How to Price Raffle Tickets to Sell

19/10/2023

Raffle ticket prices can make or break your nonprofit organization’s fundraiser. Too high, and despite great prizes, you might not sell enough tickets. Too low, and even though you make tons of ticket sales, you still may not reach your fundraising goal. 

So how do you find the raffle ticket price sweet spot? Whether you’re hosting a traditional raffle, online raffle, or 50 50 raffle, it’s all in the numbers. 

How Much Should Raffle Tickets Cost?

How much you sell raffle tickets for is directly related to your fundraising event’s goals. Below, we break down all the factors contributing to raffle ticket pricing, plus there’s a free, handy raffle ticket price calculator you can use! (Click each category to jump.)

• Fundraising Goal
• Raffle Ticket Costs
• Raffle Prize Costs
• Raffle Ticket Distribution Costs
• Total Expected Raffle Ticket Sales
• Number of Raffle Tickets
• Price and Your Customer
• Finalising Raffle Ticket Price and Quantity
• Calculating Raffle Ticket Price
• Calculating Raffle Ticket Quantity

Additionally, our raffle ticket calculator is really helpful. Just plug in your fundraising activity’s unique numbers, and you’ve got a suggested raffle ticket price.

Calculate Raffle Ticket Sale Price Total Funds to be Raised Cost of Raffle Tickets Cost of Prizes Cost of Raffle Ticket Distribution Raffle Tickets to be Sold   $0.00

Calculate Raffle Tickets To Be Sold Total Funds to be Raised Cost of Raffle Tickets Cost of Prizes Cost of Raffle Ticket Distribution Ticket Sale Price   0

How to Price Raffle Tickets

Fundraising Goal

First things first, it’s essential to know how much money your nonprofit organisation aims to earn. This value is your fundraiser’s ideal net proceeds minus its costs.

Ticket Costs

Whether you print them yourself, have custom tickets professionally produced, or use cloakroom tickets, fees will be incurred. So, even if you’re planning to buy perforated paper and an ink cartridge and print them yourself, don’t forget to factor in those costs!

Pro tip: The look and feel of your tickets affect your raffle’s perceived value. Professionally printed raffle tickets make a great impression and can help legitimise your fundraiser. Check out our hundreds of pre-designed raffle ticket templates. They make getting great, quality tickets at a great price easy!

Prize Costs

To minimise spending, try to solicit raffle prizes from local businesses and contacts (here are some excellent raffle prize ideas!). That said, sometimes you may need to pay part of the cost of your raffle’s amazing prizes, so be sure to include this in your calculations.

Raffle Ticket Distribution costs

This includes all the fees related to marketing and selling your raffle tickets. For example, if you print posters or pay for social media advertising, that’s considered a distribution cost. 

Total Expected Raffle Ticket Revenue

Raffle ticket sales revenue is a factor of two things—the first is the number of tickets, and the second is the price at which they’re sold. These two variables should match up to your target customer. (More on price and your customer below)

Number of Raffle Tickets

How many people are likely to buy your raffle tickets? One question you can ask yourself to figure this out is to estimate how many people are in your community and network. Next, factor in whether you have a team of raffle ticket sellers or selling them all yourself. Finally, your grand prize can affect ticket sales. If it’s a broadly exciting one, lots of people will want a chance to win. 

Pro tip: Supporters will purchase multiple tickets when there’s a quantity discount. For example, you could sell raffle tickets for $5 each or five for $20.

Price and Your Customer

Figuring out a good raffle ticket price is dependent on your target demographic. Consider how much your prizes are worth to potential ticket buyers. First, consider how much the prizes are worth to most of your potential ticket buyers. As an example, selling $100 raffle tickets to university students or $15 raffle tickets for a chance to win an Ishtar DVD might make ticket sales challenging.

Pro tip: Make sure your ticket price is a round number (most people don’t want to pay $3.76!)

Finalising Price and Quantity

First, add up all the prize drawing costs. For example, if you add together $75 for raffle tickets, $500 for prizes, and $50 for additional marketing materials, you’d have $625. Next, add the fundraising goal to that value. In this instance, the goal is to raise $2,000, so the total is $2,625.

Calculating Raffle Ticket Price

To ascertain the necessary item price versus potential ticket sales, divide the total revenue by the number of tickets. So, if we use the above example and estimate that selling 1,000 raffle tickets is viable, each one should cost $2.63 (you can round up to $3.00).

Calculating the Raffle Ticket Quantity Needed

To figure this out, you must divide the total revenue by the ticket price. In our example, if we wanted to sell each ticket for $3, we would need to sell $2,625/$3 = 875 raffle tickets. Again, we recommend rounding up!

Ready to dive in and get tickets for your prize drawing? Order custom tickets or run an online raffle with Eventgroove!