ANNOUNCEMENT: ONCE WE SELL 250 TICKETS, I WILL COMMIT TO GIVING AWAY ALL OF THE DONATED INSTRUMENTS.
I want to give away a respectable number of instruments in the raffle, but we are receiving SO many instrument donations that I am concerned about the ratio of instruments to tickets purchased. Since the object of this is to raise money for Jerry and his family, I want to strike the right balance between giving away enough instruments in the raffle to make more people buy tickets, and selling the rest after the raffle. So…what should that ratio be?
Wow, crazy number of whistles! I counted 26 listed whistles, and you said 60 tickets sold? 60/26=2.308 tickets per whistle. It’s a good problem to have, but still a problem.
THe way I see it, those who are purchasing tickets are donating in one way.
Those who are providing instruments are donating in another…and there are doubtless some who are doing both.
I guess what I’m saying is I’m not sure we need to set a ratio…I’m not convinced it would sell any more tickets.
Unless you plan to take the surplus instruments and sell them on Ebay? If so, not a bad plan, but I’d think it would be a good idea to run it past the folks who donated them.
Also, I wouldn’t worry too much about the numbers at this point. Dale’s Newsletter has not gone out yet, and most whistle players are normal people. It’s only those of us here that can’t help checking C&F twenty times a day. Why the newsletter people don’t get it, I don’t know… I just don’t know. But some of them actually only check the board once a week. Others don’t even check it at all. It’s just bizarre. I can’t make heads or tales of it.
well of course we all want to help out jerry and his wife thats for sure and it sounds like everything is going well.
in two days dales newsletter will go out and who knows what more good it will bring?
I do not think we should SET a ratio but on the other hand, people are also buying tickets to get a fair chance to win…
gives us a win/ win situation: jerry and his wife get money and winners get whistles, everybody happy hm?
I agree. The main reason I haven’t purchased tickets yet, is that payday is tomorrow, but a higher ratio of whistles to tickets is better in my mind. As stated, we get a better chance at winning a whistle ( and in several instances, much better than I can afford, while Jerry and his wife get the proceeds of the raffle.
I think some flexibility at this stage would be a good idea. Normally in raffles people would protest if you changed the rules after they’d bought tickets but I take it our primary concern here is to make as much money for Arleen and Jerry as possible. If selling whistles makes more money, sell; if raffling makes more money, raffle. Wait till later to decide.
Yes, James, the idea is to put the surplus on eBay or offer them for sale here.
Almost everyone who is saying I changed the rules before they bought tickets: you are incorrect. I had sold three tickets and received one instrument donation before I changed the rules. I did it within the first few hours on the first day. I revised the description of the plan and posted a note that I had changed the format. People were free to read my original post. Please go ahead and do it now.
Every edit I had done since then is to update donations and ticket sales.
I posted the poll because I want to have a healthy ratio (that will please the ticket-buyers and encourage ticket purchases) AND maximize money for Jerry.
Everyone who has not voted and has an opinion, please vote.
how about everyone that submits a whistle also gives the value they feel appropriate for the whistle (Jessie, you can always moderate that, having seen your collection i trust your judgement!) That way instead of setting a ratio of whistles to tickets (when the whistles are worth extremely varying prices) we can decide how much profit we want to make from the raffle, i.e., the vote should be “What % “profit” are we looking for here”
so if the whistles are worth an average of $3000, for 30 whistles, and we decide we want to make 20% more than the whistles are worth, and we’ve sold 200 tickets…
ok im in over my head here, someone good at accounting can finish off that though.
come to think of it that might be a bit overly complicated, what with the probability that the most expensive ones will probably prove to be the most popular.
A girl can change her mind. I just edited the first post on the raffle thread again. Please reread it. The object is NOT to offend anyone, but to maximize money for Jerry.
I agree with Wombat. There is no need for a fixed ratio and time to work it out. The outline of the raffle in the other thread is fine. If I were king, I would stick with five prizes no matter how many tickets are sold. For me the big lure is the top prizes. I may be wrong, but I believe that to be true for most if not many. The quality and retail prices of the top prizes is both the sizzle and the steak, not the whistles 15 or 25 places down the list, nice as they might be.
Setting a ratio now is risky because what happens if ticket sales go through the roof and the ratio decided upon is 10 tickets to a prize? That could make for a sticky situation if there are 2000 tickets sold under that advertising with about 30 prizes available.
I also scratch my head at all those that vote for more prizes and less selling. The remainders not selected as prizes are to be sold at near retail prices and that money also goes to Jerry. Those sales will generate a good deal of money. I believe more than adding them to the prize pot will generate in ticket sales. I also wonder if the current poll results are skewed by people voting in their self-interest in winning a whistle rather than thinking of Jerry’s family, but please don’t anyone take that personally, it is just a stray thought.
I have serious doubts as to how many more tickets will be sold with increased odds to win a mid-level whistle. A better poll question might be, will you buy more raffle tickets if ten whistles are given away vs. five, and if yes how many more?
Just to clarify, the prizes are listed in order of receipt.
Some good thoughts, Bill. Please go ahead and create the poll you mentioned. Obviously, we are voting on a ratio that assumes that we will still get more instrument donations and not necessarily a proportionate number of tickets purchased. It may not be true.
If everyone thinks I should include every donated whistle in the raffle no matter how many tickets I sell, I will do it, but I think that is favoring the ticket-purchasers over the recipient of the funds, and I don’t agree with that. Still, I want to maximize. I am trying to strike a balance. Help is appreciated.
My pleasure. My mom, who is here now preparing my house (actually building a wall to hide the kitty litter downstairs) for the baby shower on Saturday, just told me that she thinks it’s terrific that I have this involving and great thing to concentrate on rather than watching the clock/calendar, waiting for the baby to make an appearance. I agree.
I’ve just voted for 30. The rationale being each whistle will produce $300 which is probably a little more than the average value of the prizes. Otherwise you may just as well ebay them all!!
waitingame
Erik
