50/50 Raffles
 

I'm currently the fundraising chair for the Gamma Xi chapter of Phi Kappa Sigma at George Mason, and I've found excellent success in 50/50 raffles as a sustainable method of bringing in money. For those who do not know, 50/50 raffles entail selling tickets for a set price, with the winner of the raffle getting 50% of the total pot, and the organization holding the raffle taking the other 50%.

I've found that these raffles bring in anywhere from $50 to $100 per day - and this is at a commuter campus like George Mason, so I can only imagine what kind of results it would have at a large campus with a stationary student population.

Does anyone know of any successful variations on the 50/50 that have worked at other campuses?

50/50 raffles, while successful, may be considered gambling and therefore may be illegal in some states. Make sure you check the local laws before holding a raffle of any kind.

They are illegal in all states unless specifically approved in advance- be it the raffle itself or a plan under which organizations conduct ongoing raffles according to agreed upon procedures. I found this out when a charitable organization I was working with wanted to do one to raffle off a donated item and keep the proceeds.

Even that is very tricky- and it was ultimately not possible since the two states in which tickets were to be sold (TX and CA) required a charity hold a tax certificate for a certain number of years before any such event could be approved. Being a charitable organization does not automatically entitle one to run a raffle.

Doing raffles where you collect cash in ticket sales and then keep a portion of the cash back is an even trickier issue.

For all practical purposes, I suppose this would go unnoticed at a low level of operation- but it is illegal if not properly documented, and if someone who felt they were cheated ever complained it would bring down the wrath of the State Comptroller's office pretty fast. Unauthorized raffles are a hot button issue generally, and so are given attention when pointed out.