it. Anyone who has been involved fund raisers able to offer input? 3000 tickets is no easy sell, but with the odds it makes sense to me.

 

The wall you are facing is what happens if you don't sell enough tickets? Where does the short fall come from? You can't extend the deadline multiple times trying to get more $ in.

Bigger reward for the group, but the risk could be too big (whether real or not) for others to accept. Key is to get the car sold to you for as little markup as possible, but market it at full retail price.

 

I think I can get a dealer to go minimal above mark up or maybe cost for advertising. I am including $1000 for advertising costs. Maybe even $3000 for ad costs. The group still comes out well ahead of the usual fund raisers by a lot.

 

I am looking at a typical car and not a luxury vehicle. Maybe I am wrong, but that is why I am looking in to the idea.

 

That would be my biggest hesitation as well.
I guess it depends on where you're selling the tickets. A small army selling on busy street corners could probably do it a day or two. Three or four people selling them in a small town might be out of luck.



As for the thread title question, yes I would.

 

I am thinking at least 3 months, and I think 5 months is reasonable to sell $20 tickets to have a $30-35,000 vehicle. Again, I am looking for input, and if I am wrong, no problem. I'd rather be wrong and not go ahead than pretend I am right and go ahead.

 

"Minimum 3000 tickets must be sold or all monies will be refunded."

(Name, address, phone contact on each stub.)