Have you considered holding a poker fundraiser? Poker fundraisers are becoming increasingly popular and are a fun way to raise money for many causes. Depending on how creative you get, this type of fundraiser can earn your group more funds than you might think. Following are some ideas on how to raise funds with a poker fundraiser – selling admission tickets is just the beginning!
Admission
Admission is the first thing to consider when making money from a poker fundraiser. Offer ‘early bird’ pricing and a higher price for admission at the door. Be clear about how much of each admission will go into the ‘payout pot’ for prizes (the more people you expect, the more prizes you should offer) and how much will go towards your cause.
In order to keep as much admission income as possible, find an inexpensive place to rent, or team up with a restaurant that may like the additional exposure. When shopping around for an appropriate space don’t forget that you will need a gambling permit and that some public places may already have one.
Food And Beverage Earnings
Your food and beverage earnings can be a significant addition to your overall earnings. Think in terms of what your guests will enjoy and what you can actually provide. Make sure the food is high quality and diverse. Offer enough of a food selection to ensure that all guests find something to suit their taste.
See if you can partner up with a restaurant to secure lower prices on food. You can offer the restaurant great exposure and publicity in exchange for the lower prices that will improve your bottom line. Many restaurants would jump at the chance to help a good cause.
If you decide not to partner with a restaurant, or you’re planning for a more casual event, consider partnering up with one or more of the popular food truck companies. You could offer several types of food, like burgers, Chinese, or cup cakes and you’d only have to make sure you provide a place for them to set up and enough garbage and recycling cans. The food truck companies could donate a percentage of their earnings and would receive great exposure for their businesses.
As for beverages, these can easily be a lucrative enterprise with all the excitement of poker chips being brazenly bid and both winning and losing hands hitting the table throughout your event. Consider very carefully if you should offer any alcohol, especially since this kind of event will probably last longer than just a couple of hours. If people get out of hand, it will show up in the news the next day.
Business Sponsorships
This is a fantastic way to raise money. Company sponsorships allow you to tap into the resources that are right in your community. Businesses can pay a certain amount of money to sponsor a poker table, buy advertising in a printed newsletter, on a website, or a banner.
Each business could have a small trinket (key chain, mugs, etc.) or other branded item, that dealers can hand out to the players. This way businesses get some quality advertising and your fundraiser has more money coming in. If a business decides to sponsor a table, make sure that their donation covers the cost of that table and the dealer working it.
You could go one step further and have sponsors create their own custom made poker chips or even table felts that are emblazoned with company logos. These items help to make sure that each sponsor’s presence is visible throughout the whole event. You may have to be aggressive in your pursuit of business sponsorship if you want to secure highly profitable ones but a few of the right sponsorships can make your event an even bigger success that you had thought possible.
Raffle Tickets
Depending on your local laws, you may also be able to sell raffle tickets. See if you can get prizes donated in exchange for some free publicity. All the income from the sale of the raffle tickets could then go to your cause as well.
A poker fundraiser can raise money in a number of ways. As you’re weighing your options, consider the cost of each feature or line item on your to-do list and how and if you can get it covered through donations or volunteer time first. Good planning plays a big part in how much money you will raise and maybe one of our checklist’s would be useful to you. The bottom line is that the more involved you get in the process and the more initiative you take the more funds you will raise. In the end all this effort will stack the deck in your cause’s favor!