I have long been an advocate of using sweepstakes (or raffles) to raise money.  We had a very successful sweeps while I was at Thirteen and here at CBA, we’ve helped KQED run their very successful raffle for quite some time.

Sweeps got a bunch of bad press in the 90s as some of them (not ones that non-profits ran) were seen as deceptive, especially to the elderly.  As a result, many non-profits let theirs fall to the wayside (including Thirteen unfortunately).

That’s too bad, as sweeps can be very profitable because they give donors another way to give.  Some donors like a premium for their gift, others like to go to events — and some want a chance to win something!  When done right, sweeps can also extend the brand of the organization running — it doesn’t have to be bad.

This week, The NonProfit Times published an article which I hope will usher in a new wave of non-profits trying sweeps out.  It features our own Brooke Coneys who helps manage KQED’s program and also former CBA employee George Whelan (also a colleague of mine at Thirteen).  It also features another former Thirteener, Fred Brown and sweeps consultant Marla Altberg, who both ran the day-to-day sweeps operation there.  I can’t think of a better group of experts to speak about the benefits of a sweeps program.

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